First quarter 2009 for Colonial Marines and the return of Total War; busy start to 2009 unveiled...

SEGA Europe has today released an updated release schedule for the next few months and into 2009, which confirms that Aliens: Colonial Marines and Empire: Total War will now make an appearance during the first quarter of next year.

Set after the events of the 1986 movie, Colonial Marines returns players to the alien planet LV426 and chaos proceeds to ensue. Currently in development at Gearbox Software, the game had originally been announced for a release in 2009, before SEGA re-scheduled it for the end of this year. Colonial Marines and Empire: Total War, the latest instalment in The Creative Assembly's massively successful strategy franchise, are now expected to launch before the end of March.

Both games join Alpha Protocol and Madworld in the early months of 2009.

SEGA's line up for the rest of this year includes the likes of Yakuza 2 (which finally arrives in September), the return of Golden Axe, Beijing 2008, Space Siege, and Sonic: Unleashed - which hopefully marks a return to form for the supersonic mascot when it hit stores this November.