It looks as though Vostock Games might not be the only studio to form in the aftermath of the break up of STALKER developers, GSC. Russian gaming site, StopGame reports that a significant element of the GSC STALKER team have set up shop in Kiev, and have formed a new outfit called Union Studio.

There are a few tidbits to back this up. A description on UnionStudio's sparse LinkedIn page describes the developer as a "new company, created together with the best professionals that worked for GSC GAME WORLD and other AAA class studios." The page announces that they're making a "cross-platform action shooter which will be available for PC, Mac, PlayStation, XBOX." There's also a work-in-progress Union Studio site, which simply says "coming soon."

The LinkedIn page of former GSC team lead and software developer Eugene Kim now has him listed as the new CEO & Founder at UnionStudio in the Ukraine. Kim's Google+ feed is topped by a link to StopGame's "another shooter from the developers of STALKER" story. StopGame claim that the game will be announced this Autumn and have a futuristic setting.

The developers haven't officially announced anything yet, but we could end up with another ex-GSC effort to look forward to alongside Vostock's free to play MMO, Survarium.

Wow, a ray of sunshine! There's more cheer in that beam than you'll find in Metro: Last Light precursor, Metro 2033. The first game did bleak underground tunnels better than almost any other. The underground towns inhabited by survivors of the mutant apocalypse were especially memorable, packed full of characters and incidental detail. Weapon sellers haggled with mercenaries, old ladies cooed at each other in corners, burly blokes guffawed over baked bean tins of vodka and every so often you'd come across someone who'd seen the surface and returned alive. They'd stand still and stare into middle distance looking sadder than a badger in a washing machine.

The sequel looks as though it'll bring similar levels of detail to its outdoor environments, get a good look at them in these new screenshots. Click to see them full size.

Company of Heroes 2 is coming! Relic, makers of Homeworld and Dawn of War, have finally announced the sequel to their glorious, Nazi-stomping World War II strategy game.

If you want to read every shrapnel of information, you'll need to run out and buy the next issue of PC Gamer magazine - on sale in the UK on May 9th, and the US May 22nd. UK readers even get Company of Heroes 1 free with every issue.

But if you want to know the basics, read on below for how Relic intend to follow the best real-time strategy game of all time.


It's set on the Russian front. You control the Soviets in their fight to repel the invading Nazi force.


Snow plays a major part on the battlefield.


The cover system has been revamped.


The game is due out 2013.


We'll have loads more information on Company of Heroes in the coming weeks, as and when we're allowed to talk about it. Or you could order a PC Gamer magazine right now.

The issue of PC Gamer UK arriving with subscribers right now has something very special on the cover: Company of Heroes 2. Relic, makers of Homeworld and Dawn of War, are returning to their classic Nazi-stomping RTS.

The magazine contains the exclusive first details based on our trip to Relic's offices, but you can read the key details right here in our Company of Heroes 2 info post.

Not familiar with the original? We've got you covered there, too. The magazine on UK shelves comes with a free Steam copy of Company of Heroes 1 for every reader. We gave it 94% when we reviewed back in 2006, and we think it still stands up today. But you can play it and tell us if we're wrong. (We're not wrong.)

The magazine will appear on newsstands on May 9th, or you can camp out to by a physical copy of PC Gamer Issue 241 via My Favourite Magazines.

A Ukranian news site is reporting that the developers of Stalker and Stalker 2, GSC have shut down their studio. An "informed source" told them that founder and CEO, Sergei Grigorovich made the announcement at a staff meeting, saying that the company was closing because of unspecified "personal reasons." RPS spotted a tweet from the company denying that GSC has been closed, but that has since been deleted. If true, it would be a sudden and very sad turn of events. We'll know what's happening for certain when GSC make official comment.

The evil gods of Chaos tend to use fear and the promise of power immortality to motivate their warriors, but it turns out all they really need is an experience system and a linear series of unlocks. THQ are setting out to prove this with a new lump of paid DLC for Space Marine's recently added co-op survival mode, Exterminatus.

Exterminatus added two survival maps to Space Marine for free recently. Many Orks were slain. Much honour was gained in the eyes of the Emperor. Many badass assault packs were unlocked. The new Chaos Unleashed pack will cast you as the forces of Chaos, and will pit you against waves and waves of Imperial Guardsmen and Orks in new arenas. The pack also includes three multiplayer maps, Habs Ablaze, Station Tertius and Aquila Canyon. The pack will cost 800 Microsoft Points / £7.99 and will arrive in December.

THQ announce that they will also be selling Salamander, Alpha Legion, Legion of the Damned and Blood Angel skins at the hefty price of 240 Microsoft Points / £2.39 each.

