THQ Collection

Well thanks, morose Russian soldier man. Here I was thinking about Company of Heroes 2, and getting all excited for another slice of deep RTS action, when suddenly you decide to bring the mood down. Yes, technically war might be a little bit rubbish. But when it's restricted to my computer, it's great. Although, even then, I guess I could understand his lack of enthusiasm. I did get a lot of people killed in the first game.

Company of Heroes 2 is due out June 25th. Tom Senior has been our point-man on Relic's winter wargame, providing multiplayer beta impressions here.

For many publishers and retailers, convincing you to commit to a day one purchase before anyone's played/reviewed their game is a big win, and pre-order bonuses are a handy way to entice customers and bank sales estimates before launch day. As these promised bonuses grow in heft and significance, we face increasingly frustrating dilemmas about where and when to put money down for new games.

Metro: Last Light's hardcore "Ranger Mode" is a particularly thorny example. It's advertised as "the way it was meant to be played" on the front page of the Metro site, but is If that's the case, why isn't it available to everyone who buys the game? Is it really, as implied, the definitive Metro experience? We put the question to Huw Beynon, global brand manager at Metro: Last Light's publisher, Koch Media, who explains why it was segregated out as a pre-order bonus.

"Offering game content as a pre-order exclusive is a requirement by retail"

"Game makers and publishers now live in a world where offering game content as a pre-order exclusive is a requirement by retail, and Ranger Mode seemed like the best choice since it was a mode for hardcore fans who would most likely pre-order the game, or purchase it at launch in any case," he says. "We rejected requests to make story content or additional missions exclusive. We also rejected requests to make this a timed exclusive."

Ranger Mode was added to Last Light's precursor, Metro 2033 after launch as "a direct response to the demands of the hardcore Metro community." It removes the HUD, makes enemies tougher and increases the scarcity of ammunition, which can also be used as currency in the Metro world. It sounds like a big feature. The ad phrasing makes it sound essential. Beynon suggests otherwise.

"We do not recommend Ranger Mode for a first playthrough, and this is made very clear both in-game. We expect Metro fans will want to try Ranger Mode for a subsequent playthrough, and we think that for this hardcore player, Ranger Mode offers a richer experience - but only once you've clocked the game at least once."

The difficulty mode will be "included in all copies of the initial manufacturing run While a pre-order guarantees this 'Limited Edition' it is not a requirement." Ranger Mode will be available to buy on launch day as DLC at $5/£3.99 - "the lowest 1st Parties would permit us to charge for content of this nature" Beynon suggests.

"We took all the steps we could to ensure that, while still offering retailers a pre-order incentive that met their needs, we did not force players to pre-order, or make them wait to get this content," he says.

Our review of Metro: Last Light will go live on Monday. How do you feel about pre-order bonuses? Do you pre-order or pre-purchase often, or do you prefer to buy games on day one?

Rejoice, fans of freezing to death in the harsh and unforgiving coldness, surrounded only by the pained screams of troops locked in a bitter battle between two unstoppable war machines! If you're worried that Company of Heroes 2's campaign won't keep a chill in your bones throughout the summer months, Relic have announced a second mode. It's called Theatre of War and, from what they say, it sounds like an automated delivery system for human misery (and tactically satisfying RTS missions).

Taking the form of new single player and co-op challenges, the mode will provide a series of scenarios against unique AI commanders and "overwhelming odds". COH2 game director Quinn Duffy has this to say on the matter: "Theatre of War acts as a perfect bridge between the game’s single and multiplayer content providing a high level of re-playability and helping to introduce traditionally solo players to the online elements of the game."

At the game's launch, Theatre of War will contain nine unique missions per faction, set around key battles of 1941. More missions will be added after release - including the already announced pre-order mini-campaign.

Company of Heroes 2 is due out June 25th.

I think Metro: Last Light may be locked in an attempt beat Bioshock Infinite for most trailers released this year. It won't work: as many as there have been so far, to usurp Irrational's ridiculous throne 4A would still need to drop a new video every day, right up to the game's May 17th release. Not that it'll stop them from trying. This time: Will protagonist Artyom lead humanity to salvation? Will he stab hundreds of people in murky post-apocalyptic tunnels? Are the two mutually exclusive? Probably not.

