There was a new operating system roll-out and it was completely ignored. The biggest launch in entertainment history included a game on the PC that played like a console title.

But that doesn't mean there weren't games worth picking up for your computer. Here's a run down of a few of those that we reviewed. Which would you suggest?

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood

Price: $29.99
Rating: Mature
Genre: First-person shooter
Subject Matter: Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood is a Civil War era first-person shooter.
Value: With an engaging story, wide open maps and plenty of mulitplayer options, this game will take up quite a bit of your time.
Buy it for: First-person shooter enthusiasts, fans of the Wild West and Civil War buffs.
Read the Full Review

Dawn of War II

Price: $40
Rating: T
Genre: The Waging Of Endless War
Subject Matter: Control a handful of Space Marines against the worst the Orcs and Tyranids can throw against you, your men and the Immortal Emperor.
Value: Fairly lengthy singleplayer campaign is bolstered significantly by a handy, and more traditional multiplayer component.
Buy it for: Warhammer fans who wanted Dawn of War to be more intimate, and anyone who likes a bit of RPG in their RTS.
Read the Full Review

Dragon Age: Origins
Price: $39.99
Rating:Mature
Genre: Roleplaying
Subject Matter: An epic action roleplaying game set in a world besieged by evil inside and out.
Value: Dragon Age: Origins packs more than 100 hours of gameplay into this action RPG, with branching story paths that encourage multiple play throughs in order to experience it all. BioWare designed the game so it can be played by RPG gamers of any skill level, but mature content and strong sexual situations mean you might want to keep it in the high teens.
Buy it for: Anyone who has ever conversationally mentioned hit points.
Read the Full Review

Empire: Total War

Price: $40
Rating: T
Genre: 18th-Century Musket Drill
Subject Matter: Take control of a European, American or Indian power of the 18th century and control every aspect of their military machine across both a strategic campaign map and tactical RTS battles.
Value: Even a single campaign play-through will take weeks. And there are dozens of available factions across three continents. It'll last for years.
Buy it for: Anyone who loves strategy, history or the smell of grapeshot in the morning.
Read the Full Review

Fallout 3: Broken Steel

Price: $10 (Requires a copy of Fallout 3)
Rating: M
Genre: Post-apocalyptic role-playing game
Subject Matter: Fallout 3 expansion involving missions with a high-powered fighting force.
Value: High because it extends the level cap to Fallout 3, changes the game's ending and allows the adventure to be played infinitely once the story has "ended"
Buy it for: Fallout 3 fans who want to play more; essential for anyone getting any Fallout 3 downloadable content
Read the Full Review

Fallout 3: Mothership Zeta

Price: $10.00 (Requires a copy of Fallout 3)
Rating: Mature
Genre: Still a post-apocalyptic RPG
Subject Matter: It's Fallout 3 in space!
Value: Mothership Zeta gives the Fallout 3 player an entire spaceship to explore and make their own, some futuristic new weapons, and tacks a good five hours onto the regular campaign, making it a relatively fair value for your money.
Buy it for: Fallout 3 fans.
Read the Full Review

Fallout 3: Point Lookout

Price: $10 (Requires a copy of Fallout 3)
Rating: M
Genre: Post-apocalyptic role-playing game
Subject Matter: Fallout 3 in microcosm, set on a spooky island.
Value: Tons of content, and widely seen as the Fallout 3 downloadable content that best shares the strengths of the base game.
Buy it for: Fallout 3 fans.
Read the Full Review

League of Legends
Price: Free to $30
Rating: Teen
Genre: Real-time strategy
Subject Matter: Once a spin-off of famously fun Warcraft III, League of Legends is a simplified, highly-addictive strategy game of warriors, magic and monsters.
Value: The free-to-play game only charges if you want to pay for upgrades or to lock in your favorite characters. A fantastic deal for what you get.
Buy it for: people who enjoy strategy gaming and fans of games like Warcraft III.
Read the Full Review

Mass Effect: Pinnacle Station

Price: $5 (requires a copy of Mass Effect)
Rating: M
Genre: Bonus missions for third-person shooter/role-playing game
Subject Matter: Mass Effect gets a battle simulator to allow goal-based shooting challenges.
Value: High for those looking for something new in the original Mass Effect while awaiting the January sequel; low for people looking for what made the first game popular.
Buy it for: Mass Effect completists, though you'll only be able to buy them download points for this game or give them a small check.
Read the Full Review

