*UPDATE* Rumor: SEGA shutting down SEGA Europe, last console game to be shown at E3

UPDATE: Community Manager at Sega of America Clumsyorchild and Studio director at Sports Interactive Miles Jacobson are tweeting that these rumors are false.

Wow. It’s that time of year; E3 is around the corner, and that means it’s time to see some  rumors. This one doesn’t sound too outrageous due to all the lay offs that happened a few months back. Not only that, SEGA Europe doesn’t have community managers. Does this mean SEGA Europe will be shutting down and that SEGA will stop making retail games? The rumor states that SEGA will focus on mobile and tablet games. It also says their last big AAA title will be announced at E3, and will be the Creative Assembly’s unannounced Alien game.

Total War Series Goes Mobile

Real time strategy series Total War will enter the mobile world with Total War Battles. The game will be handled by Total War Digital, a new Creative Assembly team. Total War Battles lead designer Renaud Charpentier says that the game “isn’t the traditional Total War you might expect, we are working on a title that is specifically tailored to the play styles and control methods of mobile platforms. We want to deliver a game that plays to the strengths of handheld RTS mechanics, and perfectly adapts to a host of different platforms.” Platforms have yet to be announced, however iOS and Android are a given. The question is, will the title also see a release to the Vita and 3DS?

Total War: Shogun 2 Buddhist rebel DLC out today

SEGA has announced the first DLC for Total War: Shogun 2. The first piece is called the “The Ikko Ikki Clan pack” and it unlocks a Buddhist rebel faction called Ikko Ikki clan for single and multiplayer.

This will add a new agent type and eight unit variants. That is not all there are also ten new retainers, new steam achievements, original skill-tree for Ikko Ikki General, new historical battle, new avatar armor sets, more to unlock.

The DLC hit Steam today for the low price of $4.99. Hit the jump to see more screens and a press release.

SEGA: UK studios are ‘the bedrock of our business’

It’s no secret that Creative Assembly and Sports Interactive are successful studios, but they still seem to surprise SEGA.

“Our UK internal studios are probably the bedrock of our business. For the second year both Sports Interactive and Creative Assembly are outperforming their business plans from a profitability perspective. These guys are on top of the game, it’s a real testimony to the games they make.” – Gary Dunn, SEGA Europe VP of production

If only SEGA could emulate this and get a few good American developers under their belt. SEGA has said they will try to focus on improving SEGA America, we will have to see what they have planned.

[Source: GoNintendo]

Total War: Shogun 2 demo coming to Steam this month


So you want to check if your PC has enough horses and power to run something like Shogun 2? Well, you will be able to test your hardware on February 22nd, because the Total War: Shogun 2 demo is coming to Steam.

If you like it, there are two pre-order specials going around. One is for Gamestop, which gives you the “The Historic Battle of Kawagoe” pack, and the other is for Best Buy. This one gets you 1,000 Koku, currency in-game. The full game comes out March 15th. Hit the jump for press release.

Total War Presentation, Series History and More

Hey Total War fans, check out this presentation detailing the history of the Total War series as well as showing off some of the newest features in Total War: Shogun 2.

It’s a very interesting watch and worth your time! I mean, did you know that originally Creative Assembly was going to make an RPG based on the Japanese myth ‘Monkey’? No? Me neither. Watch and find out more!

Total War 2: Shogun specs revealed, time to buy new hardware


SEGA’s Total War franchise is highly successful, will you need to buy new hardware for the next title? Most PC gamers won’t, but I will probably need to get at least a new graphics card. I’m a noob and use ‘on board’ graphics still. Don’t laugh!

Minimum Specs (Required for playing Total War: Shogun 2):

  • 2 GHz Intel Dual Core processor / 2.6 GHz Intel Single Core processor , or AMD equivalent (with SSE2)
  • 1GB RAM (XP), 2GB RAM (Vista / Windows7)
  • 256 MB DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics card (shader model 3)
  • 1024×768 minimum screen resolution
  • 20GB free hard disk space

Recommended Specs (Recommended for optimum game play of Total War: Shogun 2):

  • 2nd Generation Intel® Core™i5 processor (or greater), or AMD equivalent
  • 2GB RAM (XP), 4GB RAM (Vista / Windows7)
  • AMD Radeon HD 5000 and 6000 series graphics cards or equivalent DirectX 11 compatible graphics card
  • 1280×1024 minimum screen resolution
  • 20GB free hard disk space

The game is hitting stores & Steam on March 15th. If you like head slicing Samurai and shadow lurking ninjas, this game is for you.

[Source: SEGAPR]

Total War: Shogun 2 – Battle Report #2

The second ‘battle report’ from Creative Assembly and Sega.

This battle pits Kieran Brigden as the Takeda forces against a computer AI controlled Hojo as it attempts to siege and take his castle. Ingimar Gudmunsson a battle AI programmer on Total War: Shogun 2 is also present to give us a better understanding of how the enemy AI thinks. The battle is set in a crisp snowy Japanese landscape.

Who’ll win?!
I already know, I’ve just watched it.

Total War: Shogun 2 box art revealed

Above is the final box art for the upcoming Total War: Shogun 2, featuring a darker looking box art compared to the other games in the series. Doesn’t the logo remind you of the Yakuza logo?

The game is scheduled to invade our computers on March 15, 2010. Now you just decide if you want your digital or retail copy.

[Source: SEGApr]

Creative Assembly to announce new Total War at E3


We have known that Creative Assembly have been looking around for some people to do a sports title. This puzzled and made everyone ask themselves, what the creators of Total War have been up to. The studio apparently told EuroGamer it was going create a 2012 Olympic title. Not shocking I guess.

But what is more shocking is that they have e-mailed and teased that they will be at E3, with a new Total War game. They say the game is PC-only and will take the series “back to basics.”

[Source: IGN via The Forums]