Sega buys the Total War developer, first screens from their upcoming GC/PS2/XB game

[OB1]

How did this slip by us? http://cube.ign.com/articles/594/594654p1.html

March 9, 2005 - It's official now: SEGA Europe has purchased The Creative Assembly, the developer best known for the innovative Total War strategy series. In a statement today, SEGA of America confirmed the buy and announced that it will publish The Creative Assembly's upcoming console title Spartan: Total Warrior.



The deal is SEGA's first third-party acquisition since the veteran game company dropped its console business to focus exclusively on software development. SEGA of Europe intends to support The Creative Assembly's development of the Total War series as gaming shifts into the next generation of technology.

"This acquisition is direct evidence of SEGA delivering on its strategic objective to strengthen our emphasis on the western market," said Naoya Tsurumi, CEO of SEGA of America and SEGA Europe. "As our first developer acquisition in the west since we became a third party publisher, it clearly demonstrates that we have set our sights on working with the very best talent in the industry."

"We are delighted to have signed with SEGA, a company which we quickly realised shared our creative vision and appreciated our ambition to not only enhance stability but also position ourselves for future growth as a developer," said Tim Ansell, Founder and Managing Director of The Creative Assembly. "SEGA has an extremely impressive plan which will take shape throughout the coming years, and this is something which we were very eager to be a part of."

The Creative Assembly garnered thundering praise recently when Rome: Total War became one of the most acclaimed PC titles of 2004, and one of the most respected strategy titles yet developed. The studio's upcoming action title Spartan: Total Warrior is in development for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube, and slated for September 2005.

Founded by Tim Ansell in 1997, The Creative Assembly operates in the UK and Australia. The company established its reputation from the start with much-loved strategy titles like Medieval: Total War and Shogun: Total War.

Stay tuned for more on the team's new projects as news comes in.

Wow. I hope this is good news. Their new game "Spartan: Total Warrior" looks terrific. Here's the scoop: http://cube.ign.com/articles/594/594607p1.html

March 8, 2005 - In an announcement made late Tuesday evening, the American and European branches of SEGA revealed that the company has partnered with UK developer Creative Assembly for a brand new multiplatform title based on its award-winning Total War line of PC games. Known as Spartan: Total Warrior, the new console-exclusive title will appear on Sony's PlayStation 2, Microsoft's Xbox, and Nintendo's GameCube this coming September.



The first title developed by Creative Assembly specifically for home consoles, Total Warrior boasts an emphasis on action rather than strategy. In it, players will take control of a hero that's been thrown knee-deep into war with various armies, mythical beats, and legendary monsters, and he'll have to call upon every skill in the book in order to defeat them. The Creative Assembly and SEGA both had plenty of comments to elaborate:

"All of us at CA are delighted to be working with SEGA, who share our vision of creating genre defining games," said Tim Ansell, Managing Director of The Creative Assembly. "Spartan: Total Warrior is an original gameplay experience based upon dynamic, epic action-combat and we could find no better global partner than SEGA, who wrote the book on console gaming."

"With Spartan: Total Warrior, CA has developed a title that offers both dynamic, real-time combat sequences and epic-sized battles; a combination that has never been technically accomplished on this generation of hardware," said Scott A. Steinberg, vice president of marketing, SEGA of America. "This partnership underscores SEGA's strategy to publish more great game content designed to appeal to western gamers."

"The Creative Assembly has delivered outstanding games from day one and Spartan: Total Warrior is another quality title befitting the exceptional standards of the team," Comments Matt Woodley, Marketing Director of SEGA Europe. They've delivered an epic game-play experience and have laid the foundation for what will be another hugely successful brand."

Gameplay details are still rather slim, but SEGA has confirmed that Spartan takes place during the era of the Roman Empire with your character taking up arms against it. Once involved in battle, your alter ego will be just one of dozens of different warriors fighting each other simultaneously, while players have access to various kinds of melee and missile weapons, combos, special moves, blocks, charges, evades, and finishing maneuvers. The animation is a combination of both motion capture and hand-key, and the environments are described as "massive."

And the gorgeous screens:













Awesome. Now all they need to do is make a Samurai: Total Warrior next so that I can wet my pants. :D

You know what'd be even cooler? If they were to port over Shogun Total War to the DS. That'd be so damn cool.

[Sacred Jellybean]

*Peter Griffin voice* Uh-ohhhh!! Something's broke. I wonder if this post will show. Lemme take a screen shot, so when the board is fixed, people won't look at me like a complete lunatic. Just a partial lunatic, as they already do...

Fuck! I probably won't be able to reply. I hit "Post Reply" and the board said "OMG" and took home its glitter lipstick. :(

[Sacred Jellybean]

Whee, it's back! I never played Total War myself. The screenshots are stunning, though. How does this series normally play?

[OB1]

I know, the baord is fucking up right now. But I'm trying to fix it, so be patient. Hold your horses. All that jazz.

I had to post this topic twice. Can you see the first post now?

