real-time strategy
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Keeping your eyes open in the cold of Company of Heroes 2
After navigating a troubled road alongside former owner and publisher THQ, developer Relic Entertainment has found a new home for its library of titles with Sega. Though shifting to a new company with different policies and directives could hurt a studio's progress, a recent mission playthrough at E3 tells us that Company of Heroes 2 has not suffered in the transition. Last December, Relic previewed the seasonal combat on show in the multiplayer mode (which has been in open beta for most of June), its E3 demo for Company of Heroes 2 focused on a single-player mission, one based on the historic Battle of Leningrad between the Russians and Germans in World War 2. In addition to Relic's RTS design expertise in action, the mission had a new technology on display: a feature known as "TrueSight." Using this new system, darkened areas of a map only become visible based on the realistic line of sight a soldier has on the battlefield, with terrain and objects able to obstruct their views to the dangers that lie in wait.%Gallery-191374%
Command & Conquer being developed 'as a live service'
Victory Games' Command & Conquer, built on EA and DICE's Frostbite engine, is launching as a free-to-play game later this year through Origin. Tim Morten, development director, says that while Command & Conquer will require an internet connection, it makes for a more nimble game that can be updated far more frequently than a traditional retail product. With SimCity still fresh on everyone's mind, I asked Morten about the choice to take the online path. "First thing to know is this is not only a multiplayer game – we do offer skirmish so that people can practice up. I think with SimCity, a lot of people had an expectation to play solo. Many people are going to come to us to play multiplayer so we came from the mentality of, 'How do we the make multiplayer experience as good as we can make it?' The answer to that question is: we try to get rid of as much cheating as we can, and we try to get rid of as many problems with other peoples' lag impacting your own game."%Gallery-191297%
StarCraft Universe prologue goes live on Battle.net
It's been quite a while since we heard anything about ambitious StarCraft II mod StarCraft Universe, which endeavored to turn the real-time-strategy titan into a full-fledged MMO. Well, it turns out that today the creators of the mod have launched the game's single-player prologue, which has been designed to introduce players to the story and teach them how to play. For those of you wondering why a mod aiming to recreate the MMO experience is launching with only single-player content, the devs state in the YouTube description of the game's trailer that they "need to release this project slowly to ensure all of [the] core systems work properly." So in a way, this could be thought of StarCraft Universe's open beta where players can play around and help the developers iron out the kinks before the multiplayer content launches. To get a look at this ambitious mod in action, skip on past the cut to check out the game's latest trailer. If you wanna go straight to playing it yourself, though, all you have to do is search for "Universe" in StarCraft II's arcade.
5 things Blizzard has done I thought they'd never do
Transmogrification. That's the first and biggest thing Blizzard did that I thought they would never do, frankly. I not only never believed they'd do it, I didn't want them to do it. I argued against it. And now it's probably my favorite part of the game, bar none. It turns out I absolutely love playing dress up with orcs. And while transmog is my number one choice for this list, it is by far not the only surprise Blizzard has given me over the years. So what else surprised me? What else did they do that I didn't see coming? To be honest, there are so many that narrowing it down to five is a bit hard for me. I never expected playable pandaren, for one thing. That's not going on the list, but it did surprise me. I'm going to do five aside from transmog, because I natter on about that one a lot.
Free for All: Preparing for battle in Alliance Warfare
As I have pointed out before and will likely point out again, the MMORTS represents one of the most common genres in MMOs today -- and one of the worst ones for repetitive design. If you've played one MMORTS, you haven't played them all, but you've played pretty damn near to them all. I love the genre luckily so I am able to wade through literally scores of these games in the hopes of finding those rare gems that make me think that the genre is still very valuable. There are a lot of reasons the MMORTS is so common, number one being ease of delivery. After all, the gameplay in an MMORTS is more MMO-like than most MMOs out there, thanks to layers of persistence. Creating a series of barely animated images has to be much easier than creating an entire 3-D world; surely that has something to do with the spread of the genre. I played yet another one over the last several days, this time Alliance Warfare. Is it different? Does it just simply repeat the same designs and mechanics from every other MMORTS? Well, yes and no.
