Total War: Shogun 2 Pre-order Bonuses Revealed

Of course, it's not enough to simply buy a video game nowadays. No, only those who pre-order their games--preferably from GameStop--are friends of video games and only they shall be rewarded with the full experience. As is the case with Total War: Shogun 2, publisher Sega has announced.

'The Historic Battle of Kawagoe' will be unlocked if you pre-order The Creative Assembly's feudal Japan strategy game from GameStop in-store or online. We're told it's a 1545 battle where the Hõjõ clan pulled off a stealthy counter-attack against the besieging Uesugi. Behold, the educational power of video games!

Pre-ordering in-store from Best Buy, however, will let you begin the game with an extra 1,000 Koku---the game's currency--to kick-start your campaign. Does 1,000 Koku let you purchase a mighty army or merely a bloke on a pony? We haven't the foggiest.

As TCA is again using some form of Steamworks for Shogun 2, odds are you'll be able to simply activate your CD key on Steam then plonk your physical copy in the bin, though please do check before you put the rubbish out for the bin men. The game's due out exclusively for PC--check out the system requirements--on March 15.