Pershings Rule the Field

Rarely do games go long enough in Company of Heroes to really enjoy some of the end-game units, but last night we played a match where I had ample opportunity to run around with a Pershing tank, granted by the American Armored specialty. I was tearing up bases and chasing down Hetzers, as you can see.

After rolling through two enemy bases, I encountered this Hetzer, after I'd demolished his twin. I had a lot of backup in the form of Shermans and Sherman Calliopies which can rain down the destruction. But this Hetzer stopped and decided to take a stand. I rewarded it with a shot to the face. You can see the results.

Thanks to my teammates for defending the points while I marched my Shermans around like it was Georgia. Good match.

Going on Four Years with Company of Heroes

Company of Heroes is one of those games that just hasn't stopped being fun. Given that it has a great multiplayer component, and the folks I play with are generally pretty good and affable chaps, it's no surprise I keep coming back to it. Also, it puts a huge stupid grin on my face.

Had a match last night, a 2v2 with the humans as the Allies. I was the British and just let loose with some crazy artillery barrages. In particular, this AT squad met with an unfortunate end.


These guys are doomed.


Told you.

Always Fun With More Company

Hadn't tried it in a while, so I met up with Mike and we played a couple matches of Company of Heroes. It used to be our game of choice, but new beaus Demigod and Sins of a Solar Empire have all but replaced it. I decided we should dust it off a bit, since we really hadn't done much with the Tales of Valor expansion.

Played a couple matches, had a blast. I employed the new T17 armored car to great effect, really chasing the CPU units around the map. With a 500 victory point match, and us holding four out of five since the beginning of the game, it really didn't last long. Had a great couple short matches. Didn't get into the bigger units, but that's alright. Sometimes games without tanks are more fun!

Gaming Deluge

It's crazy just how many games I've been into lately, and not bothered to write a word about any of them.  With my situation at work and the new house, I've really wanted to relax rather than write more, but I certainly plan to put up some words about all the games I've been into recently.  Those include three DS titles (Pokemon: Platinum, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, and Henry Hatsworth in the Puzzling Adventure), a couple PC titles (Demigod and Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor), plus a return to Super Smash Brothers Brawl!  All that and more in the next couple days.  And hopefully some form of gaming goodness this weekend, with a mini-LAN perhaps!

Tales of Valor multiplayer units

Though the list of units hasn't been announced, recent screenshots reveal more of the units players will be able to swap in for multiplayer. These units include the Kangaroo, the Staghound, the M18 Hellcat, the Schwimmwagon, and a Marder I which is based off the French H39 (also in the game as a German unit, upgradeable with what looks to be Walking Stuka launchers). Let the plotting of abuse begin!

Update: They are definitely walking stuka. It is mentioned in this Walking Stuka article.

Tales of Valor Release Date Changed

In a shocking turn of events, the release date for Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor has actually been moved up.  Yes, I was floored as well.  That means in less than a month and a half we'll have new CoH goodness!  Very much looking forward to it.

Tiger Madness

Company of Heroes continues to be fun.  While we're looking forward to the upcoming Tales of Valor, Mike, Greg and I are doing a couple matches a week.  Most recently, Mike and I took on a pair of Expert German CPU opponents and somehow eeked out a win.  They fought to the end, and brought to bear formidable forces including a trio of Tiger tanks!  However, they were no match for my Sherman Fireflies, as you can see in the video below:

Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor

As anyone who knows me knows, Company of Heroes has been one of my favorite games of the past two years. It's been over a year since the last expansion, and nearly three since the original game released. Now a third expansion looms, entitled Tales of Valor.

Slated for an April launch, Tales of Valor again expands on the core gameplay of Company of Heroes with additional campaigns, vehicles, and multiplayer game modes. Similar to the previous expansion Opposing Fronts, Tales of Valor will be a stand-alone game, not requiring either previous game to play and enjoy.

I find the new campaign segments interesting, as they are reported to focus on smaller groups, where Relic can create a narrative surrounding a small group of soldiers that you control. I am a huge fan of the award-winning HBO mini-series Band of Brothers, and this gameplay mode makes me think of the events portrayed in that show. Relic may manage to capture the heroic and desperate feel of wartime action, reaching a higher level of story-telling within the gaming arena. I'm very much looking forward to it.

A Little Company with Friends

Hit up some Company of Heroes last night with some buddies. Always a blast. We played a couple matches, the last on the great map Route N13. Rolling as the Germans, nothing more fun that seven Panther tanks all in a row -- nice Mike!

The new expansion to CoH, Tales of Valor, is slated for an April release. Definately looking forward to that.

Milden LAN Nov. 2008 Recap - Part III

Yesterday Mike and I had a great match as the British verses a pair of Panzer Elite CPU players. Witness the devastation below as we set our seven artillery pieces on their base and troops.

EA On and Off Strict DRM

Reports came in last week that EA planned to include strong Digital Rights Management controls within the upcoming PC releases Spore and Mass Effect. The controls required the game to contact a central service for validation every ten days, making it impossible to play the games on systems without reliable Internet connections.