More specifically, we meet Anna - crack sniper for Artyom's Spartan Order of Rangers. She's a bit of a pessimist. But then, if you're constantly defending against mutants, fascists, cultists and heavily armed militia, you'd probably struggle to see the lighter side too.

If you've had your fill of moving pictures, read our comfortingly static Last Light preview here.

After nearly seven years of being bombed and battered, Company of Heroes' online infrastructure is in need of a break. Servers located at the game's old hosting company - the now Ubisoft-owned Quazal - are due to be shut down on May 7th. Is this the end of the war? Not quite. Replacement Steamworks servers have already been parachuted in, giving fans the chance to migrate over before the original host's honourable discharge.

If you own the game on Steam, you'll already have the new version, the aptly titled "Company of Heroes (New Steam Version)", in your Library. It's a single launch option - so any expansions have been rolled into the DLC tab of the listing's properties menu.

Owners of other versions will need to transfer their games, by adding their CD Keys into the "Activate a Product on Steam" option.

It's a bit of an odd situation. Some players may feel justifiably aggrieved by this service switch. But while the sudden requirement of the Steam client might not be universally welcomed, it's surely a preferable option to a complete shutdown of the old servers.

Plus, it could be worse - the original Dawn of War 2 is still tied to Games for Windows Live.

Thanks, Strategy Informer.

A low profile Swedish publisher has snapped up most of what remained of THQ's IP portfolio overnight, including the Darksiders and Red Faction IPs. Auctioned off in lots, Nordic Games can now lay claim to The Biggest Loser and Jeopardy franchises (hooray?), as well as MX vs ATV, Worms, Juiced, Destroy All Humans!, Titan Quest and much more.

In a statement, Nordic owner Lars Wingefors said the publisher was willing to co-operate with developers responsible for previous games in their acquired properties. "First and foremost we are very happy about this deal which also turns over a new leaf for the entire Nordic Games Group," Wingefors said. "In the long term, we either want to cooperate with the original creators or best possible developers in order to work on sequels or additional content for these titles.

"A very important point for us is not to dash into several self-financed multi-million projects right away," he continued, "but rather to continue our in-depth analysis of all titles and carefully selecting different financing models for developing new instalments of acquired IPs."

For $4.9 million, Nordic Games walked away from the auction with nearly every remaining THQ IP except Homeworld - which went to Gearbox for $1.35 million. Of course, a lot of the meatier stuff (Company of Heroes, Saints Row, Homefront and South Park) was bought back in January.

Aliens, superpowers, inflation lasers, a dubstep gun - judging from its short teaser trailer, Saints Row IV looks to be the most ridiculous game in the series yet. Speaking to OXM, Volition senior producer Jim Boon responded to comments made by Cliff Bleszinski - who suggested the game should tone down its more juvenile elements - saying, "I think our tone is an element of our success."

"Ultimately I don't think that SR's tone gets in the way of bigger sales. If anything, I think our tone is an element of our success. SR is quite unlike anything else out there, and I think gamers crave unique experiences - I know I do. We have a lot of passionate fans that love SR, so I think we are striking the right chord."

Despite this, Boon says the team doesn't feel pressure to outdo the ridiculousness of previous games - even though they clearly have. "If anything it is liberating to be able to come up with any idea we think gamers will enjoy with no restrictions. Ultimately the pressure comes from trying to keep things fun in SR4. We have a very creative team that comes up with some fairly crazy ideas - that is almost the easy part for the team.

"The challenge is to make sure these ideas have a purpose and are fun," Boon continues. "We don't want to do crazy just for the sake of being over the top, so it is important that our crazy ideas actually add to the game. The pressure comes from having the time to really hone our idea into something that feels awesome for the player. We have had to cut any number of ideas if we thought we couldn't get the fun factor where it needs to be."

All fine and well, but would fans really miss the giant purple dildos? Boon thinks yes. "I think our fans would miss what might considered juvenile elements of previous SR games. Based on the overall reception and sales of SR3, I strongly suspect many people enjoy this aspect of SR, even if some may not want to admit feeling that way. Thinking of a movie series like The Hangover - people love the humor but you might not want to discuss some of the finer moments of those movies with your mom, for example.

"I think the same might be true for SR. We do get an awful lot of feedback from fans telling us much they love our juvenile tone - with some asking us to go even further! Ultimately SR4 doesn't try to take itself too seriously and we even have a lot of fun at our own expense."

