Golden Age for AOE3 expansion, new Caesar

It's almost time for strategy gamers to put their latest plans for virtual-world domination into action. Two empire-building PC games have wrapped up development and will be on store shelves over the next month.

Caesar IV, the first installment of the city-building franchise since 1998's Caesar III, lets gamers play governor and nurture a Roman province into one of the empire's strongest city-states. There are more than 100 buildings to erect, dozens of tradable goods to develop a bustling economy, and 75 unique citizens to interact with.

The WarChiefs expansion for the popular Age of Empires III adds three playable Native American civilizations--the Iroquois Confederation, the Sioux Nation, and the Aztec Empire--to the real-time strategy game. New maps and units will also be thrown in to the mix, as will a new single-player campaign.

Age of Empires: The WarChiefs is rated T for Teen and will retail for $29.99 when it is released on October 17.