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.

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.

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.

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.

After the controlled implosion of THQ, you may have been wondering what would happen to the original Company of Heroes, now that Relic and COH2 have been safely gobbled up by Sega, and its chilli-dog scoffing CEO Mr Hedgehog. The imminent shutdown of Quazal, who handled the game's online, hardly helped matters - but thankfully, Relic have come to a solution. Rather than leaving their six-year-old game to die, they're thoughtfully transferring the original Company of Heroes to Steamworks - you'll be able to 'opt-in' to the new service from April 8th.

Relic have teamed up with Smoking Gun Interactive - a studio made up of former Relic staff who worked on the original game - to bring COH to Steam "with as many of the original online features working on the new platform as possible." That means that the full suite of online options likely won't be available right at the start, but in the blog post Relic talk of a "roadmap" for COH1, so hopefully the game will be back to full strength in the coming months. Heroes' old, Quazal servers are set to close on May 7th.

Sadly, the years of accumulated online data won't carry across to the Steamworks version, but Relic are "investigating the possibility of creating an online archive of all the final data from the leaderboards, statistics, etc, to honor the gamers who have played so much for the last 6 years."

As for the sequel, well that's heading for Steamworks too. Company of Heroes 2 is out June 25th, while the date of its closed beta will be announced early next week.