the-creative-assembly posts

Many gamers who bought Total War Shogun 2 when it first game out one month ago were disappointed that the long awaited RTS game didn't come with DirectX 11 graphics support out of the box. At the time the game's developer The Creative Assembly announced that a patch would add DirectX 11 support in two to four weeks after the game's launch.

That deadline has come and gone without the patch being released but now a new message from the developer on the game's official message boards says not to worry. The DirectX 11 patch is now due for release sometime in the first week of May.

[Via Blue's News]

Two big games head to stores and via download this week and they couldn't be more different; one is a first person shooter with a near-future bent while the other takes us back several hundred years to a time of samurai.

Homefront: THQ has been promoting the heck out of this first person shooter from developer Kaos Studios as its entry into the genre made popular by the Call of Duty series. The premise: It's the near future and the United States is suffering from a full scale invasion by North Korea. Digital Extremes developed the PC port with a lot of PC specific features and enhancements.

Total War Shogun 2 is only a couple of days away from its release but you may want to check out the latest trailer for the historical RTS game anyway. This time the development team at The Creative Assembly gives us some of the options when a player wants to start a multiplayer match.

The video goes over the basics of customizing your player avatar, looking at the campaign map, starting a multiplayer match, picking your units and then finally going into battle in feudal Japan with your online opponent. If you win you can unlock new units, increase your army's skills and more for the next match up

Total War Shogun 2 has been promoted as a game that would take advantage of DirectX 11 graphical features. That will still be the case for the latest historical RTS game from The Creative Assembly. Unfortunately, according to a Eurogamer news story, the DirectX 11 support won't be ready when the game is released on March 15.

According to a rep from the developer, "We just wanted a couple more weeks to tweak the performance on various difference cards." The DirectX 11 support will be added to Total War Shogun 2 in a patch that should be released two to four weeks after the full game is released. Even without the DirectX 11 features, the Creative Assembly rep states, "The game still looks absolutely stunning at top end. There are no resolution restrictions. It looks fabulous. It'll be absolutely playable. All of the features are in there."

Team Fortress 2 continues to offer new in-game items that serve as cross over promos for other games. In this newest case, the multiplayer shooter from Valve is offering no less than eight in-game items for the game's various characters based on Sega's upcoming historical RTS game Total War Shogun 2.

Made by community member "LaroLaro" the eight Team Fortress 2 items can be acquired by pre-ordering Total War: Shogun 2 via Steam. Team Fortress 2 players can also choose to purchase the items in the Mann Co. in-game store or you can just play the game and hope for some lucky item drops.

In related news, from now until 1 pm Eastern time today you can get Empire Total War on Steam for $7.50. You can also get the new Total War Collection Bundle, which has five games in the RTS series (Rome: Total War Gold, Medieval 2 Total War, Empire Total War, Napoleon Total War Imperial Edition and Total War: Shogun 2) for just $64.99, a 50 percent discount.

Total War Shogun 2 is one of a few PC exclusive games that are due out in March. Ahead of the historical RTS game's release, publisher Sega have released the first two videos in a series featuring several of the team members from developer The Creative Assembly discussing the game series.

In fact the first two videos are not really about Total War Shogun 2 at all. Instead the team members discuss some of the previous RTS games The Creative Assembly has made and released over the years in the Total War series. The second trailer, which you can see after the jump, continues to look back at Empire Total War along with some thoughts on the series in general. Total War Shogun is due out on March 15.

Download the Total War Shogun 2 Developers Diary 1 at Big Download
Download the Total War Shogun 2 Developers Diary 2 at Big Download

A few weeks before its due out in stores, a playable demo of Total War: Shogun 2 is now available for download via Steam. The demo gives folks a quick slice of the upcoming historical RTS game from the development team at UK-based The Creative Assembly and publisher Sega.

The demo will allow folks to play "epic land battles and on Total War: Shogun 2's gorgeous new campaign map." It should keep folks busy before the full game ships out to stores and via download on March 15. While you are downloading the demo check out our recent hands-on impresssions of the game based on playing a late beta build.

Total War Shogun 2 is about a month away from its release but on February 22 the general public will be able to check out a demo of the historical strategy game sequel. Publisher Sega announced today that the demo will be released via Steam on February 22.

Details on what the demo will contain are slim although the official press release states that the demo from developer The Creative Assembly will let players check out "epic land battles and on Total War: Shogun 2's gorgeous new campaign map." The final and full version of the game will be released on March 15.

We are just a couple of months away from the release of Total War Shogun 2 but that doesn't mean you can't prepare for the upcoming historical RTS game. PC Gamer's web site has just revealed both the minimal and recommended PPC system requirements for the game developed by The Creative Assembly. You can check out both the system specs after the jump.

Two things spring out when checking these system requirements. One is that this game will take up about 20 GB of hard drive space. The other is that for the recommended setting the game is asking for Intel' just released second generation of Core processors to get to the high end. That's the first time we have seen a new technology show up so fast in a PC game's system specs.

Over 10 years ago a UK-based developer named The Creative Assembly released Shogun: Total War. The historical RTS game was an immediate critical success and paved the way for the developer to add and expand the franchise. Subsequient titles included Rome: Total War, two entries in the Medieval: Total War series and most recently Empire Total War and Napoleon Total War.

Now the company and its owner Sega are going back to where it all started for The Creative Assembly as it returns to the era of 16th century feudal Japan for Total War: Shogun 2. Due out on March 15, the game promises to be the most graphically advanced game in the series with full support for DirectX 11 graphical features. Big Download got a chance to ask questions to The Creative Assembly about Total War Shogun 2 with answers provided to us by team member Tom Jarrett.