Age of Empires Online ceases content development
What you see right now in Age of Empires Online is what you'll get... forever. Microsoft Studios announced that it's ceasing any further development on the title effective immediately due to finances. The studio will release a "small amount of content" in the near future, but following that, the game's features and civilizations will be set in stone as it moves into a support phase. That doesn't mean the game's getting cancelled, however. The announcement emphatically states that Age of Empires Online will continue to operate as is, will have future community events, and it is not "dying." The move from development to support was explained as follows: "Creating top-tier content, as we have been for the last year and a half, is very expensive -- too expensive to maintain for long, as it turns out. We can no longer afford to keep creating it. Age of Empires Online already has a very large amount of high-quality, hand-crafted entertainment, and adding more is no longer cost-effective."
Braving the elements in Company of Heroes 2
There's a panicked struggle at the heart of every engagement in Company of Heroes 2's multiplayer mode. While a lot of real-time strategy games will emphasize squad matchups as a primary means of success in force, Company of Heroes 2 has a much more dynamic environment constantly providing interesting variables to every skirmish.Much of my own success was ensuring my squads were pressed up against a wall or moving from building to building – staying out of the open. Most real-time strategy enthusiasts and really anyone who's seen a war movie in their life will tell you that's basic stuff, but what makes it feel so special in Company of Heroes 2 is just how rewarding it is to see it impact gameplay. A squad with good cover can take on several adversaries and still live to tell the tale.%Gallery-173116%
Company of Heroes movie trailer traps soldiers behind enemy lines
The last time THQ got involved in the movie business, things didn't turn out so well for the associated game. But we have faith all will be good in the adaptation of real-time strategy series Company of Heroes. This first trailer has it all: Nazis, explosions and Tom Sizemore squinting at stuff.
Planetary Annihilation, a new RTS Uber wants to get Kickstarted
Super Monday Night Combat developer Uber Entertainment is looking to branch out from its free-to-play MOBA game and create a real-time strategy title called Planetary Annihilation. Of course Uber is using Kickstarter to finance the $900,000 cost of the game, but they're also taking donations directly through its Planetary Annihilation website.Planetary Annihilation aims to do just that: present "Total Annihilation-inspired gameplay on a planetary scale." Players will wage galactic war and conquer entire solar systems, or games can be scaled back to take place on a single planet. Like other RTS games, Planetary Annihilation will allow players to create their own maps – in this case, their own planets and systems – which players will be able to publish and share to the community.Multiplayer skirmishes can have anywhere between two and 40 participants. And to handle the load of these intense skirmishes, Planetary Annihilation will employ a client-server model to handle the lion's share of work running multiplayer matches, so that real-time multiplayer won't be bogged down by those with lesser-quality rigs.
Age of Empires Online adding new civilization and booster pack next week
The Babylonians are joining Age of Empires Online. In a recent interview, Gas Powered Games revealed that both this industrious new pro civilization and a new booster pack, Fertile Crescent, will be added to the game on August 16th to coincide with the game's one-year anniversary. The Babylonians bring with them new ways to build, protect, and conquer, from mobile storehouses called Ox Carts to The Siege Tower (think Trojan horse) to shield bearers. Additionally, the Babylonians can build out of wood instead of stone. The land of Mesopotamia also opens up the game with the Fertile Crescent booster pack. This area has level-scaling repeatable quests for the level 20 to 40 crowd. Lead designer Brian Frick noted that this type of scaling content is the direction the company is going in the future. He added, "We just want to have more of our content be fun for all levels to play." Both the new Babylon pro civ and the booster pack will be purchased using Empire Points, the in-game currency; Babylon will cost 900 EP, and the Fertile Crescent will cost 450 EP. You can read more details in the full interview.
