Empire: 2009

[Templar Knight]

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=146984

hmm

[anders]

CA taking their time isnt a bad thing.

maybe we can have a thoroughly eveloped game without the most infuriating bugs.

[Martok]

Interesting.

If it's true, then I consider it to be good news. I agree with anders that CA taking longer to polish ETW before releasing it is a positive step. Heck, I personally wouldn't mind if the game didn't come out til fall 2009, but I know that's probably hoping for too much.

[rajpoot]

I don't have the patience. This is not right. They had said fall 2008. This is cheating.

[edyzmedieval]

No no no no. I want it as far as possible. For me summer 2009 is fine, as then, HOPEFULLY, we will get an excellent game.

[PBI]

Yes. Take as long as you need to get it right. BC will keep me warm till then.

P.S. Did anyone else find the website brought their computer grinding to a standstill?

[Elmar Bijlsma]

Then again... remember the year long delay of RTW? To polish things further and make it more user friendly, we we're told. What we ended up with was not at all polished and potentially cool features weren't included in case the unwashed masses would get confused and tactical combat directly aimed at the Ritalin crowd. Oh yay, what good that particular delay did. In my book that delay was when Total War stopped being a wargame-lite and became a RTS of sorts. Yeech!

What I'm trying to say is that until we hear more about this delay it might mean anything. I mean, ETW could be completely FUBAR-ed, hence the delay. It might become the new Duke Nukem even. At this time all we can say about the delay for sure is that we're going to be getting it later then we thought.

Not a parade I can't rain on.

[Mailman653]

If its true, it's not that bad of news. Yeah having it by this holiday season would of been fun, but at the same time, they won't rush the game that might be half working just to meet the holiday season deadline, I think its a good thing that it might be a Q1 09 release, it just means the publishers aren't going to be rideing the developers backs to get this game out before the holidays.

[Rhyfelwyr]

There was a typo, it said 2019.

Anyway, I'm glad they are not rushing it. It gives me more time for my backward blitzing of the TW series.

[Aztec Warrior]

I's definately a good thing they're giving themselves more time. In the end this will (hopefully) mean a better quality game.

[The Blind Samurai]

Well i have to be a little more skeptic,Its only from one source so it may not be true . Iam hoping it will take longer but it could be released in 2008 i mean you never know do you until you get it from the horses mouth . but until then iam going to play age of Conan till ETW comes out whenever that is

[Martok]

Yeah, I have my doubts about Empire being pushed back as well. If the game's release date really has been delayed -- and I hope it is -- it would be the first time in the series' history. Every single TW title so far has always been released around autumn, so this would be a fairly radical departure.

I guess we can really only wait and see if CA/Sega makes an official announcement elsewhere....

[Templar Knight]

However It hasn't been denied.

[The Blind Samurai]

true too true but who knows

[Husar]

Read on a german page that Sega announced the delay.

[Polemists]

yes, most Sega fan sites are saying same thing, Sega just realized a list of release dates and Empire is slated for 2009

Here you go,

http://www.seganerds.com/2008/06/06/...pcoming-games/

It's early 2009 but still.

Is this really that shocking? Honestly I'd be more shocked if any developer managed to release a game ahead of schedule or on time.

Plus with the lack of information and lack of a actual empire website, i'd say this sounds right.

Guess you can just come back in Dec, since I doubt CA is going to release anything beyond interviews, wallpapers and screenshots till then.

[Martok]

Is this really that shocking? Honestly I'd be more shocked if any developer managed to release a game ahead of schedule or on time.

Yes, actually it is that shocking. With the exception of a 1-month delay of STW's Warlord Edition/Mongol Invasion expansion, CA almost never pushes back release dates by any significant lengths of time. In fact, they've had a tendency the last few years to release games around the scheduled launch date, regardless of whether said game is truly ready for release or not (hence why Rome & M2TW were both so buggy when they first came out).

So given all that, yes I am (pleasantly) surprised that Empire is actually being delayed.

[CBR]

Things must be really bad if they are gonna break the tradition of a release/year heh. Or maybe Sega is not interested in another RTW beta farce


CBR

[PBI]

That's what we have to hope, I think, that they've realised how annoyed people were by the bugs in M2TW and RTW and this time have decided releasing a finished product is more important than meeting a release date. The alternative is that they have been overambitious in their aims for Empire and as a result it is a horrendous mess of code which will be nowhere close to even being RTW finished by November.

I hope it's the former.

[pevergreen]

I hope they have a close beta and they invite me

[Puzz3D]

Every single TW title so far has always been released around autumn, so this would be a fairly radical departure.

STW was released in June 2000. It was delayed over 6 months.

[Nobunaga]

this is good news... the longer the game is released the more time CA have to "polish"/"balance" the game... hope that ETW will be better than the last 2 releases....

[Elmar Bijlsma]

Yes, actually it is that shocking. With the exception of a 1-month delay of STW's Warlord Edition/Mongol Invasion expansion, CA almost never pushes back release dates by any significant lengths of time. In fact, they've had a tendency the last few years to release games around the scheduled launch date, regardless of whether said game is truly ready for release or not (hence why Rome & M2TW were both so buggy when they first came out).

So given all that, yes I am (pleasantly) surprised that Empire is actually being delayed.

Rome TW was delayed for a full year, for all the good that delay did us. And that is exactly why I'm weary of labelling this as good news. If they are already aware at this point that it won't be in shape to be released prior to the holiday season then I would argue it's suffering from more then a few minor niggles. And 3-4 months of programming time always go by quicker then one would think.

[Sgt. Harper]

that article makes me sad... well kinda but now i will have an extra while to save to buy a new pc that will run it, and then there's christmas as well :)

though on the sega site it still said november though...
obviously they havnt updated that section yet though right?

[pevergreen]

It has been officially announced here.

Pending Lock/Merge.