Finally. Sega has bestowed upon us mere mortals the release date for perhaps the most anticipated game of the year. September 3, 2013. I've already called work and told them to put me on leave for the rest of the month, cos' this is probably gonna be better than any vacation I could be going for.

As expected, with the announcement of the release date comes the slew of pre-order bonuses, as seen in the video above. This includes a free day-one DLC (boo hiss) called the Greek States Culture Pack, which adds three unique playable factions with their own units, missions and tech trees: Epirus, Athens and...Sparta?! What?! They have Sparta as a playable faction and they aren't adding that into the base game?! The crafty bastards.

Anyway, there're also 22,000 collector's editions of the game, which include various bits and bobs and a...mini catapult. For which to lay siege to the Lego castles I have somewhere in my storeroom I presume. Anyway, various distractions aside, prepare yourselves, and cancel all preparations for September. Total War is upon us.