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IGN's Direct2Drive site is celebrating the upcoming Fourth of July holiday with some big price cuts on selected games. From now until July 5 you can download and purchase Call of Duty 4 for just $27.95, Call of Duty World at War for just $34.95 and a Company of Heroes bundle (containing the original game and the two stand alone expansion packs) for just $34.95.

If you are a procrasinator you can wait until July 12 to get the following deals: Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for just $14.95, the Game of the Year version (containing the original game, the Knights of the Nine and the Shivering Isles expansions and all of the official DLC content) for just $17.95, and the original ArmA for $14.95. You can also get the original ArmA with its just released sequel ArmA II in a bundle for $60.

After a 24 hour delay, owners of Relic's Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II can now download the open beta update for the sci-fi RTS game via Steam. In order to access the beta, titled "There Is Only War" you first select "file" in the Steam client and then click "change" under the "beta participation" section. Then select "Dawn of War 2" and restart Steam. The beta patch should then start downloading.

You can check out the massive patch list at the game's official web site. The patch includes support for the World Builder map editor and the official web site also has a PDF file with documentation on how to map a simple map using the tool. The patch, as we have mentioned before, has also eight new multiplayer maps the new Observer feature and lots of other new features, balances changes and bug fixes. The beta period will last until July 13.

1C Company has released the first gameplay trailer from Men of War: Red Tide. This trailer shows off gameplay from the upcoming stand alone expansion pack to the WWII strategy game that was developed by Best Way. Men of War: Red Tide is scheduled to be released later this fall.

Download the Men of War: Red Tide trailer (95 MB) at Big Download

It's time for our now daily StarCraft II news post. Today we offer up something that we know will be of interest to the hardcore fans of Blizzard's upcoming sci-fi RTS sequel. Yes indeed . . .you guessed correctly. We have some visuals showing off the technology trees for all three of the game's factions (Terran, Zerg and Protoss).

Of course, these images (as supplied by the Giant Bomb web site) cannot be considered final since we haven't even entered the real beta test for the game. As such, these tech tree configurations could (and most likely will) change before the final game comes out (please, oh pretty please let it come out this year, Blizzard). Still if you want to know what you have to do to get to the Terran Battlecruiser, you now know what Blizzard is thinking at the moment.

Looks like we will have to wait another day or so before we can get our hands on the 1.4 beta patch for Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II. The patch from Relic and THQ was supposed to be made available via Steam today but a note on the game's official web site states, "We are experiencing an unforeseen technical problem and believe it will be resolved in the next 24 hours."

Just a reminder: this is an open beta for the 1.4 update to the sci-fi RTS title that will contain eight new multiplayer maps, a new Observer feature, the World Builder map editor and lots of other cool stuff.

Remember how there was a minor issue with StarCraft fans over the fact that two of the original game's voice actors would not be returning to voice those same roles for StarCraft II?

Well those folks can rest easy now as one of those voice actors, Robert Clotworthy, has confirmed with Starcraftwire.net that he will indeed return to handle the voice acting duties of Jim Raynor for Blizzard's long awaited RTS sequel. Clotworthy states, "I'm looking forward to the release of the game and I hope that StarCraft players will enjoy going into battle with Jim and following his adventures throughout the galaxy." Now those fans can go back and continue to protest the lack of Glynnis Talken's acting in the role of Sarah Kerrigan . . .oh, and that whole lack of LAN support in the game.

We've already reported that Relic and THQ are planning to release a major content update for their sci-fi RTS game Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II later this month. Today they plan to release an open beta version of the update which can be accessed via the Steam service.

The open beta for the 1.4 update, titled There Is Only War, will be made available at 2 pm PT (5 pm ET) and will include eight new multiplayer maps, the World Builder map editor, the new Observer feature and lots of other new features, balances changes and bug fixes. The patch will remain in beta until Monday, July 13. You can check out the entire patch notes at the Dawn of War II community site.

Blizzard has said that they are still targeting the release of their sci-fi RTS game StarCraft II for the end of 2009. However Gamasutra is reporting that one analyst believes there are signs that the game could be pushed back to 2010.

Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey is basing those thoughts on a comment over at Kotaku where StarCraft II's lead designer Dustin Browder stated that the beta for the game will last "four to six months" Since the beta has yet to begin that time table will make a fall/holiday 2009 release for the full game very close indeed for publisher Activision Blizzard. Because of this, Hickey claims, "We find it increasingly probably that the game will be released in [Activision's] fiscal '10 period."

Hickey even sees weakness in Blizzard's huge MMO hit World of Warcraft, saying, "We view looming competition in the West from new MMORPGs as a greater threat to WoW's future."

Earlier this month Big Huge Games was saved from being shut down by its owner THQ via a purchase by 38 Studios. However it appears that one of the developer's main co-founders, Brian Reynolds, has decided to depart Big Huge Games anyway for other interest.

