By Alec Meer on May 19th, 2010 at 12:21 am.
Well, if only. Legions of squeaky-voiced footballers showing their crass tattoos to each other and trying to force their (allegedly) botoxed faces into threatening scowls… Someone mod that for me. Please. What is happening is that the Creative Assembly, best known for making splendid strategy games with colons in the title, are trying their hand at making a sports game. Back of the net…
Or rather returning to making sports games, as some of their earliest work was porting EA sports titles to the PC. It’s worth observing it’s their Australian studio handling it rather than the main UK unit. That arm of the company has the awful misfire Stormrise to its name (whose creative lead has since, ah, parted ways with CA), as a well as a divisive DS port of the old Sonic games, so it’s perhaps too soon to start hoping CA will revolutionise sports games in the way they did RTS, with Shogun: Total War wayback when.
Hopefully it’s a big and serious project, however, with the full weight of CA’s experience brought to bear. If you consider yourself to be a lead gameplay programmer and live/fancy living in Australia, you could even apply to work on it.
I close, of course, with a suggestion that you all speculate wildly as to what this ‘next-gen sports title’ might be. Do bear in mind CA are owned by Sega, though.
19/05/2010 at 00:25 a.nye.123 says:
Sega? I smell tennis.
Wimbledon: Total War?
19/05/2010 at 00:31 Flakfizer says:
The AI won’t know how to do a proper pitch invasion….
19/05/2010 at 00:52 Collic says:
hahaha. excellent ! :D
19/05/2010 at 09:01 Alexander Norris says:
Never mind the pitch invasion; the AI won’t know how football works and refuse to leave the pitch when the match is over unless you hand over your expensive trophy wife and sports car as payment.
19/05/2010 at 00:33 Oak says:
As long as they have the monk from Medieval II do commentary, I’ll be there.
19/05/2010 at 00:46 Magrippinho says:
I guess that a companion piece to (Sega-owned/SI-developped) Football Manager, that would allow you to play the matches controlling the players yourself, is the safe bet here.
I don’t really like the concept myself, but it would certainly make good money, fuss-free.
A more interesting idea that would make zero money? A game where you control the fans and play out the pub-brawls.
19/05/2010 at 01:05 Tom OBedlam says:
I’ve got a feeling their was a rubbish hooligans game a few years back…
19/05/2010 at 09:06 MultiVaC says:
That sounds awesome. I’m imagining a mixture of Condemned and Zeno Clash. But with even more crazy people than both of those games.
19/05/2010 at 10:55 Bhazor says:
Careful what you wish for
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igIz0aNd-Xk&feature=related
19/05/2010 at 01:04 Barman1942 says:
I wish they would make a Shogun 2: Total War instead.
19/05/2010 at 01:06 Barman1942 says:
Also, the intro image to this news post makes me want to reinstall STW. Such a classic game.
19/05/2010 at 03:39 Real Horrorshow says:
Chances are one of CA’s B-team studios is making this, like CA Australia. There’s no way CA UK is not working on something TW related at this very moment.
19/05/2010 at 03:40 Real Horrorshow says:
After reading the article instead of skimming it, I see that I’m right.
P.S. ETW was a great game *runs away*
19/05/2010 at 01:30 Peter Radiator Full Pig says:
Crash and burn, CA. Never shall i purchase off you again after Empire.
Though i would enjoy seeing some of the titles in the shop;
Golf Total-War.
19/05/2010 at 01:51 Harv says:
Aussie Rules Football?
19/05/2010 at 02:13 12kill4 says:
Given CA’s experience with things ancient and historical, I expect Creative Assembly’s Total Lawn Bowls to be a real smash hit with the elderly gaming scene…
19/05/2010 at 02:16 bill says:
Ah! I just reinstalled Shogun last night. My disks are in another country, and nowhere will sell it to me legally. But luckily a work around was found.
So far, apart from headache inducing flashing in some of the menus, it all seems to be working out ok. (touch wood).
This game is still awesome… though i forgot how much the battles devolved into big cries of “Bundle!!”.
19/05/2010 at 02:27 Pijama says:
The FA: Total War
and first expansion being
The Netherlands: Total Football
19/05/2010 at 02:58 Mad Doc MacRae says:
There used to be a meaningful difference between the Aussie and UK CA teams but I don’t think it’s fair to the Aussies to be so down on them after the UK team made Empire.
