Rome Total War Gold Ed.

Feral Interactive (booth no. 2530) on Thursday announced it will release the Mac version of Rome: Total War Gold Edition. Due in March, SEGA’s top-rated strategy game will be released by Feral as the second in the series of Feral Legends titles: "Encompassing three centuries of warfare from the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire, Rome: Total War is regarded as one of the best strategy games ever with a seamless integration of strategic and tactical modes and featuring a 3d graphics engine that is capable of rendering over 10,000 soldiers on a single battlefield."

In the game, players take charge of one of three Roman families with the goal of increasing their family's power in Rome through diplomacy, economic skill, and war. Players can fight epic historical or fictitious battles while negotiating a century-spanning campaign across Europe and Africa.

Rome: Total War on the Mac also includes the official expansion pack, Barbarian Invasion, which is set about 300 years later: players must decide whether they will save Rome from its enemies or, at the head of a Barbarian faction, fight to destroy it.

The game will retail in North America for $30 (£20 in the UK; €25 in Europe) and is currently available for pre-order from Feral's online store. It requires a 1.8GHz Intel Mac and 512MB of RAM, as well as a 128MB graphics card, though people may be able to fall back on an integrated Intel GMA chipset.

by MacNN Staff