[OB1]

Good.

Total War is a terrific PC strategy series, but this console game with be more action-oriented. Like it says in the article.

Lazy!

[Sacred Jellybean]

Yeah, I can see it. Obviously (you must have just missed my post).

[OB1]

Just like you missed my post! PWNED!!!

[Sacred Jellybean]

I'm not gonna read about some game I don't know about!

Marketing guy: "People don't want to read about places they've never been, things they've never seen!"
Ajax: "What about the Wizard of Oz?"
Marketing guy: "I don't know what he likes to read! Ah-HAH! *slaps back* Nah, just kidding. You don't read a MOVIE, though! Stay with me on this one, bubby!"

[OB1]

Hey you missed my posts.

[Sacred Jellybean]

No I didn't, I just don't feel like replying to every one of them.

[OB1]

...

Lazy!

[lazyfatbum]

huh what?

Oh boy! This game looks awesome, I wonder if you can have a two player head to head war.

[Sacred Jellybean]

This is lazy, remember? --->

[OB1]

I meant that beanjo is being lazy. I wasn't calling out to you, Mr. Bradshaw. ;)

[A Black Falcon]

How did this slip by us?

I saw this back when the news came out, yeah... didn't bother posting it as it didn't seem important enough. :)

The Total War games are great. I've got both Shogun and Medieval. I didn't play Medieval all that much, honestly... never even finished a campaign. Not sure why, as it's a fantastic game... guess I just liked playing Warcraft III too much to play another strategy game a lot. :) I played Shogun a bit more (won a campaign once), though. Very good games, anyone who likes either real-time strategy or turn-based strategy would love them as they are both. :)

Rome, of course, is the newest one, but it's full price, doesn't run too well on my system (based on the demo), and, well, honestly I doubt I'd play it a lot more than I have Medieval and if I want Total War gameplay I can play that... Rome adds some cool stuff, but it also removes some great features. I'd recommend getting all three. :)

As for this new game, who knows. They haven't made any action games, so we'll see.

[big guy]

i wish i was a spartan.

they were hard ass

[Great Rumbler]

They had to wear skirts, though.

[OB1]

And bonnets.

[A Black Falcon]

But if you were Spartan, you'd think pants were weird, so...

[Great Rumbler]

Yeah, but we're not Spartans, we're Americans and so we think that it is weird for a man to wear a skirt [or bonnet].

[big guy]

But if you were Spartan, you'd think pants were weird, so...

i already think pants are weird.

and spartan skirts weren't any sissier than celtic kilts...and i'd like to see any one of you call a highlander (not like the show/movie) a sissy.

[OB1]

big guy is a cross-dresser!

[Great Rumbler]

*points at big guy and laughs*

[lazyfatbum]

Although, to be honest, women's underwear is more comfortable.

[Dark Jaguar]

What, you mean highlanders exist outside the movie and the series? No really, what, so the movies were actually based on an existing celtic myth about a race of immortals?

[Great Rumbler]

Highlander = One who lives in a highland, or to be more specific one who lives in the highlands of Scotland.

[A Black Falcon]

Scottish Highlanders... you've seriously never heard of them? Sad.

Kilts, bagpipes, plaid tartans... you know?

[Dark Jaguar]

Sure I have!


....

We are talking the immortals right?

No really, I am NOT familiar with Scotland or much of it's rich history or anything. I can't know EVERYTHING about all countries ya know. I just sort of nibble and pick at history, as though it were a cake.

[OB1]

What kind of cake?

[lazyfatbum]

Transvestite cake.

[Sacred Jellybean]

I would put my penis inside a transvestite cake, but only if it were straight from the oven.

[Dark Jaguar]

Plants do tend to have both "male" and "female" parts... I guess that it wouldn't be an astronomically large stretch to call cake a transvestite... Except, it's dead... It's a dead transvestite you cook in your oven.

[lazyfatbum]

You're a sick, sick woman.

[Dark Jaguar]

But I LOVE cake!

[Great Rumbler]

I like cheesecake and anyone who doesn't is a communist.

[A Black Falcon]

I don't like cheesecake. :)

[OB1]

Haha, precisely.

[Dark Jaguar]

I also don't enjoy cheesecake.

Ice cream cake on the other hand... I mean, it's like ice cream AND cake, which already go together, but they are MIXED, it's like...

*immediatly uses light speed dash to obtain iced cream cake*

[A Black Falcon]

Pie (fruit pies. Blueberry, strawberry rhubarb, apple are the best kinds.) and ice cream is better, though. :)

Or just ice cream. I really like icecream.

[Great Rumbler]

You people disgust me!

...

Wait...that means more cheesecake for me. Booyah!!

[OB1]

WOO cheeseake party!!!

But I'm lactose intolerant. :(

[OB1]

the forum is fucked up again

[Great Rumbler]

I think it's working now. It wasn't this morning though.

[OB1]

I had to fix it again.

[Great Rumbler]

Yay!