Age of Empires
"Age of Empires", released on October 26, 1997, was the first game in the series, as well as the first major release from Ensemble Studios. It was one of the first history-based real-time strategy games made, utilizing the Genie game engine. GameSpot described it as a mix of "Civilization" and "". The game gives players a choice of 12 civilizations to develop from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. The expansion pack, "The Rise of Rome", published by Microsoft on October 31, 1998, introduced new features and four new civilizations, including the Romans. Although the two games had contained many software bugs, patches resolved many of the problems.
Age of Empires (video game)
Sales of the game in South Korea alone reached roughly 150,000 units by 2000. According to PC Data, it was the United States' 10th-best-selling computer game during the January–November 1998 period. "Age of Empires" was a commercial success, with sales of 2.2 million copies by June 2001.