relic posts

Dawn of War 2: Retribution is tantalizingly close to release, and like most games, that means it's time for a cinematic trailer to get the excitement up. In this case, it's a rather disjointed trailer that flickers between the different races of the Warhammer 40k world. Our personal favorites are the Chaos and Imperial Guard, mostly for that ass-kicking commissar. There's nothing quite like a man in uniform, as the saying goes. Still, if you want something besides some eye candy to tide you over, you'd best look elsewhere.

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Company of Heroes Online continues to give its players more content even as the WWII online RTS game is scheduled to shut down operations in little over a month. This week the team at developer Relic Entertainment have added two additional maps to the game.

One of the maps is titled Carpiquet, a small two player maps that is set on an airfield. The other new map is a big eight player level titled Hedgerow Siege which is actually an update from a previously released map designed for six players. As we reported earlier this month, publisher THQ will shut down the servers on Company of Heroes Online on March 31.

Company of Heroes Online may be shutting down for good on March 31 but the development team at Relic Entertainment are still adding new content to the WWII persistant RTS game before publisher THQ pulls the plug. Late on Friday the team added two new maps to the game.

One of the new maps is titled Road to Montherme, a four player map that was created by a long time Company of Heroes mod maker Mannerheim. The other map is an eight-player battlefield named Hill 331 which is actually a modified and expanded version of a six-player map from Relic. In related news a new beta patch for the retail version of Company of Heroes has been released via Steam for beta participants. You can check out the patch notes right here.

Relic Entertainment's next big RTS game announcement "should come in August". That's the word from THQ exec Danny Bilson in a recent message on his Twitter site. Relic has been THQ's main RTS game developer and has created the Company of Heroes WWII themed series along with adapting the Warhammer 40,000 franchise with the Dawn of War series.

While Relic's next RTS game, the stand alone expansion pack Warhammer 40000 Dawn of War II Retribution, is currently in beta and will be released on March 1, THQ recently announced that it will shut down Company of Heroes Online, its persistant online RTS, on March 31. Some have speculated that Relic might be working on a third game in its acclaimed space-based Homeworld series.

THQ's decision to shut down its persistant online RTS game Company of Heroes Online will cause the publisher to take a $9.9 million charge in its latest financial numbers. As we reported on Tuesday the game from developer Relic Entertainment will shut down on March 31 in both North America and Asia. Another free-to-play game, WWE Online, will also be shut down; it was only available in Asian markets.

THQ's press release was vague on the reasons behind the shutdown of its free-to-play games, saying only that the company had "reevaluated its strategy of adapting certain Western content for free-to-play online games in Asian markets." Overall THQ's revenues for the quarter that ended on December 31, 2010 came in at $314.6 million compared to $356.7 million for the same period a year ago. The company said it had a net loss for the quarter of $14.9 million compared to a net profit of $542,000 for the same period a year ago.

The legacy of Brian Wood, the lead designer of Company of Heroes Online who died tragicaly in a car crash in September, continues to be felt by Wood's employer Relic Entertainment. This week the developer announced plans to establish the Brian Wood Memorial Game Design Internship.

The internship will give one graduate of the Vancouver Film School' Game Design Program a chance to get a four month internship at Relic, working directly with one of the developer's teams. The first internship will be awarded in February and Relic plans to offer paid internships to three graduate students each year.

Fans of the Last Stand survival-style mode that is a part of the sci-fi RTS game Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II will be happy to know that the upcoming stand alone expansion pack Dawn of War II Retribution will be adding some new content to that popular mode. PC Gamer is reporting that the mode from developer Relic and publisher THQ will add a new hero and a new map to the Last Stand mode.

The new hero is the Imperial Guard's Lord General which PC Gamer says "relies on summoned reinforcements and deployable turrets". The new level is unnamed but is described as a "volcanic-themed map" that will become a big challenge to even veteran Last Stand players. The new content will be included when Retribution is released on March 1.

The next game in the Dawn of War RTS series is due out in March but before that happens developer Relic and publisher THQ will be running it through a beta test. The publisher announced today that the multiplayer beta for Warhammer 40,0000 Dawn of War II Retribution will begin two weeks from today on January 31.

The beta will include all six playable factions in the game and will also test out the game's Steamworks features. January 31 will see the beta open for members of the press and select community members. The next day, February 1, will see the beta open up for people who have already pre-ordered the game. Finally any person who has bought any Dawn of War game via Steam will gain access to the beta on February 8.

[Via VG247.com]

The free-to-play WWII RTS game Company of Heroes Online may technically be still in open beta but the team at the game's developer Relic Entertainment are certainly treating the game as if it were officially launched. This week the game's players got a chance to check out a new map for the game.

The new two player map is called Beach Assault and as you might guess from its title it's inspired by the D-Day beach landings at Normandy. Players must try to control the beach in order to control the fuel supply as more fuel equals faster access to more powerful units in the game. The new map is now available for Reward Games and Custom Games.

Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II Retribution is still on track for its release on March 1 and today publisher THQ announced plans for both a Collector's Edition of the stand alone RTS expansion pack as well as some pre-order extras for the Relic Entertainment-developed game.

The Collector's Edition, priced at $39.99, will only be available to purchase at THQ.com's online store. It will come in an exclusive box, contain a new poster and six race art cards and all of the bonus wargear for all six playable factions in the game. The regular $29.99 edition of the game will give the player the option of pre-ordering one of the six race packs. THQ.com buyers get exclusive access to the Tyranid race pack while Steam owners have the exclusive on the Ork Race Pack. The other four race packs (Space Marine, Chaos Space Marine, Eldar and Imperial Guard) are also available to choose from. After the game is released, THQ will offer all of the race packs to purchase on Steam " for a nominal fee."