19/05/2010 at 03:42 Real Horrorshow says:
Then the U.K. team made NTW.
Down with the Aussie studio.
19/05/2010 at 17:44 Mad Doc MacRae says:
How’s that mod support – er, DLC uniforms treating you?
19/05/2010 at 04:12 Sceptrum says:
Maybe they will try another Rugby game…after all next year is Rugby World Cup so SEGA might want a game for that and don’t think EA has any rights.
19/05/2010 at 05:46 Fumarole says:
Man, seeing that image really got my hopes up. Another Total War set in Asia would be very welcome. Hell, I’d settle for Shogun showing up on Good Old Games.
19/05/2010 at 06:52 DMcCool says:
as a well as a divisive DS port of the old Sonic games,
Divisive is my favourite journalistic adjective. In review-speak it translates roughly to “shit”. Though I’m sure Mr Meer is using it in its proper sense here, it is funny to see how often the word is used by reviewers trying to seem impartial when writing about something they have a low opinion of, or have only heard of through a last-minute wikipedia browse.
I might start using it in casual conversation “How was the club?” “Divisive.” Will it work in a drum&bass style reverse, as compliment? “Those are some divisive tunes mate!” Only time will tell.
19/05/2010 at 07:39 RUN msdos.exe -DMC says:
Manchester: Total Footballin’ Y’all.
19/05/2010 at 08:09 Brulleks says:
It’s got to be a strategy game about bidding for the World Cup, surely.
Organising stadiums, political machinations, making sure the President of your FA doesn’t go making himself look a total arse. That sort of thing.
19/05/2010 at 08:58 archonsod says:
Total Yachting. Now with sea based racing!
19/05/2010 at 09:15 Ian says:
Somebody make a good rugby game.
Anybody?
19/05/2010 at 09:31 Choca says:
In the offices of SEGA France, there is a blackboard with fake ideas on it left as a joke for visiting journalists.
The last time I went there, the board had a Dinosaur : Total War on it (amongst other funny stuff like aSonic vs. Masterchief planned for the Xbox 720, plans for a Dreamcast 1.5 and so on).
Made me wish it wasn’t a joke.
19/05/2010 at 09:43 Griddle Octopus says:
Cromwell: Total Warts – after all, they’ve really not done the English Civil War justice.
19/05/2010 at 10:32 Lobotomy Lobster says:
A new Shogun would be back of the net, football not so much
19/05/2010 at 10:55 drewski says:
It’s a casual compilation style game, from what I’ve read elsewhere. Mario and Sonic Play Obscure British Empire Sports Nobody Else Has Heard Of, perhaps.
19/05/2010 at 11:06 JoeDuck says:
A sports game by CA?
Easy…
Starcraft: Total War
19/05/2010 at 11:15 Dan says:
Big Game Hunter: Total Boar
19/05/2010 at 11:26 jeremypeel says:
Heheh, puns within puns, like russian dolls…
Russian Dolls: Total Score?
19/05/2010 at 11:22 Manfromtheweb says:
Hear hear!
19/05/2010 at 12:12 Manfromtheweb says:
Damn the reply-button. The above was meant to be a comment on what Oak had to say:
Oak says: May 19, 2010 at 12:33 am
As long as they have the monk from Medieval II do commentary, I’ll be there.
19/05/2010 at 11:27 Jimbo says:
Sega Soccer Slam MMO? That would actually be awesome.
19/05/2010 at 17:33 Zwebbie says:
It’ll be interesting to see how CA’s multi-tiered release policy works; they mentioned with Empire that they’d keep supporting the game, by adding such things as naval invasions, balance, and code stable enough to last for twelve minutes without crashing. That’s dedication!
So, say they’ll make a football game. How many patches will it be until they patch in a ball? And a referee?
(If you’re wondering, I did indeed not like Empire)
19/05/2010 at 19:54 DMJ says:
I’ve been holding off on commenting because I expected someone else to say this first:
He must have a foot like a traction engine!
Also, I failed Captcha 3 times. I think that officially makes me a non-sentient life form.