There aren’t many deals as good as Xbox Game Pass right now. Extending to the Xbox One, PC and now even to mobile via Xbox Cloud Gaming, it offers a pretty unprecedented amount of games for you to play. September has already seen quite a few games added, but Microsoft isn’t done yet, as a lot more is still slated to come.

The company announced a new slate of September titles to look forward to starting this week. First and foremost, on the 17th, you can get the RTS title Company of Heroes 2 on the PC version of Game Pass. On the 22nd is a double whammy of the shooter kind as you’ll be able to get access to Destiny 2: Shadowkeep and Forsaken on Xbox One and Android as well as Halo 3: ODST on PC and Android. On the 24th, you’ll get access to the indie sensation Night in the Woods across all three versions of Game Pass as well as the 4-player co-op action title Warhammer: Vermintide 2 for Xbox One and Android.

You’ll be able to have access to those title listed above soon, and you can read more about them as well as a list of most recent additions as well as soon to leave titles through the official website here.

Sega and Relic have revealed a brand new standalone multiplayer expansion for Company of Heroes 2, the World War 2 era based real time strategy game that released for the PC in 2013. It’s called Company of Heroes 2: The British Forces, and it will feature “a new set of distinctive tactical gameplay options articulated around a new tech tree including new infantry, team weapons, vehicles, upgrades, commanders with unique abilities, and a total of eight new multiplayer maps.”

“Play as the unconquerable Britons and their motley-crew of soldiers! A force remarkable for its diversity, including Englishmen, Scotsmen, Welshmen, Irishmen – representing everyone from the working classes to the upper class elite of the United Kingdom,” reads the official description.

“Under the leadership of the fiery Sir Winston Churchill, this assorted mix put aside their differences and became the only remaining Western European nation to escape the grip of Axis-dominated Europe, before leading the final offensive with the other Allied Forces.”

The expansion will launch on September 3, for $12.99; to sweeten the deal, you get 10% off if you pre-order it. If you already own anything from the Company of Heroes franchise, you get 20% off as well.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more information and coverage.

Relic’s Company of Heroes 2 released last year may have been underwhelming, especially compared to the amazing breath of fresh air that the original Company of Heroes was back when it released, but it was still a solid strategy game.

Now, Relic is teasing that it will release the first details of the next phase of Company of Heroes 2 at EGX Rezzed next week. Company of Heroes 2 Executive Producer Greg Wilson and Game Director Quinn Duffy are going to be on stage in the developer session at 3pm on Friday, 28th March, and they will walk attendees through the history of Relic, before discussing future plans for the Company of Heroes franchise.

Don’t get too excited for a potential Company of Heroes 3, though- they specifically talk about discussing the ‘next phase of Company of Heroes 2,’ which is probably not how they would have worded it if they were going to unveil a Company of Heroes 3 here. Still, for ardent players of last year’s game, this should be a good event to follow. Stay tuned to GamingBolt, cause we’ll bring you all the latest and greatest as it happens.

Sega has announced that Relic’s seminal Company of Heroes (along with its less seminal sequel Company of Heroes 2) will be getting a massive content dump today. Company of Heroes will see multiple new features added such as  such as secure leaderboards, battle and arbitration servers.

Meanwhile, Company of Heroes 2 gets the brand new Theatre of War pack, ‘Southern Fronts’ , which costs $4.99/£2.99/€3.99/AUD 6.49, two free maps as well, and finally, a number of game improvements. Most importantly, Company of Heroes 2 also gets the ability to community created maps in the World Builder via Steam’s Workshop.

“These brand new updates show our ongoing commitment to providing the community with regular additions of free and premium downloadable content,” said Greg Wilson, Executive Producer at Relic Entertainment. “We are also very excited that we were able to deliver the Steam Workshop maps integration for the World Builder before the end of the year as it will become a vital part of providing our community with the ability to create their own content.”

Looks like Sega may have some big plans for the series going forwards.

Company of Heroes 2, the Relic developed and Sega published sequel to the seminal Company of Heroes, the real time strategy game that adds environmental interaction and takes place in a WWII setting, will be getting a massive update next week with slew of free content.

The update, called ‘Turning Point,’ will add a map creator to the game called ‘World Builder,’ in addition to two new multiplayer maps, and four new multiplayer commanders. All the content gets added to the game for free and should mix things up for those already thorough with the game significantly.