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
Price: $39.99
Rating: Mature
Genre: Realistic military first-person shooter
Subject Matter: Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is a relatively open-world tactical shooter that has players trying to take the fictional island of Skira from China.
Value: Plagued with problems this shooter doesn't deliver much for the premium price you pay.
Buy it for: hardcore fans of realistic shooters that offer no chance for mistakes or do-overs.
Read the Full Review

Torchlight

Price: $19.99
Rating: Teen
Genre: Action RPG
Subject Matter: One of the most blatant Diablo clones ever created.
Value: Torchlight is one of the most blatant Diablo clones ever created, but it's also one of the most capable. There's a main quest with a good 10 hours of gameplay, with multiple side quests, random dungeons, and three different character classes, so the replay value is through the roof. For the price, Torchlight's value is downright amazing.
Buy it for: Diablo fans waiting for Blizzard to get the next installment out
Read the Full Review

Wolfenstein

Price: $49.99
Rating: Mature
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Subject Matter: World War II First-Person Shooter with Occult Tendencies
Value: While Wolfenstein is an excellent first-person shooter from a technical standpoint, the story is a bit far-fetched and the multiplayer is disappointing, especially in the face of games like Modern Warfare 2.
Buy it for: First-person shooter fans looking for a little something different.
Read the Full Review

Zuma's Revenge
Price: $19.95
Rating: E
Genre: Puzzle
Subject Matter: A color-matching, marble-shooting game for people with fast mouse reflexes.
Value: A massive amount of content compared to the original Zuma; the first playthrough of the game's main campaign levels alone lasts more than six hours.
Buy it for: Moms who need a new obsession for their PC; hardcore gamers who want an addictive diversion they wouldn't admit has hooked them.
Read the Full Review

All of Relic's recent RTS titles - Company of Heroes (and all its expansions), Dawn of War (and all its expansions) and Dawn of War II - will be 50% off on Steam from now until the end of the weekend.

The whole thing is to celebrate the release of Dawn of War II's "There is Only War" update (which is included if you pick up DowII), but really, we're pointing this out because you can grab the best game of the bunch - the original Company of Heroes - for a crazy $7.50.

Called the "World Builder", it'll allow you to "create, edit, and play" on your own maps, which you've built from the ground up. Terrain, objects, nodes, weather, the works. The World Builder will ship with a demo map, along with documentation to help get you started.

While you're stuck with the four basic terrain types from the game - jungle, city, desert and Tyranid gloop - this is free. And by the looks of it, pretty damn extensive.

Relic announced today the "There is Only War" update, which sometime "this summer" is going to introduce some new multiplayer features to the game, including eight new multiplayer maps, a spectator mode and a range of balance changes to the game's units.

Sadly, it doesn't appear any of the maps are truly "new" in the sense they feature new environments or terrain, but then, this update will be free. You can't argue with free. To test out the changes, existing DoWII players will be able to enter an open beta for the update, details on which will be released in a few weeks' time.

Included in the update are some new maps, new game options, AI fixes, user interface changes, improvements to the game's replay mode and a whole slew of minor technical repairs.

For the full, exhaustive run-down of what's included, hit the link below.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II Update Released [Steam]

Both maps are built for the game's new 2v2 multiplayer mode, and while there's nothing terribly new about them (they're both built using Calderis assets, so no new terrain or buildings), Relic do promise that they've been custom built to take advantage of the new 2v2 gameplay.

The first map, Medean Cliff Mines, is built around a central hub, while the second, Ruins of Argus, is basically an "urban" map offering lots of buildings and cover.

These include an all-new multiplayer mode (2v2), two new maps to support this mode, improved skirmish AI, push-to-talk voice chat, new "squad decorators" and "significant UI improvements". New squad decorators? You know, Relic, being able to paint each squad individually would be awesome.

Those are apparently just some of the additions being made to the game, with Relic to reveal more over the coming days/weeks.

If you head to the game's store page on Steam, you can pick up a copy of the entire soundtrack, which aside from having a lovely cover is in high-quality 320kps quality. Nice touch.

It's available in a 193MB .rar archive file from here.

So it's handy that Relic have released a demo of the game!

It'll let players still on the fence about the whole thing get a feel for the sweeping changes made to the game, without having to risk their hard-earned, recession-riddled cash. If you like your tactics with a healthy dose of RPG, great. If you prefer your strategy a little "straighter", save your cash.

The demo is a well-rounded 333MB, and if you like what you see, you can take advantage of a Steam sale running at the moment whereby Dawn of War II is selling for 25% off.

