Here's a question: How do you get a bunch of disillusioned kids in the arse end of Scotland into real time strategy games? I doubt it's a question the creators of Age of Empire 2 ever asked themselves but nonetheless, they provided a definitive answer. Now I can't help but wonder as I play through the recently released Definitive Edition, are there games that could manage similar feats? Better ones?

The 90s in Scotland was a bit...rubbish. Especially in its deprived areas (poverty fell in the late 90s but in depressing statistics according to the CPAG, it seems to be once more on the rise once again). It was difficult to be surrounded by the remains of a post-industrial nation and feel any sense of pride or hope about the future or present, never mind the past. Then along came Braveheart. It might sound dumb to credit one film (made by Hollywood with an American fielding a questionable Scottish accent in the lead role) with a surge in national pride but, well, it absolutely did cause one. Scotland's history, of outnumbered rebels fighting against English reign is easy to romanticise but it was also abstract for a load of folk. This over-the-top movie (whose historical inaccuracies are no better summed up than featuring the famed Battle of Stirling Bridge...with no bridge) made Scottish history tangible, emotional and inspiring. The fever that emerged among Scots following the film even had some English critics describing Braveheart as spreading "Anglophobia". Point is, finally there was some easy sense of identity for young folk to latch on to. I cannot overstate how much this film was watched when I was growing up.

Then four years later along comes Age of Empires 2 with a campaign about the Scottish Wars of Independence. Another American production (from the now sadly defunct Ensemble Studios), it doesn't take much to imagine that this was likely an inclusion entirely as a result of Braveheart's success (it won five Oscars, including best picture) but the effect was surprising. See, a lot of kids my age didn't have much time for video games beyond FIFA or whatever. Maybe some Tekken. Games were an occasional thing, not a hobby. See Age of Empires 2 though? You could play as the Scots. No video game lets you be Scottish. Even today if you wanna be Scottish in a video game your best hope is as a dwarven warrior in some fantasy RPG.

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Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition comes out 14th November 2019, Microsoft has announced.

The revamped strategy classic launches on the Microsoft Store, Xbox Game Pass for PC and Ultimate, and Steam.

Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition features cross-play across Steam and Windows PC, 4K resolution visuals, and all the expansions.

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Microsoft is returning to Gamescom this August to flaunt its Xbox wares once more, and would like you to know what happening this time around - including a first public hands-on of the intriguing Minecraft Dungeons and Gears of War 5's Horde Mode.

This year's Gamescom, once again being held in Cologne, will run for four days from 20th August. Microsoft, however, will be kicking things off a day early, holding a special Gamescom-themed episode of its Inside Xbox show, live from Cologne's Gloria Theatre. The latest "news, games, accessories, and features" are promised, with proceedings scheduled to begin at 4pm BST on Monday, 19th August.

Should you be interested in tuning in, you're not exactly short of options; it'll be streamed via Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Mixer, and the official Xbox website.

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The only problem with Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition is that you can already play the original Age of Empires 2. Oh and you can also already play Age of Empires 2 HD, which tidied up the original's visuals and, according to its store page, brought in "improved AI, workshop support, multiplayer, Steamworks integration and more!" So if you're anything like me, that might've made you think twice.

Thankfully, there is more to the Definitive Edition than that. Talking to Adam Isgreen, Creative Director for Age of Empires on the Microsoft side of things and Bert Beeckman, co-founder of Forgotten Empires, the studio that takes the lead on these remasters, the first thing I wanted to ask was why an HD owner would want to upgrade. There is actually a decent answer.

"Well, we sell expansions for the game as well and the expansions usually run about 10 bucks, right?" Isgreen tells me. "So, within the Definitive Edition you have a whole new expansion, basically: you've got three new campaigns, a whole bunch of new missions, you've got four new civilizations to play with as well, so right there you're pretty much already at 10 dollars into the game."

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Age of Mythology, the classics-based classic, sounds like it will get some attention from Microsoft in the not-too-distant future, although what kind of attention that might be is still a little vague.

Speaking to us out at E3 this year Adam Isgreen, Creative Director for all things Age of Empires at Microsoft, said the team would be taking a look at Age of Mythology "after we get through the Definitive Editions for the three here, and [Age of Empires] 4 is kind of rolling".

For a quick refresher on that, the original Age of Empires already has a Definitive Edition out in the wild, whilst AOE 2 and 3 both had Definitive Edition's announced back in 2017, along with the announcement of AOE 4.

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