Paradox Interactive announces Europa Universalis: Rome an installment in the Europa Universalis strategy series set in the heyday of the Roman Empire, which was (perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not) also the setting of Heart of Empire: Rome, a strategy/management game that was cancelled by Paradox early this year (story). Here's the announcement:

New York, USA (October 1, 2007) – Leading grand strategy publisher Paradox Interactive announced today their next title in development. Their critically acclaimed development team, behind successful franchises like Europa Universalis and Hearts of Iron, is currently busy working on Europa Universalis: Rome.

"A truly challenging strategy game portraying the Roman Era has yet to be released and we believe strategy gamers have been kept waiting for long enough, said Fredrik Wester, Executive Vice President for Paradox Interactive. "Our successful development team has the knowledge, skills and genre expertise to create a strong strategy game to accurately represent the Roman Era and we are more than excited to introduce this game to the strategy gaming community. "

Europa Universalis: Rome will cover the time period from the first Punic War to the start of the true Empire. Players will have thousand of gameplay choices ranging from country, culture, provincial and character options to name but a few, making each and every game infinitely customizable and truly unique.

"Europa Universalis: Rome combines the best of the Empire Building, Conquest and Warfare genres, wrapped into a title that contains all main characteristics of a typical Paradox Interactive game", said Johan Andersson, Director of Development. "This project has the potential to become the most talked about grand strategy game to date."

Europa Universalis: Rome is schedule for a worldwide release during Q2, 2008.