As some of you may know, Microsoft is hosting an Age of Empires II tournament next week in Redmond, Washington. Well this tournament isn't just for chumps, they've selected the best players from around the world to come together in the chance of winning some of the $100,000 cash pot that's up for grabs (the grand prize being $50,000 of that).

So today Microsoft announced the rules that will be in effect for the tourney, so that no one can complain about it except for me, and that's really just because I'm a whiny little jerk [Ed's note: And how]. The single elimination tournament, using the Conquerors expansion, with random drawings for seeding will follow these rules:

Map Style: Standard



Standard Location: Archipelago (first round)

Arabia (quarterfinals)

Mediterranean (semi-finals)

Highland (finals)

Archipelago (first round) Arabia (quarterfinals) Mediterranean (semi-finals) Highland (finals) Resources: Low

Low Difficulty: Standard

Standard Population Limit: 200

200 Starting Age: Dark Age

Dark Age Victory Condition: Standard

Standard Map Size: Tiny

Tiny Reveal Map: Normal

Normal Game Speed: Normal

Normal Lock Teams: Enable

Enable Cheats: Disable

Disable All Tech: Disable

Disable Record Game: Enable

So there you have it. Get ready to rumble... we'll have a report on the contest after its completion.

-- IGN

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