Sumthing Else Music Works, through its licensing relationship with Microsoft Game Studios, have announced their latest release: Age of Empires III Original Soundtrack. The soundtrack album from the third episode of the king of real-time strategy games, developed by Ensemble Studios and Microsoft Games Studios, is now available at US retail outlets through Nile Rodgers' Sumthing Else Music Works label www.sumthing.com, the industry leader for licensing and distributing videogame soundtracks.

The Age Of Empires III Original Soundtrack features an original musical score composed by long-time Ensemble Studios musicians Stephen Rippy and Kevin McMullan whose previous work includes other titles in the Age of Empires series as well as Age of Mythology.

Stephen Rippy, Music and Sound Director at Ensemble Studios said, "Age of Empires III is a game with an epic topic - it covers the colonization of the Americas over a period of some three hundred years, so it needed to have an epic-sounding score to match. Using a full orchestra and choir as well as some more period-inspired instrumentation, the music follows the story of Morgan Black and his descendants as they battle the Circle of Ossus for a foothold in the New World."

The soundtrack also features a bonus DVD that includes fourteen tracks remixed in 5.1 surround, a behind-the-scenes video of the studio session, the Age of Empires III cinematic trailer, and five exclusive bonus tracks.

Age of Empires III offers gamers the next level of realism, with advanced battle physics and unparalleled visual detail. The new game picks up where Age of Empires II: Age Of Kings left off, placing gamers in the position of a European power determined to explore, colonize and conquer the New World. This time period features stunning scenes, from towering European cathedrals to courageous tribes of Native Americans, and spectacular combat with Industrial Age units like rifled infantry, cavalry and tall ships bristling with cannons.