Ahh summertime...the biggest concern for many of us now is whether there will be enough sun on the beach or what ice cold drink to order while sitting on a terrace at a coffee shop or café. But during the free and easy days of summer, game developers are slaving away to bring you what they hope will be the holiday buying season's blockbuster title. Developers get nailed to their desks by the feet and beaten by motivators paid by the publishers to ensure that deadlines are kept and the stream of lovely screenshots keep on coming to grace the preview pages of publications all over the world.

Not many games get released during the summer and few major releases are seen until at least September. But come fall and winter there is a deluge, and there are more desirable games to buy than we have time and money to play. So then best to take a look at some of the best of this year's bumper crop to see what they have to offer and earmark our top picks to bring us through the dark winter days.

Age Of Empires III

Expected Release: Winter 2005

Developers Ensemble of Age of Empires and Age of Mythology fame are well known for their ability to push the envelope in terms of Real Time Strategy design, but it will be Age of Empires III that will mark their greatest push of all to date.

They have taken their highly successful 2D top-down style of game and stuck it into a glorious, fully 3D engine. Their ambition? To lead the charge of the RTS genre to overtake the first person shooter as the graphics defining medium of the industry.

Graphics are not the only place that they are pushing forward with either. There is now an off-map "Home City" that can be accessed via the interface to invest points accrued during the course of overseas conquests in order to improve overall performance. For example, invest in better technologies or in a more efficient economy and the rewards will be reaped throughout your empire.

Indeed, "Empire" is a key concept in AoE III , with the game moving forward from the medieval era that AoE II focused on to the colonial gunpowder era of roughly 1500 - 1850, with the player taking the role of a European power attempting to grab its share of the New World.

Combat will be a mix of bayonet and cannon, with the balancing of different unit types being key to making combat successful. Physics will also play a major part in the game now and when entering a battle you will have to think strategically rather than simply "Build 50 of these guys, 20 of those guys and go kick some ass."

Diplomacy and trade will also play a part and, for example, players can make alliances with the Native Americans and explore for rare and valuable resources contained everywhere from the plains of North America to the depths of the Amazon basin.

Age of Empires III promises a new setting, a new set of challenges and a new combat model, all brought to life through a stunning graphics engine that will give

Doom III a run for its money. The future of RTS's is bright, and AoE III is leading the charge.