The map is called Tiber Outpost, and is geared towards six-player matches.

As for the patch, you can read a full list of the changes below:

===============================
Patch 1.2.1
===============================

PVP

• New Team Battle map added! "(6p) Tiber Outpost" is now available for play.

PvP Gameplay

• Implemented final fixes for the Population Cap issue as noted in Patch 1.1.3. This included reverting the temporary changes made in Patch 1.1.3.

• Tyranid Warrior Adrenal Gland upgrade damage reduced from 52 to 40

• Energy Shields no longer regenerate while active – This includes the Zoanthrope, Falcon, Hive Tyrant, Warlock, Force Commander, Mekboy and Techmarine

• Energy Shield conversion modifier reduced from .2 to .25

• Energy Shields now have an 8 second toggle on / toggle off time.

• Falcon Energy regeneration reduced from 3 to .5

• Melee damage reduction versus Rippers reduced from .25 to .3

• Zoanthrope Focus Blast now immobilizes vehicles for 12 seconds from 15

• Guardian Battle Equipment cost increased to 50/15 from 40/10

• Carnifex cost increased to 600/135 from 550/125

• Tactical Sergeant's melee special attack reduced to 28 from 50

• "And They Shall Know No Fear" now debuffs Tactical Marine melee damage by .6

• Spore Mines can no longer enter Ravener Tunnels and Webway Gates

• Warp Spider deathspinner damage increased from 20 to 30

• Warp Spider Exarch dual deathspinner damage increased from 30 to 35

Achievements

• Fixed an issue where campaign completion achievements were sometimes not awarded

Ranking and Online Stats

• Fixed an issue where players were awarded a win in Ranked multiplayer matches after modifying local files.

Matchmaking

• Fixed an issue with automatching code to help provide better quality matches based on TrueSkill™ Rankings.

• Fixed an issue allowing players with mismatched data to be grouped together.

Miscellaneous

• Updated BugSplat error reporting to new version.

Calling upon the same global sales data that we used to get those handy worldwide sales charts from, it's been revealed that upon release, the game went to the top spot in the US, Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Australia.

In case you missed our review, such success is entirely deserved.

Dawn of War II debuts at top of global PC charts [VG247]

Sort of.

Fans of Relic's previous two games will be surprised to find that Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War II bears little resemblance to either. Where Dawn of War shot for Warhammer's sense of epic warfare and came up short, this game goes in the opposite direction, forgoing scale for intimacy as you find yourself in command of an army of...eleven men.

Which is tiny. Teeny tiny. Definitely not the sort of thing you expect from a real-time strategy game. Which is lucky, then, because Dawn of War II isn't really a real-time strategy game. Least, not one like you've ever seen before.

Loved
Level Up - You'll only end up commanding between 8-11 men in the game, split over four "squads", and those four squads are led by heroes. Don't think of these heroes as RTS pawns. Think of them as RPG party members. They have names, they never really die, and between missions their attributes can be levelled up to make them more formidable. You'll grow very, very attached to them.

Loot Drop - The RPG similarities continue with loot, which is dropped throughout missions. You'll get better weapons and better armour for killing bad guys, which can then be used in later missions. Because the game is built on such a small scale, these items can actually be seen on your men in battle (oh, look, he's carrying his new Heavy Bolter!), which is a real kick.

Homeless - Unlike previous Relic games, Dawn of War II has no buildings. Your men are dropped into a mission, and that's it. No unit building ,no resource gathering, you don't even need to hold command posts. It's just you, your men and the mission at hand, which is really, really liberating.

Choose Your Own Adventure - Giving RTS players a choice between 1-2 missions is nothing new, but giving you a choice between 2-4 missions on each of 3 planets is. Such choice means if you wake up one day and only want to fight Orks (each enemy army plays a very different game), just fly to a planet with an Ork mission and you're set.

Not One Game, But Two - All this RPG talk of loot and levels applies only to the singleplayer campaign. Multiplayer matches are more like those found in Company of Heroes or Dawn of War, with units to be built, strongholds to be upgraded and command points to be held. This effectively means you're almost getting two games for the price of one.

Rock, Paper, Chainsword - Aside from your "avatar" character, a Space Marine Force Commander, you can only take three of the game's five other squads/heroes into battle with you. And each of these squads have wildly varying strengths and weaknesses, meaning you not only have tough strategic decisions to make when deciding who to take on a mission, but flexible tactical options at your disposal once on it.

