Gaming News - January 2006

San Francisco, CA (January 20, 2006) - SEGA today announced that it will be publishing Medieval 2: Total War in 2006.

From SEGA:

The Total War franchise is unmatched in ambition and scope, receiving widespread critical acclaim and a multitude of awards across the globe while selling a staggering 3.5 million units. The fourth installment of the franchise takes the strategy genre to a whole new level with the most epic and cinematic 3D battles ever seen on PC.

Medieval 2: Total War is the latest release from the highly acclaimed developer, The Creative Assembly, an award-winning studio that made headline news when acquired by SEGA in 2005. The game boasts an impressive array of new graphical and gameplay enhancements, including the capability for a massive 10,000 dynamic characters to be taken into battle at any one time. On top of this, The Creative Assembly has implemented a fully redesigned multiplayer mode that offers a dynamic multi-battle campaign bolstered by an unprecedented level of visceral combat choreography that reflects the brutalism of medieval warfare.

"Medieval 2: Total War is the result of seven years continuous development of the Total War series and has been designed to appeal to all gamers, not just hardcore strategy fans," said Mike Simpson, Studio Director at Creative Assembly. "Each game in the series has outshone the previous one and Medieval 2: Total War is no exception."

Set in the most turbulent and bloody era in European history, Medieval 2: Total War will allow gamers to lead their armies across the battlefields of Europe and the Holy Land before discovering the Americas and doing battle with the fearsome Aztecs. The game's exciting medieval setting will bring to life the spirit of discovery and brutal warfare that characterized the era from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, when great leaders such as King Richard the Lionheart, Saladin, and Joan of Arc moved nations to war and built Europe into a power that would drive the history of the western world for the next 1000 years.

Medieval 2: Total War offers a vastly enhanced terrain model to create new graphically rich environments portraying breathtaking cliff top castles and enhanced settlement features that are unique to each civilization. Over 200 new units, greater depth in siege warfare, new weaponry and a highly detailed building damage model all combine to make Medieval 2: Total War the best version of the critically acclaimed PC strategy franchise.

Medieval 2: Total War will be charging its way onto streets in winter 2006.