SRK contest produces a 26-button Starcraft II arcade controller, probably won't stop Zerg rushes (video)
Almost as a dare, Shoryuken (SRK) challenged its fans to produce a fighting game-style controller for Starcraft II. Mauricio Romano took them up on that contest and won with a surprisingly polished arcade stick of his own. Its cornerstone is a heavily modified Ultrastik joystick that's turned into an on-controller, two-button mouse. You didn't think a PC gamer would cling to a plain joystick, did you? In the process, the usual 101 keys of a typical keyboard have been pared down to a set of 26 buttons most relevant for Blizzard's real-time strategy epic. Packaged up in a single, polished USB peripheral, the one-off prototype's design is good enough to imagine a Major League Gaming pro taking it out on the road. We'd put that idea on ice for now, though: as Mauricio shows in the video below, the learning curve is steep enough that most players won't be fending off diamond-league marine and zergling blitzes anytime soon.
Total War: Rome 2 trailer is full of murder and intrigue, light on strategy
Have the folks at The Creative Assembly been studying up on Spartacus?
Company of Heroes 2 wants to remind you of World War 2's Russian casualties
War is hell, and it never changes, as we've been repeatedly told by video games. Company of Heroes 2, however, isn't about a fictional future proxy war or some such – it's about the Russian front during World War 2. It's about firing on your own soldiers who were terrified enough to retreat. It's about being handed ammo without a gun because there isn't enough money to afford the luxury of both guns and ammunition, and being told to grab a gun from one of your fallen comrades when you get a chance.In case it weren't clear, the trailer above for Company of Heroes 2 attempts to elucidate that reality – a reality you'll be carefully navigating come next year when the game launches on PC.%Gallery-159400%
Age of Empires Online adopts a truly free business model
Last month, the Age of Empires Online developers announced an aim to take the game away from its "free-to-try" business model and move to truly free. With the latest update, the real-time strategy game will not only convert to a truly free-to-play model but also offer new content to players in the form of Alliance Wars (a team-based competition for level-40 players) along with new purchasable vanity items and consumables. In the move to make all premium content available through gameplay, the game's currency -- Empire Points -- can now be earned through conventional play or purchased through Steam. Chris Taylor, founder and CEO of Gas Powered Games, explains, "With Empire Points and this true free-to-play business model, we are giving players what they have repeatedly asked for... fewer pay walls and more ways for players to experience this legendary franchise." As the game transitions to this new model, all current players will receive a gift of 500 Empire Points automatically, while new accounts will receive 100. Current players who had Empire Points previously will see them converted into in-game coin. [Source: Gas Powered Games press release]
End of Nations E3 trailer gets play-by-play treatment
Trion's MMO real-time strategy game End of Nations got a new E3 trailer loaded with in-game battles and voice-over commentary. The free-to-play game will go through a "PvP preview" period this summer, and is slated to launch this fall.
Daily iPad App: Total War Battles brings big-time RTS to iOS
I first saw Total War Battles (now out on the iPad and iPhone) at GDC earlier this year, and walked away excited about its potential. The Creative Assembly has been making phenomenal Total War games for the PC for years, with deep, intelligent war strategy across several time periods. Now Creative Assembly faces the challenge of bringing an involved, deep strategy game meant for a mouse and keyboard to iOS. Their answer is Total War Battles. It's been streamlined a lot, but all of the elements of real-time strategy combat are still there. You build bases, hire units, and lead them forward onto a (very compressed, hex-based) battlefield. What Creative Assembly actually came up with is somewhat similar to the popular Legendary Wars, but I think it's a bit cleaner and nicer than that one. That's not surprising, given how experienced Creative Assembly already was at making great games. Aside from the hex battle maps, there's a ten-hour long, story-based campaign to play through, and as Creative Assembly told me at GDC, the basic storyline is fairly easy, meant for more casual players. More difficult maps are available to those who want a challenge. Total War Battles also offers local multiplayer. You can face off against an opponent 1v1 on the same iPad screen. It's not quite as deep as the core game, but it is kind of a wacky take on strategy that's worth a try. Total War Battles is US$6.99, and despite its quality, I'm pretty sure that Creative Assembly won't get nearly the audience they're hoping to at that price. Still, it's a great game -- if you like real-time strategy games, it's a must-play, and if you play PC games at all, TWB is worth a look just to see the choices Creative Assembly made in translating its work to the iOS screen. And if all else fails, just wait -- the next time Sega runs a big sale, this will likely be a little cheaper.
