Posted by Valeriy at 20:34, 20 Mar 2006:
Heroes Fables Writing Competition!
Acheval, Ubisoft HOMM Community Manager, has just announced the official Heroes Fables Writing Competition! This competition is conducted by Ubisoft, in English, so anyone can participate freely. The winners will be published in the "Heroes Fables" story book which will be downloadable from the Ubisoft website. There are also five Heroes 5 merchandise goodie bags, which unfortunately can only be won by residents of Canada, USA and UK, but the prize of being published is open for residents of all countries. Age of Heroes Coliseum is now open for writers to post their drafts, in order to get feedback from other writers and readers, to make their story the best it can be. This strategy worked very well in the ICTC. Make sure the name of your thread starts with "HFC: ".
Just under a month to prepare your entry, so let's get to it, and good luck!
Posted by Valeriy at 21:08, 16 Mar 2006:
Heroes IV Card and Tile Game and the Mass Market
Jonathan Bjork has announced that the K-Mart stores are about to run the test distribution of Heroes 4 Card and Tile Game, and added:
It will be up to us (and the heroes communities) to show K-Mart the rabid fan-base of the Heroes of Might & Magic license. If you have a K-mart in your town, ask them next week if they are carrying the Heroes of Might and Magic IV Card and Tile Game. If they are not, ask the manager to request it from Vintage Sports Cards. The more requests they get, and the faster the product sells out of the 50 test stores, the more likely they will be to give it wide distribution in all 1450 K-marts around the country.
Posted by Valeriy at 20:39, 16 Mar 2006:
Heroes V Super Collectors Edition Revealed!
The Super Collectors Edition of Heroes of Might and Magic V has been revealed today. It features the game DVD, Ashan's world map, Heroes 5 art book, an exclusive bonus DVD (said to contain many surprises), a numbered certificate of authenticity (only 4000 copies will be released) and a purse containing a coin. There are 3999 silver coins and 1 golden coin that will win the owner a brand new PC. Everything is presented in a black chest with pictures of Godric and Agrael. You can see the pictures and find out more here. And you can pre-order it here for £39.99 (around $70 USD). The release date is said to be May 2006.
An interesting note from HOMM history: Heroes Chronicles (standalone Heroes 3 campaign series) were not very well received, but several years later, when they are no longer for sale, some of the chronicles have become extremely rare and fetch very high prices from collectors on online auctions. In this way, the collectors edition could potentially be an investment.
Posted by Valeriy at 23:54, 13 Mar 2006:
Heroes of Might and Magic 3 Town Reviews
In a discussion that took place here it was decided that the current town ratings in Age of Heroes Heroes 3 section could do with a bit of improvement. All experienced HOMM3 players were invited to write their town reviews, describing the strengths, weaknesses and specialties of each HOMM3 faction. Some excellent reviews are posted already. If you've played a good deal of HOMM3, you are most welcome to add your own review. Best submissions will be combined and posted on Age of Heroes. Here are the quick links: Castle, Rampart, Tower, Stronghold, Fortress, Conflux, Dungeon, Inferno, Necropolis.
Posted by Valeriy at 01:47, 12 Mar 2006:
Age of Heroes and Heroes Community Updates
We are currently working on redesigning the Age of Heroes site navigation system. First part of the new system, along with improved news ticker, are now integrated in the Heroes 5 section - the page headers are now much cleaner and less confusing. Upgrades will continue in the next few weeks. Thanks to Sfidanza for his superb scripting.
As for Heroes Community, the FAQ/Rules page has been updated with the new Code of Conduct, HC Messenger user guide and a few more additions and corrections. The FAQ also features articles that address conflicts, online identity and dealing with anger from a practical philosophy angle. New COC is designed to make the forum guidelines very clear, so that everyone can enjoy our friendly and informative community. It's foundation is simple - respect.
Posted by Valeriy at 11:27, 1 Mar 2006:
Our New Sponsors
It is a dilemma for many webmasters whether to go on without financial support, paying bills out of their own pocket, or to place ads on their website that pay the bills, perhaps even make a little income, and... annoy the visitors. I am no exception to strongly disliking pop-ups or banners that flash vigorously at me. At best, most ads tend to be uninteresting.
I've decided that it doesn't have to be like this on AOH and HC and started our own Advertising Network. The rules are simple: only one ad per page, no pop-ups, no flashing or annoying banners, and most importantly, only selected quality advertisements about games. And we are making a good start. The latest advertisement launched today offers a free trial on one of the best space MMORPGs in the world, which has graphics that must be seen to be believed.
Part of the funds generated by the network is being set aside for prizes in our future contests, and of course for rewards to the site's biggest contributors. Your support is essential to get this going: as you browse AOH and HC, view the banners on top of the page and click the ones that interest you.