There's 54 days left in the Global Gaming League's AOM Season where $8000 are up for grabs. Currently, Sk1pper leads the pack, but experts like Gary__Payton, Rob_A and Vagabond_Zworny are hot on his tail. The top ten are as follows:

1 1435 Sk1pper
2 1425 Rob_A
3 1334 GP_Intel
4 1316 Vagabond_Zworny
5 1235 Sub7_Hell_Fire
6 1230 DeaN
7 1229 KG_NaturePhoenix
8 1213 Champ_QC
9 1203 TOAO_ChronoJJ
10 1199 eX_Hope

Microsoft Game Studios, which Ensemble Studios is a member of, recently laid off about 75 employees in the XBox sports department. Although ES is included in the MS Game Studios section of Microsoft, I don't think we'll have to worry about any layoffs there for a long time given AOM's sales rate and previous Age games. Here's the deal on the layoffs:

A Microsoft spokeswoman said the company no longer has to make as many Xbox games itself, now that the console has support from the games industry.

"The business has grown and a vibrant ecosystem of third-party developers has emerged," said spokeswoman Molly O'Donnell. "These developers are filling the pipeline with an abundance of great games."

Wonder if I'll ever stop posting these top ten sales lists? Probably not for a while as Age of Mythology seems to continue selling, selling and selling. AOM came in at 6th this week on the top sellers list for the week ending August 7. The list:

1 Doom 3 - Activision $53
2 The Sims Deluxe - Electronic Arts $20
3 Rise Of Nations - Microsoft $36
4 MS Zoo Tycoon: Complete Collection - Microsoft $30
5 The Sims Mega Deluxe - Electronic Arts $36
6 MS Age Of Mythology - Microsoft $31
7 The Sims: Superstar Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts $22
8 MS Flight Simulator 2004: Century Of Flight - Microsoft $34
9 Halo: Combat Evolved - Microsoft $34
10 Far Cry - Ubisoft $38

The RageOf Clan has started two new ladders for AOM and AOT. Both are 2v2 and there is a Supremacy one and a Deathmatch one. Good luck to the RageOf Clan with this project.

EA informed me that they would be answering five to ten questions a week coming out of the RTS community on their upcoming RTS, Battle for Middle Earth. I've set up a thread here where you can do just that. After a week or so, I will pass them on to the guys at EA. If you missed my preview of the game and trip report to the EA offices, check it out.

Mike "Archangel" McCart has estimated that the official Ensemble Studios community site will be completed in two or three weeks. The site will offer updated news about the company and its games, membership, links, forums and more.

Although this has little to do with Ensemble Studios or the Age series, Lucas Arts, which has worked together with ES on a Star Wars RTS title in the past, has just laid off fifty employees. The company says it will be focusing on less titles and will outsource some of the current ones.

As a result of the restructuring, 31 people from the development studio were laid off as the company will be concentrating on fewer titles, while shifting some titles to third party developers.

Further rumors state that early development of KOTOR 3 has ceased, and LucasArts recently announced that Star Wars Episode III has been oursourced to The Collective, previously known for titles such as LucasArts' Indiana Jones and Wrath Unleashed, or Vivendi's Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

After its brief stint at the top of the charts, Age of Mythology has fallen a bit to number seven, but I'm sure we'll see it sticking around on the list for a long time to come. The top ten PC games for the week of July 31:

1 The Sims Deluxe - Electronic Arts $20
2 Rise Of Nations - Microsoft $35
3 MS Flight Simulator 2004: Century Of Flight - Microsoft $31
4 MS Zoo Tycoon: Complete Collection - Microsoft $30
5 Halo: Combat Evolved - Microsoft $31
6 The Sims Mega Deluxe - Electronic Arts $36
7 MS Age Of Mythology - Microsoft $32
8 The Sims: Superstar Expansion Pack - Electronic Arts $22
9 Call Of Duty - Activision $36
10 Far Cry - Ubisoft $38