Relicnews: the definitive source for all things Relic

Tranj from THQ has announced on the forums that Beta Sign ups for Dawn of War have been opened up on Fileplanet.

Forum post is here

Check out the direct link to the sign up form here

thanks to Ceeyjay from RU for the heads up and massive spam in IRC

Looks like there are some New Screenshots at Gamekult.

Check out this thread for more info. Thanks to Hybris for the heads up.

Seems the editors and staff of PC Gamer (US) just can not get enough of Dawn of War. Their latest issue (August 2004), was all about E3. They enjoyed the game so much that a whole page was written up on the game, including a new screenshot, showing off some hand to hand combat between the Blood Ravens and their Chaos enemies. Heres a taste:

The E3 demo we witnessed was a brutal display that sizzled with explosive battle scenes. Just one look at a Force Commander cutting through a crowd of Orks with a single swing of his mighty Daemonhammer, catapulting them through the air like rag dolls and I instantly understood why THQ purchased Relic earlier this year (pg.36).

Job well done Relic, only 11 games were really detailed (a few others were just mentioned) in PCG’s E3 coverage this year. Kudos to soul of relicnews for finding such important information and possibly paving the way for a new kind of internet fansite admin. A dedicated individual who above all else does nothing at all for no pay whatsoever.

The folks over at PC.IGN have put up an article written up by a bunch of folks from Relic (Jay Wilson, Andy Lang, Joe Schober and Andrew Chambers being among some of them) previewing the Ork faction in Dawn of War. Here’s a snip:

Orks love to fight, and you gather them to you by constructing huge Waagh! banners. These banners attract Orks to your fight, and in typical Ork fashion, the more Waagh! banners you have the more Orks you can get, and the faster you can get them. In combat, Orks are all about the up close and personal. They are brutal melee fighters, with not too much strength in firepower until the mid- to late-game. And while they may look barbarous and “low-tech,” it would be wrong to assume they are push-overs. Orks can put up as strong a fight as any race in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

You can discuss the article, which also includes a bunch of new ork unit renders and concept art, in this thread. Thanks to cj for the heads up about the article (though he did miss most of the new concept art initially).

Spotted this on a few sites, and heard of it via MSN. Warhammer Online has been cancelled. Very interesting that rumours about Climax being nasty surfaced over a year ago.

Thankfully, Relic’s not silly and hopefully Dawn of War won’t suffer the same fate.

Zigguratei sent cj some “digi-cam” shots taken during E3, of interest is one a shot of the colour configuration screen, and another one of the librarian. You can check the shots out here, and discuss them here.

I just got word from Cyanide that Impossible Creature Enclave (ICE), has launched, and to kick off things they’re hosting the “ICE Survivor” challenge tournament. If you’ve been keeping an eye on the IC community, you’ll be happy to know that ICE is ran by some of the most devoted and best known IC fans around, so be sure to check them out!

Nothing gives a game good press like the famous dev diary. It allows the general public inside the closed doors of their favorite studios, and I am pleased to announce that Relic and THQ have decided to go with this form of PR to promote their upcoming title Dawn of War. Gamespot will be the web host of said diaries and the first one features Jay Wilson and his views on “Creating Warhammer”. Here is a taste:

Dawn of War started with a phone call between Relic and THQ, where our top people and their top people were talking about exactly how we could do a project together and what that project could be. With THQ holding interactive rights to Warhammer 40,000, the property quickly came up as a natural option. Little did THQ know what a passion for Warhammer 40,000 they had found in Relic.

Check out the rest here and some forum discussion here. Props go to cj of ru for discovering the diary comes with six new screens, so check them out.

DoWP has slapped up an interview discussing DoW with Erik Mogensen, and Nelson of GWI. Here’s a snip:

Has there been anything that Relic has suggested that has been an absolute no-go for GW?

N Not really. All of the elements supplied for opinion/approval are pretty much spot on, models, animations, SFX, visual FX - they’re all great! They do send through the occasional joke submission (to see if I actually check them i’m sure), Space Marine Land Speeders with great big speakers in the trunk, and orks with ‘I Love Canada’ on their backs. Keep trying guys! ;-)

Thanks to blue’s.

Looks like Total Video Games was the latest site to get their mitts on Jay for interrogation.

A lot of people are put off by Warhammer merely because they are not au fait with the world. Firstly, who are you aiming the game at and are you trying to entice new gamers and how can this be done? Warhammer is seen as a very serious and detailed tabletop game, is this a problem?

The Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game is a hobby for very serious and dedicated gamers, but you have to ask how such a hardcore, expensive, time-consuming hobby could enrapture millions of avid gamers worldwide? The answer is that the Warhammer 40,000 universe is one of the coolest, most exciting licenses you can find, and our goal has been to bring that license to life like no one ever has before in a video game.

30-foot daemons tossing soldiers around by the dozens, lines of tanks rolling into an enemy front line with multiple turrets firing in every direction, hardened warriors using massive weapons, then stowing them and charging into combat with a combat knife in their hands, and a battle cry raging from their throat. This is what Dawn of War is, and we can’t see how ‘anyone’ who likes games won’t think that’s cool, regardless of the license.

We think Warhammer 40,000 players will be happy with the results as well.

It’s a 3 pager, with nothing majorly new, but it is a good read. Thanks to Relicuniverse.com for the heads up.