“We are excited to provide such a large content update to Company of Heroes 2 players,” said Greg Wilson, Executive Producer at Relic Entertainment. “We are particularly proud to offer our community the much sought-after World Builder and are hoping to provide Steam Workshop integration and other mod features in the near future.”

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage.

1C-SoftKlab, a Russian game publisher and distributor, has suspended all further Company Of Heroes 2 sales in Russia, due to the game’s apparently inaccurate portrayal of the military history of the Soviet Union. The 1C-SoftKlab website posted this statement:

“In connection with appeals of people who consider unacceptable number of episodes of the game, the company ‘1C-SoftKlab’ chose 26 July 2013 to stop selling PC game Company of Heroes 2(developer – Relic Entertainment, publisher – SEGA) in the territory of the Russian Federation and CIS,”

The game, while generally positively rated from a gaming standpoint, has received a lot of public flak from gamers, such as this video.

The video declares the portrayal of the soviet military as being inaccurate, and accuses the development team of being “being shameless scumbags.”

The public outcry against Company Heroes 2’s inaccurate portrayal of the soviets caused gamers to flood aggregate game rating sites such as Metacritic with bad reviews, lowering the game’s overall score to a 1.5/10.

SEGA offered a comment on the situation earlier today:

“SEGA and Relic are aware of the press stories circulating concerning Company of Heroes 2 and the historical context of the game from a Russian perspective. At this time we cannot offer any further comment, however we are taking this issue very seriously and are investigating these concerns thoroughly with all relevant partners.”

Where do you stand on the controversial portrayal of the Soviet military?

Source: VideoGamer

Add another company to the list of creditors for the now bankrupt publisher THQ. The newest one is Sega of America, who, if you remember, bought out THQ’s acclaimed Relic studio (the people behind Company of Heroes). Apparently, when they bought the studio, they bought it with all its assets and liabilities, but THQ doesn’t seem to have given them all the assets yet.

Gamespot reports that THQ owes Sega nearly a full million dollars due to pre-orders for the sequel to Relic’s Company of Heroes game. To that end, Sega has filed a claim with the Delaware U.S. Bankruptcy Court seeking $941,710.93 from THQ — which is the amount Valve paid THQ for pre-orders of Company of Heroes 2 on Steam. Of that amount, Sega’s claim lists $508,877.85 as priority, as it was paid to THQ after Dec. 19, 2012 — after THQ filed for bankruptcy protection.

Relic Entertainment, and all its IP, were purchased by Sega for over $26 million, so it does make sense for Sega to want its accounts clean after that.

Check out the entire guide below and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

How you can capture key points and procure resources

There are three types of resources in Company of Heroes 2:

• Manpower
• Munitions
• Fuel

If you want to have bigger armies, you need to have more man power. If you lose large number of forces your man power rates increase. If you need to increase munitions and fuel, you need to capture strategic points on the battlefield.  However you cannot capture these points if any enemy is nearby.

You also need to make sure that the captured territory must be connected to your base.

Abilities still play a very important role

Your forces and your enemies can perform a large number of actions on the battlefield from throwing grenades to dropping barrages of artillery to places where enemies are concentrated.

Some of the abilities have certain pre-requisites such as ammunition costs to activate or will require a specific building be constructed. Most of the ability system from the original Company of Heroes remains the same, like grenades needs to be clicked on a enemy unit where you want it to explode.  There are also time dependent abilities so when the time runs out the ability will be deactivated. Toggles abilities are  controlled by the mouse, by activating or deactivating it.

Importance of Commanders and Commander points

You need to access the army customization screen from the main menu, then you need to select the army that you need to command.  You can select three army commanders. Commanders provide the following:

• New Units
• New Abilities
• Special Attacks

In your playthrough you must have unlocked bulletins which you can chose. Vehicle patterns can also be changed by using camouflage designs. As you rank up, more customization options will be unlocked. Remember, once you are in battlefield, you need to earn atleast one command point to access the command loadout.  Once you earn more points, more powerful options will get unlocked.

Why taking cover will go a long way in your unit’s survival

Taking cover is one of the most important elements of Company of Heroes 2. As you will learn from the tutorial below, cover is indicated by two colors. Yellow means half cover and green means full cover.

Craters can help your troops survive from any direction. Different types of cover will offer different durability. This is indicated by the colors that I mentioned above.  You will also earn defense and cover bonus while attacking the enemy whilst remaining in cover.

