company-of-heroes-tales-of-valor posts

Company of Heroes Online is technically still in its "Open Beta" phase but this week the persistent online WWII RTS game from developer Relic and publisher THQ is now offering some free in-game "Loyalty Packs" for people who have purchased the previous games in the series.

The packs include "Hero Units, Army Items, experience points, and supply points" for use in Company of Heroes Online. It you own the original Company of Heroes, the Opposing Fronts and Tales of Valor expansion packs and/or the Company of Heroes Gold Edition you can plug in your retail CD Key in the "Redeem Code" box in Company of Heroes Online's in-game store to gain access to the Loyalty Packs.

As promised, the open beta test for Company of Heroes Online has now launched, giving anyone a chance to try out the free-to-play WWII-themed online RTS game from developer Relic and publisher THQ before it officially launches later this fall. You can register for an account at the game's official web site and download the game's install client right here at Big Download. People who register for the open beta by September will get some in-game extras such as a free hero unit and army item, 500 extra XP and 3,000 free supply points.

The game's producer Greg Wilson has posted up a message on the Company of Heroes Online message boards that goes into more detail on what Relic has done to develop and change the game since it was first launched in China two years ago. In related news, the original Company of Heroes RTS games are now the subject of Steam's weekend sales deal. All three titles (Company of Heroes, Opposing Fronts and Tales of Valor) have had their prices cut 75 percent from now until Monday.

Download the Company Of Heroes Online install client at Big Download

How popular are the one day sales this week on Steam? Well, one of the five games on sale on Monday, Prey, actually ran out of CD Keys (BioShock priced at $4.99 was put in its place). Today there are some more games cut down to the bone (in terms of their price) for the next 23 hours.

Like yesterday's this this new list has all but one of the games on sale for less than $10 each. The exception is King Arthur. The recently released RTS-RPG is on sale for $19.99 today. The other games are Silent Hill: The Homecoming for $9.99, Stormrise and Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor for $7.49 each, Jade Empire for $3.75 and Mr. Robot for a mere $1.99.

Direct2Drive's 24 Days of Christmas promotion is still going on and while the last two days were a little bit on the lame side in terms of deals, that's not the case for Sunday. From now until 1 pm Eastern time on Sunday you will be able to get a very nice price if you purchase and download Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor.

Yep, Relic Entertainment's latest stand alone expansion pack for their hit WWII strategy game is next on the Direct2Drive hit list. The one day price is just $7.50 for the game. That's compared to its normal price of $29.95. If you want it you better act soon as another game takes its place tomorrow.

The holidays are a time for coming together, eating way too much food, and getting in plenty of gaming action. Last week, we gave you gift recommendations for games that provide a fantastic single player experience. Now it's time to throw off those AI limitations and head into multiplayer, and we're not talking MMO's. Whether fighting cooperatively or going head-to-head against other players, 2009 has some excellent offerings that put players skills to the test.

Click on the image above to continue reading Big Download's 2009 PC Gamer Single Player Game Holiday Gift Guide.

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

When you cut the price of an already popular game by 50 percent you are certain to get a ton of extra sales. That's what happened with Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II. The sci-fi RTS game from developer Relic got a major new free update and a price cut on Steam propelling it to the top of Steam's weekly top 10 PC games sales list (in terms of revenue) for the week ending August 2.

Another Relic game, the WWII RTS title Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor, benified from its own 50 percent sale as it appears on the Steam top 10 list at number 7. The rest of the list is as follows:

1. Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II - Relic/THQ
2. Aion Collector's Edition - NCsoft
3. Left 4 Dead - Valve
4. Counter-Strike: Source - Valve
5. The Secret of Monkey Island - LucasArts
6. Killing Floor - Tripwire Interactive
7. Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor - Relic/THQ
8. Team Fortress 2 - Valve
9. The Orange Box - Valve
10. ArmA 2 - Bohemia Interactive

This patch for Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor updates the game from v2.502 to v2.6. It includes a number of bug fixes, game enhancements and a new map called Panzerkrieg: Hebecrevon. Continue reading after the jump for full patch notes.

Download Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor v2.6 Patch (45 MB)
Check out all Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor downloads

A few days ago, we reported that a new major update for Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor would include a new free multiplayer map for the WWII RTS game. Today developer Relic has released seven screenshots from that map which we have added to our gallery.

As we mentioned in our previous report, the new map will be a Panzerkrieg map, meaning it's based around tank battles. The actual name of the map is "Hébécrevon" and is described as a six-player map "featuring clusters of damaged buildings in a part of France that has seen better days." The map will come with some Panzerkrieg balance changes which will include "reducing the effectiveness of some Axis tanks and sticky bomb wielding infantry." A release date for the new patch and map has not yet been released.

Relic is staying busy supporting its two recently released RTS games. It's already released a number of new maps for its sci-fi game Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II. Now comes word that their WWII RTS title Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor is getting a new map in its next update.

While there is no release date for the next patch (2.600 for those of you keeping score) the game's official community web site has announced that the new map will be for the Panzerkrieg multiplayer mode. That means lots of new tank-on-tank action. There will also be a number of bug fixes and balance changes in the patch and Relic has promised to reveal more info before it's released.