Bold ships Age of Empires II Gold Edition

Destineer’s Macintosh label, Bold made good on a promise today by announcing that it is shipping Age of Empires II: Gold Edition for Macintosh. Bold said that the game would be shipped throughout the day today and tomorrow to resellers in North America and to individuals who preordered the game directly.

Age of Empires II: Gold Edition is Bold’s freshman release. The game was ported to the Macintosh by Mac conversion studio Westlake Interactive. Bold is focused on bringing Microsoft’s popular games to the Macintosh; its Web site also includes details about its forthcoming release of Links Championship Edition, a new golf game for the Macintosh expected next month. Bold and Destineer were founded by Peter Tamte, whose prior credentials include executive stints at Bungie Software and Apple, as well as founding Mac game publisher MacSoft. In past interviews Tamte has also mentioned Microsoft’s Flight Simulator 2002 as a possibility for Mac conversion, though Bold currently offers no details about that game’s Mac status.

Age of Empires II: Gold Edition is the Macintosh conversion of the enormously popular real-time strategy game developed by Ensemble Studios, published for the PC by Microsoft. Even on the PC, Age of Empires II: Gold Edition is a fairly recent addition — the new collection came out this fall. The collection combines the original game, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings with Age of Empires II: The Conquerors Expansion, an add-on pack.

In this game, you assume the role of leader of a civilization. You must help keep your civilization strong and thriving through the Dark and Middle Ages, following the collapse of the Roman Empire. It’s up to you to plot the economic, military, social and political outcome of your civilization.

Age of Empires II: Gold Edition works with Mac OS 8.6 or higher, and runs natively on Mac OS X. The game requires a 233MHz or faster Mac with at least 64MB RAM. Bold is selling the game directly for US$48.95; it will be available through Mac software resellers as well.