Today the social web site gaming company Zynga announced that Reynolds will become their chief designer creating new games for sites like Facebook and MySpace. Prior to founding Big Huge Games, which created Rise of Nations, Reynolds was also a co-founder of Firaxis Games with Sid Meier where he was the main designer behind Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.

Folks who like to go to LAN parties or just play games on their corporate or college network may be disappointed by this bit of news. According to an IncGames story, they have supposedly confirmed with Blizzard that there are no plans to support offline LAN multiplayer in their upcoming sci-fi RTS game StarCraft II.

Details on why such a simple feature would be excluded are scarce, however, with the article quoting a Blizzard spokesperson as saying the reason "is because of the planned technology to be incorporated into Battle.net." More info on this unnamed technology is supposedly coming later but it's a shame that StarCraft II gamers will have to use Battle.net for multiplayer even if the people in the match are sitting right next to each other.

Update: Big Download got an update from Blizzard's PR folks which gives more color on their decision:

"We don't currently plan to support LAN play with StarCraft II, as we are building Battle.net to be the ideal destination for multiplayer gaming with StarCraft II and future Blizzard Entertainment games. While this was a difficult decision for us, we felt that moving away from LAN play and directing players to our upgraded Battle.net service was the best option to ensure a quality multiplayer experience with StarCraft II and safeguard against piracy. Several Battle.net features like advanced communication options, achievements, stat-tracking, and more, require players to be connected to the service, so we're encouraging everyone to use Battle.net as much as possible to get the most out of StarCraft II. We're looking forward to sharing more details about Battle.net and online functionality for StarCraft II in the near future."

Blizzard is getting ready (we hope anyway) to unleash the StarCraft II multiplayer beta test "soon" but in the meantime they recently invited a number of media folks to check out a new build of the long awaited sci-fi RTS sequel at their offices in Irvine, CA. Our sister site Joystiq made the trek and brought back some hands-on impressions.

They also got a tour of Blizzard's campus and received a new seven minute multiplayer vdeo showing off more StarCraft II gameplay. You can download the HD version of the video right here at Big Download. Newly released screenshots from the game have also been added to our gallery. Finally Joystiq has a extensive chat with StarCraft II producer Chris Sigaty.

Alas, it seems that plans to check out the game's single player campaign were cut at the last minute but there will likely be more press events to show off StarCraft II before it's planned released before the end of the year (fingers crossed).

Blizzard's annual BlizzCon event sold out quickly but if you are not one of those heading to Anaheim, CA on August 21-22 you can still get some of the feeling of the event from the confort of your office chair or couch. This week pre-orders are being taken for the live Internet streaming video for BlizzCon 2009.

The video will come from the DirecTV coverage of BlizzCon which will have 16 hours of coverage of the event for its subscribers. While DirecTV owners will get that video in HD, those of us that don't have the satillete TV service will still be able to see the event via the$39.95 Internet streaming coverage. World of Warcraft players will even get the BlizzCon in-game Murloc Marine pet when they purchase the BlizzCon streaming services.

This second Dawn of War 2 Battle Report covers the multiplayer balance changes and new units that will be included in the upcoming update. This match demonstrates a battle between the Space Marine and Ork factions, both of which will be seeing some significant changes. Changes to the Eldar and Tyranids were covered in the first Battle Report. The Dawn of War 2 single player demo can be downloaded here.

Download HD Dawn of War 2 Battle Report #2 (534 MB)
Download HD Dawn of War 2 Battle Report #1 (534 MB)
Download the Dawn of War 2 Single Player Demo (333 MB)
Check out all Dawn of War 2 downloads

As they usually do the downloadable game sites GoG.com and GamersGate are offering some price cuts on a few of their items this weekend. Over at GoG.com they have a special bundle promotion on the games Spellforce Platinum and The Guild Gold. You can get both games together for just $13.98, a 30 percent savings. If you own one of the games already you can get the other game for a $3 discount.

Over at Gamersgate they are selling all of the Unreal games for 15 percent off their normal prices. Also on sale this weekend is Sid Meier's Railroads, Sword of the Stars Complete Pack and Dark Sector. All of those titles are currently being sold for 50 percent off their normal GamersGate price.

The PC game download service Gametap continues to add classic PC game titles from Microsoft's publishing catalog. Today the site is scheduled to add Rise of Nations, the historical RTS game from developer Big Huge Games. The 2003 released title was the first game from the developer who later released a follow-up, Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends. In 2008 the company was bought by THQ but just a few weeks ago 38 Studios announced it was acquiring the studio.

Gametap will also offer the fantasy action-RPG title Sacred Gold as part of their free-to-play game tier. The title will remain free on the service for the next week..