The Call of Duty franchise occupies the three top spots in Microsoft's chart of the most-played games on Xbox Live in 2011, with Call of Duty: Black Ops claiming the throne. Microsoft has also shared the top-twenty charts for Xbox Live Arcade, Games for Windows Live, Xbox Live Indie Games, and Windows Phone.

Read more: Age of Empires Online tops GFWL »

[Update: 8/17] We have corrections to issue regarding this story. The $99.99 Season Pass includes all of the content for the first six months, which amounts to 30% off the regular price if purchased separately. Also, development of Age of Empires Online has been taken over by Gas Powered Games. Shacknews regrets the errors.

[Original Story] Age of Empires Online will support a Season Pass system for premium content discounts, Microsoft announced at Gamescom today. The discounts only last for a limited time, though, so it probably won't see you all the way through the lifespan of the free-to-play strategy title.

Read more: Season Pass cost and time-table »

Age of Empires Online will be a free download when it releases on August 16, supplemented by downloadable content packs promised on a monthly basis. Today Microsoft Game Studios and developer Robot Entertainment revealed a few new packs that we'll see hitting by the end of 2011.

READ MORE: Celts, Persians, and skirmishes »

"Free-to-play" never means "completely free," and Age of Empires Online is no exception. Publisher Microsoft this week revealed the assorted content and bonuses that'll be on sale for the F2P online revival of the strategy series, along with its launch date.

Age of Empires Online will launch for PC on August 16 as a free download from the Games for Windows Marketplace, but will also available in a $19.99 boxed retail edition. The boxed version will contain the Greek 'Premium Civilization Pack,' which would otherwise cost $19.99 itself, along with an retail-exclusive item store and some trifling physical knick-knacks. Read more »

The strategic path to release has been set and Age of Empires Online is expecting to attack gamers with a full release this fall. The release window announcement was made via the official Twitter account for the title, yesterday.

According to Joystiq, a more specific release date is expected to be set on May 31. Read more »

A 48-hour "secret access" period is now open for Age of Empires Online, letting all and sundry into the beta test before it closes back up again. Microsoft revealed this in an official release, which is perhaps not the best way to keep a secret, all things considered.

Until 1:01am PST on Saturday, you can get into the beta by heading on over to the Games for Windows Marketplace and 'buying' the free beta client. You'll need the Games for Windows Live client to download and play. Once the 48 hours are up, beta access will be closed again but the beta itself will still continue to run. Read more »

Robot Entertainment, the developer founded by members of the now defunct dev Ensemble Studios, has announced a new project: Orcs Must Die!

Coming to "personal computers and consoles this summer," Orcs Must Die will strive to blend action and strategy. Sounding a little like a never ending Horde Mode, players will have to contend with waves of an Orc onslaught as they attempt to defend their fortress. Read more »

Microsoft had detailed some of the social features and a new faction for its rejiggering of the classic franchise Age of Empires. The freemium-based Age of Empires Online will feature a red faction (the Greeks) and the newly announced Egyptians donning blue gear when it launches later this year.

According to Joystiq, the Robot Entertainment-developed Age of Empires Online will feature a number of social and MMO-like components, beginning with a capital city feature that sounds a little like the one available in Age of Empires 3. Read more »

An Xbox Live Arcade release of the splendid Torchlight and the opportunity to hold eerie chat shows with your friends Live Avatars via Kinect are amongst the goodies revealed yesterday by Microsoft at the ongoing 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show.

Torchlight will arrive as part of Microsoft's 'House Party' event on Xbox Live Arcade, which will see five big releases over five weeks. The others will be Ubisoft's revamped Beyond Good & Evil HD, Contra prequel Hard Corps: Uprising, Microsoft's Full House Poker and PopCap's Bejeweled Blitz Live. It all kicks off on February 16 with Hard Corps. Read more »

Microsoft Games Studios' general manager Dave Luehmann has addressed criticisms of Microsoft's commitment to PC gaming in an interview with MCV, saying that "It is our job to lead the way on PC" but conceding "we need to step up."

"There's been a fair bit of criticism aimed at Microsoft that we were spending a lot of our focus on console, and we need to be putting resources behind PC as well," Luehmann said. "Other companies should look to Microsoft for leadership, but I'm not sure they do. It is our job to lead the way on PC. And in some ways we are doing that and in other ways we are not. So we need to step up." Read more »

Ensemble's classic PC strategy series Age of Empires will return set in a persistent online world, Microsoft announced today, with a new entry developed by Robot Entertainment--a studio founded by Ensemble veterans.

Hitting in 2011, Age of Empires Online is an online-only affair with "free-to-play experiences," taking place in a persistent world where your capital city continue to grow even if you're offline. "Social Experiences" including co-op quests and PvP matches will be on offer. Read more »