The Creative Assembly has been concentrating on the naval strategy aspects of their latest RTS title Empire: Total War but this week at Games Convention they will be talking more about the land battles in the game. New screenshots from publisher Sega show the first visuals from the land battles which will have thousands of units on screen at once.The game is due for release for the PC in February 2009 and for the first time the game deals with the New World (that would be us colonists) as the timeline of the game goes from 1700 to the early 1800's. While it will have the historically accurate land battles, it's the naval warfare with sailing ships that has gotten the most attention of late....

Given the name similarity to Dungeon Siege, the fantasy role-playing game created and also developed by Gas Powered Games, one would reasonably led to believe that Space Siege is a sci-fi action RPG set in space. Those people would be wrong. Space Siege is actually a survival horror game that's more closely related to isometric shooters like Shadowgrounds than action RPG's like Diablo. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the approach, but those looking for the depth of Dungeon Siege in a sci-fi setting need to seriously adjust their expectations. There are some minor RPG-like elements to the game, like modifying some of the character's stats and a skill tree, but not much else beyond them. There are no side quests, there's minimal NPC interaction, and no loot/inventory system outside of the weapons selection. Simply put, the game is a straight-up shooter than happens to look a lot like an RPG....

The latest Empire: Total War trailer uses in-game footage to demonstrate the game's unique feature. Players will be able to manage epic naval battles for the first time in a Total War game. As expected, cannons rip through enemy ships with startling detail as players build up their forces in hopes of dominating the world in the Age of Sail.Download the Empire: Total War Naval Combat Gamplay HD Trailer ( 318 MB)...

Space Siege developer Chris Taylor and other members of Gas Powered Games go in-depth on the cybernetic upgrade system and what it means to trade away bits of humanity for the power to defeat an alien menace. NPC's will treat the main character differently and players will develop their own attitudes toward the importance of staying human.Download the Space Siege Developer Diary #3 HD TrailerDownload the Space Siege HD Trailer #3...

Normally we wouldn't make a big deal about a game shipping to stores this week but this is a little bit of an exception. As we mentioned previously, publisher Sega hasn't really hyped up the release of the sci-fi action-RPG Space Siege and today, the day of the game's ship date, is no exception. Indeed Sega left the announcement of the game's release to its developer Gas Powered Games, who made it a news story on its official web site this morning. Again we are a little baffled that a game from one of the industry's biggest developers hasn't gotten as big of a PR push from its publisher. Perhaps there's some friction between Sega and Gas Powered that we are not aware of. In any case, the game should be on store shelves later this week and you can try out a demo of the title by downloading it right here at Big Download....

Despite having very little PR hype leading up to its release tomorrow, Space Siege is still a game to keep an eye on. These two developer diaries answer most outstanding questions about what Space Siege is about, particularly how it differs from Dungeon Siege. The sci-fi themed action RPG puts players in the role of Seth Walker as he makes his way through a alien-infested colony ship carrying the last of the human race. This streaming video only covers the first developer's diary.Download Space Siege HD Developer Diary #1 (451 Mb)Download Space Siege HD Developer Diary #2 (200 Mb)Download the Space Siege Demo (935 Mb)...

One of our most anticipated PC games is Space Siege, the sci-fi action-RPG from Gas Powered Games, a developer that is one of the most respected in the industry. However there now seems to be some concerns about the game; specifically the lack of promotion and hype before the game's release. By the way according to most online retailers, Space Siege should ship to stores this week.Space Siege's publisher, Sega, seems to have almost forgotten they are even handling the game's release. Yes, a demo of the title was released but there's been no "gone gold" announcement even indicating that development of the game has been completed. Even Gas Powered's fans are wondering what's going on with the promotion of the title. At the developer's official forums, one poster wrote, "With only a week to go before the launch, I amazed that there is no hype around this game. Very few people are talking about it, and the forums are all very quiet, especially the official ones. Why are staff not talking here, getting people excited?". Indeed there's been more news lately on Gas Powered's Demigod title, a game that isn't scheduled for release until February 2009....

