11-03-2005 07:35									#1
	RIP Total War ??? Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

Bad news for Total War fans, or so it would seem. Is this the end of the Total War series? According to Gamespot:

quote: Sega conquers The Creative Assembly Console-centric Japanese publisher scoops up Rome: Total War developer The Creative Assembly; plans next-gen development. At last year's E3, Sega stunned many by announcing it would copublish the massively multiplayer role-playing game the Matrix Online. As surprising as that was, today's news from the publisher positively floored the PC gaming world. This morning, the newly formed Sega Sammy Group filed papers sealing its acquisition of UK-based developer The Creative Assembly. The news arrived at the same time the two companies made public an agreement to develop and publish the new action game Spartan: Total Warrior. While Sega's minimalist press release only had the bare-bones financial transaction information required by British law, its significance was large for PC gamers. The buyout means that the traditionally console-centric Sega is now owner of the creator of the Total War series, including GameSpot Game of the Year 2004 nominee Rome: Total War. Indeed, the revelation that Spartan: Total Warrior would be a current-generation console game shows that the Creative Assembly's energies are already being redirected away from the PC market. So what was the reason behind the purchase? The filing laid bare Sega Sammy's plans for Creative Assembly. "By acquiring the shares of The Creative Assembly Ltd., Sega Sammy Group will be able to obtain competitive titles and a strong brand in the North American and European markets, in addition to expand product lines and increase sales volumes dramatically," it read. "Furthermore, we believe that we will be able to make good use of the development engines produced by The Creative Assembly Ltd. to expand future titles, as well as developing new ventures for next-generation platforms with the team." The filing also contained portends of a possible developer acquisition spree by Sega Sammy. "The markets of the consumer business, which Sega Sammy Group regards as one of its core businesses, have expanded rapidly in North America and Europe, while the Japanese market has seen sluggish growth," it read. "Hence, for our business development in the future, the North American and European markets have been growing in importance. Under these circumstances, Sega Sammy Group is promoting the concentration of its management resources on growth areas in its consumer business, relocation of its development resources for better productivity and unification of its development and marketing strategies." The news is especially shocking given the Creative Assembly's long-standing relationship with Activision. The Los Angeles-based company had published all the Total War games since 2002, including Medieval: Total War, its Viking Invasion expansion, and Rome: Total War. Given Activision's habit of acquiring the developers of its more successful games (like Infinity Ward), it was widely assumed that it would purchase The Creative Assembly if anyone did. Representatives for Activision had not returned requests for comment as of press time.

	11-03-2005 08:35									#2
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

Goddamn... Consoles... Sometimes I just fkin hate it.

	11-03-2005 09:02									#3
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

I don't hate consoles, I own one. But I certainly hope it's not the end for the Total War series. Maybe Creative Assembly are just taking a break.

	11-03-2005 09:17									#4
	Got spare money?

quote: the new action game Spartan: Total Warrior

Really, the company seems to have a knack for strategy games, why should they venture outside their own turf? Action games are a dime in a dozen already. Sigh. And the name - it makes me think of "Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance".

	11-03-2005 09:40									#5
	Full PM-box? Change here!

quote: Originally posted by Trajanus Goddamn... Consoles... Sometimes I just fkin hate it.

	11-03-2005 10:49									#6
	Put an end to popups!

Oh ****.

	11-03-2005 11:44									#7
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

Man, consoles are evil, I always said that.

to the acquisition.

	11-03-2005 17:37									#8
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

quote: [A]ction game Spartan: Total Warrior

This is getting stupid.
Whatever next?

Milan: Total Wardrobe?
Anticoagulant: Total Warfarin?
Lemmy: Total Warts?
Kyoto: Global Warming?

	11-03-2005 19:33									#9
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

I wouldn't be *too* worried, after all, Sports Interactive hooked up with Sega and they still continued to develop Football Manager. In any case it was past time that someone bought the Creative Assembly.

	11-03-2005 19:46									#10
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

Chill out ladies, why would Sega buy a development team and them kill it's most succesful franchise?

Sure they'll be some crappy 'Total' action games, but I'll bet we havn't seen the last of the 'Total War' series.

	11-03-2005 19:58									#11
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

PC gaming is superior to consoles in most aspects IMHO. And where is that mouse and keyboard on them I might ask?

	11-03-2005 23:51									#12
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

quote: Chill out ladies, why would Sega buy a development team and them kill it's most succesful franchise? Sure they'll be some crappy 'Total' action games, but I'll bet we havn't seen the last of the 'Total War' series.

You're probably right. Maybe the people at Creative Assembly are just taking a Total War break. After that, they'll probably do an expansion pack for Rome: Total War.

	12-03-2005 00:42									#13
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I think Total War is still here to stay.

	12-03-2005 01:57									#14
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They're still working on their next total war.

	12-03-2005 03:09									#15
	Increase Your PM Length

quote: Originally posted by Kassiopeia Really, the company seems to have a knack for strategy games, why should they venture outside their own turf? Action games are a dime in a dozen already. Sigh. And the name - it makes me think of "Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance".

yeah, and no real BG3 - though ive hear from time to time that BG3 is on the way - others say BG2 wrapped up the story, IIUC. That shouldnt be true for TW - so I dont see why they cant do a lite version for console, and a another sequel for PC.

