Company of Heroes 2 details: New engine, 'True Sight' and snow

How Relic is 'making the best better'...

Relic Entertainment's Company of Heroes was and still is one of the finest real-time strategy games ever created, and - thankfully - a sequel is in the works. Given THQ's recent troubles and cuts at Relic we were starting to think it would never happen.

PC Gamer, which revealed the sequel yesterday, has now posted up details on how Relic will be following up its lauded RTS.

According to mag CoH2 will use a vastly improved version of the first game's Essence 3 engine and feature a revamped line of sight mechanic called True Sight.
Have a look at the full details below:

• Company of Heroes 2 will take place on the Russian front, with players controlling the Soviets as they battle the invading Nazi forces.

• Snow plays a major part on the battlefield, falling and melting dynamically, and slowing your soldiers and tanks based on its depth.

• The game runs on the Essence 3 engine, the latest version of the graphics engine Relic have been updating and expanding upon for years.

• The cover system has been revamped, to function more realistically and allow soldiers to vault over obstacles.

• Line of sight plays a large tactical role, with the game's fog of war based on what your soldier's can actually see. Relic call this system "True Sight", and it causes areas of the map to be grayed out and enemies within turned invisible by buildings, items of cover, or dropped smoke grenades.

• The Normandy landing that opened Company of Heroes (and Saving Private Ryan, one of its key inspirations), was the 23rd biggest battle of World War 2. "13 of the 15 bloddiest battles" happened on the Eastern front, points out Company of Heroes lead designer, Quinn Duffy. The game should represent those battles and their vicious scale, as much as it does minute infantry tactics.

• Just like the original, the scenery is highly destructible, and you'll be given control of plenty of tanks and other explosive equipment. That includes barn-burning flamethrowers.

• There will be multiplayer, but Relic aren't ready yet to talk about it.

• The game is due out 2013.

Tip: If you haven't played the first Company of Heroes and live in the UK pick up the next issue of PC Gamer, which comes with a free copy of the game. Order it here and you'll get it delivered direct to you.

Black Ops 2 pre-orders 3 times as high as the original's - Amazon

Latest Call of Duty already setting records

We'd bet our houses on Black Ops 2 being the biggest selling game of 2012. What's probably more interesting is whether it's going to be bigger than its predecessors, or whether analysts are right to suggest the monster FPS franchise may be on the wane.

Either way, Black Ops 2 is off to a great start at Amazon, with the online retailer telling MCV that day one pre-orders were three times as high as those achieved by the original Black Ops in 2010.

Amazon UK video games manager Graham Chambers said: "Set to be one of the biggest games of the year, it's great to see so much enthusiasm and anticipation for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2."

Earlier today Activision released the first artwork for Black Ops 2's Zombies mode, as well as a documentary-style trailer for the game focusing on future warfare and tech.

Black Ops 2 zombies detailed: More players, more zombies, new modes

Better start stocking up on ammo...

 

Now that Activision has marched Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 into the spotlight we've got some some official details on what we'll see come November, and it looks like Treyarch has something special in store for fans of its zombie mode.

According to our man, who had the opportunity to get a first-hand demonstration of CoD: BlOps 2, this time around Treyarch will be using the game's improved multiplayer engine for zombies, which means double the amount of shuffling corpses to sink your bullets into.

It'll also be able to "handle a co-op tally double that of Black Ops 1's". Eight-player zombies mode? Sign us up. Although Treyarch is still being coy with the deets it has promised there will be some other fresh modes too.

Strong sales of Black Ops' Rezurrection DLC pack has afforded the studio's zombies team some freedom to move. "Treyarch have given their zombie team free reign to do pretty much whatever they want with the mode regardless of the direction the campaign is headed in."

As our preview rightly points out, the last game had JFK, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Freddy Kruger, George Romero and battles on the Moon, we're chomping at the bit to see what Black Ops 2 has in store for us.

Source: CVG

Black Ops 2 on PC: Treyarch tackles the tough questions

Dedicated servers, Call of Duty Elite, combating online cheats and more

Call of Duty is arguably gaming's biggest franchise, but it's fair to say sections of the PC crowd have felt let down by the series in a number of respects, perhaps most recently with CoD Elite's no-show on the platform and the late arrival of DLC.

With that in mind, our friends at PC Gamer grilled Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia on the tricky creative, technical and customer service decisions the developer's facing with Black Ops 2. Here are a few excerpts:

Lamia on dedicated servers: "We had it with Black Ops, so the architecture exists. But we haven't yet announced exactly what that setup is going to be... We like the flexibility, just philosophically, of the dedicated server. We also like our game to be played the way we spent the last couple of years making it, and try to find that happy medium between the two."

Lamia on combating cheats: "We know it's a huge issue in PC gaming, for online gaming. We've been working on proprietary schemes, we're not just relying on the commercial schemes ... We have a lot of experience, especially after Black Ops, seeing what people were doing to the game, and... we are going to try to make it fun for as many people as possible."

Lamia on Call of Duty Elite for Black Ops 2: "It's one that Activision has to answer for us... Our engine's really well-integrated with all that stuff... It takes advantage of Elite pretty nicely."

Head over to PC Gamer for the full interview, in which Lamia also tackles questions on LAN play and a potential beta.