GameSpot has posted a new Age of Empires 3: The WarChiefs Q&A, asking lead designer Sandy Petersen about the Sioux nation being added by the expansion pack.

As noted on the website, a new Age of Empires 3 patch is now out through the game's auto-updater. The 1.06 patch adds two new features while fixing more client and ESO issues. Update: the patch is now available from FileShack.

New at GameSpot this evening is a Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs Q&A. Ensemble Studios lead designer Sandy Petersen is asked about the new content and features found in the expansion pack.

Ensemble Talks MMO Plans is the latest article as part of Next Generation's Dallas developer tour, this time talking to Ensemble Studios CEO Tony Goodman. He talks about the start of the company and Microsoft not believing in a historical strategy game, the company's business strategy and the 2000 acquisition by Microsoft. The conversation then shifts to plans for a console strategy game ("When they got it to the point where we had Age of Empires up and running, and our people with gamepads could beat the people with mice, then we knew we really had totally reconstructed the control systems.") and the possibility of an MMO game by Ensemble

"Maybe it's not crazy to go spend thirty or forty million bucks to actually make one of these things." [Executive producer Patrick] Hudson points out, "At some point, they'll get tired of WoW and want to play something else."

"We haven't settled on anything," Hudson cautions. "It's safe to say we won't be chasing the fantasy genre. It seems like there are so many coming out. [We're] still pretty far out from even thinking of taking that prototype to a greenlight phase."

As for monthly subscription fees: "Yeah, I think that's the business model we mostly believe in," Hudson says. "There could be things that come along and change our mind, but there's a lot of people trying different things... If anything, WoW is charging too little, not too much."

VGM Daily has posted a new podcast, offering an interview with Wally Wachi of Ensemble Studios. The interview focuses on the upcoming WarChiefs expansion pack for Age of Empires 3. Thanks Blues News.

The Age of Empires 3 community website has been updated with a product page for the recently announced expansion pack, revealing that it is called The WarChiefs. There are three new screenshots here, and IGN has a Q&A on the expansion.

IGN has a few screenshots from the untitled Age of Empires 3 expansion pack yesterday. The expansion pack, due out this fall, will focus on Native American civilizations.

Microsoft Game Studios sends along this press release, announcing that an expansion pack for Age of Empires 3 is in development. Due out this fall, the expansion pack will offer the following

The expansion pack [...] will provide new ways to play and win, introducing new gameplay elements and content including new civilizations, a new single player campaign, Home City enhancements and additional maps and units. Additional content will be added to all existing European civilizations as well.

Over at FileShack you can now find downloadable versions of the new Age of Empires 3 patch, which updates the game to v1.05. The update offers ESO fixes and a few new game features. Thanks 3D Gamers.

The Age of Empires 3 community site has word that a new 1.05 patch is now available through the game's in-game updater. A list of changes can be found here.

The latest Age of Empires 3 patch can now be downloaded from FileShack, updating the game to v1.04. The update fixes problems related to patching, while also changing the Games List functionality and fixing several exploits.

A new Age of Empires 3 patch is now available through the game's auto updater, upgrading the game to v1.04. The patch fixes problems related to patching, while also changing the Games List functionality and fixing several exploits.

A new Age of Empires 3 patch is now available updating Ensemble Studios' strategy game sequel to v1.03. The update fixes an issue where people got a "Failed to join" message when two routers that could not communicate joined the same game.

GameSlave has an Age of Empires 3 Q&A posted, talking to designer Greg Street. Questions are about the game's units, possible changes to the formation system, building creation limits, expansion plans and the possibility of Age of Empires IV.

Ensemble Studios has released a bonus map for Age of Empires 3, with the Winter Wonderland map containing various holiday pleasantries.

Hitting up the Age of Empires 3 auto updater will have you grabbing the 1.02 patch for the game, offering a new large map set, fixes for sound crashes, boat battle slowdowns, D3D initialization errors and network & ESO updates a swell. Thanks Blues.

There's a patch on the Age of Empires 3 forums announcing that a 1.02 patch is on the way for Ensemble's new strategy game. It will fix problems with sound stuttering, hardware compatibility, improved stability and according to this post five new large sized maps based on current, smaller, maps. Thanks Blues.

As promised Ensemble Studios has release the updated Age of Empires 3 demo. It features the same content as before but has a patch applied fixing several bugs and adding the new minimized UI.

Art & Design: The Alternate History of Age of Empires III is a GameSpy article, offering an article format interview with Bruce Shelley about Ensemble's latest strategy game. GameSpy also has an article on unit formations in the game.

Over at FileShack you can now download the first Age of Empires 3 patch, which will allow you to update the game to v1.01 after buying it next week. The patch fixes issues related to sound, dialogue, ESO and movement code.