“We did a lot of historical research and added as many details as possible to the units and buildings, but when push came to shove, we picked the designs that matched the original game as closely as possible…”
Can you make this available on the website or some other way?
When a parent buys a game for a child, this would add a great deal of value to the game, giving the game more educational value above its semblance of historicity.
Connecting this to other Microsoft projects, like Encarta, could help the image of the company, marketing and enhancing the experience of the game. The research is already done and paid for, make the best of it.
When I play these types of games I often (and did as a child) look up everything about the games in my spare time. Many of my friends were the same way, and our friendships flourished not only along the competitive/cooperative aspects of the game, but also the deep knowledge of real history.
I would downplay the online aspect and talk up the campaign more…a lot of parents worry about their children being in online communities or chatting with people they don’t know…but if you sell the single player campaign as a learning game it could bring in a lot of kids (like me!! I started playing AoE when I was 9)
I would start listening to the game music and bringing up little tidbits of historical information, but don’t mention the game until they ask. You have another month to mention the game.
Make sure your computer is up to spec also by trying to buy the game. Microsoft checks to be sure you have the basic requirements to run the game. It will be a harder sell if they need to buy computer hardware just to play this one game.
Like any game stress resource management. You need a roof over your head and food on the table to be able to grow. Parents can relate to that .