Last summer, 24 year old James visitted The Creative Assembly’s studio has a part of a charity visit organised by Willow; a charity set up to give terminally ill a lasting experience that can help lift their spirits in difficult times.
James was digitally inserted into Total War: Rome II as a Roman soldier and he was allowed to interview key members of The Creative Assembly, play a pre-alpha build of the game and even put forward his own suggestions.
Sadly, James lost his battle with liver cancer shortly after his visit to The Creative Assembly but Total War community manager Craig Laycock was so humbled by the experience that he has said a few words on James’ behalf:
“What really struck me was how my colleagues reacted to James coming in. I was inundated with emails offering help with James’ day. The tour organised itself, as the guys around me scrambled to show James what’s going into making Rome 2.
James was remarkable on the day. His enthusiasm knew no bounds. He asked passionate questions and offered clear and concise suggestions on features for the game.
When I recently learned that James had died, it was devastating. Even though I had only spent a few hours in his company, it was absolutely devastating, because he was able to show us all here in the studio how passionate he was for our games.
And although he won’t get the chance to see Rome 2 released, he will live on in some small way in our game – and every time I see him I’ll be reminded of what a great guy he was.
In many ways, James represented what’s best about working in video games: crafting games that people enjoy and that stay with them. It’s why we all do what we do, and why we’re so passionate about it. He really brought that home to us.”
Yakuza director and chief creative officer of SEGA Toshihiro Nagoshi has sat down for a fascinating interview with Famitsu to discuss SEGA’s future, the success of Phantasy Star Online 2’s Japanese launch and the company’s purchase of Relic Entertainment.
Key points include:
– Regarding SEGA’s future; “To be honest, we still need to solidify our footing and our performance as a company, but given the frenetic cycles we deal with nowadays, if we worried solely about that right now, we wouldn’t have a stable future in three or five years.”
– Regarding the success of PSO2’s Japanese launch; “I think it comes down to the talents of the PSO2 team, and how they convinced the company to go that way. I see possibilities with F2P across the industry; it all depends on what you do with it, but it took this team to show us what we could accomplish with this property.”
– Regarding the purchase of Relic Entertainment; “Sega already has The Creative Assembly, which is great at making RTS’, and so we’re becoming one of the best in the world at this genre now. So this purchase was part of our strategy for tackling this genre as well.”
The Creative Assembly have revealed the above image through the Total War Twitter.
The image is particularly Japanese in style so could this be related to Total War: Shogun? Is a new game on its’ way or could it be DLC for Total War: Shogun 2? Only time will tell!
The Creative Assembly have put together an official Total War Wiki. You can check it out via this link: CLICK HERE
The Creative Assembly have promised a lot of exclusive content regarding Total War: Rome II through the Wiki that includes details of the factions, dev diaries and trailers. Keep an eye out!
SEGA and The Creative Assembly have announced a partnership with Games Workshop that will allow them to develop Warhammer-themed video games.
Tim Heaton, the Studio Director at The Creative Assembly said, “With this year being our 25th anniversary it seems fitting for us to embark on such a dream project with such a well-established partner. The incredibly rich and detailed Warhammer world is something we grew up with, and has left an indelible imprint on us as both designers and gamers. We’ll be doing the Warhammer universe justice in a way that has never been attempted before. We’re bringing those 25 years of experience and expertise in extremely high-scoring games to bear, delivering a Warhammer experience that videogamers will absolutely love.”
An untitled Warhammer game will now be under development by The Creative Assembly along with Total War: Rome II and an untitled Alien game. The Creative Assembly have a lot of work on their hands!
Eurogamer have uploaded the full developer session for Total War: Rome 2 on YouTube. Presented by Jamie Russell, the session takes “an entertaining look at the development of Rome 2”. Watch the session below:
Viking: Battle for Asgard is finally available on PC thanks to the porting work of Hardlight Studio. The original game launched on X-Box 360 and PS3 back in 2008 and was developed by The Creative Assembly.
The game currently costs £9.99 on the Steam Store.
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