	12-03-2005 09:24									#16
	Remove this text

No big loss, Total War isn't all that hot anyway.

	12-03-2005 15:27									#17
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* DrSpike shoots UR.

How about we keep TW and ditch UR?

	12-03-2005 19:28									#18
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I agree with Urban Ranger. Total War is boring.

	12-03-2005 20:52									#19
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quote: Originally posted by DrSpike * DrSpike shoots UR. How about we keep TW and ditch UR?

You can keep Total War. You can even keep my copy

	14-03-2005 02:59									#20
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

* Sava slaps UR with a trout...

Rome: Total War is probably one of the top 3 games ever created.

	14-03-2005 04:26									#21
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

I have to disagree with that just on principle. Not only can you not judge a single game in one genre against games in a totally different genre (by any measurable thing anyway) but R:TW is probably not in the top three in its own genre ...

(Just look at the PCGamer top 50 list if you want to know more about my complaint in the first half of that paragraph ... )

	15-03-2005 00:42									#22
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

quote: Originally posted by Sava * Sava slaps UR with a trout... Rome: Total War is probably one of the top 3 games ever created.

It has to go 'gold' first. As far as I'm concerned it's still a beta version. Whether the completed game is that good remains to be seen. MTW:VI is a better game than RTW.

	15-03-2005 23:15									#23
	Increase the size of your Attachments

People dissing RTW need to check out the Rome: Total Realism mod. It makes the game what it should have been in the first place. There's also a First Triumvirate mod in the works to start the game at a different date - I'll just leave it at that.

http://www.rometotalrealism.com

Then again I might be biased for reasons you'll see if you visit the forums there.

	16-03-2005 00:20									#24
	Suffering from ads?

Presumably it makes it more like STW.

	19-03-2005 01:06									#25
	Inflate your Upload Space

well i'm 20 turns from finishing the Viking invasion expansion scenario.

Wales has ruled the roost for over 150 years now, enforceing a peace between the picts to the north and the Irish to the west.

The vikings cant get past my armadas, but i was sad to find out i couldn't take the fight to the vikings and deal with the source of the problem.

Still King Conan III will see the final chapter as the normans invade in 1066

These series of games are too good to go away for good. We might wander in the console wilderness of action/rpg TW games for a while, but they still have much to perfect on the real strategy versions of the game imho.

Also the i think i would rather Sega handle the TW future rather than EA for example

	20-03-2005 08:11									#26
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quote: Originally posted by Urban Ranger No big loss, Total War isn't all that hot anyway.

Total War Add-onU R's TW Trout Slap

I have to agree with UR its a good game but not a CIV or even an AOE but nothing that special that we should miss it if it goes

Of course many folks whom visit here are sheeple

this was meant as humor

	21-03-2005 01:36									#27
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re: Spencer, snoopy

well some people recognize good games...

judging from the amount of people that play games like EQ and WoW, I'm in the minority of people that can recognize good games.

	02-04-2005 06:05									#28
	Suffering from ads?

Well this Total realism mod does seem to have some nice extras. Provinces are smaller now, more cities to loot

Though that damn Pyrrhus in southern Italy kicks my arse. I mean c'mon I don't have any troops to counter his elephants! I deliberately sent 3 units of velites, 3 units of triarii and a unit of principes at his elephants to try to stop him at least.... Still his elephants alone killed 1000 of my troops without losing a single elephant!! arf


That's not very realistic. In fact elephants were never that powerful. They were deployed to scare enemy cavalry mainly, and as most Roman units very quite mobile they could easily let the elephants charge passed their ranks without any harm!

Also, the skins of the units have been changed a bit... Still it's not all really correct is it... Velites all having wolveskins on their heads is not really true is it!
I haven't played much yet of course, but the Roman legions are really quite weak now compared to say greek phalanx-type units. That's okay, but you should have given the roman units an other advantage such as more flexible movement or something, because after all that's what they were good at.

PS: Good music tunes in that mod!

	02-04-2005 22:02									#29
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

quote: Originally posted by Trajanus edit..... Also, the skins of the units have been changed a bit... Still it's not all really correct is it... Velites all having wolveskins on their heads is not really true is it! edit.... PS: Good music tunes in that mod!

Well this is the problem of going heavy on the graphics, its much more work(most of the programming effort) to get the graphical balance/realism right. You cant hide things as well as you can on little sprite soldiers And your comments on all the wolfhead guys was also something i thought when looking at the screen shots for Rome TW. I know the romans were known for uniformaty, but thats taking it a bit far

Lets just hope these games are not going away anytime soon - Rome TW remains the only reason i'd currently consider upgrading my PC.

	03-04-2005 08:28									#30
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

The First Triumvirate mod is out...

Starts the game at 58 BC letting you play Pompey, Caesar or Crassus. It does require RTR v5.4 to play.

Check it out here:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index.php?showforum=76