Following public outcry, EA has since retracted their statements, saying that a one-time authentication would be sufficient. Of course, you still have to use the CD to play the game, bringing to bear the specter of copy protection. I suppose it's better than behind-the-scenes spying.

Games publishers just can't seem to get it right. Statements made by Crytek, makers of beloved Crysis, say they will likely abandon PC exclusivity to develop future games on consoles as well, because of piracy concerns. I don't buy that excuse. More likely they understand that by putting games out on more platforms equals more sales which equals more dollars.

Two great examples of reasonable copy protections are present in two of my favorite PC games: Sins of a Solar Empire and Company of Heroes. Solar Empire simply doesn't have any copy protections. You just put your serial in when the software installs. You don't need the CD to play. You do, however, have to register your serial number if you wish to have support, including game updates.

Similarly for Company of Heroes, you must register your key, but you do so online. Whenever you launch the game, similar to a MMO like Guild Wars or WoW, you just auth to the service with account credentials and then you're free to play your game, also without CD. When you auth, you're also "online" and available for messages from your friends. Because you the communications to home base are understood as the multi-player component of the game, the publisher is very upfront about what central authentication is. Of course, you can skip all that and just play off the CD, and the CD is available as a secondary authentication method when you cannot connect to the Internet.

EA would do well to take a page out of Stardock or THQ's book in understanding how to treat customers. I understand piracy is a real concern, and all the people who work hard on these games deserve our support and our money for making great games, but punishing legitimate customers because of the bad behavior of pirates is a poor business decision.

Rockets and Tanks and Arty, Oh My!

Quite a display of firepower occurs in the following video. Unknown to me, both of my German Panzer Elite allies (Greg and Mike) use Scorched Earth tactics and the excellent Hummel self-propelled artillery piece to shell the American base I was assaulting.

I wondered why I was completely alone in my direct attack. I thought they were just being lazy... No, they were working hard -- from afar!



The rocket attack, combine with some timely Panther action and supporting Hummels just erase the American base. But look out for that friendly fire!

Trucks Trapped!

The evil genius Greg strikes again. In the Company of Heroes, on the Vire River Valley map, Greg used roadblocks from the Panzer Elite to good use to block the map entrance point of a British opponent to restrict the entry of British trucks. After parking a trio of Marder III's along with several other units in range of the entry point, the destruction was remarkable.

I'll put up a video later. It's something to watch.

Company of Heroes with the boss

Actually, it's my boss's boss's boss who plays Company of Heroes, so I think we're going to get some matches going. I once kicked his butt at UT 2004 when he was just my boss, but I may have to concede a match at this point, since he's a VP and everything. Maybe he can just be on my team.

Bofors rule the day

Greg and I had a chance to play a couple matches in Company of Heroes last night. We started out on Point du Hoc with a pair of hard computer opponents, one each of Panzer Elite and Wehrmacht. They just wrecked us. Greg got hit hard, then I had to pull back from the center victory point after being challenged by several light PE vehicles supported by troops. After I dropped back to my initial starting point, they all went to Greg's base and just wiped him out. I fell soon after.

We restarted, and this time we were on the opposite site of the map. I learned my lesson and I made sure the light vehicles would be punished for pushing into my territory. I made for Sappers as quickly as I could, while Greg held the north flank. Because his position was solid, all the light vehicles tried to come down my way. A Vickers machine gun nest on the southern munitions point provided for a way to anchor my territory. Three scout cars fell to this one emplacement, and they were never able to take back the point. By holding it, I ensured I could place emplacements, a Bofors that dominated the area, on the road just back from the center victory point where in the last game I had to fall back. Not this time.

As you can see in the video, after the center Bofors was up, I didn't have serious problems from light vehicles. A timely Stewart canister round removed opposition to the center as I moved in and held, and them managed to push forward to their bottom base. After I built emplacements just outside their base, even a pair of Panthers couldn't push me back. AT guns ended their run, by putting accurate fire on their base and tanks, even though I lost a pair of Churchills to Luftwaffe anti-tank aircraft fire. Greg handled the top of the map well while I grabbed the beach as our own, and even a German flanking move couldn't get back territory relevant to their effort, and we finished them off.

Enjoy the video.

Panthers on Hill 331

Last week we (Mike, Greg, and I) had a great match on Hill 331. We typically beat up on the AI just because we aren't a real competitive bunch. It's just fun to roll through with four Panthers. As you can see below.



We ended up crushing the Allied bases thanks to the initial push. And thanks to an extremely strange bug, because we had the game type set to Annihilation, the match never ended, as British HQ truck after British HQ truck continually spawned, preventing us from ending the game. Mike and Greg have some silly footage of them artillerying one another in team-killing horror. Have to see if I can grab that.

Fallshrim, Fllashimr, Flashing... German Elite Paratroopers

FYI, the Fallschirmjager are now called German Elite Paratroopers.

Company of Heroes server issues

So a few friends and I enjoy Company of Heroes and play it online from time to time. The game is fantastic, but the Relic matching service leaves something to be desired. Last night we got one game in, but several times following, we had dropped players. Apparently there's a patch in the works, version 2.300, but I can't find any specific information about it (although I knew there was a news patch on the online service).

Edit: I found it.