Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War Update: Late in the Game

Midway's entry into the real-time strategy arena, Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War, has seen a pretty rocky development cycle, not least of all because Stainless Steel Studios, the development house creating the game, folded last November, leaving the status of the game in limbo. Luckily, Midway's San Diego studio came to the rescue--the team in Southern California has taken over development on the nearly finished project and will see it through to its June release.

At Midway's press event, we spoke briefly with a rep from Midway to find out how development is progressing on the long-in-production real-time strategy game. The team is working diligently on the game, which is currently in the alpha stage, and they expect to have it feature-complete and ready for beta on schedule to meet release. Because they're finishing the game, they're not messing with it much--the team is polishing what's already in place in terms of artwork and design, but it's not making any radical changes to the spec laid down by Stainless Steel. Midway San Diego's designers are making minor tweaks here and there where needed, but this will essentially be the game Stainless Steel set out to make previously.

For the uninitiated, Rise & Fall lets you play as several historical civilizations, building up their forces in the traditional RTS style before taking battlefield-level control of their greatest historical heroes, such as Ramses or Alexander the Great. For more on Rise & Fall, check out our extensive preview coverage on the game, and stay tuned for more soon.