Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II is being expanded through it’s next stand alone expansion.

In Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising you will take command of the Blood Ravens and defend the sector against the Chaos Space Marines of the Black Legion.  Purge the chaos filth and hold the chapter together as traitorous forces work from within to try bring down the Blood Ravens.

* Upgrade your squads with new legendary wargear and unlock new special abilities, as your squads advance to level 30. Will you remain steadfast to the Emperor or risk heresy to gain new dark and destructive powers?
* In multiplayer swear loyalty to the Chaos Gods and pit your bloodthirsty warband of Chaos Space Marines against the new units and reinforced armies of the Space Marines, Orks, Eldar, and Tyranids.

Relic seems to listen to their community very well. I notice the most demanded feature for the next Dawn Of War II is to play as the Chaos Marines. However, you can only play them at multiplayer which got the community talking about how tired they are playing as the Blood Ravens.

I don’t feel as strongly as this reaction however it seems like The Chaos Marines lend themselves the “Diablo like” single player campaign. While playing DOW II it seems like you are doing mass genocides that works better for villians rather than the heroes.

At any rate I’m looking forward to the game.

My facebook Via THQ

Valve is giving Left 4 Dead owners another campaign called “Crash Course” linking between the events “No Mercy” and “Deathtoll”. PC users will be able to play this campaign for free and Xbox 360 owners will have to fork up $7.  The map will also include a survival mode. The DLC will be available sometime next month.

So  there you go Left 4 Dead boycott, there is your free DLC (PC only).  I’m interested in their reaction to this whole new campaign.  Will it satisfied their cause?

Via Rock Paper Shotgun

I’m surprised that Gamestop hasn’t done this earlier with their PC games. PC games are phasing out of their stores anyways. Annoying Gamestop “preorder this” employee not included.

Via Gamasutra

What I think would be much better would be if the community could finance the games. In other words, ‘Hey, I really like this idea you have. I’ll be an early investor in that and, as a result, at a later point I may make a return on that product, but I’ll also get a copy of that game.

I’ve seen a lot of naysayers of this idea but I believe that Gabe is on to something. Probably not in the form he is talking about but convincing fans to invest into your projects has a lot of potential. How about letting investors be part of the development experience. Not just let them participate in betas but be part of consent feedback on development.

There is a lot of disadvantages of this idea like leaking out game information to early, fans are poor compare to the typical business investor, and just not enough money investment. However, I believe Gabe’s idea can evolve into something worth looking into.

I highly recommend watching this interview.

Good Game via Gamasutra

This video shows off the new nazi zombie level called Shi no Numa. New weapons, enemies, and traps will be introduce in the zombie map. The map pack will come out tomorrow for $9.99 and will also come out with 3 normal multiplayer maps.

Source: Gametrailers via Joystiq

Lead Designer, Jordan Thomas, of Bioshock 2 gives us a 10 minute walk through. A lot of the scenes are familiar with the other Bioshock 2 video that came out earlier this year. However it does gives a great insight how how all the elements will come together.

Source: Joystiq

Last call for the 25% off preorder for Killing Floor. Less than 11 hours Killing Floor will be release to the public and the price will go back up to $20. Killing Floor is a 6 player CO-OP zombie like shooter. Some of the bullet point features is:

Persistent Perks system, allowing players to convert their in-game achievements into permanent improvements to their character’s skills and abilities

Slow-motion “ZEDtime” to better watch those crucial and violent creature deaths, even in multiplayer

Open, non-linear play areas: choose when and where to fight — or run; weld doors closed to direct the monster horde down alternate corridors

Fully-configurable, allowing players to change the difficulty level, number of creature waves, or even set up their own favorite waves of monsters

Hopefully in the near future we can get Aeropause writers and readers together to a play a session of Killing Floor. Get it now for only $15 on steam before it’s too late!

Towards end of this video this kid pulls off a sweet move and dad starts to freak out because of it. Is this little guy a lucky button masher or Future Street Fighter IV pro gamer? Discuss.

Via Kotaku

2K announced today that the next chapter of Max Payne will come out later this year. We got some details from the press release.

“We’re starting a new chapter of Max’s life with this game,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “This is Max as we’ve never seen him before, a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever. We experience the downward spiral of his life after the events of Max Payne 2 and witness his last chance for salvation.”

Since leaving the NYPD and New York itself behind, Max has drifted from bad to worse. Double-crossed and a long way from home, Max is now trapped in a city full of violence and bloodshed, using his weapons and instincts in a desperate search for the truth and a way out.

As you can tell by the picture, when somebody grows a beard or gets more scruffy that means something is really going down.  Usually it’s something really bad. Max Payne 3 will be coming out on the Xbox 360, PC, and PS3 this winter.

Take-Two Via Joystiq

The symbol of Blizzard’s power has arrived to show off to all.

Executive VP of Game Design Rob Pardo had promised that one day we’d see a giant, metal orc-on-wolf-mount statue from “World of Warcraft.” Well, that day has arrived.

The Orc Statue is built by WETA workshop in New Zealand (AKA the guys who work on Lord Of The Rings) and is in front of Blizzard’s office.  This statue is yet another symbol of Blizzard’s success.  Check out OC Register and MTV Multiplayer Blog for more pictures!

OC Register Via MTV Multiplayer Blog