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World Builder, the map editor for Dawn of War 2, will be released in the next major update. There is a quick snippet of what to expect from this map editor,

World Builder lets you add victory points, power nodes, and requisition points under Urban, Desert, Tyrannoformed, and Jungle map tilesets. You can deform terrain, place cover objects, choose the weather, and define the size of the map. Maps can be released for two, four, or six players.

Relic will also include a sample map and documentation on how to publish a map for online usage.

No word on online distribution of maps.

Dawn of War II ‘There is Only War’ Update to include Map Editing Tool

Gamereplays had the opportunity to fly (on Relic’s coin) one of their people up to Relic to report, first hand, on some of the changes going into Relic’s upcoming “There is only War” patch. They focused largely on the Replay and Gamecasting features.

Commentated on and compiled by our resident cast-guru - Senior Gamecaster Bentguru - the replay used is a curious hybrid of two eras. Featuring the brand new replay and observer featured but added into the current 1.3 retail version of the game, the cast showcases all of the fantastic additions Relic have given us free reign to reveal and explain to you all! With commentary on the new features provided by the ever-present vocal talents of Bentguru and a crystal clear visual representation of some of the additions we can look for this summer, this ground-breaking exclusive is a must-watch for anyone with more than a passing interest in Dawn of War 2

There’s a video report posted in addition to an interview.

Bentguru’s an old school Homeworld player, so he knows Relic’s games as well as anyone!

Relic announced a major update for Dawn of War 2. Dubbed “There is Only War”, this update will add new features such as observer and referee modes (sounds very tourney like), balance improvements, and new maps.

Starting early July, Relic will launch the open beta for this update. They will announce details on how to join the beta in the next couple of weeks.

Announcing the Dawn of War II ‘There is Only War’ Update

Someone on youtube posted a number of videos he collected from E3. One of the video is the E3 presentation on Space Marine. Runs about 4 minutes.

Enjoy

Relic’s Thunder posted the patch notes for 2.600. A great deal of fixes and a new Panzerkrieg map to go along.

Complete notes after the jump or you can go here.

Edit: Patch has been released via Relic Online.

Additional mirrors:
Worthplaying

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Game Replays had a chance to interview Graham "Thunder" Somers, Relic's community liason. It's a two pager that covers a fair amount of detailed info, mostly focusing on balance and multiplayer issues.

GameReplays.org: Could you tell us a bit about the procedures Relic use to balance the game? How many people are working on DoW2 balance issues? Do they work solely on balance or do they also have other tasks? Is Relic going to hire expert players with good community involvement as balance testers like they did with DoW1? When balancing the game, does Relic focus on satisfying the more casual player or do you aim at high-level competitive play balance?

Relic: We are playing the game a lot, looking at costs, statistics, and the forums to gather information. Our balance department is involved full time on balance along with our full team of designers and programmers who contribute to the process. We have some of the best RTS players out there involved in balancing the game with some members of our team having been attendees at the World Cyber Games. The entire DOW II crew will play games to try out new changes which we did recently with a build of 1.4. The whole team is committed to making DOW II balanced and fun to play.

We don’t currently have any positions open on our balance team, but when we are looking for balance testers the community is the first place we look.

There's some great info on the second page giving you some insight into the work behind designing RTS games.

There’s a bit of Space Marine in THQ’s booth tour. Nothing ground breaking, but interesting none the less. Starts about 3:30 into the video. First part is Red Faction Guerrilla.

Gamespot’s posted an interview with Dave Cheong.

Dave’s been at Relic for 10+ years and is one of their top artists.

Hidden in the E3 Space Marine Interview is news that JD’s been promoted to General Manager at Relic.

The former studio head was Tarnie Williams.

THQ TV posted a video interview with Relic’s general manager, Jonathan Dowdeswell. Not much new information from the interview, however there are some extended clips from the announcement trailer like seeing the Carnifax and Titan.

THQ TV - THQ @ E3 Interview - Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine