Warhammer is a pretty big name right now. With the launch of Mythic's epic MMORPG Warhammer Online and previous successes with the Warhammer 40K setting in the PC real-time strategy market, it makes sense for a console game to take advantage of the name recognition. Thus have Black Hole Games and Namco Bandai brought us Warhammer: Battle March, a remake of the PC RTS Warhammer: Mark of Chaos that came out back in 2006. Console ports of real-time strategy titles haven't fared all that well in the past, but over the last couple of years we've seen a bit of a reversal in the trend, with console owners getting their first taste of what RTS gaming is truly about. Does Battle March advance the war for compelling console RTS experiences, or does it turn tail and flee in the face of progress? Red and blue meet on the battlefield, after the jump.

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As we mentioned earlier this week, the wraps have been taken off of Godfather II, in fact we'll be playing a bit of it next week.

Today, though, Electronic Arts officially unveiled the game which will go beyond the second film's story and have gamers take on the world of organised crime in 1960's Florida, Cuba and New York. After taking over New York in the first game, players will work to expand their organisation to other cities through extortion, crime rings and wars with other crime families.

As Luke mentioned, the game will include an strategy-heavy Don's View:

To help players manage their empire, The Godfather II introduces "The Don's View" - an innovative strategy meta-game that allows players to oversee the entire world as they grow the family business. Using the Don's View, players will be able to build, defend and expand their crime rings, while keeping an eye on the movements and plans of the rival families. Players will also learn to master the business of organised crime by building a family of Made Men, hiring crew, handing out orders, and promoting their best men up the ranks.

The lengthy and detailed release is on the jump.

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Bungie seems excited about the Ensemble-developed Halo Wars. The game is planted firmly in the RTS genre, so, for example, it's not necessary to have players moved in and out of cover. Gushes Bungie AI maven Damian Isla:

We've done a lot of talking with Ensemble guys, and we're all really excited about Halo Wars, because from everything we've seen so far it's a very cool, faithful adaptation... Everything we've seen has been very, very encouraging — we're very excited about it. And of course, [Halo Wars is] also getting right the basics, the general roles — even fictionally. What role do grunts play in the Covenant fighting forces, what role do the Elites play, what role do Warthogs play, what role do Spartans play... All this kind of thing. I think they really nailed that. It's encouraging.

Great news, this.

Bungie "very excited" about Halo Wars [Eurogamer]

Swedish Developer Lockpick Entertainment have been working on their free-to-play MMORTS Dreamlords: The Reawakening for quite some time now, but now they've dropped us a line to let us know that the game is ready for launch this Wednesday, June 18th. It's a nifty little title that combines an actual, downloaded RTS client with a web-based management system that essentially allows you to manage aspects of play when you generally shouldn't be, say at-work, for instance.

The game features three races, each with different balances between combat and management to allow players to focus on the RTS aspect they're most keen on. You can hit up the official website for more information, or hit up the gallery below for the latest screens of Dreamlords: The Reawakening.

Halo Wars Addict got an interview with Graham Somers, Ensemble Studios' community manager. Naturally, this outreach is in his job description, and a blog titled "Halo Wars Addict" will probably deliver a positive piece. But it's still worth a look if you're interested in the real-time strategy version of the Halo universe, due out sometime this year, hopefully, or early next year.

Somers speaks at length about the pitfalls of RTS design, the responsibility the dev team feels in working with Bungie's existing Halo universe, and other things that make up a great RTS game experience. But he doesn't drop much in the way of confirmable news tidbits, just:

• Halo Wars and Ensemble Studios will have a presence at E3 this year. (We'll keep our eyes peeled).
• The game will ship "when it's ready", so, nothing specific on the date.
• No promises, but developers are aware of Machinima enthusiasm and may ship Halo Wars with tools to assist in its creation.

Halo Wars Addict Exclusive Interview: Ensemble Studios

GameInfoWire.com has about a dozen new screen shots of Dawn of War II up. These follow the gameplay video that went up midweek. I'm gonna keep my trap shut about the game. Warhammer 40,000 scared the bejabbers out of me and my basic set D&D friends when we were in school. Mostly because the only kids who played it had passes to the smoking pit and grew moustaches. So, here's one, and there are four full-size after the jump and the rest on GameInfoWire, and please don't give me a noogie or a titty-twister, sir. Owwww ....

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Could have been longer, yes, and could have been from a zoom level where we could actually see what's going on, but beggars (and hey, those of us dying for this game are begging) just can not be choosers. Obviously the graphics have been the subject of an overhaul since the first game, but I'm expecting them to make good on the promise of an evolution in gameplay (more along the lines of Company of Heroes and, you know, the tabletop game) than in visuals.

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THQ was here in New York City this week to preview its spring 2008 and holiday season titles, and to me, one of the most promising titles was Lock's Quest, a DS genre mashup that's a little bit real-time strategy, and a little bit action, due for release sometime this fall.

The first thing that caught my eye when it was shown to me was its old-school vibe: traditional-looking 2D sprites and animation plus anime aesthetic, a little bit of a surprise from a publisher who seems to have hitched its star on family-friendly titles with broader appeal.

So what's cool about Lock's Quest? Hit the jump for impressions and screenshots.

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Know this: EA aren't breaking the mould with Red Alert 3. It looks for all the world like Red Alert 2, only this time with gorgeous water effects and - we're told - controllable Japanese schoolgirl units. But if you're the kind of person to be excited over the idea of a third Red Alert, and especially the rehash of the old intro theme song, that's most likely exactly what you're after, no?

Crecente seemed to be rather impressed with EA's CCG RTS hybrid Battleforge the other day at EA's event in San Francisco, and I can certainly see why. The battles indeed look massive, especially when the big guy is just plowing through the troops towards the end, and seeing the actual cards pictured has given the rabid collectible card gamer in me what I can only describe as a raging card-on. This is exactly why I've never been quoted on a video game box.