IGN Entertainment has announced it has formed an agreement with SEGA to distribute the Total War series online, including "Medieval II: Total War" through Direct2Drive.

"SEGA is joining Direct2Drive's AAA roster of leading game publishers with titles available for digital download on D2D. The list, which also includes Atari, Activision, Ubisoft, Blizzard Entertainment, Eidos, Electronic Arts, Namco, NCsoft, Sony Online Entertainment, 2K Games and Vivendi Universal Games, underscores the growing investment the industry's top publishers are making in digital delivery.

Since launching in October 2004, Direct2Drive has allowed gamers to conveniently purchase and download top games directly from their desktop. Direct2Drive builds on the proven operational infrastructure of FilePlanet, IGN Entertainment's download site, and IGN's separate HitPoints program, which provides full digital game downloads as rewards to IGN and GameSpy subscribers.

Medieval II: Total War drives the Total War franchise to a new level by completely upgrading the game’s battlefield rendering system, eliminating the clone armies of the past games in the series and including a new, more realistic animation system. With over 10,000 troops now to command and hundreds of unit types, players can experience massive battles in graphically rich environments enhanced by dynamic weather effects and vastly diverse terrain. Leading armies across Europe, the Middle East, and even the Americas, players will encounter brutal real-time battles and the pure bloodlust of medieval warfare. As players progress, they will shape their empires by strategically determining whether to build castles for military power or cities for technology and trade, allowing for a greater depth of gameplay."