Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

Alexander the CD

Rome expansion boxed up.

Having learned a "phenomenal amount" about digital distribution with the download-only release of Rome: Total War expansion Alexander, Creative Assembly and SEGA are now planning to pop it in a box for those of you without Internets. Rendering this news item somewhat moot, you might argue. It'll be out on September 1st.

Alexander was Rome's second expansion after Barbarian Invasion, and was also previously available as part of the Total War: Eras mega-bundle, which features all the Total War games and lots of promotional bumf about how good Medieval II: Total War is going to be. Well, it probably is.

As a game, Alexander is a fair expansion, or so we reckoned in our review. Boasting an extended campaign and multiplayer, along with historical battles, it was an opportunity to explore the path of one of the world's greatest commanders, with six battles involving the great one (even if one of them was just him sitting there picking at the tongue of his boot while daddy romped around with a spear).

And so if you haven't tried it already, and you feel the need to fill in a bit more of the pre-Medieval (see what we did) lull, September 1st is when to look for the boxed one.