Relicnews: the definitive source for all things Relic

Latest CoH Patch has been released!

Sign into Relic Online to get it.

Note that some german owners of Opposing Fronts are reporting that it won’t validate against their OF DVDs with the new patch installed, so beware.

Looks like it’s a bit of a sad day (and several days after the fact). Relic’s first community manager, Allie “Buggo” Henze is no longer at Relic. Allie was Relic’s first “version” of a community manager. I think I can speak for all the fans when I say that we appreciate everything Allie did for the community and for us fans.

To the members of the Relic community, we have to tell you that Buggo is currently pursuing other opportunities. This has led to some speculation that Relic will no longer be supporting our loyal fans - nothing could be further from the truth. Soon we will be introducing you to new members of Relic who will carry forth the commitment we have to our fans. We are expanding our community support greatly over the coming months; better support for our modders, frequent updates about what’s going on in the studio, expanding our numbers, contests, content, and more.

And for those wondering, we are still hosting our upcoming community open house - you don’t want to miss it because you’ll be treated to some sneak previews of our work.

Thank you for your continued support!

Relic Entertainment

Official post here.

Buggo does still have an account on the forums, and hopefully will be able to pop in and say hi (I’d not expect her to be able to comment on Relic and all the cool stuff she worked on). The forum staff helped Relic out by modifying her account to be named “Relic” and then created a new account for Buggo. Any posts on the “Relic” account before April 24th were made by Allie, and anything after were from another Relic rep. I expect to hear more soon from Relic about their intentions, but it’s been made very clear to me that they’re not going to go without a community manager type position again. Also, as far as I know, the Relic Open House is still on, and judging on the biggest fan contest starts today at noon pacific.

Allie, you set the bar pretty high for any future community folks at Relic. I hope whoever gets the position next can meet the community’s expectations. Good luck in the future and we’ll see you around!

Relic released the CoH modding tools back on the 26th of March. However, it looks like they’ve found some issues with them, so have temporarily taken them out of service.

You can read JD’s post here.

For easy reference, here’s a quote.

Hello to all modders and fans of Company of Heroes,

On March 26th, updated versions of our development tools were made available to the community. Unfortunately these were released prematurely and we have taken them down.

We are working to make them more stable as well as generating documentation in order to give you the level of support you deserve. Our time frame for this is as soon as possible.

We apologize to our loyal fans that have waited a long time for these and promise to make it up by giving you the tools you deserve.

Thanks!

Soon they should be back!

Relic’s biggest fan contest 2008 is accepting submissions until Friday.

Last year, Goldo_0 won with this entry (100 MB download). Not only did he get a free trip to Vancouver, he got a job at Relic!

Get your submissions in, and good luck to whoever wins!

There’s a tourney set for April 26 and 27 at Gamereplays.

Click the link for more info.

The Dawn of War 2 website is live.

Included is a teaser video showing a Blood Ravens Force Commander laying the smackdown on an Ork Warboss, and 3 high resolution screenshots. There’s also various concept art scattered about the site.

Can not wait for Spring 2009!

As many of you know, Blizzard’s Starcraft was inspired by Warhammer 40,000. People unaware of this often comment that Dawn of War’s too similar to Starcraft and that Dawn of War “copies” Starcraft (imagine if the Tyranids had been in Dawn of War). People also make the same comparisons between Blizzard’s Warcraft and World of Warcraft and Games Workshop inspired properties like Warhammer Mark of Chaos and Warhammer:Online.

Penny-Arcade pokes fun at the notion that some people think Games Workshop inspired games are copies of Blizzard’s in this cartoon. That cartoon produced dark and light versions of a hoodie sporting the awesome text from the comic.

I just wish there was a T-shirt version.

THQ's officially announced Dawn of War II. Press Release here.

Here's the meat.

