If you follow us on Twitter or Facebook you'll know we've been hinting about a new Rome video for a while now. Well, it's finally out and you can watch it here. In the video, Britt, Rick and I discuss the origins of the Hegemony series, why we chose Rome for the new game and some of the new features you'll see. We're hoping to do a few more of these in the coming months so let us know what you think and if there are topics you'd like us to cover.

And for those who missed the Strategy Informer interview last week, we've now got the accompanying screenshots up on our site plus a couple new ones.

So you may have heard that SOPA was shot down on Monday. Well, unfortunately, it's coming back next month, and the US Senate has also introduced the Protect IP Act, which is virtually identical to SOPA.

There's already a sea of information on why this legislation is bad for the Internet, so I'm not going to write a long opinion piece here. Instead, I'll just make a handful of salient points. Continued →

I recently had the chance to talk about Hegemony Rome with the guys over at Strategy Informer. The interview went live today along with a few exclusive new screenshots so head on over and check it out. And to quote myself from the article:

"There's no question that gameplay comes first, but our goal has always been to make games rather than simulations, so it's never been just about adding more and more mechanics. Our ideal is to focus on the critical decisions that define warfare in the period and, if the reviews are correct, I think we managed to pull this off pretty well in the first two games."

With the end of the holidays fast approaching, we wanted to make sure that nobody missed out on the great sale we have right now! In case you haven't heard, Hegemony Gold is only $9.99, but act soon, because the sale ends on January 1st at 11:59 PM EST!

Also, don't forget to sign up for our newsletter so you don't miss out on any of these great deals. Don't worry, we won't spam you; we only send newsletters every month or two. And as always, be sure to follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook.

From Longbow Games, we hope everybody had a wonderful holiday, and we look forward to sharing lots of information about Hegemony Rome in the new year! See you all in 2012!

Happy holidays from everyone at Longbow Games! We're celebrating by offering Hegemony Gold for only $9.99. That's 67% off the regular price! So whether you have a friend who loves strategy games, or you've been waiting for an excuse to buy something for yourself, be sure to take advantage of this great offer before it's too late!

In other news, you may notice that we've updated our Hegemony Rome page with more details and all the screenshots we've released so far. We're currently working on a developer commentary video, so be sure to check our Facebook page for some behind-the-scenes photos.

It's a busy news day here at Longbow. To followup on Rick's interview with RTS Guru we're excited to finally have the first official screenshots of Hegemony Rome.

The sampling we've got today shows off some of the variety in the terrain from the curving Seine river to the marshlands of the Thames and the dark forests of Germania that the Romans's called the Silva Nigra. If you look closely you can also see some of the new details like the legionnaires on the walls of the Roman city in southern Gaul.

This is just small preview today. We've been trying to fit some PR time into our dev schedule so stay tuned for more screenshots, videos and interviews in the comings weeks and months. Continued →

Check out this great interview with Rick over at RTS Guru. Rick's got his designer/writer hat on and discusses what makes Hegemony unique and how the series continues to evolve in the upcoming Hegemony Rome. Here's an excerpt:

"It’s really incredible how much more detail there is in the environments now. As you explore the world you’ll find that each area has a distinct look and feel, as we’ve made different buildings for each faction. We’ve even made unique models for landmarks, so you’ll be able to discover the White Cliffs of Dover, or Stonehenge."

So we all came into the office today, dressed in our Halloween costumes of course (click the photo to embiggen), and we were met with a pleasant surprise: Hegemony: Philip of Macedon is currently the daily deal on Steam. Until 12 PM EST you can get it for 66% off.

In a serendipitous coincidence, we also have a deal here! Enter the coupon code 'ROME' and get 25% off anything on this site, from DX-Ball 2 to the Hegemony Gold upgrade. Combined with the Steam sale, that's the perfect way to get Hegemony Gold at a great price!

The ROME code expires November 1st at 11:59 PM EST, which gives you just over a day to take advantage of it. We announced the deal nearly a week ago to our newsletter subscribers, so if you'd like to be the first to know about deals like this, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter.

We're here at New York Comic Con and we're excited to announce our next game: Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar. The new game is all about Caesar's conquest of Gaul, where Rome's most famous citizen first made a real name for himself. Check out the webpage, the teaser trailer, and don't forget to sign up for our newsletter, follow our Tweets, and like us on Facebook.

And for anybody in the New York area, come visit New York Comic Con and visit our booth in the centre hall, booth #1847. We've got a great deal on Hegemony Gold, we're giving away buttons, and we're selling Hegemony Rome shirts.

Here's a few features from the new game to whet your apettite:

* New Larger Map that covers a million square miles from the shores of Britain to the beaches of the Mediterranean. The new graphics engine renders this territory in amazing detail, using SpeedTree technology to capture the wild lands of Gaul, with foreboding forests and mighty rivers.
* Build Your Empire with new buildings including the famous Roman camps, forts and bridges – the feats of engineering that made Roman ingenuity as powerful a tool of conquest as Roman steel. Wood is added as a crucial resource in your economy; without it, your invasion will come to a speedy conclusion.
* Promote Your Legions as they gain experience and valuable skills, upgrading each unit with the talents they need to perform the tasks that the proconsul demands of them. Appoint governors from your followers to watch over cities and introduce Roman rule to a new province.
* Starve Your Enemies with new improvements to Hegemony's already celebrated logistics model. Protect your supply lines and plan sieges in a way that weakens any enemy foolish enough to depend only on city walls for victory.

With a special surprise announcement just around the corner, we wanted to release the updates we've been working on for Hegemony Gold. The game has been pretty stable for quite a while now, so most of these changes are either minor, or fixes to rare bugs. To update, just download the demo from the Hegemony page and install it over your existing copy, and that's it! No patching or re-entering your serial code or anything.

Full details after the jump. Continued →