By Alec Meer on June 22nd, 2011 at 9:51 am.
Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad – first it had a name, then it had some screenshots, then it had some videos and now it has a release date. And so the cosmic ballet continues. Tripwire’s next commercial take on the masterfully dour World War 2 mod-gone-pro has been in the offing for a good few years, but now? Now it’s only months away. To war, gentlemen. Well, nearly.
August 30th, in fact – which means it’s only a few days after the entire internet inevitably has a big falling-out about Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
RO2 will be available in shops and on Steam, plus they’ve just announced that it’ll include PunkBuster, to stop bastards from giving everyone else a hard time with cheats and hacks and whatnot.
‘PunkBuster’ has forever struck me as an exciting name wasted on a useful but frankly boring product. Anti-cheating? No! I want to Bust Some Punks. It’s a darned shame it’s trademarked. There’s so much room for a videogame named PunkBuster. ‘Ian PunkBuster has just one thing on his mind today: busting some goddamned punks. Coming soon: the first PunkBuster DLC: the YobSmacker Pack.”
I may have digressed.
22/06/2011 at 10:07 Hmm-Hmm. says:
Only a smidgen of digression there.
22/06/2011 at 10:12 sigma83 says:
The only thing stopping this from being Day One is the fact that servers in SEA are not very likely.
22/06/2011 at 10:13 GraveyardJimmy says:
They also announced it will be released for $40, a lower price point than other full releases (which on their forums they have stated is their intention). They said fair pricing will be used in other territories, so hopefully £24.99 perhaps.
22/06/2011 at 10:49 nafe says:
To be fair, I’ve never seen a AAA title come out that wasn’t available somewhere online for £24.99. If RO2 is coming out at about 40 bucks, I would expect to see it even cheaper.
Although I guess if they’re selling via DD only that might not be the case. Online retailers like amazon/play/coolshop etc. are usually the cheapest.
22/06/2011 at 10:52 GraveyardJimmy says:
I was talking about RRP , not the cheapest price you can find it online. Games release usually at £29.99 or £34.99, a £24.99 RRP seems to fit with it costing $39.99 rather than $49.99 (RRP)
22/06/2011 at 12:26 bit_crusherrr says:
At least they aren’t taking the Sniper: Ghost Warrior approach of $30 = €30 = £30.
22/06/2011 at 10:19 poop says:
another year with a vacant july and a crowded august/september :/
22/06/2011 at 11:41 cairbre says:
July is your month for hugging trees and rolling in the grass and other such summer pursuits.
22/06/2011 at 12:42 Rinox says:
Good thing we have these long winters and crappy summers in Western Europe, or I’d never get around to gaming.
22/06/2011 at 11:25 Kuroko says:
PunkBuster always reminded me of Punky Brewster.
22/06/2011 at 12:00 B0GiE-uk- says:
Shame Punkbuster never worked. Still hackers on BF2 and earlier COD games.
22/06/2011 at 12:21 PoulWrist says:
It likely keeps more out than would otherwise be present with easily accessible cheat programs.
22/06/2011 at 12:26 tigershuffle says:
mmm cant wait………..oh and if you want to get in the Ostfront mood …..Mil History channel are showing new series about ww2 from Soviet perspective – “Soviet Storm – WW2 in the East” :)
22/06/2011 at 12:37 westyfield says:
Doesn’t Punkbuster hate Steam? I remember hearing that the Steam version of BF2 often conflicted with PB and kicked players for no reason.
22/06/2011 at 12:56 Gaytard Fondue says:
That has nothing to do with Steam though. It’s just PunkBuster…
22/06/2011 at 14:18 notjasonlee says:
punkbuster is the worst anti-cheat software in the history of mankind. it kicks more non-cheaters than cheaters.
22/06/2011 at 14:30 rammjaeger says:
Punkbuster will get along fine with the Steam overlay in RO2. We’ve got a guy from Punkbuster in our office right now doing a special integration for us to ensure this is not a problem for the game. Also keep in mind Punkbuster is an option for server admins, along with VAC and PBBans. We’re giving the server admins the best tools possible at their disposal to combat hackers, including a custom version of Punkbuster that can be configured to run at different security levels (i.e. less restrictive, more restrictive, etc). Options are a good thing!
22/06/2011 at 16:21 Gaytard Fondue says:
Sounds good, Mr. John.
22/06/2011 at 16:34 westyfield says:
Excellent, thanks for the information!
22/06/2011 at 13:19 timmyvos says:
If they released it a week earlier it’d actually be more fitting, on the 23 of August the battle for Stalingrad began.
22/06/2011 at 14:42 Joshua says:
Thats probably a memorial day somewhere.
22/06/2011 at 14:43 aircool says:
The fifth iteration of PB is out. Download 5punkbuster now.
22/06/2011 at 15:32 rocketman71 says:
The only thing Punkbuster does is consume uselessly your resources and install TWO services without ever asking for permission (out of the EULA).
I won’t be using it. In our LANs (because this game *HAS* LAN, learn that you DICE idiots), we just throw cheaters out physically, followed by their computers. Old rules apply.
27/07/2011 at 03:01 tubby says:
Ah not again the famouse, “omg cry cry virus & bad intentions”.
Fact is PB has worked great for many titles, some had issues but most doesn’t and it keeps more cheaters out than you’d think, especially it keeps all the mainstream hackers out, the smart once always get by sooner or later.
For that we have admins , tools plus we have VAC now also.
22/06/2011 at 17:20 paterah says:
Is this one gonna be Steamworks?
22/06/2011 at 19:07 Davee says:
This article is worth more than 24 comments! Come on RPS, I believed in your love for RO!
Anyhow; first thing I said/screamed when I saw this on the official site was “YEEEEEEES”. And It is a pretty good representation of my feelings towards this piece of news.
Now give us pre-orders and Collector’s Editions, rammjaeger! ;D
12/07/2011 at 13:50 Longbow says:
@Davee
See, now I made an account just to reply to that! xD
Now there are 29 comments! XÞ
Anyway, Yay to the FPSGOTY finally here and CHEAP!!! 0.0
Hope to see a lot of good ppl online on release at end of August! :D
22/06/2011 at 19:24 oatish says:
Having never played the 1st one, I am surprised at how excited I am for this game.
Time for some Brown Team vs. Grey Team action.
22/06/2011 at 22:31 Akike says:
Way too early. IMHO. By the looks of it, the AI is at same level as bots were in RO1.
I for one could used a fun and “realistic” ww2 tactical shooter that you can LAN with a roommate / friend. Now that BiA has failed us.
Not a big problem. “Who plays RO as a singleplayer, anyway?”
….
I woulnd’t mind cooping some hothothot sathcel or PTRD action with a close enough friend against challenging AI. … Stuff like that better left in the dreamworld, I quess.
23/06/2011 at 00:23 Gaytard Fondue says:
And you can tell all that from watching scripted pre-alpha videos?