Source: videogamesblogger.com

Mytheon is an upcoming RTS-RPG MMO hybrid by publisher True Games Interactive and developer Petroglyph.

Petroglyph is the developer that created Star Wars: Empire at War and Universe At War, both games were highly critically acclaimed real-time strategy games. This new game, Mytheon, will be their first online micro-transaction title whose development team also includes key figures who were influential in the original Command & Conquer series back in the Westwood Studios days.

According to the developers, the game will combine the best elements of action, strategy and RPG gameplay with a heavy emphasis on collection and combat. Featuring “visually stunning” graphics, the game is set within a fantasy universe that’s steeped in various mythologies taken from across the world.

The game will start out with players making their way through ancient Greek and Greek mythology with plans for ongoing expansions to add content from other exotic mythologies from “the far-flung corners of history.”

Mytheon will feature “infinite replayability through group, PVP and solo play as well as an integrated social networking feature set.”

“There really isn’t a game on the market today that someone could compare to Mytheon,” said Jeff Lujan, Founder and Chairman of True Games Interactive. “The game truly creates an entirely new genre offering a combination of features that gamers would normally have to play several different games to get. There is no doubt it is an ambitious project, but Petroglyph has routinely delivered AAA quality, genre-defining games and Mytheon continues that pedigree.”

Players will collect “Power Stones” in the game, which are used to conjure magic spells and summon minions to fight alongside the players. Mytheon will also feature three distinct character classes, each specializing in a specific “Power Stone” type, such as summoning or healing.”

The game is scheduled for release in fall of 2009.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Jonny Ebbert, Dawn of War II lead designer at developer Relic, dropped a huge hint Homeworld 3 might already be in development when he was recently interviewed about the company doing another Homeworld RTS sequel for PC.

To quote him: “We’re really happy the IP has made its way home, and yeah, we’re definitely looking at it. We’ll see what happens in the future.” When asked whether it was one of the studio’s current projects, Mr. Ebbert said: “There’s always that chance.” And when pressed if they were excited about showing it to the world, he chuckled: “Yes, very, very!” Mr. Ebbert closed off by saying: “Homeworld’s always been dear to our heart; it’s what put us on the map, it was our first product, and I think it will always have a special place in our hearts.”

Three announced games are in development at the THQ-owned Relic: Dawn of War II, Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor and Company of Heroes Online, being co-developed with Shanda for the Asian market. General manager Tarrnie Williams admitted there were “three or four” titles in the works at Relic. “It depends how you count; whether you use the old math or the new math.” He declined to explain the difference.

See the full video interview at Eurogamer.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

2011 – 2014. The world enjoys an unprecedented era of peace as enhanced defense technology eliminates the threat of nuclear war. But can it last? 2020. Constant depletion of resources has international tensions at a breaking point. One spark will ignite what no one thought could happen… a third and final world war.

In Tom Clancy’s EndWar players represent one of three national armies (U.S. Russia or Europe) and participate in massive multiplayer battles. EndWar can be played almost entirely by voice command and also features a customizable army, as well as the ability to fight in various battlefields and cities around the world. Explore a full-scale land war between superpowers. While the narrative engrosses you in a massive global conflict, with battles taking place in American and European heartlands, on 40 real-life recognizable battlefields including Washington D.C., Paris and Moscow.

The latest Tom Clancy game executes a killer strategy that demands attention. Find out in this EndWar video review.


Game features include:
* Strategy for the next generation: Led by creative director Michael de Plater (Rome Total War), EndWar promises to redefine strategy gaming. Designed for next-gen consoles EndWar creates a theatre of war, immersing you in the drama of World War III in a way you never thought possible.
* Fight For Your Nation: Pick a side US, Europe, Russia – the fate of the world is in your hands. If you don’t step in to save your homeland, who will?
* Command Your Army: Grow your army into the most powerful force on the planet. Your army is completely customizable, and experience breeds strength – your units grow more powerful with every campaign you fight.
* Light Up The City of Lights: Tom Clancy’s World War III won’t be won by capturing remote deserts or grasslands but by striking countries in the heart. Paris, Moscow, Washington D.C. will all erupt in flames as you battle your way through the fully destructive playground.
* A Whole New Kind of Massive: EndWar is an online multiplayer experience unlike anything you’ve ever encountered. 16 player matchups? Try hundreds. 30 minute battles? Try persistent matchups lasting for months at a time. This isn’t a skirmish, it’s World War III.
* Talk Your Way to Victory: Put the controller aside and start shouting commands. EndWar can be played almost entirely via voice command.

To quote the GT video review: “EndWar is a polished, innovative game that does a great job pairing its impressive voice command feature with a focused, fast-paced design. It doesn’t flat-out require that you talk to your game system, but it does reward you for trying out a new way to play. The game essentially plays the same whether online or not, but the number of strategies and counter-strategies gives the game legs. EndWar is console strategy done uniquely, and done right.”

Story — 7.2
Design — 9.5
Gameplay — 9.1
Presentation — 8.8
Overall — 9.0

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Forget about Mike and Jim promoting cleaning products on your local shopping channel. Electronic Arts hired David Hasselhoff to do their Red Alert 3 infomercial spots and it’s so deliciously corny that you’ll want to see all four on conquerthislife.com.

The Hoff says to play Red Alert 3 and “stay classy!”

PS: David Hasselhoff even has a role in Red Alert 3!

