Dawn of War II MP beta this month

By Tom Bramwell Published 8 January, 2009

21st for Soulstorm owners, 28th for others.

THQ has announced that it will launch a public multiplayer beta for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II later this month.

Owners of Dawn of War expansion Soulstorm will be the first in on 21st January as part of an exclusive period for them, and then the beta will be put out to the rest of the world on 28th January.

The beta promises to let you play with all four playable races across five multiplayer maps using Games for Windows Live TrueSkill matchmaking.

The full game is due out for PC in Europe on 20th February (a few days before the US on the 23rd).

For a better idea of what it's like, check out our most recent Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II hands-on preview. Those of you who are already sold on it might want to check out the pre-order packages while you're at it.

Look out for our thoughts on the beta later in the month and our review in the run-up to the game's launch.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (13) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • DFawkes #1 3 years ago

    Whoa, how do you apply for it then? Will I have to use my Soulstorm key somewhere, or will it be accesible from inside Soulstorm? That sounds confusing, though a nice bonus for getting Soulstorm with the Complete Collection.

    Bit of a moot pint anyway, since I'm awful at RTS games, especially if I can't turtle like it's going out of fashion (which it kind of is). That TrueSkil thing wil have trouble matching me to "lobotomised-ape" diffivulty level players.

  • the_dudefather #2 3 years ago

    Same here, I like RTS games, but I'm bloody terrible at them most of the time :p

  • Eraysor #3 3 years ago

    Waaaagh, I have every DOW game except Soulstorm >_<

    I've always wanted to eat people with tyranids though.

  • DFawkes #4 3 years ago

    Cheers Alegis. I was worried that'd mean I'd be punished for buying it out of a shop, but looking elsewhere it's clear you can get it from store copies too. Only and extra week, but I'll take it :)

  • Whizzo #5 3 years ago

    Retail Soulstorm keys aren't accepted by Steam if anyone is wondering.

  • DFawkes #6 3 years ago

    Not yet, they'll be a way to register closer to the time. Check out the Relic forums for confirmation (I really should've kept the link, but I didn't).

  • Gastrian #7 3 years ago

    If anyone fancies pre-ordering I'd go with HMV. They've got the Collector's Tin with exclusive content for £24.99 GAME are selling theirs at the RRP of £34.99.

  • DFawkes #8 3 years ago

    It's different content on both though. I'd prefer the stuff geared towards Devestator squad use with the GAME one, but for £10 extra? Nah, I think I'll go with HMV, although I'm not pre-ordering for those items, I have no interest in them.

    If the beta's good, it might change my mind though.
    Edited by 1 at 09/01/09 @ 08:43

  • Jigglybean #9 3 years ago

    I pre-ordered this one! I cant wait

  • Gastrian #10 3 years ago

    Dfawkes, The tin in HMV is about the same price as the standard edition. The cheapest I can find that for is £22.99 so for the sake of £2 I'd go with the extra content, though I would've prefered GAME to have it att the same price point.

  • sneetch #11 3 years ago

    According to the Play.com product page you get an extra chapter along with the 'Vanguard War Gear' set if you order it from them. I'm kinda sick of this sort of exclusive content if you order from some random store, different skins for units aren't so bad (although it's unnecessary and a bad idea I think) but missing out on actual in-game content because you buy from a different store seems wrong to me.

    Does anyone know what you get from GAME or Amazon? Their sites don't seem to have any info.

    http://ww w.play.com/Games/PC/4-/5380006/...

  • Gastrian #12 3 years ago

    Sneetch as it stands;
    HMV give you the Scout Marine set (armour, sniper rifle and shotgun) and angels of Redemption chapter (its just a skin for multiplayer)
    Play gives you the Assault Marine set (Armour chainsword and bolt pistol) and the Brazen Claws skin
    Amazon gives you the Tacatical Marine set (bolter, grenades and armour) and the Taurans skin
    GAME gives you the Devastator set (armour, heavy bolter and missle launcher) and the Nova marines skin

    Only HMV and GAME mention the steelbox edition, Play and Amazon say they'll email you a redemption code. GAME are selling their collectors edition at £34.99 (they have the standard edition with no pre-order bonus for £24.99), HMV are seling theirs at £24.99 while Play and Amazon are doing their pre-orders (no mention of steelbox) at £24.99. Quite clearly GAME are ripping you off.

  • DFawkes #13 3 years ago

    Indeed, for that I want to be able to call in a Lunar class cruiser to lay down serious firepower! The thing is, price being equal I'd have had the GAME one easily, since that suits my style of play. But for all that extra money, I don't think I'll bother. I'd rather just start playing the game different.