Zandagort indie MMORTS features 'finite servers'
Looking for an indie game to satisfy that online sci-fi strategy itch? Zandagort just might be the one. Or it might not, but seeing as how it's free-to-play, you don't have much to lose. The title is the brainchild of Hungary-based Zanda Games, and it's a browser MMORTS that features tactical starship maneuvers, a vibrant economy, and diverse gameplay options that touch on everything from trade to warfare to ecology. What's with the name? Zandagort is a malevolent alien ruler who serves as the game's antagonist, and he's also a literal bit of endgame, according to the game's website. The title features something called finite servers, and "Zandagort arrives at the end of each server to destroy mankind. Players who were enemies before have to collaborate to prevail," Zanda says. If that sounds interesting, give it a whirl and let us know what you think. Don't forget to tip us about other indie MMO projects while you're at it. [Thanks to Jergis for the tip!]
End of Nations nears launch, open beta coming soon
Last time we saw End of Nations, Trion's massively multiplayer real-time strategy followup to its popular Rift, the core gameplay hearkened back to developer Petroglyph's old home of Westwood Studios and its Command & Conquer games. Yes, this is an RTS game focused more on map control and exploration than base-building, but the goal was still to move a group of units around a top-down map, something that RTS players know plenty about.Now, however, Trion is much farther along in the game's development, so much so that it's readying for a closed beta in just a few weeks. And as Game Director Dave Luehmann unveils a much more polished build of his company's upcoming free-to-play strategy title, another interesting influence emerges: Riot Games' League of Legends.%Gallery-148973%
Jump into Black Prophecy's past with gamigo's Nexus Conflict
The world of Black Prophecy hasn't always been like it is today. In the past, the Second Species Wars raged between the cybernetically augmented Tyi and the genetically modified Genides who fought for control of an area known as the Nexus, where universes collide. In a press release today, gamigo AG announced that its new title, Nexus Conflict, will allow players to take a trip back in time to participate in these wars not behind the controls of a fighter ship but on the command bridge of a colossal battle cruiser. Nexus Conflict is being billed as a "tactical real-time strategy game," and players will be able to run it right in their browsers thanks to the Unity engine. The title will offer both PvE and PvP missions, meaning that there will be something for the co-operative and competitive crowds alike. And of course, players will be able to customize their ships with a variety of upgrades in order to turn them into the biggest, baddest, planet-blowing-up-est starships in the Nexus. If this sounds like your idea of a good time, then just head on over to the Nexus Conflict official site (linked below) to sign up for the game's beta test, which is scheduled to begin in March. [Source: gamigo AG press release]
Age of Empires Online ventures north with the Celts
Age of Empires Online has been bringing free-to-play RTS action to the masses since August of last year, but so far players have had access to just three civilizations: Greek, Egyptian, and Persian. All of that is about to change, though, so ready your shillelaghs as the Celts join the battle. This new civilization, which seems to draw inspiration predominantly from Irish and Scottish folklore, will bring players a variety of new units and strategies with which to drive the opposition to its knees. Whether you're wreaking havoc with the speedy Woad Raiders or sacrificing a deer with the druidic Augur, the Celts will certainly bring new twists to any playstyle. And of course, a new civilization also means new quests. The Celts' quests will have players battling it out in the frigid north, where the icy weather will slowly sap the health of any unit caught in the elements. The Celts will also introduce stealth missions, such as infiltrating an enemy fortress without waking the sleeping guards. To see the new civilization in action, just click past the cut for a bagpipe-filled teaser video, then head on over to the game's official site to get in on the action for yourself. Sláinte!
