Dawn of War III: first details

THQ has teased a new direction for upcoming real-time strategy game Dawn of War III.

Developer Relic is taking elements from the first game and the second game and adding something new, THQ core games boss Danny Bilson told Eurogamer.

"We're working on the next-generation of that franchise right now," Bilson said.

"I feel like an ass saying it's fantastic, but it is. And we're going to do something with it you haven't seen before.

"Preserving some things that have always been great about the first two generations of it, going back to 1 on some things, 2 on some things, and 3 will bring us some new things.

"When you see it you're going to go, whoa. I promise."

Last year Eurogamer broke the news that Relic was in the brainstorming stage of Dawn of War III.

Bilson suggested the Warhammer 40K RTS would launch between 18 months and two years after Dawn of War II - Retribution, pegging DOWIII for the August 2012 to February 2013 window.

He also said the game may "be a more digital free-to-play experience with all the depth and quality of a Relic RTS" - depending on the performance of Company of Heroes Online.

Given that game didn't work out, will Dawn of War III take a more traditional approach?

"Now Dawn of War III, either way, is going to have a much larger strategic component to it, more of a global battle going on with little tactical things, sort of MMO-like," Bilson continued.

Yesterday Bilson teased the reveal of an unannounced game at Gamescom in Germany in August. Could Dawn of War III be it?

"I can say that crowd, those hundreds of thousands of people, in that space at that time, this one's built to announce at that place. I'll say that. That's my clue."