Age of Mythology: Extended Edition launches today on Steam

It's been just over two months since Age of Mythology: Extended Edition was cheekily announced by an alpaca hand puppet during an Age of Empires 2: HD Edition developer live stream.

during an Age of Empires 2: HD Edition developer live stream. Yes, this is how classic games are brought back into the world. AoM: EE goes live on Steamtoday and brings with it the original's Titan expansion campaign, as well as a host of other tweaks and upgradesunder the hood.

Originally released in 2002 by Microsoft Studios, the real-time strategy game is set against a backdrop of ancient civilizations and the various gods and monsters that populate their worlds. The remake includes HD support and improved visuals as well as integration with Steamworks and Twitch TV, according to the developer.

As we can see above in a massive live stream Q&A videopublished by Microsoft this week, AoM: EE is set to debut an upgraded observer mode for spectating games, a feature the developer hopes will propel a competitive scene around the game.

"Observer mode for the base game was a little bare-bones," says Age of Empires community coordinator Kieffer Bryant in the video below. "Really wasn't much to it other than you could see all the different players and see the map. So we've added a lot of data to observer mode that we hope the competitive community get's excited about."

For more on how the classic strategy experience translates to 2014, keep an eye out for our upcoming review. Also check out this videofor more gameplay footage from the developer.