Nice theory, but all i hear is winini winini aayoyoyo :P

Sure, they say more than just wololo. But wololo is what got famous.

I also like your theory, seems legit

Well, it is a possibility, but since the original AoE did not even include Rome as a civilization, I would deem it unlikely. The second option sounds very believable.

They didn't include Rome as a civilisation but included Roman elements, such as centurions and legions.

Since Latin is by far the most well known classical language, I'd say that if they did indeed create the term "wololo" based on existing words, it was most likely Latin.


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I just found out something else. There are also the Latin words "aio", which means "I say" or "I affirm". And "io", an exclamation of happiness.

So it could be: "volo lo, aio. io! io!": "I affirm that I want him!!!!"

Looking at it that way it doesn't sound completely unbelievable, but still, no other phrases in the game seem to be inspired by existing languages, so I'll still call it a coincidence.

What about "rogan"? That could be from Latin "rogant": "they request". They is us, the players, who are about to request that the unit goes somewhere.

Other ES games seem to also have actual words too. Portuguese units in AoE3 speak Portuguese for sure, and I remember hearing Spanish villagers say "construir" (to build) in the Conquerors.

Damn, that's very interesting. Very nice theory, I'm sure it's the real origin.

Indeed interesting theory. Abadacus does sound like latin but i don't remember any lating words that is written like that. And of course all of it could be a coincidence. Also, it is funny how in post AoE/RoR the british cultures speak a very weird 'english' tho :P

According to google translate, "volo lo, aio. io! io!" in latin = "I want to speak, I said. Ho! Ho!"

I believe the actual truth is a lot less interesting and less researched. I don't know for sure. Chris R was the sound designer for AoE/RoR and his brother did the soundtrack, with the other brother helping out. He would be the person to ask if the opportunity ever arises.

Awww...oh well, thanks for your input Matt.

We can ask him right away - a friend of mine, Shadaoe, regularly e-mails with Stephen Rippy often, so it would be possible to find out.

Interesting theory, yet I can guarantee you it is incorrect. Why? Here is my story.
About 6 years ago I borrowd a stack of New Age cds from a good friend of mine, since I like to sleep listening to that kind of music. One night I was listening to what appeared some ethnic tunes (very common in such genre) and suddenly a voice started to sing Wololooooh wai akjsd (and other impossible to understand words that appeared to me were maybe in Swahili or Hindi or who knows, but DEFINITELY NOT Latin). I wasn't sure whether it was the same WOLOLO we all know but extended or just a coincidence. I played AEO just to hear the monk and match both sounds and yes. It was the same sound.
From all this I come up not with a theory but with a few conclusions, yet at the same time more questions: It is well know that most New Age music take their ethnic mumblings and hummings from previous recordings, though not all the time. If so, the AOE wololo was taken from the very same source as the one from the song, so it was not created by Ensemble studios, but sampled from somewhere else, just like it was from the song but trimmed and editted. Now the questions: What language was Wololo originally recorded in? What does it actually mean?
Here is the song from which you can hear much more than just WOLOLO.
ARTIST: MAXIMUS
SONG: WOLOLO
http://www.beatport.com/track/wololo-original-version-original-mix/3458629
Notice that the WOLOLO on Age of Empires is slowed down.
Good luck finding out yourselves!
(I registered on this forum just to post this comment)

[This message has been edited by Gorgonops (edited 03-24-2013 @ 12:50 PM).]

Priests just say hoyo hoyo, like the code says, why are you seaching strange things . :-p

Seriously, do some people really hear winini or such things ????? Maybe I've not the same audio files as you o_O

lol i know what i hear and i hate when i just hear a loud Hah-yoh! and my units get converted...it drives me crazy D: lol

Me too. Especially when I have a bunch of Armored Elephants that then start attacking my own units.

The phrase should be "Wololo" (not "winini" or something), because that's the name of Taunt30 in AOE2 & AOM, which is exactly this sound.

You can find videos in YouTube with AOE Priests and check the sound (this for example is some sort of tribute to the AOE priest ).

[This message has been edited by aoe_scout (edited 03-25-2013 @ 01:15 PM).]

wow nicely done bowman

The reason people hear "winini" or similar is probably because they are using laptop speakers or very small speakers. There is some "breath" sounds in the woolooloo file. Also, additional distortion from the low sample rate of the file and perhaps the user's sound playback can make it sound more like "weeheeehee". Boost the treble to the max and you also get this effect

I was chatting on GameRanger once, and the woolooloo topic came up - one of my GR friends couldn't work out why everyone thought it was woolooloo - I found out he played on a laptop... XD


As for the origin, how about this urban dictionary theory... http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wolo

[This message has been edited by JamikKim (edited 04-12-2013 @ 08:50 PM).]

It's funny that the developers chose the priest sounds they did, since they could have used an approximate historical language from the ancient cultures but then it wouldn't have been as funny and memorable.

Wololo - conversion sound 1
Ahyo / Ahyoyoyou - conversion sound 2
Ahohyou - healing sound = sounds like he's saying "I owe you"

I made a list of some funny Wololo stuff here for laughs.

Quoted from Dubstepfisk:

Well, it is a possibility, but since the original AoE did not even include Rome as a civilization, I would deem it unlikely. The second option sounds very believable.

i have this theory which contributes in part that ES did had thought of rome as a civilization or the foresight of making the expansion

for example compare the trial versions of aoe and ror

aoe trial contained beta elements/settings

ror trial campaigns/scenarios versions were the original aoe trial (possibly suggesting they were made using aoe beta) which is why you have to change the versions into ror or they would not work on full.

[This message has been edited by volume (edited 07-20-2013 @ 03:05 AM).]

Actually Volume the expansion was a stopgap between AoE and AoE2 and was never really planned from the start. ES didn't even know if the game would be popular enough to warrant any follow up at all when the game was first made.

The reason the expansion uses trial/beta material is because of laziness on the developer's part; all they had to do was make a new art style, a couple of new units and techs, and balance the new civs. The RoR expansion is nothing compared with other expansions for other AoE games simply because it was just a release to keep people interested in AoE before AoE2 came out.

There is evidence of devs admitting this all over the internet (and this site) if you look hard enough.

[This message has been edited by anterior2 (edited 07-19-2013 @ 08:22 PM).]

Actually, I just read the Ask Me Anything with Tony Goodman. Turns out (among other things) the first expansion WAS PLANNED! Also:



Source

Tony Goodman is like the brother of Rick Goodman or something? At least the reddit conversation(?) was an interesting read, even if it didn't answer the question. Apparently there are few people, if any, who can remember the origin of what is probably the most iconic AoE phrase of all time.

Tony Goodman was the co-founder of ES. Rick Goodman was his brother that quit to make Empire Earth.

Yeah, I only know of Rick because they put his name on the EE cover. I think they called him the lead developer of Age of Empires or something.