Dawn of War II beta launches

If you're a hardcore fan of THQ and Relic's Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War strategy games then we've got good news. You'll be pleased to know that the official multiplayer beta for Dawn of War II has now launched on Steam - providing you own the original standalone expansion, Soulstorm anyway.

The even better news though is that, even if you don't own Soulstorm then you can still get in on the beta for cheap - Valve has slashed the price of the standalone Soulstorm by 75 percent!

If the recession has got you feeling a little bit stingy though then you don't need to worry too much - the beta opens to the public in a week too, so you can wait until January 28th if you want too.

Relic's Dawn of War looks to be an early hit for publisher THQ, who'll be publishing both Dawn of War II and the Company of Heroes expansion, Tales of Valour in the earlier half of this year. Both games will be built on an improved version of the Essence Engine, which powered the original games in both franchises, so the system requirements for both are quite modest.

Dawn of War II is set to expand on the original games by offering more units, but will take a more of an RPG-lite twist by forcing players to rely not on huge armies but rather small, very upgradable units. At least, that's how the singleplayer will be - the multiplayer is still a big build-athon.

For more details on Dawn of War II you can check out our Games to Watch in 2009 preview, or you can just ask resident RTS expert Harry anything you want in the forums.