RTS

During Activision Blizzard's financial conference call. Blizzard president Mike Morhaime stated that they are currently targeting the long awaited sci-fi RTS sequel StarCraft II to release sometime in the first half of 2010. Previously Blizzard would only admit to a release of the game sometime in the 2010 time period.

While Morhaime stated during the conference call that the development team is working towards the game's beta test launch, he would not confirm any dates on when the beta will actually begin. Last June at E3 the company stated they hoped to have the beta launch during the summer but had to retract that plan when their plans to release StarCraft II changed from their previous fall 2009 date.

This trailer gives an early peek at the upcoming expansion, Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising, which will add the Chaos Space Marines as one of the playable factions. The expansion is expected to release sometime in the spring of 2010.

"In Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising you will take command of the Blood Ravens and defend the sector against the Chaos Space Marines of the Black Legion. Purge the chaos filth and hold the chapter together as traitorous forces work from within to try bring down the Blood Ravens."

Download HD Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising Trailer (21 MB)
Check out all Dawn of War II downloads

Earlier this year we reported that 1C Company's recent WWII RTS game Men of War would be getting a quick stand alone follow up game called Men of War: Red Tide. Late on Friday the game, developed by Best Way, was quietly added to Steam's line-up of games to purchase and download.

As we reported earlier this year when the game was first announced, Men of War: Red Tide has players commanding the he Soviet Marines, also known as the "Black Coats", as they fight battles during the Black Sea Campaigns of WWII. There are 23 missions and over 100 different units to control in the game. The game is priced at $24.99 and a bundle deal combining the new game with the original Men of War can be bought on Steam for just $34.99. That's a $20 savings if each game were bought separately

Saga is a free-to-play online fantasy real-time strategy game, where player command armies to battle and wield devastating spells. From today until November 13th, you will get a free bonus unit called the Ice Drake if you sign up for a new account. Sign up today and have fun!

"SAGA is the world's first collectible MMORTS. SAGA has over 100 troops types and 50 spells to collect. Build your empire by developing your main city or expand by conquering outlying terrifies. Join your friends in cooperative mode or battle solo on over a thousand quests online. Fight boss monsters for Epic Loot rewards.

The Ice Drake is a neutral unit usable by any faction. A terrible flying monstrosity immune from ground melee attacks it instills fear in the hearts of the bravest warrior.

Download the Saga Install Client (505 MB)
Sign up for a free Saga account

Developer Arcen Games recently released an all new 2.0 version of their sci-fi RTS game AI War. The game found a new audience thanks to its release via download services like Steam and Direct2Drive. Now it looks like the developer is using the game's higher profile to its atvantage as it announced AI War's first expansion pack.

Ttitled The Zenith Remnant, the game's official web site is taking pre-orders for the expansion for $12.95 and is letting anyone download their alpha and beta versions of the expansion right now for free. Only pre-orders will get access to the full and final version of the expansion which will have 80 to 100 new ships, four new map types and lots more. The final version will be released in December 2009 or January 2010.

[Via Blue's News]

Yep, that sentence is correct. The game is centered around you protecting your . . .pig . . . while also trying to capture your opponent's . . .pig. Is it just us or does this sound an awful lot like a game that Monty Python might come up with in their heads? In any case, Sacraboar (love the title too, by the way) has both single, skirmish and multiplayer modes (LAN and Internet) and will be released on November 6 via Impulse and Steam. You can pre-order the game now for 25 percent off its planned $19.99 price and get instant access to the game's beta test.

Developer Unknown Worlds has been working for some time on Natural Selection 2, their upcoming sci-fi shooter with RTS elements. For those not familiar with the game the first version (Natural Selection 1) began as a Half-Life 1 mod (it celebrates the seventh anniversary of its release on Halloween). Natural Selection 2 turned into a stand alone commercial game using the Source engine developed by Valve for Half-Life 2. Over a year ago the company announced it ditching the Source engine and creating their own in-house graphics engine for their game. After showing off some concept art, character art renders and animation movies over the past several months, today the developer has finally released the first two in-game screenshots from Natural Selection 2.

Big Download decided to chat with Unknown Worlds' founder Charlie Cleveland again for the occasion as he describes what the screenshots show off as well as other aspects of the game including world that they plan to release the game's level editor in November to folks who pre-order the game.

