Revisionist History in Age of Empires

The fact that Microsoft Game Studios picked and chose from the past in order to make Age of Empires fun is understandable. While recognizing that, the Wonderland Blog brings up the (dubiously laudable but) important role Age of Empires has in educating young people. Alice asks if such a game, helpful to the teaching of the young, should futz with the past the way it does. The Guardian Blog follows up on her commentary by discussing the game and the issue in the context of Serious Games. From the article: "With the snowballing of interest in Serious Games and governmental support for the development of games in the classroom, should this be an issue that is seriously debated in development houses?"

What?!

[Short Circuit]

You mean to tell me the Byzantines [wikipedia.org] and the Hittites [wikipedia.org] didn't regularly encounter each other in battle?

Hippo-crate

[NanoGator]

" important role Age of Empires has in education young people."

Ah yes, AoE has really embiggened our vocabulary hasn't it?

Re:Hippo-crate

[Shadow Wrought]

Ah yes, AoE has really embiggened our vocabulary hasn't it?

A cromulent observation if ever there was one.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:For the love of all things holy

[Shadow Wrought]

Now son, if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times; playing Ages of Empire is going to distort your understanding of history and the world. Now go play Grand Theft Auto or Extreme Beach Volleyball so I don't have to worry about your perspectives of reality getting distorted.

Age of Empires II tutorial campaign...

[Chris Mattern]

I *was* a little disconcerted to learn that William Wallace *won* the battle of Falkirk...

Chris Mattern

Why stop at AoE?

[wallykeyster]

I suggest we bring Doom to task for their abuse of the known laws of physics in building a game around an interdimensional portal on Mars. Also, Madden 2004 allowed me to trade Randy Moss to the Cincinatti Bengals and win the Super Bowl, yet we know this didn't happen. This is a friggin' outrage!

When are we going to wake up and realize that everyone else must do a better job of raising my children?

Re:Didn't this happen?

[aelbric]

I am pretty sure the Aztec [indians.org]were defeated by Cortez and an Alliance with other native peoples [k12.or.us]. The Azteks [pontiac.com], however, were defeated due to bad aesthetic design and poor market research.