CVG reports: "PC Gamer UK has published an exciting, gushing review of The Creative Assembly's latest RTS, Empire: Total War. According to PCG the new instalment is "astonishing. A strategy masterwork." Well worth the 94% and rare 'Must Buy' badge they've dished out, then.

"This is the grandest, most spectacular work of strategy gaming on the PC," the mag gushes. "If you've not tackled a Total War game before, or assume that they're not for you, I challenge you to play Empire and not be impressed, or even fundamentally changed by the experience."
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Today, Valve released the Empire: Total War demo through Steam.
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Sega announced today that a demo for Empire: Total War will be released today via Steam from 4pm GMT.

You will get to play as the mighty British Empire as they do battle against the Americans in the 'Battle of Brandywine Creek' and then take on the French Navy in the 'Battle of Lagos'...
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Strategy Informer writes: "SEGA Europe today announced that the next iteration of the Total War series, Empire: Total War, will be shipped to stores in North America and Canada from 3rd March and available to buy in stores around the world from the 4th March."
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Action Trip reports: "We've just learned the minimum system requirements for Creative Assembly's upcoming PC strategy game, Empire: Total War. Check it out:"

Minimum System Requirements:
CPU: 2.6Ghz single core processor
RAM: 1GB RAM (2GB for Vista)
Graphics: a DirectX 9.0c card with 256mb RAM

Sorry, no further details at this time.

Empire: Total War hits stores shelves this March.
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Those of you looking to buy Creative Assembly's 1700s-1800s strategy game Empire: Total War might want to consider reserving a copy through Direct2Drive. The online games service is offering free copies of Rome: Total War Gold Edition to any and all pre-order customers.
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If you have been wondering what the so-called "elite" units are going to be in the Special Forces version of Empire: Total War, wonder no more. Valve's Steam service has now revealed the six special units that are included in the $69.99 version of the upcoming historical RTS game from The Creative Assembly and Sega.

Oddly enough, Steam is also offering the elite units as a separate $20 download (although you can just get the Special Forces package which adds the units automatically). What does an extra Andrew Jackson get you in the game? No phasers or jet planes, unfortunately, but you will get four different types of infantry forces along with the Ottoman Organ Gun (does it shoot out ottomans or organs?) and the big one; the HMS Victory.
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Earlier this week Big Download reported that Empire: Total War, the highly anticipated PC RTS game from The Creative Assembly and Sega, would have a slight delay in its previous February 2 release date. The new date is now for sometime in early March. However a new development in the game has been revealed and it's indirectly because of the game's delay.

On the official Total War message boards, Creative Assembly team member Mark O'Connell announced, "Significantly the additional time will also allow us to implement the underlying technology for a much desired feature (thanks to your feedback!); a multiplayer campaign mode. An opportunity to participate in the 1 versus 1 multiplayer campaign mode beta will be made available to all Empire Total War buyers post release." This will be the first time in the Total War series that a game will have any kind of multiplayer campaign mode. No other info on this new feature has been announced.
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GamingShogun writes, "Fans of the Total War series had been clamoring for Creative Assembly's next game in the series for quite some time now and hope looked to be right around the corner with Empire: Total War originally being set for a February release. These fans will have to wait one more month now, as it seems CA has pushed it back to March..."
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SEGA and Valve have announced that the latest game in the Total War series, Empire: Total War, will use Valve's suite of publishing and development tools called Steamworks. Steamworks will allow SEGA to offer matchmaking and other features for Empire: Total War through Steam's backend.
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GamingShogun writes, "Empire: Total War will now be released in a standard as well as 'Special Forces Edition'. The SFE will contain a printed map as well as some elite special forces units. There is no additional information on its contents at this time. Empire: Total War is set for release on February 3rd, 2009..."
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Creative Assembly has told Eurogamer that it would "love to do" Total War on consoles.

The developer has dabbled in console spin-offs such as Spartan: Total Warrior and Viking: Battle for Asgard in the past, but both stopped short of Total War levels of critical acclaim.

"It's something we've talked about a lot over the years, but nothing has really happened with it," said Kevin McDowell, lead artist, during a roundtable session. "We've definitely thought about it," added senior designer Jamie Ferguson.
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SEGA has today issued an updated release schedule which includes confirmation of the delayed release of two of its biggest titles for 2008. Both Aliens: Colonial Marines and Empire: Total War are now scheduled for release in Q1 2009.

Other titles of note on the release schedule include Golden Axe Riders for PS3 and Xbox 360 in September and Sonic Unleashed in November. Q1 2009 is looking very strong for SEGA, with Aliens and Empire: Total War joining Alpha Protocol and Madworld.
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Following a lackluster CES keynote, Microsoft sent out a press release this morning touting the "powerful momentum" of Games for Windows and the addition of nine new Games for Windows-branded titles including Alone in the Dark and LEGO Indiana Jones.

The full list of new GFW games includes:
¿ "Alone in the Dark" (Atari)
¿ "Bionic Commando" (Capcom)
¿ "Conflict: Denied Ops" (Eidos Interactive)
¿ "Empire: Total War" (SEGA)
¿ "LEGO Indiana Jones" (LucasArts)
¿ "Microsoft Train Simulator 2" (Microsoft Game Studios)
¿ "Sins of a Solar Empire" (Stardock)
¿ "Space Siege" (SEGA)
¿ "Tomb Raider: Underworld" (Eidos Interactive)
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Secretly in development for over a year, the next installment of the Total War franchise is set to release sometime in 2008. Its our great pleasure here at GamesRadar to reveal to you now, Empire: Total War in all its full naval combat glory. As these first screenshots suggest, Empire: Total War is set in the maritime heyday of the 18th century and the height of the British Empire. There has been no confirmation of specific factions, but the campaign map is set to spread across the seas from ... » Read More