With the release of Space Siege just around the corner Chris Taylor, Founder and CEO of Gas Powered Games, gives us an in-depth look at his approach in conceptualizing and designing the game. Although there's a great deal of emphasis on explosions and being a tough guy, it's interesting to note that there will be no straightforward difficulty settings in the game. Quite simply, if the game will be easier if players install cybernetic parts and harder if they don't. Taylor also states that he doesn't regard the game as an RPG... not exactly, anyway. He sees it more like a first-person shooter that looks like an action RPG. Check out the video and judge for yourself.Download the Space Siege Chris Taylor Interview in HD...

Given the oft-mistaken view of Electronic Arts' as one of the industry's two evil empires (with Microsoft being the other company to hold the dubious honor), many gamers and industry specialists were quite surprised when id Software named EA as the publisher for their upcoming Rage FPS. Despite the view of EA, many were surprised due to id's longstanding publication relationship with Activision, who has published a number of the independent developer's most notable titles.When asked about the publishing deal with EA during his QuakeCon 2008 keynote, id's famous lead engineer John Carmack smiled and said not too read too much into it and that, essentially, business was business. Carmack explained that id had shopped Rage to a number of publishers three different times. Each time, publishers such as Activision, EA, and Sega had been impressed and had offered high sums, but id had chosen to do more work and come back later with another pitch. Carmack noted his contentment that his company was one of the only independent studios who could afford to take such a position.After reaching a milestone dictating the game could be sufficiently shown, Carmack asked all potential bidders to come forward with their final proposals. The result: EA won, plain and simple. Carmack made a special point of noting that the publishing deal only included Rage. EA could very well be signed to publish Doom, but id will likely repeat the bidding process with that title as they did with Rage....

Patch Notes:This patch adds support for Win2k, interface fixes, reliability fixes, and French language fixes. Download the Incredible Hulk v1.1 patch (77 Mb)...

Space Siege, the sci-fi themed action role-playing game created by Chris Taylor (Supreme Commander, Dungeon Siege), has a demo ready for download. This much anticipated demo lets players shoot through the first level of the game to get a feel for the controls and the interactive environmental objects. It also lets you modify your weapons and perform a couple cybernetic upgrades to get a feel for more power as you fight back against the alien threat. Although the short-but-sweet demo doesn't show how other characters will treat you after you sacrifice your humanity for cybernetics, it's enough to get players ready for the game's full release on August 12.Download the Space Siege Demo (935 Mb)...

It looks like it won't be long before the public will get a chance to play a portion of Space Siege, the long awaited sci-fi action-RPG from developer Gas Powered Games and publisher Sega. A banner and a countdown clock on NVIDIA's NZone gaming site indicates they will debut the demo which seems to indicate a release late on Sunday or early on Monday.The game, which has your player character fighting off nasty aliens on a ship that carries the last members of the human race, is scheduled to ship to stores late in August. There's no word at the moment on what the demo will contain at this point....

The Creative Assembly's list of historical RTS games in its Total War franchise is extensive with the European middle ages, Rome, and feudal Japan. Now the developer has moved into the 18th century with its latest effort Empire: Total War as the series finally moves to the New World and those pesky American colonists.At E3 2008, we got to see a quick live game demo on Empire: Total War at Sega's meeting room that focused on the major new feature in this edition of the franchise: high sails naval warfare. If the game concentrated just on this it would still be a game we would look forward to. The fact that it will have both naval and land battles (more on land missions later) has us really excited....

Publisher SEGA has sent along another trailer, this particular one being a cinematic glimpse of developer Creative Assembly's Empire: Total War. Take a peek for yourself via the YouTube embedded trailer above, or download the HD version from your friends at Big Download.Download the HD Empire: Total War trailer from Big Download...

Publisher SEGA has released a new trailer for Creative Assembly's RTS Stormrise, offering a cinematic peek at the game's intense "vertical strategy" and other forms of combat.Download the HD Stormrise trailer from Big Download...