RTS

Independent game developer Introversion is preparing to release their multiplayer strategy game Multiwinia (itself based on their earlier game Darwinia) and today the developer announced plans for pre-orders for the game that will be released on September 18.

Available at the developer's online store, people can just pre-order the downloadable version and pre-load and get their game key for the game on September 18. You can also get a regular boxed copy of the game along with a digital download. However, Introversion is also offering a Multiwinia limited edition box. The tin package will contain CD copies of both Darwinia and Multiwinia, a coffee book-style art book containing art concepts for the games, eight Multiwinia vs Darwinia postcards and two foam Darwinians to take to bed with you.

An upcoming PC game that perhaps hasn't gotten much attention is Battleforge, the upcoming multiplayer only fantasy RTS game from developer Phemonic and publisher Electronic Arts. The game uses collectible card gameplay to boost player's online armies and EA plans to sell "booster packs" for the game for extra content.

Now comes word that EA's online store is taking pre-orders for Battleforge and that folks who make that move will be able get a code that will let them try out the online beta for the game before it's released. There's no word yet on when the beta test for Battleforge will begin. Originally scheduled for release this fall, recent online previews have now indicated an early 2009 release date for the game.

In the latest salvo made in the graphics wars, AMD today announced that they are cooperating with a number of game developers to make their PC games work well on DirectX10.1. AMD claims that only their ATI Radeon graphics cards offer full "top to bottom" DirectX10 graphics support.

The specific games mentioned as receiving full DirectX10.1 support from AMD are Battleforge, the fantasy RTS game from Phenomic and Electronic Arts, Stormrise, the sci-fi RTS game from The Creative Assembly and Sega and the little known RPG title Cloud 9 from NHN Games. AMD has also released a small "Ping-Pong" interactive demo to show off their use of the DirectX10.1 demo. The demo requires Microsoft Vista Service Pack 1. and ATI Radeon HD 3600 series or an ATI Radeon HD 3800 series graphics card with at least 512MB of video memory, the ATI Catalyst 8.3drivers or higher, a dual- or quad-core CPU and 2GB of RAM. Folks without those requirements can download a video showing the demo in action.

We first heard about Stormrise last month and got to see it in action at E3 shortly afterwards. Now Sega has released some new screenshots for the upcoming sci-fi RTS game that's being made by The Creative Assembly in a departure from their Total War series of titles.

While this game is being designed with consoles in mind rather than the PC, the development team is still hedging their bets and bringing Stormrise to the PC platform as well. They know that no matter how good the game might be on consoles, the RTS genre is still mainly a PC genre and will continue to do so for some time to come. Meanwhile Stormrise will be released by Sega in early 2009.

There's been a lot of news on the Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 front this week, with the announcements of the complete live action cast (hey, you can't go wrong with Sulu). Now comes word that folks who want to play the multiplayer beta for the upcoming Electronic Arts RTS game can now have a better chance to check it out.

Previously beta slots were only open to people who bought the Command and Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath expansion pack but now the beta is open to everyone who has a free Fileplanet account. The game itself is due for release later this fall.

One of the biggest problems for real-time strategy (RTS) games has been the detached and disinterested attitude many players exhibit when faced with playing them. More often than not, a lot of people who consistently play RTS games are doing so out of their love for the strategy element. That's all well and good, but there's a caveat: The problem continues. Why? It does so because the cache of players who're highly dedicated to RTS games don't count for much of the PC gaming contingent.

I've considered Relic Entertainment a top-drawer developer ever since I casually sat down to play Homeworld 2, only to discover a game that would absorb several tens of hours of my life. So when initial previews revealed that Dawn of War 2 (DoW2) wouldn't focus on player-built structures, I was intrigued. I continued to read up on the game and subsequently found even more provocative information. Players will only control five or so squads in any one battle? These squads are to stay with you over the course of the game? This was a glaringly unprecedented change, and I loved it.

Click the image above to continue reading "Alt-Tab: Can RPG + RTS = cute baby?"

The Creative Assembly has been concentrating on the naval strategy aspects of their latest RTS title Empire: Total War but this week at Games Convention they will be talking more about the land battles in the game. New screenshots from publisher Sega show the first visuals from the land battles which will have thousands of units on screen at once.

The game is due for release for the PC in February 2009 and for the first time the game deals with the New World (that would be us colonists) as the timeline of the game goes from 1700 to the early 1800's. While it will have the historically accurate land battles, it's the naval warfare with sailing ships that has gotten the most attention of late.

