The and have confirmed this morning that a beta test for Empire: will kick-off very soon, December 7th to be precise.

The sign-up page is live now, the test set to begin on Monday, while the trial itself will allow two players to either co-operate or compete on campaign maps.

"After over 6 months of internal testing, we're happy to finally give all players of Empire: Total War a taste of the future of Total War," enthuses creative director Mike Simpson.

"Information and user feedback gathered from this Open should help us getting the Campaign Multiplayer mode ready to be a regular feature in upcoming titles in the Total War series."

By Luke Guttridge