Source: videogamesblogger.com

If you bought the PC RTS Red Alert 3 this week, you might come across a problem when installing the game. With some copies of the game, the serial keys are missing or invalid. Here’s the official word from publisher EA on both serial key issues going on right now and the details on HOW TO FIX THEM…

SERIAL KEY ISSUE #1 – My key says it is invalid and I cannot get online.
There were a small amount of keys in the early distribution which were not pre-loaded in to our backend, thus that is why it’s tell you it is invalid. This is a similar issue we experienced during the Beta Test. This will be resolved by the end of today. By tonight, or at latest tomorrow morning, anyone experiencing this particular issue should be able to get online without a problem. Many of you may not even experience this.

SERIAL KEY ISSUE #2 – My manual has 19 digits instead of 20 for the serial key.
Answer: Visit the Command and Conquer Help page to contact CS to fix your key. — It turns out a small set of the first run of manuals misprinted the serial keys, leaving one digit off. EA’s Customer Support team has posted a simple FAQ proces at help.commandandconquer.com (click the link above) where you can contact them and they will quickly help you fix your key.

There’s also a quick workaround if you do not want to go through that process.
The last digit of your serial key will either be a number from 0 – 9 or a letter from A – Z. Using a quick proces of elimination, simply type a number or letter at the end of the serial key until it activates. There is a maximum of 36 possible entries, so it’s likely you’ll hit the correct number or letter before then. It’s not the most glamorous workaround, but its quick and painless and will save you some time from contacting Customer Support if you don’t wish to do that.

EA’s Command & Conquer community manager adds: “We apologize for these two serial key issues. Both were absolutely out of our hands and while seemingly unacceptable, we hope you can understand. For most of you, this should not be an issue by tomorrow, especially when everyone starts getting online.”

Source: videogamesblogger.com

A new U.S. Presidential candidate emerges. Forget about Obama and McCain, Red Alert 3’s President Ackerman provides hope!

Although famous for a tawrdy endorsement of a certain democratic candidate, in this song Obama girl (Amber Lee Ettinger) aligns her considerable assets and influence behind Howard Ackerman, a jingoistic independent from the Midwest. Ackermans stances include aggressive positions on defense and the utilization of animals for combat, as well as a militaristic approach to the growing threats in the Far East and Soviet Union.

The Allied’s Lt. Eva McKenna (Gemma Atkinson) will be voting Howard T. Ackerman as well.

Ackerman on change you can believe in. After all, it’s like he says: “Vote for me, if you want to live.”

Ackerman on illegal immigration: “Two words: attack dogs.”

Ackerman on Defense: “The best defense is a good offense.”
Ackerman on Foreign Policy: “Do it to them before they do it to us.”
Ackerman on the Economy: “You have to spend money to make money.”

Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 for PC is in stores on October 30th, 2008; and for Xbox 360 on November 13th, 2008.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Electronic Arts are set to resurrect Bullfrog’s cult classic Syndicate series with a new sequel currently in development at Starbreeze.

A CVG source has leaked this secret of a supposed “Syndicate 3″, while hinting the Electronic Arts deal with Starbreeze had the sole purpose of bringing back this “classic franchise”.

The first Syndicate tactical shooting RTS game was released in 1993 and was followed up in 1996 by Syndicate Wars. The game put players in charge of a militant global corporation, and tasked them with leading (drugged out) cyborg agents around a gritty cyberpunk world rescuing captured allies and assassinating rival syndicate executives.

According to Wiki, the original game’s creator Peter Molyneux has said that “Aside from the licensing complications, some sort of next-gen online version of Syndicate would certainly be popular with gamers.”

Let’s hope development is completed and the game is popular, so we can see lots more classic franchises revisited. And if you want to revisit the original on a current-gen system, get EA Replay for the PSP that includes Syndicate.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

StarCraft II’s opening cinematic set the BlizzCon 2008 crowd afire when Blizzard unveiled a teaser video of the intro to their highly anticipated RTS sequel. Even though the scene was simply a teaser, and not the entire sequence.

But once again Blizzard impresses with some mighty fine CG that is quite simply as top-notch as you can get. Although the opening cinematic isn’t as action packed as I thought it would be, given that this is StarCraft II. But regardless, the teaser video definitely has a very cool, Aliens-esque cinematic feel to it that is definitely worth checking out. And fans will be in for a treat.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II for PC is the latest game in the RTS series and sequel to the first Dawn of War released in 2004.

In this developer walkthrough of an early build of the game, the developers over at Relic Entertainment take you through a portion of the campaign to show off some of what they have been working on in their latest RTS.

You’ll get a look at the new cover mechanic (which has been a large focus of the team) that allows you to use objects in the environment to avoid enemy fire. You can even climb atop buildings! You’ll get a look at Thadius’ awesome Squad Jump special ability, some of the individual unit upgrades and special abilities, a battle to capture a shrine (which will increase morale) and some of the cool units, attacks and enemies that you will be fighting over the course of the game.

Dawn of War II is currently scheduled for release in Spring of 2009.

Source: videogamesblogger.com

Halo Wars places the player in command of human UNSC armies as they deploy for mankinds first deadly encounter with the enemy Covenant forces. In a time pre-dating Halo: Combat Evolved. Join the crew onboard the Spirit of Fire, a Phoenix-class colony ship converted for UNSC military use, and guided by the A.I. persona Serina. Discover an ancient artifact during a journey to the planet Harvest, the first planet to be attacked by the Covenant.

Let’s take a field trip to planet Harvest to reinforce Alpha Base and investigate what the Covenant are doing there! Get a first look at the storyline behind Halo Wars with the below CGI trailer.

The RTS will be out on Xbox 360 sometime in 2009.