Blues News reports on Barbarian Invasion, an upcoming Rome: Total War expansion pack. According to PC Zone magazine, the expansion pack takes place between 364AD and 476AD during which you play as one of the Barbarian factions (Vandals, Saxons and Huns) taking revenge against the Roman Empire, or play as the Romans trying to strike down the Barbarians. Battles can now be fought during the night, and the expansion will feature a number of new units as well. According to a listing on GameStop, the expansion is due in October.

GDC 2005: SEGA Gets Creative is the headline of a news story on IGN, reporting on SEGA Sammy Holdings' announcement to shareholders that it intends to acquire The Creative Assembly. The Total War developer has offices in England and Australia, and will cost SEGA about $30 million. Here's part of SEGA's reasoning for buying the developer.

The Creative Assembly Ltd. has produced good results and has an established brand identity with the "Total War" PC series, whose titles have sold over a million throughout North America and Europe. By acquiring the shares of The Creative Assembly Ltd., Sega Sammy Group will be able to obtain competitive titles and a strong brand in the North American and European markets, in addition to expand product lines and increase sales volumes dramatically. Furthermore, we believe that we will be able to make good use of the development engines produced by The Creative Assembly Ltd. to expand future titles, as well as developing new ventures for next-generation platforms with the team.

Activision sends along a new Rome: Total War patch, which updates the Creative Assembly strategy game to v1.2. The 60mb download addresses various single- and multi-player issues, and also comes with new new developer tools (allowing you to create and script battles, and create videos). The Total War website should be updated with tutorials for these tools soon. You'll need the patch to play online.

If this listing on GameStop is to be believed, a Rome: Total War expansion pack is forthcoming. According to the listing, the untitled expansion pack will ship in October and carry a hefty $34.99 price tag. Thanks HLF.

Gamesradar has a new Rome: Total War Q&A, asking Creative Assembly's Mike Simpson about the strategy game sequel which was released several months ago. Thanks Blues.

Over at the Total War website you can grab a new Spartan unit for Rome: Total War. The "Peloponnesian-era Spartan Hoplite model" replaces the existing Spartan model so it's recommended you back up the appropriate files. Thanks Blues.

GameSpot has a Rome: Total War game guide, offering an overview of units, combat strategies, walk-throughs and cheat codes.

The first Rome: Total War patch has been released, updating Creative Assembly's latest strategy game to v1.1. The 10mb update fixes several multiplayer issues that have been plaguing the game. Thanks 3D Gamers.

Activision sends along an email confirming that Rome: Total War has shipped to North American stores, and to celebrate the release they have released three more movies from the game. On FileShack you can find the intro movies from the Scipii, Julii and Brutii; the three Roman factions.

The forums of French gaming site Esprit-str have an English language Rome: Total War Q&A. Questions are about crushed factions reappearing, use of GameSpy for multiplayer, interface customization, camera movement and mod tools.

Over at the Adrenaline Vault you can find a Rome: Total War music Q&A, asking composer Jeff van Dyck about his work on Creative Assembly's new strategy game. Rome: TW went gold yesterday and will be stores next week.

We received an Activision press release, announcing that Rome: Total War has been released to manufacturing and thus has gone gold. Creative Assembly's newest strategy game will be shipping to North American stores September 22.

Rome: Total War features groundbreaking technology that brings the epic, cinematic battles of the Roman era to life with graphics and gameplay beyond anything previously seen in a PC game. Players will be transported to the battlefields of ancient history's greatest conflicts and control mighty armies. Up to 10,000 fully polygonal, highly detailed, motion-captured warriors can appear on the screen at once. They control vast armies led by history's most legendary generals including Julius Caesar and Hannibal, and must use a combination of brains and brawn to successfully conquer the Roman Empire. For more information and regular updates on Rome: Total War visit: http://www.totalwar.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" class="external.

If you hadn't tried the demo yet, you can find that here.

GameSpy is the latest site to bust out with a hands-on Rome: Total War preview, taking another look at a preview build of the game. New screenshots are included. More previews can be found at Action Trip, FiringSquad and Gamers Hell.

GameSpot has posted a new Rome: Total War preview, taking a hands-on look at the game's single-player campaign. You can try the game yourself by downloading the demo.

There's a Rome: Total War Q&A on Games Domain today. Creative Assembly's Ian Roxburgh answers questions about teaming up with The History Channel, the game's family legacy system, attention to detail, and the balance between turn-based and real-time elements among other things.

As promised, Activision & Creative Assembly have released the Rome: Total War demo allowing you to try out the latest title in the Total War strategy game series. The 162mb download comes with a tutorial map and the Battle of Trebia mission. For more info on the game visit the website.

There's a new Rome: Total War Faction Feature on PC.IGN. This time we get a look at the Parthians units and buildings.

GameSpot has posted the fifth Rome: Total War development diary. Writer/designer Mike Brunton writes about the people and their different personalties in the game.

According to this post on Computer & Video Games a demo for Rome: Total War is just a few weeks away. The demo will put you in charge of Hannibal's army taking on Roman legionaries.

Activision has released 11 brief but high-res Rome: Total War movies, introducing the game's playable factions with ten seconds of gameplay footage. Thanks 3D Gamers.