Discover Age of Nations Episode 111: "Distant Shores"

[DanQ]

Furthering the (re-)discovery of the machinima and live-action blended series Age of Nations (AoN), this week's focus is on Episode 111: "Distant Shores". In addition to being able to download the episode in Windows Media (WMV) format from the course website, you can also stream it off of YouTube. Set in the Rise of Nations universe as the first Real-Time Strategy (RTS) machinima series and first for the game, AoN ran for one season of 14 episodes and ending with a featurette released in July 2007.

As described for the series' eleventh episode:

Literally and figuratively, nations and factions within nations are beginning to distance themselves from one another at an alarming rate.

Frustrations in the military brass and growing resentment within their ranks along with annoyance and irritation within governments push patience to its limits.

Afterwards, you can also stream the commentary on the episode or download directly if you prefer; recorded and produced more than five years ago, this is the first time it has been made publicly available. From the now defunct game developer Big Huge Games co-founded by Civilization II and Alpha Centauri Lead Designer Brian Reynolds, RoN worked to incorporate Turn-Based Strategy (TBS) elements into an RTS environment.