Hated
Wash, Rinse, Repeat - Most missions involve you having to fight your way across a map to fight a boss (yes, this game even has boss fights). Actually, 95% of missions have you doing this, and while it's a blast, some more variety would have been nice, especially when the few defensive missions in the game prove to be the game's most enjoyable.

If what you've read above makes the game sound like a rich, creamy Diablo/Warcraft III/Company of Heroes soup, well, that's because that's exactly what it is. One minute you'll be using cover and flanking like Company of Heroes, the next you'll be using special powers to bring down a colossal boss character, the next you'll be collecting loot off its corpse and improving your "party" with it.

Which makes this an amazing game to play. It's like Relic have taken some of the most addictive and endearing elements of both real-time strategy and role-playing genres and smashed them together, the resulting game something that's able to appeal to fans of both genres without alienating either.

Warhammer 40000: Dawn Of War II was developed by Relic and published by THQ for the PC. It was released on February 19, and retails for $50. Played single player campaign to completion, played multiple skirmish battles online. Did not play co-op campaign, which game also features.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

We've told you before about THQ UK's plans to build a replica Space Marine Rhino from Warhammer 40K. Well, those plans are done. As is the Rhino. It's finished, it's working, and to celebrate, they took it out for a "spin".

Valve and THQ have announced that the price of Soulstorm has been slashed by 75%, so if you want in now (and you will, because the beta starts today), you can get in on the cheap. If you're so cheap you can't afford that, though, just wait until January 28. That's when the beta will become ready for download for everyone, regardless of whether you've got Soulstorm or not.

[Image]

Yes, up. Not delayed. Pushed up. Brilliant. The game "went gold" earlier this week, and instead of hitting shelves on February 27, will now hit on February 19. That's only a month away!

[Image]

AGOURA HILLS, Calif.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Jan. 19, 2009—THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) today announced that Warhammer(R) 40,000(TM): Dawn of War(R) II, developed by the award-winning Real-time strategy (RTS) developer, Relic Entertainment, has reached the gold master stage of development and is now entering manufacturing. Set in the grim, war-ravaged world of Games Workshop's (LSE: GAW) Warhammer 40,000 science fiction universe, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II delivers visceral combat, stunning visuals, and destructible environments throughout a non-linear single-player experience as well as a fully cooperative multiplayer campaign via Microsoft's free Games for Windows(R) - LIVE service. Developed exclusively for Windows PC and powered by an enhanced version of Relic's proprietary Essence Engine(TM) 2.0, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is scheduled to be on store shelves at retail outlets nationwide on February 19, 2009.

"Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II will build on the critical acclaim and commercial success of the Dawn of War franchise, letting players experience RTS gaming like never before," said Kevin Kraff, vice president of global brand management, THQ. "Combining non-linear gameplay, cooperative multiplayer, cinematic visuals, and destructible battlefields brings a new, innovative dynamic to the genre."

"Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II stays true to the fast-paced, brutal heart of the Dawn of War series, while introducing branching single-player storylines and unique unit customization," said Tarrnie Williams, general manager, Relic Entertainment. "The deep, tactical gameplay lets players develop and lead personalized elite units who gain experience and grow stronger with every ferocious battle."

About Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II transports players into Games Workshop's vast Warhammer 40,000 universe, where an intergalactic war between ancient races has raged on for countless millennia. Featuring vicious front-line combat, destructible environments, a fully cooperative multiplayer mode, four unique playable races and a non-linear single-player campaign with branching storylines, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II delivers the ultimate sci-fi fantasy RTS experience. Disposable units will become a thing of the past as gamers feel the intimate brutality of war and develop a personal connection with fully customizable squads. For more information on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, please visit www.dawnofwar2.com.

Minimum Requirements –

* Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista SP1
* P4 3.2 GHz (single core) or any Dual Core processor
* 1 GB RAM (XP), 1.5 GB RAM (Vista)
* A 128MB Video Card (Shader Model 3) - Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT / ATI X1600, or equivalent
* 5.5 GB of Hard Drive space

Recommended –

* Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista SP1
* AMD Athlon 64×2 4400+ or any Intel Core 2 Duo
* 2 GB RAM (XP and Vista)
* A 256MB Video Card (Shader Model 3) - Nvidia GeForce 7800 GT / ATI X1900, or equivalent
* 5.5 GB of Hard Drive space

Take note of those, look at PC, make of it what you will. All I know is, I meet those recommended specs and then some, so i'll be busy the next ten minutes or so high-fiving myself.

DAWN OF WAR II SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS [Relic]