Caesar IV due in 2006

Vivendi has announced Caesar IV, the latest in its line of Rome-building strategy games, released a trailer and some screenshots, and pencilled it in for release in 2006.

The city-building sim (well, "sim" is probably a strong word unless developer Tilted Mill's secretly been around for a couple of thousand years) continues where Caesar III left off, albeit with new features, and a 3D graphics engine designed specifically for the game - allowing you to zoom in and marvel at your burgeoning empire without having to guess which pixels represent what.

We're promised refinements to the city-building of Caesar III as players take on the role of an aspiring provincial governor, building and managing an ancient Roman city and its province, laying out roads, buildings and the like and keeping the citizens happy as well as fending off the barbarian hordes. Pesky barbarian hordes, always spoiling our fun. The ultimate goal, as ever, is to rise through the ranks of the empire and become Caesar.