The folks at Electronic Arts have been teasing us with announcements of the acting cast for Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 but today the publisher revealed the full cast that will be used for the cut-scenes in the upcoming alternate history RTS game. In addition to the previously announced Gina "Conviction" Carano and Gemma Atkinson the cast will include Sulu himself, George Takei, along with J.K. Simmons, Tim Curry, Kelly Hu, Jonathan Pryce, Peter Stormare, Ivana Milicevic, Andrew Divoff, MMA fighter Randy "The Natural" Couture and Autumn Reeser.

Perhaps the most interesting casting choice is former Playboy Playmate and current Jim Carrey girlfriend Jenny McCarthy who will take over the role of long time C&C cast member Tanya. The press release also announced detailed on the Red Alert 3 Premiere Edition which is basically the same thing that the European Collector's Edition had previously revealed. However people who pre-order the game now in either version will also get some special content including the full version of C&C: Red Alert 2. behind-the-scenes videos (including a C&C retrospective) PC wallpapers and an exclusive multiplayer/skirmish map for Red Alert 3 when it ships this fall.

Download the new Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 Talent HD trailer at Big Download now.

With World in Conflict: Soviet Assault most likely not coming out this year it looks like the big RTS title of fall 2008 will be Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3. This week developer/publisher Electronic Arts released new screenshots from the game which once again is set in a campy alternative timeline.

EA is currently running a multiplayer beta test for Red Alert 3 for those folks who bought the expansion pack Command and Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath. Unfortunately those beta testers are under an NDA at the moment so they can't legally talk about what they are experiencing while they play the beta. We should get some more hands-on time with the game before its planned fall 2008 release date.

It's a highly requested and popular race in the Warhammer 40,000 universe but developer Relic and publisher THQ didn't put the Tyranids in the original Dawn of War RTS game nor in any of the expansion packs. Now the Dawn of War II community site has announced (and released a screenshot) showing that the Tyranids are indeed making an appearance in the sequel, due out in 2009.

According to the post, Relic felt that the graphics engine for the original game wouldn't due the Tyranids justice but the new game engine they are using for Dawn of War II (the in-house Essence 2.0 Engine) was the way to bring the race into the game. The deadly species uses sward tactics to defeat their foes (each unit is just a simple cell in a massive Hive Mind) and it will be interesting to see how Dawn of War II uses them.

Given the turn-based nature inherent in collectible card games, one might logically presume that a strategy game intent on incorporating CCG mechanics would fall into the turn-based subcategory of the genre. Surprisingly, EA Phenomic's Battleforge sprinkles CCG flavoring into real-time strategy batter, the result of which proved to be a tasty treat I sampled at the recent Electronic Arts Summer Showcase press event.

While developer Relic and publisher THQ are working hard on Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War II, there is a little evidence that Relic might be making a new expansion pack for their acclaimed WWII RTS Company of Heroes. A listing on Amazon.com just popped up with the title Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor with an expansion price of $29.99 and a release date of March 2009.

Of course, online retailer listings do have a tendency to be inacccurate so we are taking this little bit of news with a big grain of salt. It is known that Relic is developing a free-to-play version of the game called Company of Heroes Online but so far that game is only planned for release in Asian countries.

[Via Kotaku]

Once again, Tarn Adams dazzles with another update to Dwarf Fortress. This one, 39f, introduces a few new features as well as bugfixes. The biggest feature addition is that refugee groups now get their own spaces and movement instead of being relocated to a (possibly hostile) nearby civilization. Another added feature is a mention in the legends for scaling a mountain in Adventurer mode. There's also various bugfixes, ranging from making sure that erosion no longer causes mountains to raise up to making sure that bottomless pits don't have lava at the top. You can download the new version at the Bay 12 Games site. All saves from 32a onwards are compatible.

The latest Shattered Suns gameplay trailer reveals the scope of 3D strategy and combat. Players will also be free to invent their own weapons and use them in devastating combinations.

Download the HD Shattered Suns Gameplay Trailer 2 (71 MB)

The latest Empire: Total War trailer uses in-game footage to demonstrate the game's unique feature. Players will be able to manage epic naval battles for the first time in a Total War game. As expected, cannons rip through enemy ships with startling detail as players build up their forces in hopes of dominating the world in the Age of Sail.

Download the Empire: Total War Naval Combat Gamplay HD Trailer ( 318 MB)