The study, which had a focus group of elderly men and women playing Big Huge Games' 203 RTS Rise of Nations, found that the participants showed improvements in several mental tests after spending time playing the game. Areas significantly improved included the ability to switch between different tasks, working memory, and general reasoning ability. Short term memory of visual cues and the ability to identify rotated objects were also enhanced, albeit to a lesser extent.

As the child of two parents falling within the study's age group, I now know exactly what to get my parents for Christmas.

Video game improves seniors' mental skills [Times of the Internet]

While BHG may be more well known for their real time strategy output, including Rise of Nations, they've apparently had a RPG brewing for several years and tapped into Rolston's expertise. Even though he threatened to retire from the game game last year, Rolston explains "Tim and his army of visionary charmers came along with a strikingly original and cunning concept for a console RPG...so now I'm back in the harness and chomping at the bit!" Rolston then neighed with delight and was fed an apple as part of his contract.

With Bethesda's Morrowind and Oblivion a part of Rolston's pedigree and BHG's upcoming Xbox Live Arcade game Catan due to hit sometime this year, don't be surprised to see the unannounced title hit the 360 when it's officially revealed. Michael McWhertor

Veteran Designer Ken Rolston Joins BHG

The best part about a list like this one? Most of the games, in the nature of PC gaming, are wicked cheap acquisitions if snagged via eBay. Most contain dozens, if not hundreds, of hours of gameplay.

Sure, one could argue that it relies heavily on two PC-centric genres (first person shooters like Half-Life and real-time strategy games like Civ IV), but we're trying to keep it on the positive tip. Consider this a hater free post! Michael McWhertor

Generation XP: Top 20 Games of the Last Generation [VE3D]

Rise of Nations, in my humble opinion, is one of the best real-time strategy games, judging by how many months of game time I spent on that thing. So when Microsoft offered the chance to interview Tim Train, cofounder of Big Huge Games, about the upcoming Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends title, I pounced on the invitation.

In a nutshell: Judging by the preview Train showed me, the graphics and the physics engine are awesome, beautiful. The way things blow up, debris tumbles, machinery cranks and units fight, you might think you're playing a platform game. The key gameplay concepts (borders, attrition) and hotkeys are also pretty much the same as Rise of Nations. But everything else about Legends is so different from its predecessor that I wonder why they kept Rise of Nations in the title. Not that I'm complaining.

Screenshots after the jump.

It's getting pretty tough to come up with new concepts in RTS games, so I can understand the big departure.

First, Legends takes place in a fantasy world where technology is pitted against magic. And the technology is a souped up version of the industrial age, what Big Huge calls steampunk. The fantasy setting "lifts a lot of restraints" that the reality-based Nations had, Train said.

Second, the game is streamlined. There are only three races, versus the 18 in Nations, and only two resources, so players spend a lot less time micromanaging (although I personally like the micromanaging aspects). What's more, a "short" game in Nations takes about three hours, whereas you can squeeze a session into 20 minutes in Legends.

I couldn't explore much of the game based on the preview Train gave me. The multiplayer and online play haven't been finished and Train wouldn't tell me much about it. But the preview was slick enough to whet my appetite to buy the full version when it comes out in spring 2006.

To keep fellow RON fans going until then, here are some screens, courtesy of Microsoft and Big Huge.