Read the full interview to learn how superpowers have been integrated into the game, and how the team coped during THQ's bankruptcy.

Saints Row 4 is due out August 23rd.

The apocalypse was never going to be easy. It's meant to be a desperate and wretched struggle for survival against exhaustion, the decaying world, and probably mutants. But humans aren't the only ones that have to suffer. PCs do too, if these Metro: Last Light system specs are anything to go by. While there's a broad scale of requirements - the minimum being admirably inclusive of older systems - the optimal rendering of the murky, oppressive underground is going to need a seriously robust rig.

Minimum

Windows: XP (32-Bit), Vista, 7 or 8
CPU: 2.2 GHz Dual Core e.g. Intel Core 2 Duo
RAM: 2GB
Direct X: 9.0c
Graphics Card: DirectX 9, Shader Model 3 compliant e.g. NVIDIA GTS 250 (or AMD equivalent e.g. HD Radeon 4000 series) or higher

For 3D Vision Support:

NVIDIA GTX 275 or higher
120Hz Monitor
NVIDIA 3D Vision kit for Windows Vista, 7 or 8


Recommended

Windows: Vista, 7 or 8
CPU: 2.6 GHz Quad Core e.g. Intel Core i5
RAM: 4GB
Direct X: 11
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 580/660 Ti (or AMD equivalent e.g. 7870) or higher

For 3D Vision Support:

NVIDIA GTX 580/660Ti or higher
120Hz Monitor
NVIDIA 3D Vision kit for Windows Vista, 7 or 8


Optimum

Windows: Vista, 7 or 8
CPU: 3.4 GHz Multi-Core e.g. Intel Core i7
RAM: 8GB
Direct X: 11
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GTX 690 / NVIDIA Titan

For 3D Vision Support:

NVIDIA GTX 690
120Hz Monitor
NVIDIA 3D Vision kit for Windows Vista, 7 or 8


Metro: Last Light is out May 17th.

You too will know the joys of fighting humans and mutants as you vie for control of a doomsday weapon, comrade. 4A Games has released the first survival guide tutorial for its upcoming Metro: Last Light first-person shooter. The video familiarizes would-be Rangers with the inherent dangers you'll face in the Metro itself, the destroyed surface wasteland and the transition tunnels between the two areas.

Based on Dmitry Glukhovsky's novel "Metro 2033," Metro: Last Light focuses on life within Metro, the last surviving underground city after the nuclear fallout of 2033 as well as the conflicts between the factions vying for resources, power and control of a rumored doomsday device. Running on 4A's proprietary engine, Last Light is set for a May 17th release date on all platforms. The game features the voices of Lance Henriksen, Nolan North, Khary Payton, and Patton Oswalt—at last combining the talents of "Bishop" from "Aliens" and one of the greatest geek comedians to ever live in one video game.

Metro: Last Light system requirements (minimum)
• CPU: 2.0 GHz dual core CPU, Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Phenom X2
• RAM: 1GB
• Graphics: DirectX 9 compatible card with 512 MB RAM. Nvidia 200-series or AMD Radeon 3000 series cards.
• Operating system: Windows XP SP2
• DirectX compatible audio card
• 7.5 GB of hard disk space

Metro: Last Light system requirements (recommended)
• CPU: 2.6 GHz quad core Intel or AMD processor, Intel Core i5, AMD Phenom X4
• RAM: 2GB
• Graphics: DirectX 10 or 11 compatible card with 1GB of video memory, Nvidia 400-series or AMD 5000-series.
• Operating system: Windows 7
• DirectX compatible audio card
• 7.5 GB of hard disk space

Charge!

Update: All 20,000 keys have been distributed. Thanks to everyone who grabbed one—look for more thrilling giveaways from us in the future.

For seven years, the original Company of Heroes has stood as our highest-rated RTS of all time. As its successor marches toward a late June release, we're happy to be able to exclusively offer about a division's worth of Company of Heroes 2 beta keys to you all.

To grab a key, click here to head over to our Facebook page. Once you receive a key, redeem it on Steam. The closed beta is live now, and it includes both multiplayer and skirmish mode against the AI on six maps.

There's a limited supply of keys available. I'll update this post once they've all been drafted (away from their loving parents, you monster). If you miss out on our giveaway, a nuclear option is available: pre-ordering Company of Heroes 2 on Steam grants closed beta access.