If you're not tempted by any of this stuff, THQ say that the update will also add a capture the flag mutliplayer mode to Space Marine for everyone for free. A flag seems a little mundane for the Warhammer universe. Capture the Giant Robot Skull might be better, don't you think?

Space Marine has finally received its four player co-op survival mode, Exterminatus. An automatic Steam update should add the mode to the Online section of the Space Marine main menu, and will offer you and four friends two maps on which to trounce hordes and hordes of Orks. I jumped in for five minutes and killed about 115 with nothing but a Heavy Bolter and a big power-armoured booty. Stomp, stomp! Dakka dakka! Weapon unlocked!

Experience earned popping green monsters in survival mode will also count towards your overall multiplayer rank, giving you new weaponry with which to embarrass your enemies, which acts as an unnecessary extra motivation to team up and make a big gooey mess of a charging Ork Waaaagh!

A new blog post on the Relic Dawn of War blog details every ability and piece of wargear that the new Tau Commander Last Stand hero will unlock on his quest to reach level 20. It looks like Relic have not only nailed what the Tau are about, but have created a high-risk, mobile, ranged devastator that should provide new challenge for anyone who thinks they've mastered Dawn of War 2's superb three-man survival mode. This is a character who does ZERO damage in melee, but has access to a plasma gun and jump jets from the start, and abilities with names like "sky ray barrage."

Listing every upgrade and wargear unlock will be a bit spoilery for some, but if you're eager to see some of the slightly terrifying upgrades on offer, including heavy assault drones and nano-bots, you'll find the full list on the Dawn of War 2 blog. According to IGN the Tau Commander is set to hit Steam later today, and will cost $9.99.

Relic are also releasing some new chapter packs for Dawn of War 2's armies, including the Death Korps of Krieg for the Imperial Guard, and Word Bearers for Chaos.

Dawn of War 2's fantastic Last Stand mode will get a new hero later this month. The Tau Commander is the imperious leader of Warhammer 40,000's race of technologically advanced space-communists, the Tau. They stomp around in huge, customisable mech suits, which makes them perfect for Last Stand's loot driven progression system. With every level, new wargear is unlocked, opening up new build options that can completely change each warrior's role in the three-man team. See one in action in the trailer above, spotted on Reddit.

Going by the video above, it looks as thought the Tau Commander will play as a devastating artillery specialist, with some area of effect support abilities thrown in to keep team mates happy. It's fitting. In 40k lore, the Tau are one of the few races still making new tech, and the Crisis Battlesuit the Commander hides inside carries some of the best. Expect jump jets, drones and great big energy beams.

The trailer says that the Tau Commander will "be available for purchase at the end of October." There's no price yet. The Last Stand mode is available as a standalone purchase now on Steam and is on sale now as part of the tail end of a weekend Steam deal.

THQ's executive VP of core games, Danny Bilson has been talking to Joystiq about the possibility of a sequel to Space Marine. His muted reaction isn't good news for those hoping for a bigger and better follow-up. He says he's "not sure if there's room" for Space Marine 2, thanks in part to the upcoming Warhammer 40,000 MMO, Dark Millenium Online.

Bilson points out that THQ have "already annouced the Imperium in the MMO as a class you can play," and notes that it's "very active, as opposed to the more turn-based stuff. I'm not sure there's room for Space Marine." Dark Millenium's estimated 2013 release could put it in competition with a Space Marine sequel.

There is some good news for those who have enjoyed Relic's use of the license so far with the Dawn of War series and Space Marine. "We are heavily invested in the 40K universe, so there's more stuff coming in the 40K universe, absolutely. We extended the deal for quite a while," says Bilson.

Dark Millenium is being developed by Vigil, but recent rumours have suggested that Relic may be helping out a little with development, and the MMO could use a version of the Darksiders Engine, with similar combat to Space Marine. That would fit Bilson's description of the MMO as "very active." The information, mentioned on Strategy Informer, hinted at some of the included classes and characters, namedropping Imperial Assassins, Eldar Farseers and even Tau units. The info-dump mentioned that races would be separated into Order and Disorder factions, with Chaos and Orks on one side, and Imperials and Eldar on the other.

THQ have since responded to say that "at this time THQ has not officially announced a release date and any reported features are pure speculation. THQ will announce confirmed game features and an official release date at a later time." We've assigned our finest Eldar Rangers to the bushes outside Vigil, but they haven't discovered anything yet because Eldar Rangers are a bit rubbish. We'll be sending in the Space Marines as soon as Rich has managed to fit himself into his power armour.