Company of Heroes: Online Beta (PC)

 Why in the summer time do game releases always wither down to almost nothing? I know there is a perfectly good explanation but I don't want to hear it! It's during this time that one usually has the most free time and what better to waste that free time on then grinding a character or buffing your K/D ratio. Anyway, I recently found a new game to entertain me during this rather slow period in PC gaming, Company of Heroes: Online.

 If you remember playing the old COH a few years ago you will be very familiar with the game play. You still don't have to waste time collecting resources and it makes excellent use of squad combat and geography to mold your battles throughout the entire game.
 Now even though the battles might be the same, the navigable interface and GUI is a drastic change from the original, focusing more on online match making, obviously. Relic Entertainment's core business model has changed also, it looks to be trying to tap into the recent trend of in game micro transactions instead of a monthly fee, and for the first time ever I might buy into it, might.
 So far in the games beta phase the option to convert your hard earned money into "COHO Cash" has not been present and relies on what is called "Supply" which will work in conjunction with COHO Cash when the game is released, I assume. It is a point based reward given to each player after a match and is earned through game play and performance during the match. I believe this is Relic's answer to supporting a large, free, player base while offering perks to those who pay.

 So what exactly do you spend these Supply points and COHO Cash on? Well, a lot of different things, you may purchase advanced troops, special abilities, "Heroes", and various little perks that effect game play. I was very skeptical at first, due to game play balance between the "Allied" and "Axis" teams, which has always been a sore topic for the COH series. But it looks like COHO is actually doing a rather good job of making it all work, for a beta.

 The battles might play out the same way with the "Victory Point" and "Annihilation" games, but how you wage your war and the various tactical opportunities that are now present are too vast to cover in this article. I intend to write another to cover basic strategies and perks but for now I recommend you download this beta and give it a chance. If you were a big fan of the original Company of Heroes or enjoy medium paced RTS you should fit right in, once you navigate the interface.

You can find me on the Allied front as "Akearix".

The Rundown

 The time I spend in life can be dissected into a few very large chunks, one of the biggest albeit least important chunks falls under the category of Gaming. It is some thing that has dominated my childhood, my socially awkward teen years and now my early 20's and I do intend to continue this flashy life style trend deep into my elder years.

 Though my wife might find it distasteful, I have distant visions of myself "knifing n00bs" with futuristic Bio Feedback systems attached to my frail withered body and sporting the screen name; wrinkly_warrior135. I'll undoubtedly need the 135 because I know I won't be alone!

  It all started with the mighty Nintendo, moved up to the Sega Genesis, moved backwards to the Atari, switched to my trusty Magnavox HeadStart/SX  for a little Commander Keen and Castle Wolfenstien/3D, back to the Super Nintendo, flew through the many Game Boy iterations for the Pokemon craze, jumped up to PlayStation/PlayStation 2 and landed firmly with a shiny new Dell I had begged for one birthday. That Dell PC started a trend that would follow me to this day and most likely to my deathbed, PC Gaming.

 Lets keep things on track though, I don't intend on making this page only about PC gaming or even gaming in general. There are so many Blogs out there specializing in one area, and to be frank, its boring. My intent here is to discuss a whole variety of subjects, PC hardware, adventures, discoveries, recent reviews on items, current game tactics, tools, wanton selfish ideals, inane chatter and of course plumbing. Yeah, plumbing. Smack dab between the worlds of tools and computing you will find me. Its a small little niche I have carved out in this big life and I intend to share it, and what better place to find an audience then on the Internet!