Age of Empires: Castle Siege with Xbox LIVE now available for Windows Phone, Tablet, and PC

Do you remember the good old days when Xbox LIVE games for Windows Phone came at a steady clip every Wednesday? It almost seems like Microsoft is getting back into the swing of things, with not only more releases, but also the universal app kind. These are the ones where developers can code for one, but get two apps for Phone and Windows for users.

It is no secret that Age of Empires: Castle Siege is coming to Microsoft's platform, but today you can finally download both for your Phone and PC, and even get that coveted Xbox LIVE integration.

Back on September 9, AoE beta was spotted in the Windows Phone store, but it was unable to be downloaded. If you were able to get that game, you might want to delete it as it is no longer the official link, which is found below for all users.

In our exclusive interview with Smoking Gun CEO about the mechanics of AoE: Castle Siege, John Johnson described it like this:

"AoE: Castle Siege brings AoE gameplay to touch devices. We've kept a lot of what made the original AoE so popular: We're grounded in history, you can play one of 6 civilizations and each have 3 unique heroes and 1 unique troop type. You can directly control all the units during combat just like other RTS titles. We have a tech tree to advance through as well as many ages to advance through that all gain better weapons, units, defenses and other structures. And as with AoE, the game is primarily about advancement and combat."

AoE indeed looks intense, and more importantly, it is designed for touch and mobile game play. With single-sign on through a Microsoft Account and your games should be able to sync between your phone, PC or Surface. This syncing ability makes campaigns much more attractive, and you are likely to play AoE for longer periods.

From the Store description:

"Age of Empires®: Castle Siege invites you to guide your empire through the Medieval Era on your Windows PC or touch screen device. Choose from one of several civilizations, including the Britons, Teutons, and Kievan Rus. Upgrade your keep, fortify your walls, and garrison defensive troops to protect yourself from marauders. Then, train an army to raid other cities, and command them in battle to dismantle your opponents' defenses."

Sounds like a big game to us and a worthy title to download. For Phone, the Age of Empires weighs in at a hefty 169 MB in size, but it is available for 512 MB devices, if you can believe it. For Windows, you are looking at double the graphics, double the fun so 320 MB should do it. Both titles are free.

Download both, play both and go forth and conquer! (Note: if the Windows 8 link returns an error, do a search in the Store instead)

• Download Age of Empires: Castle Siege for Windows Phone 8
• Download Age of Empires: Castle Siege for Windows

Thanks, Jason L., for the tip!