company-of-heroes 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.

MX vs ATV Reflex came out nearly a year ago for consoles but the off-road racing game from publisher THQ will soon be making its PC debut. Today the Steam download service offered up the title today for pre-orders. It's now due for release on November 26 and is priced at a mere $19.99. The Steam version comes with Steam achievements as well as support for the Steam Cloud game save service.

And that's not all. If you buy the game before its release date you get something a bonus. A free download copy Relic's WWII RTS game Company of Heroes is yours with your MX vs ATV Reflex order, a $9.99 value.

While technically the game is still in open beta, the persistent online WWII RTS game Company of Heroes Online is already prepping up some new content for the game. Developer Relic Entertainment has detailed what will be in the next big update called Operation Menace.

The update will have some balance changes for both the American and the Wehrmacht armies. The American faction will have an "Exhaustion" period of 10 second for their units if those units use its Fire-Up or Sprint abilities. There's also been a bug that has been fixed that made some vehicles invulnerable to attacks if they got down to 5 percent health.

Technically, Company of Heroes Online is still in its open beta phase but the online persistent WWII RTS game from developer Relic and publisher THQ is moving into a new phase. This week players can now access the game's online store where they can purchase in-game items like hero or army units with real world cash. You can also purchase experience bonuses in order to level up your commander faster. The prices are $10 for 1,000 in-game cash, $15 for 1,500 cash or $20 for 2,000 cash. You can still purchase in-game items via Supply levels which is generated simply by playing online matches.

In related news, Company of Heroes Online won't be doing any more character purges from now on. That means you can keep your character, in-game cash and experience from now through the game's official launch later this year.

If you are really into game music soundtracks then be prepared to get a flood of new music albums. Well known game music publisher Sumthing Else Music Works has announced an agreement to publish game soundtracks from past and current game titles from publisher THQ.

The agreement covers both CD and digital releases of the game soundtracks. Sumthing Else will release the music behind past THQ games such as Company of Heroes, Darksiders, Red Faction Guerrila, and Frontlines: Fuel of War. The agreement will also cover upcoming THQ game releases such as Red Faction Armageddon and Homefront.

With all of the excitement behind today's release of Civilization V, you can easily miss some mid-week PC game sales that appeared today. Over at Direct2Drive they have two games that have price cuts from now until 1 pm Eastern time on Wednesday. One is The Sims 3 World Adventures expansion pack for just $14.95. The other is the gold edition of Company of Heroes for a mere $7.50.

Over at Steam, they have their mid-week madness sale from now until Thursday the puzzle game Droplitz is on sale for a mere $2. That's an 80 percent cut from the game's normal price.

Despite the tragedy surrounding the death of Brian Wood (our condolences to his family), work on Company of Heroes Online chugs forward. This newest trailer shows off the three Axis commander choices. There's Defense, which grabs and holds territories with clear defensive bonuses; Blitzkrieg, which pushes forward and wrecks enemies with powerful armor and lightning-speed attacks; and Terror, which focuses on artillery bombardment and causing chaos in the ranks. All are present in the original Company of Heroes, so we are unsurprised to see them here. Our favorite of all the choices? Defense, mainly for the beastly fun Flak 88.

Download HD Company of Heroes Online 'Axis' Trailer
Check out all Company of Heroes Online downloads

Just one day after Company of Heroes Online went into open beta, the lead designer of the Relic-developed free-to-play RTS title died in a car crash in the Seattle area on Friday that also killed two other people, according to online media stories. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer web site reports that 33-year old Brian R. Wood was driving a Toyota Subaru when reportedly a Chevy Blazer crossed the center line and collided with his car near Oak Harbor, Washington.

Wood reportedly died at the scene. His wife Erin, who is six months pregnant, survived and was hospitalized, according to the report. Two other people in the Blazer were thrown from the car and were also killed. Police may charge the driver and the other surviving Blazer passenger with vehicular homicide, according to the report.

Wood worked as a designer for previous games in Relic's Company of Heroes RTS series before moving on to be the lead designer for Company of Heroes Online. As of the time of this post, Relic has yet to make an official statement about Wood's death. We certainly express out deepest sympathies and condolences to his wife, family and co-workers at Relic.

[Via Relic News. Image via Machinima.com]

The latest game in the Worms series has become a big hit for developer Team17. The latest top 10 PC game sales list on Steam shows that Worms: Reloaded, the 2D turn-based strategy game, is on top this week. Team17 recently announced that it was abandoning retail game releases to concentrate on self-publishing games via digital download.

Mafia 2, the open world action game from publisher 2K Games, is at the number two spot this week, followed by the Company of Heroes Complete Pack Bundle at number three, thanks to a weekend 75 percent sale. The full list is below:

1. Worms Reloaded - Team17
2. Mafia II - 2K Czeck/2K Games
3. Company of Heroes Complete Pack - Relic/THQ
4. Battlefield Bad Company 2 - Digital Illusions/EA
5. Civilization V - Firaxis Games/2K Games
6. Mount and Blade Warband - Taleworlds/Paradox Interactive
7. Mafia II Digital Deluxe Edition - 2K Czeck/2K Game
8. Modern Warfare 2 - Infinity Ward/Activision
9. R.U.S.E - Eugen Systems/Ubisoft
10. Left 4 Dead 2 - Valve

It's time for two more PC games to get their prices sliced in Direct2Drive's latest daily sale. This time the games in question both come from THQ's Relic Entertainment. Two of Relic's acclaimed RTS games are now on sale until Monday.

One is Relic's WWII-themed title Company of Heroes. You can grab from Direct2Drive for just $4.95. The other is a more recent game, Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II. That game is on sale for $14.95, a 50 percent price difference. Don't forget that Direct2Drive also has a selection of PC games on sale for just $6 each until Wednesday.