I don't know about the rest of you, but Rise of Nations was a formative part of my PC gaming life, and to this day it's part of the 'must install' programs whenever I upgrade my computer/OS. So you can probably imagine my joy when it appeared on the Steam Database last year, after which we were met with unrelenting silence - probably due to the auction of the entire IP collection owned by Big Huge Games.

Well, the wait is over, and rumours concerning the mysterious buyer have probably been laid to rest, as Microsoft Studios and Skybox Labs have announced that an Extended Edition of Rise of Nations will be available on Steam sometime this month!

The Extended Edition will include both the base game and the expansion pack (Thrones and Patriots), along with full Steamworks and Twitch integration, and more up to date visuals (hopefully). So it's pretty much the same deal as the Extended Editions of Age of Empires 2 and Age of Mythology, but it could be worth it? Right?