The grand strategy game Empire: Total War ships today and should be in stores tomorrow. Among the features promised by the developers at Creative Assembly is support of playing the grand strategic campaign as a head-to-head multiplayer game. For instance, I might be France, you might be England, and we might spend a hundred virtual years tussling over worlds Old and New. Heady stuff, that.

But this isn't going to be part of the release version. Instead, it will be a patch. And based on an interview in PC Format, I'd say the multiplayer campaign is nowhere near to being ready. The interviewer raises some good questions about how the epic game might work when there are two human players thrown into the mix of squabbling nations. Creative Assembly producer Mark Sutherns mostly shrugs and says things like "we're looking into it", "we're considering it", "it might be an option", and "we won't know until later". When a developer talks in terms this vague, you can bet the idea isn't going to see the light of public availability any time soon.

So if you're an Empire: Total War fan, resign yourself for a while to playing against whatever AI Creative Assembly has managed this time.