If you've never heard of them before, Play the Past is a fascinating web site that is, to use their own words, "dedicated to thoughtfully exploring and discussing the intersection of cultural heritage and games/meaningful play."

Contributing as a guest writer, Jim has written a really interesting essay on how the concept of caricature can be used to implement history in game mechanics using examples from the Hegemony series.

We hope to be doing a few more pieces with them in the coming weeks, so stay tuned and, after you read Jim's piece, check out some of the other articles on their site as they cover some really unique subjects you won't find on other gaming sites.

Despite just celebrating its one year anniversary, the recent release of Hegemony Gold on Steam has generated a lot of new interest and we've been sending out review codes by the dozens.

A few of those went out to Destructoid, and their review just went up today. While he highlights a few things that we're working hard to improve in Rome, he apparently played it for 20 hours in a 24 hour period citing the "the steady progression is both engaging and addictive, an intoxicating combo.".

Another quote: "It’s this creative use of mechanics that keeps Wars of Ancient Greece approachable yet complex -- the gold standard of game design."

Read the whole review here.

We've all been waiting a very long time for this moment, but it has finally happened: Hegemony Gold is now available on Steam!

We apologize for the long delay, but we have another piece of news that we hope will make it up to you: Hegemony Gold is now only $19.99! And of course, if you purchased Philip of Macedon, you can still upgrade for only $9.99, and this offer is also available on Steam!

I had a bit of fun delivering this news on YouTube, so if you want to see me act a bit silly (and who doesn't), watch the video here.

I've been out of the office for a few weeks so this message is a little late, but we're very proud to announce that GiN readers have voted Hegemony Gold 2011 Strategy Game of the Year! Thank you to all our fans for voting, we couldn't keep doing this without you and we really appreciate this acknowledgement.

We do a lot of interviews, and it can be quite challenging to come up with interesting answers when interviewers ask the same questions over and over again. That's why I was pleasantly surprised when I was interviewed by The Entertainment Depot. This interview is chalk full of insightful questions, particularly on how the gameplay of Hegemony Rome lines up with the historical realities of Caesar's campaign. The interview was a real treat, and demanded more thoughtful answers than you might be used to reading in other publications, so be sure to check it out.

In a new article on Wargamer, Rob discusses logistics in Hegemony. It's a very interesting piece that explores why we made the design decisions we made, how it reflects history, and what you can expect from the logistics system in Hegemony Rome. There's also some exclusive screenshots, so you don't want to miss this article.

Rob has also found time in his busy week to do an interview at GiN, where he submits his thoughts on the game industry and being and indie developer. And while you're at GiN, be sure to vote for us!

After last week's beta for Hegemony Gold 1.5.5 went without a hitch, we decided to release it. We also released a new build of Hegemony: Philip of Macedon that fixes a rare crash.

To update, just log into the Download Centre and you'll be able to redownload the latest version of any games you've bought. And if you're still playing Hegemony: Philip of Macedon, be sure to check out Hegemony Gold: Wars of Ancient Greece; it adds two new campaigns and a whole slew of gameplay tweaks that make the game more interesting to play, and upgrading is only $10.

If you bought you game at another site, the update will show up there eventually, but you can also get it right away by registering your purchase here.

It's been a while since we've done one of these: the beta for Hegemony Gold 1.5.5 is now available!

We're fairly positive there's no show stoppers in this build, but we wanted to do a beta anyways just to be double sure. We've queued up a number of minor bug fixes, and we also added some new features to the asset list, so be sure to download it here, and let us know if you find any problems.

Keep reading for the full change log. Continued →

The fine users over at Game Industry News have nominated Hegemony Gold for best strategy game of the year! But we still need help to officially win the title, so if you really like Hegemony Gold, be sure to head over to their site and vote for us. And if you didn't like it, vote for us anyway, then email me to let me know that you only voted ironically. It might hurt my feelings, but you know I can never stay mad at you.

To be eligible to vote, you'll need to sign up for GiN's newsletter, but signing up is really easy, and it will also make you eligible to win free stuff every week, so it's a good idea anyway.

Update: GiN just released a new podcast discussing the nominees including Hegemony Gold. Listen to it here.

A new review of Hegemony Gold just went live over at Game Industry News. Their editor awards it 4.5/5 and, among other much appreciated comments, cites:

"Longbow Games not only did an impressive job, but they broke new ground in the hyper-saturated RTS genre."

and,

"... the perfect mix of a deep and easy-to-use interface would put most RTS titles to shame."

Click here to read the full article.