Use Range and combined arms intelligently

Long ranged weapons is the way to go if you want to take out enemies located at a distance (Like rifles and sub-machine guns). Using these weapons, it will increase their rate of fire and accuracy.

Combined arms is what the name indicates, you need to combine the best ammunitions which will work in both offensive and defensive scenarios. These include anti-tank or anti-craft weapons. Mixing the right combination is the key here.

Snow will make things harder

As your make you way to Moscow, you need to take care of your soldiers against the freezing temperatures. This is indicated by a blue thermometer which indicates freezing and a red one which means warming. The best way is to make garrison buildings or moving your troops to half trek personal carriers or simply build fires.  Some abilities will be unavailable in blizzards. You also need to take care of ice grounds beneath you. They can be destroyed by enemy mortars. Deep snow will make your troops and vehicle movement slow.

Building and construction is the key here:

Building structures for defense purposes is one the key elements if you wish to survive in Company of Heroes 2. Pioneers and engineers can repair buildings and damages vehicles. You can access the ‘Building’ ability from the menu. There are basically two types:

• Production Building
• Field Defenses

How you can use your line of sight for advanced warfare tactics

In Company of Heroes 2, your units cannot see the entire map at once nor they can see what is happening behind them. Players will not be able to see behind objects that are taller than your unit. You can use this to your advantage when approaching an enemy base.

Spawning using Rally Points:

You can set Rally Point by selecting  the rally point option from the building the unit is deployed to. Each building can have a unique rally location. Your units can arrive quickly as well as close to the set rally point.

When you are being suppressed and when you should retreat

Your enemies can use heavy machines guns to pin you down and prevent you from advancing. When you are being surpressed your squad will go in a prone position indicated by a yellow warning sign. Under this state they will be protected for a limited period of time. You should also keep in mind that if a particular squad is being suppressed and if you decide to bring in another unit, there is a very high chance that they will be suppressed too.

If your unit is suppressed for too long, they will eventually be pinned down. These ‘Pinned’ squads won’t be able to fire or capture anything. You can get out of this situation by:

a. Killing the enemy machine gun unit with the help of another squad that is not pinned.

b. By breaking the line of sight by using smoke bombs.

c. Or to retreat. The retreating squad will take the shortest path back to the headquarters.

The Importance of Team Weapons

Team weapons is the key to success if you want to take down heavy enemy armor. Heavy Machine guns, mortars, anti tank guns fall under this category.

At any point of time, if you think you are being overpowered by your enemy you can always retreat along with your Team Weapons. But remember certain weapons like anti tank are so large that they cannot be re-positioned/retreat.

Hot Keys:

• F1: Regimental Field Headquarters
• F2: Special Rifle Command
• F3: Support Weapons Kampaneya
• F4: Tankoviy Battalion Command
• F5: Mechanized Armor Kampaneya

You can also use abilities which is depicted in the image above.  Abilities will vary according to the unit the player has selected:

Some of them are:

• A: Attack Move
• X: Demolish
• S:  Stop
• N:  Trip Wire Flare/Sprint
• U: Reverse Vehicle
• R: Reinforce
• B: Build Defenses
• F: Flare
• M: Merge
• H: Hold Fire

Note: This guide will updated once we have more information about the game. You can also check out the complete video walk-through of Company of Heroes 2 here.

Mojang’s Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition debuted at number 2, amid a large amount of hype for the retail release. Given that the game has sold more than 7 million units on the Xbox 360 with 11 million units sold on the PC, Linux and Mac, it’s surprising that The Last of Us managed to hang on to its top spot.

Meanwhile, the new entries in the chart include The Sims 3: Island Paradise at the fifth position, Activision’s Deadpool at sixth position and Sega’s long awaited Company of Heroes II at the tenth position.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf and FIFA 13 are still firmly far up with the former at the third position and the latter occupying fourth position. Tomb Raider, Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Assassin’s Creed III also continue to hang on at the seventh, eighth and ninth positions respectively.

Game Overview:

Company of Heroes 2 features the Soviet Red Army as a playable new faction. The game takes place in Eastern Front campaign and will feature Operation Barbarossa to the Battle of Berlin.

The game is developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sega.

The game is available for the PC.

Check out the video walkthrough of Company of Heroes 2  below and let us know if you have any questions in the comments section below.

For video game guides, tips and wikis, check out our gaming portal here.