Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2 beta on Jan. 21

by Kevin Kelly { Jan 12th 2009 at 4:44PM }

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Relic Entertainment's Mark Noseworthy has confirmed with Joystiq that the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2 closed beta will begin January 21st if you purchased the original Dawn of War expansion, Soulstorm. Procrastinators, take note: you'll be introduced into the public beta just a week later on January 28th. Or, break the cycle of lethargy and pick up the expansion in order to grab an early beta spot.

We got a closer look at Dawn of War 2 during CES, and fans of real-time strategy games will not be disappointed ... unless you don't own a PC (but c'mon, how could you be an RTS buff without owning a PC?). Dawn of War 2 will be a PC-only release with Games for Windows Live features like voice chat and Achievements.

Tags: beta, dawn-of-war, dawn-of-war-2, games-for-windows, relic, rts, warhammer, warhammer-40000-dawn-of-war-ii

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Brennan @ Jan 12th 2009 4:55PM

im a proud Dawn of War fan and looking forward to this to try out my Phenom II 940 @ 3.7GHz, my HD 3870 x2, and 3GB DDR2 800 4-4-4-12-24 SDRAM.

who else is getting this on the 21st?

Sir Buzz Killington( The Artist formerly known as Jakka) @ Jan 12th 2009 5:06PM

I am...if my PC can run that is.

I'm actually tempted to pirate this for a hardware trial then but the original for multiplayer.

But then again, with Pentium D 2.8ghz 1GB RAM and Radeon 2600XT 512mb I might just take the risks..

Sir Buzz Killington( The Artist formerly known as Jakka) @ Jan 12th 2009 5:07PM

*buy

Brennan @ Jan 12th 2009 5:09PM

haha right. Your computer will struggle.

i got to visit here more often, im usually go to tech-forums.net/pc mostly.

Strategy_Panda (The Sandwich Poisoning Crew) @ Jan 12th 2009 5:18PM

I'm thinking of buying a new computer and I can't wait to play this game with everything maxed out. I loved all the little details and animations relic threw into company of heroes.

Zertoss @ Jan 12th 2009 5:33PM

I'll be playing it. My rig just barely fits in under the recommended specs, though. I'll be building a new computer when Windows 7 is released.

zuburi @ Jan 12th 2009 6:07PM

Howdy Brennan. You just reminded me why, whenever somebody mentions that they're a PC Gamer on Joystiq, they get treated like an elitist asshole.

Thanks for making me realize why I'm remiss to mention that I like to play PC versions of games here.

AwesomeTown @ Jan 12th 2009 6:26PM

I'll get it, but probably not day 1. PC games seem to have be on sale for around $10 off either on release or soon after, so I'll bite when I see that.

Shangheli @ Jan 12th 2009 5:10PM

Joystiq this is rather old news.

Zertoss @ Jan 12th 2009 5:23PM

Then consider this a friendly reminder.

Brennan @ Jan 12th 2009 5:11PM

those of u who dont remember the requirements, here it is to run this game and the upcoming beta:

Minimum Requirements
* Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista SP1
* P4 3.2 GHz (single core) or any Dual Core processor
* 1 GB RAM (XP), 1.5 GB RAM (Vista)
* A 128MB Video Card (Shader Model 3) - Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT / ATI X1600, or equivalent
* 5.5 GB of Hard Drive space

Recommended
* Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista SP1
* AMD Athlon 64×2 4400+ or any Intel Core 2 Duo
* 2 GB RAM (XP and Vista)
* A 256MB Video Card (Shader Model 3) - Nvidia GeForce 7800 GT / ATI X1900, or equivalent
* 5.5 GB of Hard Drive space

Viridium @ Jan 12th 2009 5:46PM

"any Dual Core processor"
Sweet, my Intel Atom 330 awaits the challenge!

deanb @ Jan 12th 2009 5:35PM

DO you need to have bought Soulstorm on Steam to get the demo, because all my DOW games are boxed retail.
Can't wait, got a nice group at uni from folks playing DOW on the campus LAN last year, were all gonna try to hook up n play the MP Beta when it's out.

Einhanderkiller @ Jan 12th 2009 6:59PM

If you bought Soulstorm at retail, it should have come with a key for the Dawn of War 2 beta. I'm guessing you would just have to plop that key into Steam to get access to the closed beta.

bjbrains @ Jan 12th 2009 5:46PM

You do NOT need to have bought this through steam. If you bought SS retail, just activate the CD-Key within steam.

deanb @ Jan 12th 2009 6:16PM

Thank's, been trying to get that confirmation, just the THX website just say's the demo's on Steam, and nothing else.

Actually what user ID will it use? My SteamID, or Gamertag, will I get Steam Achievement's or Live Achievement's(though I'm assuming the Beta has neither).
sorry for laying these question's on you :D

wiregr @ Jan 13th 2009 12:42PM

Have you tested this yourself? I know that when I first bought the retail version of soulstorm I couldn't activate the key on Steam and a search on the Steam forums confirmed this.

I'll try it again when I off work, but unless things have changed you can't use a retail key to activate soulstorm on Steam.