Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II Chaos Rising

Relic's wonderful Warhammer 40,000 real-time strategy series Dawn of War is free to play on Steam this weekend.

Relic Entertainment has updated real-time strategy game Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War 2 so that it no longer uses the Games for Windows Live platform.

Relic Entertainment has a five-year plan for World War 2 real-time strategy game Company of Heroes 2, a plan that includes a raft of expansions, updates and - potentially - new armies.

Relic Entertainment will move its Warhammer 40K strategy games over to Steam in a bid to keep their multiplayer portions alive.

Sega sent a press release overnight about its Relic acquisition, and seemed to suggest it had acquired the Warhammer 40,000 IP as well.

Dawn of War and Space Marine developer Relic Entertainment will continue to invest in PC game development despite the recent spate of high-profile video game leaks.

THQ has signed a new "multi-year" extension on its exclusive Warhammer 40,000 licensing agreement with brand owner Games Workshop.

THQ's decision to ditch Games for Windows Live in favour of Steam for real-time strategy game Dawn of War II - Retribution boosted sales, the publisher has said.

"Going exclusive through Steam helped drive awareness with their millions of users by way of banners and message support so by the time we opened the beta up to all Steam customers, we had a huge number of people playing," THQ director of global brand management Georgina Verdon told the[a]listdaily.com.

"At the very tail end of the beta we partnered with Justin.TV and some of their top StarCraft players, who held several live streaming broadcasts of the Retribution MP beta and single-player campaign mode to a receptive StarCraft fan base. This hype and activity helped us exceed our digital pre-order forecast by 129 per cent."

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A beta for upcoming real-time strategy game Dawn of War II – Retribution will launch "in the new year", Relic's announced.

The game is the first in the series to use Valve's Steamworks networking and matchmaking to provide cooperative and competitive online play. Dawn of War II and expansion Chaos Rising use Games for Windows Live.

"This new back end will allow players to invite friends into matches from their Steam friends lists, and take advantage of the full set of Steam community features including groups, achievements, and Steam overlay chat channels," Relic said.

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Oh, how to deal with a big fat spoiler? Half the people reading this will be itching to hear what it is, while the other half would rather I burned off all their body hair than even hint at it. It's especially tormenting in the case of this standalone expansion to the Games Workshop strategy role-playing game, because its best feature is in itself a spoiler.

You'll feel outraged when it happens, because something you've quite probably come to rely on is taken irrevocably away from you. That's exactly why it works so well. I was furious when it happened to me, because it occurred just after I'd unlocked an excellent-sounding new ability that relied on the thing in question.

Never got to try it, because of the turn the storyline took. Spitting teeth, I was. It's testament to how much Chaos Rising makes you invest in the people and powers it stars. This is not a simple matter of having certain branches of the tech tree cruelly snapped off. It's about giving you things to care about.

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Genestealers! Their begged and bayed for inclusion in multiplayer is almost enough to make Chaos Rising an automatic must-sell for Warhammer 40,000 enthusiasts. The betaloned, baldy death-beasts haven't had much gaming action since Space Hulk: Vengeance of the Blood Angels. Their welcome addition to the Tyranid ranks in this first standalone expansion for Dawn of War II represents just one of the affectionate nibbles to the earlobes of 40K fans.

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THQ has dated Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II expansion Chaos Rising for 12th March 2010.

That's the same day the DOWII: Game of the Year Edition (contains all DLC and patches released so far) and Gold Edition (contains Chaos Rising plus GOTY extras) wil be released.

The add-on introduces the Chaos Marines and ups the level limit to 30. It's also standalone, so you won't need the original PC game in order to play.

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Almost universally well-received for its clever integration of RPG elements into the strategy mix, Dawn of War II was a high point for Warhammer's forays into the world of games. As such, when it's time to sit down with the game's associate producer, Jeff Lydell, and talk about an expansion pack, it seems reasonable to ask how the team plans to top its previous performance.

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Dramatic intro to first expansion.

THQ has announced a standalone Dawn of War II expansion called Chaos Rising.

Due spring 2010, the add-on introduces the Chaos Space Marines, as the Blood Ravens tackle this demented, old and personal foe head-on.

Relic's doing the honours, according to THQ's website, and allowing Blood Raven squads to be imported from the original game for the new 20-mission campaign.

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