THQ and Relic Entertainment Set to Wage War of Epic Scale in Warhammer(R) 40,000(TM): Dawn of War(R) II

Sequel to Multi-Million Unit Selling Real Time Strategy Series
Features Vicious Frontline Combat, Extensive Co-Op Campaign and
Cinematic Visuals

AGOURA HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 3, 2008--THQ Inc. (NASDAQ:THQI) today announced that Warhammer(R) 40,000(TM): Dawn of War(R) II, the highly anticipated sequel from one of the industry's premiere Real-Time Strategy (RTS) developers, Relic Entertainment, is scheduled to bring the 41st Millennium's savage warfare to life like never before in spring 2009. Powered by an enhanced version of Relic's proprietary Essence Engine 2.0(TM), Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II will take players to the brutal frontlines of war where they'll experience intense action and visceral combat through a non-linear single player experience and a fully co-operative multiplayer campaign. Set in Games Workshop's (LSE: GAW) highly popular Warhammer 40,000 science fiction universe, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is being developed exclusively for Windows PC.

In addition, THQ is pleased to announce that gamers purchasing copies of the recently released Warhammer(R) 40,000(TM): Dawn of War(R) - Soulstorm(TM) will be able to participate in an invitation-only multiplayer beta program for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II set to take place at a future date.

"The original Dawn of War and its subsequent standalone expansions have established the series as one of the industry's leading RTS franchises," said Brad Carraway, vice president, global brand management, THQ. "Dawn of War II will re-define RTS gaming to gamers worldwide, delivering brutal frontline action and tactics, and allowing players to get straight to the action with unprecedented fast-paced RTS gameplay and a full co-op campaign, all in stunning cinematic detail."

"We started with everything fans loved about the original Dawn of War and then added more than they ever could have hoped for in the sequel into Dawn of War II," said Tarrnie Williams, general manager, Relic Entertainment. "Leveraging our critically acclaimed Essence Engine 2.0, gamers will develop and lead an elite strike force through Games Workshop's war-torn universe, engage in devastating combat among the ruins of fully destructible battlefields, and be immersed in an ever-changing single-player and co-op multiplayer campaign."

About Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is set in the grim, war-ravaged world of Games Workshop's (LSE: GAW) Warhammer 40,000 universe - a dark, futuristic, science-fiction setting where armies of technologically advanced warriors, fighting machines and hordes of implacable aliens wage constant war. Developed by critically acclaimed RTS developer Relic Entertainment, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II ushers in a new chapter in the acclaimed RTS series, as ancient races - including the dauntless Space Marines and savage Orks - clash across ruined worlds on a mission to claim the galaxy and preserve their own existence. Powered by the re-vamped Essence Engine 2.0, the next evolution of Relic's proprietary game engine made famous in the award winning Company of Heroes, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II will deliver fast-paced RTS action with ferocious melee and ranged combat in fully destructible environments. Immersing players in an in-depth non-linear single-player campaign and a fully-co-operative multiplayer mode, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is set to deliver the most visually-stunning Warhammer 40,000 setting ever created. For more information on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, please visit www.dawnofwar2.com.

- Those who purchase Dawn of War: Soulstorm get a Beta key for DoW2 (date to be determined for the beta).
- www.dawnofwar2.com
- fully destructible battlefield
- non-linear single player campaign (similar to Dark Crusade/Soulstorm or something more complex?)
- co-op campaign
- cinematic story telling
- hot melee combat (melee combat for upcoming CoH games?)

As many of you remember, Relic announced COHO last year when they relaunched their website.

Company of Heroes is being developed with a Chinese connection. This article that Pyros from PlanetCoH linked me is a good indication why.

GFW: Are Chinese interested in WWII?s Western theaters?

TH: WWII is a proud topic for the Chinese as it saw them defeating the Japanese after a devastating invasion. We know that there’s a strong following for the franchise as well — we saw about 800,000 downloads in China for one patch and we never sold the game here. And those are just unique downloads. Who knows how many others grab the patch from their friends or when it’s reposted on a local server. (I always love hearing people in North America talk about the death of the PC market and the decline of the RTS genre — they need to open their eyes to the rest of the world.)

Check out the quote about Piracy. CoH had 800,000 unique downloads from China of ONE patch during CoH. Interesting that CoH was never officially SOLD in China. Just more reason to invest in new copy-protection methods.

Maybe CoHO will be the game we’ll be seeing (playing?) in June at Relic’s open house. Look for more in the Games for Windows magazine’s July article.

A new video has showed up on Youtube last evening. I’ll say that it’s pretty darn impressive watching big angry giant robots slug it out against the horde of orcs.

Rickrolled