Company of Heroes Online Coming to North America

[vansau]

Company of Heroes Online Coming to North America

After a year in Asian markets, THQ has announced that Company of Heroes Online will be coming out in North America later this year.

THQ has announced that Company of Heroes Online, the free MMOG based on its popular [http://www.amazon.com/Company-Heroes-Pc/dp/B000FJSIUA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1276202033&sr=1-1] strategy franchise, will be storming the shores of North America this Fall. While the game is technically free, though, it should be noted that microtransactions are also a regular part of the title's play mechanics.

Company of Heroes Online was co-developed by Shanda (a Shanghai-based publisher) and Relic Entertainment (the studio behind the critically-acclaimed strategy game, Company of Heroes) and was originally released in both Chinese and Korean markets. The game is a free-to-play MMOG that also includes microtransactions.

As opposed to many other MMOGs on the market, Company of Heroes Online is an online Real Time Strategy title. It features the usual staples of RTS titles, like army specialization, commander customization, and unit progression. However, players can also purchase special units and army upgrades after each multiplayer victory.

Company of Heroes has been hailed by many as the greatest WWII strategy games to ever hit the market. Last year saw the <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/90829-THQ-Ships-Company-of-Heroes-Sans-CD-Keys>release of its second expansion, [http://www.amazon.com/Company-Heroes-Tales-Valor-PC-Games/dp/B001E27KTM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1276202106&sr=1-1], which wasn't nearly as well-received as the original game.

No definite release date has been announced outside of the abstract "Fall 2010." However, interested players can sign up at the official Company of Heroes Online website for updates as the game's North American launch.



Permalink

 

[Pandalisk]

Im not a fan of Microtransactions.
Ill stick to the original games methinks, it being free to download is pretty nice though, ill give it a spin and try not to buy anthing at'all. im just a user.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

As long as they're working on a sequel (please), they can release whatever they want.
Free - good, although microtransactions - pretty lame.
Yeah, I know, Captain Obvious and all.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Microtransactions gradually turn Free to Play games into Pay to Play Games.

Look at Battlefield Heroes. Its almost impossible to play unless you dish out cash.

 

[TOGSolid]

So it's exactly like Company of Heroes, only with really retarded features welded on to it and the ability for bad players to twink themselves with their wallets.

At what point is that supposed to be a good game? Oh well, they can't all be winners. Relic had better be announcing Homeworld 3 soon to make up for this though.

 

[Fearzone]

Well what a coincidence. Speak of the devil. After buying Company of Heroes in 2006, and not really liking it at the time, don't get me wrong it's a great game but wasn't my cup of tea, I dusted it off a couple days ago and finished the single-player campaign this morning.

I like the free part of this but can't say I'm crazy about having to use microtransactions to be competitive. Would have rather they did this for either Homeworld or Dawn of War, but it could be an interesting start of converting aging single-player games to MMOs.

Kind of wierd though that Company of Heroes ends this way--it always seemed to be Relic's favored child while both versions of Dawn of War got kicked to the side, even though sales-wise I bet anything DoW performed a lot better. Maybe Dawn of War 2 is now the apple of their eye.

 

[YurdleTheTurtle]

So it's exactly like Company of Heroes, only with really retarded features welded on to it and the ability for bad players to twink themselves with their wallets.

At what point is that supposed to be a good game? Oh well, they can't all be winners. Relic had better be announcing Homeworld 3 soon to make up for this though.

Pretty much. Basically it's CoH with avatar customization, hero units, and a couple of other features that won't work for the actual CoH game (such as persistent level ups, army items (which are basically buffs to certain units), etc.).

You can earn these...or you can just buy them with real money and skip all the grinding.

As with many other CoH fans, I'm not a fan of the micro transaction scene. We're all just waiting for more patches (CoH seriously needs some patching!), or a possible sequel. CoH Online is something most of the veterans are not looking forward to.

Kind of wierd though that Company of Heroes ends this way--it always seemed to be Relic's favored child while both versions of Dawn of War got kicked to the side, even though sales-wise I bet anything DoW performed a lot better. Maybe Dawn of War 2 is now the apple of their eye.

It is weird indeed. After Tales of Valor screwed over the balance of the game, they just left it in that state. There is barely any more news or communication coming out for CoH. All the attention right now is on their other projects, including DoW 2 and the new Warhammer 40k game. CoH has been left in the dust and I'm left wondering why, since it has given them so much success, not to mention it's an incredible game.

 

[NJ]

So uhh... This is basically CoH designed for the more MMO-ish crowd with the ability to buy your way to the top?

Sounds like a oppertunity in a beartrap to me.

 

[syndicated44]

So it's exactly like Company of Heroes, only with really retarded features welded on to it and the ability for bad players to twink themselves with their wallets.

At what point is that supposed to be a good game? Oh well, they can't all be winners. Relic had better be announcing Homeworld 3 soon to make up for this though.

Ya know. I dont want a new Homeworld. Dont get me wrong, I loooooooove Homeworld but I dont really want a new one. I am completely happy with what I got. Plus knowing how "RTS" trends are now it will probably be more along the lines of a tactics game then an actual strategy game.

OT: Meh, I will also agree with your post. This does not make much sense. Why not just play the original? Plus isn't somebody already working on a proper MMORTS (End of Nations? but I could be wrong)? So why not just wait for that instead of having then nickel and dime you to death buying a teeny tiny polygon that can shoot slightly stronger rockets?

Anyways I am gonna install HW2 again, so thanks for that.

 

[DTWolfwood]

i dont get it, the regular company of heroes is an RTS that u can already play online...how does making an CoH Online make it a different game? oO

i guess persistent unit progression is something different...but the OMG (Operation Market Garden) mod already does that too! XD