Relic have announced that they're reaching a Turning Point. Confusingly in this case, it's a Company of Heroes 2 update, and not a new commitment to make nice games about not ordering tiny men to angrily shoot each other. As well as more multiplayer maps, this update also puts the tools of battle in the hands of the soldiers, by giving the community a World Builder tool that will let them create and share their own battlefields.

The two new Relic-made maps are called Rails & Metal and Lazur Factory, the latter of which has received the trailer treatment.



Four new multiplayer commanders are also being made available, two of which were designed by community members. In addition, Theatre of War is being updated with new features, including public chat and co-op battles.

Company of Heroes 2's Turning Point update is due out on November 12th. You can find more details on the update's micro-site.

Video games produced in Russia and Eastern Europe are nothing new, what with the Stalker series and Metro: Last Light. For the first time, though, we could start seeing video games produced in part by the Russian government to teach players specifically about the glorious history of the Russian military.

“The main thing we expect from the producers of video games is the realistic and historically truthful representation of events,” said Arseny Mironov, aid to Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky, according to Hollywood Reporter. Company of Heroes 2 has taken a lot of flak from angry Russians for its fictional-but-not-totally-made-up depiction of the Red Army fighting and dying on the Eastern Front. Despite the controversy, the game is popular among Russian gamers.

"A video game has to have not only an entertainment value, but it also has to teach and be conducive to patriotic education," Mironov continued. The Russian Military History Society is in currently developing the first government-funded game, which will follow the beginnings of Russian air power during World War 1. The government has not announced which local developer might be taking on that project.

Government-funded games are not a new concept, of course. Here in the United States we’ve got everything from Moonbase Alpha to America’s Army funded by the government to get young people interested in the kinds of adventures they could theoretically possibly probably never have if they decide to take a job with the government.

Things got decidedly more dystopian, however, when the culture ministry talked about their options for banning video games that “discredit the Russian soldier” and "distort historic facts." For Mironov, a "negative image of the Russian warrior" should not be allowed. At least for right now, though, all they’re doing is talking.

Thanks, Hollywood Reporter.

Even now, from the comfort of 2013, it seems callous to make pithy comments about World War 2. Maybe I should play it safe by sticking rigidly to the facts. Fact 1: Germany was one of the founding members of World War 2. Fact 2: Some would say that they played such a key role, that the war disbanded soon after they left in 1945. Fact 3: They are the focus of Company of Heroes 2: Case Blue, a DLC pack for the Theatre of War mode.



Set in June 1942, Case Blue is a series of challenges and scenarios that follow the titular offensive on the Caucasus region. The DLC pack offers one co-op scenario, two singleplayer challenges, and two AI battles - set on the two maps that were yesterday added as part of a free update to the game.

Case Blue is free to pre-orderers and Collectors Edition owners. For everybody else, it is now available for £7/$10.

Remember the good old days of a few months before the release of Company of Heroes 2? Life was simpler then. You'd visit your favourite PC gaming website, safe in the knowledge that Relic would have cooked up a new trailer for their RTS sequel, probably showing a Russian conscript looking sad. Here, we get to indulge in some early-2013 nostalgia, with a new CoH2 trailer, touring one of two free maps that have today been added to the game.

Rostov, the trailered battleground, is based on the 1941 Battle of Rostov, fought between Germans and Soviets around Rostov-on-Don and the Don river. Also added is the Kharkov map, based on the Ukrainian city, which was the setting for many battles during the war.

It's not just the multiplayer that Relic are working on. In this month's "Producer's Letter" to the community, Greg Wilson teased the unveiling of the first major update to Theatre of War mode, which will add a new "mini-pack", focusing on the Germans in 1942. The update will be made available for free to Collector's Edition owners, and as DLC pack for the standard edition. Further details are due later this month.

Wilson also notes that Relic are preparing for the release of the 1.0 version of their mapping tool, giving community modders the chance to create their own battlefields.

Company of Heroes 2 has been hitting some bumps recently. Though we really enjoyed the game, many of the themes and tropes of the game’s depiction of World War II’s Eastern Front have come under fire from Russian fans. Now, CoH 2’s distributor for Russia and Eastern Europe is halting sales while they check out the situation.

1C-SoftClub stopped sales of CoH 2 on July 26 after a petition, alleging that the game’s depiction of Soviet soldiers did not promote patriotism among adolescents, received more than 5,000 signatures. “In connection with appeals of people who consider unacceptable number of episodes of the game,” 1C-SoftClub wrote on its website, “ stopped selling PC game Company of Heroes...in the territory of the Russian Federation and .”

In Company of Heroes 2, some of the most notorious abuses of the World War II-era Soviet Army are depicted as part of the gameplay. Though episodes where soldiers are sent into battle without weapons are based on historical reality, Russian critics claim that focusing on these isolated incidents as if they were part of daily life for Soviet soldiers exaggerates the stereotype to a parody.

When you make a game that tangles with national mythology, things tend to get political very quickly.

Speaking to Polygon, a representative from Sega didn’t offer much except that they were taking the situation “seriously” and couldn’t comment further. We’ll keep you up to date as the situation develops.

There's no escape. You'd have thought that Company of Heroes 2's release would have meant the end of its non-stop trailer bombardment. But no, Relic are refusing to surrender. Today's incoming media air-drop marks a free update, which brings a reworked version of the classic Company of Heroes map Langres - one of the most popular small-scale maps from the original. Remade for the Eastern Front setting, this new Langreskaya has been introduced with summer and winter variations.

Langreskaya is available in-game right now.

"Look folks," the latest Company of Heroes 2 trailer may well be saying, "we really love tanks." "Sure," it continues, "our game does have units that aren't tanks, but they're just there to make it even more special when you do finally see a tank." Basically, if you're a huge fan of planes, there are really only a few seconds here designed to appeal to you.

If you do enjoy the sight of a massive, armoured, gun-mounted, metal mammoths, there's plenty here to appreciate. Relic's RTS sequel is promising new and more varied tank on tank action come the game's release on June 25th.

And yes, I'm sure there will be other vehicle types too.

For more on CoH2, check out our impressions from the mulitplayer beta.

While the last trailer was a sombre exploration of the psychological and physical toll of the Eastern Front, Company of Heroes 2's latest video preview is a more celebratory look at the variety and flexibility of the World War 2 strategy. It's cocky, too. Confidently rolling its tanks over that other genre's battlefield; big block letters proudly instructing you to take command "before you try the next big FPS".

Luckily, it seems, the RTS sequel has the fire-power to match its assured taunting. You can see what Relic have in store with our hands-on beta impressions and huge preview.

Company of Heroes 2 is due out June 25th.

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.

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.