While we wait for developer Gas Powered Games and publisher Stardock to finally release their promised two new demigod character for Demigod, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell keeps teasing us with info about the upcoming free updates. The Demon Assassin is one of those free additons and Wardell goes into detail about his powers and abilities on the Impulse web site.

Some of the powers for the Demon Assassin include the ranged Spine Attack, Demon Speed and a power where he can exchange places with another demigod. As Wardell states, "You've just capped that portal flag, you're running away. You're going to make it. No. No you're not. You're going to die. Because the demon assassin has just exchanged places with you and now you're back at that portal and he's out in front of you." The post includes a YouTube Video of the demigod's skill tree that we have embedded above.

As we head into Halloween weekend, the PC game sales tradition will be in full effect. Retail web site GoGamer.com is doing its part with their (for once) correctly labled 48 Hour Madness event. The sale ends at 3 am Eastern time on Friday.

As they did with their last sale they are offering one game, the 2007 released sci-fi RTS game Maelstrom, for $0.00 (that translates in any language to FREE). Other games on sale this time include Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising for $29.90, Nexus: The Jupiter Incident for $7.90, Space Empires V for $6.90 and Spellforce Universe for a mere 90 cents. That's cheap. Not as cheap as $0.00 but still . . .

This minor patch for Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor updates the game to v2.601 and addresses a number of gameplay issues.

Download Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor v2.601 Patch (27 MB)
Check out all Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor downloads

The battle for the Defense of the Ancients players has begun as developer Riot Games has officially launched their online multiplayer action-RTS game League of Legends. With a development team that includes some folks who worked on the popular Warcraft III mod it should be interesting to see how this stand alone game fares.

While the game is free to play, Riot Games is also selling a $29.99 Collector's Pack via download and in retail stores that adds some extra content including 20 of the game's Champions. However they have decided to give all players access to all 40 available Champions "for a limited time". In addition owners of the Collector's Pack will get a chance to get more of an experience boost than a normal player during this launch time period.

If you like free things (and if you don't we recommend you see a doctor because you're odd) then you had better register for our latest giveaway contest. Today is the last day that you can enter to win one of five Steam download codes that we are giving out for Order of War, the recent WWII RTS game from developer Wargaming.net and publisher Square Enix.

So head over to the contest web page and enter now (if you are 18 years or older and a resident of the US and Canada, excluding Quebec of course). The deadline for entry is tonight at 11:59 Eastern time.

It's downright scary (sorry, had to be done) how many new PC game titles are scheduled for release this week. In addition to a number of original games, PC gamers can look forward to trying out the Left 4 Dead 2 demo (if they pre-ordered) and a new retail collection of all of Firefly Studios' Stronghold games:

Borderlands: Gearbox Software's sci-fi first person shooter blends elementes of an action-RPG in the mix as your characters go on quests on an alien world and deal with lots of monsters and enemies. Much has been made of the near infinite number of weapon variations that can be found in the game and the four-player co-op doesn't hurt either.

It's time for another game giveaway here at Big Download and this time we have five Steam download codes to give away for the recent WWII RTS game Order of War. The game, from developer Wargaming.net and publisher Square Enix, had a new free content update this week that enabled a number of units and a gameplay mode that were previously pre-order exclusives.

As with most of our contests, entering the giveaway is simple:

• To enter, post a comment on this contest page.
• The comment must be left before 11:59 pm Eastern Time on October 27
  
• You may enter only once.
• Five winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• The winners will be sent a Steam code that can be use to download a full copy of Order of War (valued at $39.99 each)
  
• Click Here for complete Official Rules. You must be a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec) who is 18 years or older to enter this contest.

Our thanks to the game's PR company Maverick PR for the donation of the prizes. Good luck.
Download Order of War Demo (545 MB)

They are usually quiet during the week but the retail web site GoGamer.com has come through again with their once again mis-named 48 Hour Madness sale. There's lots of PC games with major price cuts that will stay on sale until 3 am RT Tuesday.

One interesting sale is for Maelstrom, the sci-fi RTS game from developer KD-Vision and publisher Codemasters that was released in 2007. According to the site, the game is being sold for $0.00. That sounds like another term for "free" to us (although you still have to pay for shipping and handling). There's lots of other PC games that have their normal prices cut dramatically at GoGamer.com but none quite so much as Maelstrom. We hope that's not a reflection of the game itself.