While at the GDC back in March I had the fortunate chance to talk with Game Reactor about Hegemony Rome. I have to apologize to Game Reactor because we were suppose to send them some new Rome footage that they could splice in, but between regular development and the launch of Gold on Steam we've been so busy it kept getting put off. But if you're interested in Rome, and don't mind staring at my mug for a few minutes, head on over to GRTV and check out the interview.

It's been a while since Hegemony Gold got this much love! After the release of 1.5.6 beta 1, we made the AI too aggressive toward slaves, so we've released a new beta which tones that back. Download it here.

We also fixed a few other issues while were were at it. Keep reading to see the changes, and as always, let us know if you find any problems. Continued →

We're hard at work on Hegemony Rome, but we haven't forgotten about our Hegemony Gold players!

This is all about sheep and farms, hence the name 'Sheep Edition!' The most important change is that the AI sometimes weren't capturing sheep, and since there's a cap on how many sheep are allowed on the map, this meant there was no room for new sheep to spawn near the player. That shouldn't happen anymore.

Just to be safe, we're releasing this as a beta, so download it here and let us know what you think! We don't expect there to be any show-stoppers here, so unless anybody reports any problems, this update will probably get upgraded to a full release some time next week.

Keep reading for the full change log. Continued →

It was hard to find a cartoon that combined both Rome and interns, but this one seemed the perfect pic to introduce our new programming intern Chris. Chris is a game design student here in Toronto and will be joining us for the summer to help out with Rome and hopefully get some useful experience in the industry.

Right now he's buried in our massive code base and cryptic design documents, but once he digs himself out he's been elevated to "Extraplanar" status on the forums, so if you see a new name answering questions or doing tech support say hi and be kind as our office is hard to get to and it can be exhausting fetching coffee all day :)

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!