Relicnews: the definitive source for all things Relic

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!

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

There’s a thread running on the forums about people’s recollections of the Relic Open House. If you haven’t already, pop in and have a read. If you visited Relic for the open house, and haven’t posted your impressions yet, go for it!

Relic didn’t announce any new games, expansions or anything like that, but we did get to find out they have several teams working on various projects. Watch here for an article (once approved - NDA issues), about my recollections for the weekend.

With a little bit of help from Relic, we’ve got a summary here of the awards Relic (and THQ) have won for 2006.

• 2 Developer of the Year Awards

• 1 Publisher of the Year Award

Company of Heroes

• 37 awards including 6 Game of the Year Awards and 11 Strategy Game of the Year awards

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War: Dark Crusade

• 6 awards including 3 Expansion of the Year awards

The Outfit

• 1 Game of the Year award

Relic’s Company of Heroes is also ranked the fifth best pc game of all time (28th overall for all games, all platforms, and well ahead of Homeworld) on Gamerankings.com.

For all you new folks, welcome to the cult of Relic.

Relic and Company of Heroes (and The Outfit) are up for a ton of awards this year at Spike TV’s Video Game Awards.

Check it out here. Best PC Game and Best Studio among them.

Thanks to Unforsaken for posting about it on the forums.

Spotted on Evilavatar.com that Major Nelson is reporting that previously released Collateral Damage set of downloadable content is now free (down from 500 points).

Looks like the Xbox 360 got a wee Title Update today (A global patch to improve games).

Here’s a bit about the tweaks, improvements and balance Relic’s put in update for The Outfit.

Fans of the acclaimed action-strategy game The Outfit are getting all-new Destruction on Demand in today’s Title Update for the Xbox 360, which will be automatically applied the next time users log into Xbox Live. In addition to improved multiplayer performance, this Title Update provides the following enhancements:

Matchmaking Improvements

• The connection speed of each player is now displayed in the Pre-Game lobby (green for good, yellow for average, red for poor). This allows the host to identify and remove players who have a poor connection speed before the game begins. The Outfit uses peer-to-peer networking, so identifying and removing players with poor connection speeds before the game begins will eliminate lag for all players in a session.
• The connection speed of each game is now displayed in Custom Quick Match and Custom Ranked Match lobbies (green for good, yellow for average, red for poor), helping players to avoid joining games with poor connection speeds.
• Players wishing to join a Quick Match will now always connect to the game with the fastest connection speed. Prior to this, Quick Match obtained the first game it found.
• Players can now speak to one another in every pre-game and post-game lobby.
• Only your friends who have played The Outfit will appear in the Leaderboard “Friends” filter.
• Fixed an issue where Quick Match player numbers were being reported incorrectly.
• Fixed an issue where ‘Play Again’ caused the lobby size to be frozen at previous match’s size.

Gameplay Improvements

• Multiplayer Achievements can now be earned in both Ranked Quick Match and Ranked Custom Match game sessions.
• Vehicles in multiplayer now perform as well as they do in single player.
• Vehicles can no longer be hijacked when they are moving at high speed, significantly reducing “hijack spam.”
• Event queue messages now appear on screen for one second longer than before, giving players a better chance to read them.
• Fixed an issue that caused the jump animation to play twice in certain multiplayer situations.

Multiplayer Tuning Changes

• The rotation rate and health of Anti-Aircraft Emplacements has been reduced. Previously, AA guns were too powerful given their cost.
• 15% increase to health for all Halftracks and Tanks.
• 25 FU cost increase to Anti-Aircraft Emplacements.
• 50 FU cost reduction to Artillery Strike.
• 25 FU cost reduction to Air Strike.
• 50 FU cost reduction to Tech 3 Antitank Emplacements.
• 10 FU cost increase to first- and second-tier Machine Gun Emplacements.
• Calliope damage versus vehicles has been slightly decreased.

Good to see continued product support out of Relic! The Outfit is a lot of fun, make sure you pick it up when you get an Xbox 360! I just wish I had more time for Multiplayer :-(

THQ has posted their annual report.

Dawn of War, Company of Heroes and The Outfit are mentioned several times.

11 straight years of revenue growth! woo!

Spotted on Evilavatar.com that Frugalgamer.com is reporting a $20 (US) price drop on The Outfit. (How’s that for roundabout reporting?)

Well worth the money at full price IMO. The Single Player game was a hell of a lot of fun (except for when I missed an achievement because a mission script dropped a tank on me!). I only wish I had more time for Multiplayer.

The Outfit map pack “Collateral Damage” has dropped on Xbox Live!

The Outfit’s critically acclaimed multiplayer action gets even more intense with the addition of three all-new maps now available for download on Xbox Live Marketplace. The Collateral Damage Map Pack will include the Luftwaffe Finale, Bleak Mile and Eagle’s Nest maps, which all build on the fast-paced, explosive online game-play.

More info in this press release.