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Sega has released a demo of Creative Assembley's Total War: Shogun 2 via the Steam download service.

You can queue up the download right here.

We’re very excited to announce that the demo for The Creative Assembly’s upcoming PC strategy game Total War: Shogun 2 is now available for download on Steam! You will experience a small taste of Total War's battles and Campaign game play in this demo, as you play through the Chosokabe tutorial campaign that introduces you to the feudal Japanese world of Total War: Shogun 2. Fight different types of land warfare with the tutorial battle stages and finally master the historic battle of Sekigahara, keeping in mind that all of this is just a small taste of the full Total War: Shogun 2 experience.

Sega has announced the minimum and recommended specs for Total War: Shogun 2. Can your PC handle it?

Minimum Specs (Required for playing Total War: Shogun 2):
- 2 GHz Intel Dual Core processor / 2.6 GHz Intel Single Core processor , or AMD equivalent (with SSE2)
- 1GB RAM (XP), 2GB RAM (Vista / Windows7)
- 256 MB DirectX 9.0c compatible graphics card (shader model 3)
- 1024x768 minimum screen resolution
- 20GB free hard disk space

Recommended Specs (Recommended for optimum game play of Total War: Shogun 2):
- 2nd Generation Intel® Core™i5 processor (or greater), or AMD equivalent
- 2GB RAM (XP), 4GB RAM (Vista / Windows7)
- AMD Radeon HD 5000 and 6000 series graphics cards or equivalent DirectX 11 compatible graphics card
- 1280x1024 minimum screen resolution
- 20GB free hard disk space

Sega has released a new trailer for Creative Assembly's Shogun 2: Total War - this time focussed on the game's story.

Check it out after the jump:

You know what would be really great? A Total War game where the AI didn't suck and didn't have to be fixed by the community. Five games down the line and many expansions later it seems The Creative Assembly is finally waking up to what fans think of the franchise's CPU opponents.

CA community manager Craig Laycock has described the AI as "a big thorn in our side" and promised Shogun Total War 2 will solve the prlblem.

"Mike Simpson, our creative director, has basically said, 'This game is not going out the door until the AI is perfect'," Laycock said. "In terms of Shogun 2, we’re not going to release it until it’s perfect. There’s the line-of-sight stuff we’re introducing – basically, if any of our designers are playing the game and see something stupid, it’s like everyone stops. Everyone gets around the PC to have a look at it, and see what can we do to fix it. We want to get it so there’s nothing stupid happening in the game."

Source: Gameplanet New Zealand

Sega has released seven new screenshots from Shogun: Total War, Creative Assembley's visit to the era and location that began the whole Total War series.

One wonders if CA is running out of ideas - I guess we'll know if the next game announced is Medieval: Total War III.

Check out the new shots after the jump:

This almost seems a pointless move after all the information being leaked, but today Sega and The Creative Assembly have announced Shogun 2: Total War.

Full PR after the jump.

A new Total War game will be announced at E3 and rumours suggest the series could be going back to basics.

According to VE3D:

I'm not surprised. Total War has become too big for Creative Assembly to control. Each more complex release has shown major failings in the AI. Many fans of the series have had enough - so perhaps CA is starting all over again with the hope of getting the AI right.