World in Conflict dated

Vivendi Games has popped a big release date sticker on the PC version of World of Conflict. It says 21st September on it.

The publisher also announced plans to carry out an open beta event for everyone beginning 11th July and finishing at the end of the month - coinciding with next week's E3 show.

It means you can do our work by playing exactly the same version of World in Conflict on show in Santa Monica. So hurry over to the official website to register.

Included in the testing will be two multiplayer maps - Home Town and Farmland - and a tutorial so you don't do anything silly. On top of all that, those of you so excited you have or plan to pre-order the game (before the end of July), will be given one exclusive map all to yourselves called Riviera.

On each of these you'll be able to take up arms as either Soviet or NATO forces and slug it out in up to eight versus eight war-based mayhem.

Since the June closed beta event developer Massive Entertainment has added Clan Matches, Rankings, Replays, and the option to upload your own graphics for your vehicles. There's also been a swathe of performance updates and tweaks, as well as an audio overhaul and the inclusion of DirectX 10 support.

World in Conflict is a strategy game that takes place in an alternative reality where the Berlin Wall never fell and the Cold War reached boiling point. The Soviets marched into Europe and NATO responded in force, but a second front soon popped up: a fullscale assault on American soil.

The game is also due for release on Xbox 360 this autumn following the PC launch.

Head over to our World in Conflict gamepage for our recent first impressions and preview.