Along with working on two major current-gen games in Darksiders: Wrath of War and a Warhammer: 40K MMO, THQ-owned Vigil Games is packing up its stuff and moving to a brand new 33,000-square foot studio in another part of Austin, TX. Unsurprisingly, in confirming the move to Kotaku, THQ reiterates its desire to attract new employees as development ramps up on the aforementioned titles.

Though the move was likely decided well before UFC 2009 Undisputed hit store shelves -- and quickly went flying right off those same shelves -- the 1.01 million unit sales of the game couldn't hurt the moving situation. Plusher couches at the new offices, perhaps? If it happens, remember: you heard it here first!

Last week, Mythic unleashed info regarding several "live events" for its MMO, Warhammer Online. One of these live events is titled Land of the Dead, a zone that features new public quests, instances, items and a pyramid housing the Tomb King (the dungeon's focal point). With the event set for a June release, we'd thought Mythic told us everything it possibly could about the upcoming expansion. Well, not the case, as Jeff Hickman and creative director Paul Barnett revealed some new details to the folks at Eurogamer.

We now know that the Land of the Dead will include content from level 25 onto endgame raiding and that the "Land" mentioned in the title is a place where the Order and Destruction factions constantly wage war. Once in, players can find themselves under attack by a rival faction at any time, even when in an instance. Jeff explains that the Land of the Dead will include two areas: The Necropolis and the Tomb of the Vulture Lord, and that since it's RVR-gated, each faction must fight for ownership of the dungeon. He fully expects the dungeon "to change hands nightly," so if you're in there raiding and a different faction gains ownership, you could suddenly find yourself under attack. This place isn't for rookies, however, as Jeff emphasizes this really is for levels 25 and up and "designed to supplement our end game content after Lost Vale."

Before the zone is opened to the public in June, Mythic will hold a race allowing one of the factions early access to the zone for a short while before release.

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.

We learned a valuable lesson at CES last week: Don't demo an RTS game on a trade show floor. Why? Because it's nigh-impossible to hear a developer's instructions over the deafening noise of geek-outs. It turns into something like this dialogue snippet from our hands-on experience with Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War 2:

Relic: "So, you'll quickly want to set a rally point here." *taps screen*
Joystiq: *clicks on random units* [units march off-screen]
Relic: "Okay, so if you look at this icon, you'll see that your character is earning zeal. You might want to build some heavy firepower units for support."
Joystiq: *attacks enemy power generator* [cue: bad move!]

It was just too darn loud at CES to get good instructions, and Relic only had one demo station on hand, which obviously did not feature any PVP gameplay. Naturally, we had StarCraft 2 in mind as we fooled around with Dawn of War 2, measuring Relic's RTS against what we've played of Blizzard's next blockbuster. We can say that Dawn of War 2 is currently winning in the looks department. As we watched an Imperial Tank literally roll through walls and crush them into powder while Space Marines jumped over the action with jetpacks, we were remiss to have left our drool bib back home in the hamper.

We've embedded a pair of videos from our session after the break, including producer Mark Noseworthy blowing stuff up!

Despite appearances of similarities, Warhammer Online and World of Warcraft are very different games. Looking at screenshots and videos will only tell you so much, because it's under the hood where you'll find the differences. That's where this handy guide comes into play. It's here to explain why certain quests in WAR are considered "public" and what "instances" are really all about. Unlike our previous guide, this is for the total MMO newb.

The MMO genre has been slow to evolve. A primary reason being that games take a long time to come to market. So what's so special about these two games that you'd actually want to know the differences between them? Click on through to find out.

Sure, it may not be poised to rival World of Warcraft, but Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is attracting the same audience. Given WoW's install base rivals that of medium-sized nation-states, it serves as a rather handy metric for comparing all other MMOs.

Our friends at Massively have done just that (as they have previously with Age of Conan and Guild Wars), presenting a WoW-based primer for the world of Warhammer Online. World, characters, questing, crafting, user-interface, PvP and more are covered, so if you're interested in WAR and have at least passable knowledge of WoW, check out the guide.

With Warhammer: Battle March just released on Xbox 360, it's time for a new Warhammer rumor to start circulating. The rumor in question is that an unnamed developer is currently hard at work on a Warhammer 40K third-person shooter by the name of Warhammer 40K: Space Marine. It's not really a rumor so much at this point, as the video embedded after the break pretty much confirms it. The only question is who is developing the game. Joystiq has contacted THQ, the license holder of the Warhammer 40K name. We'll be sure to post any revelations they receive.

The Warhammer 40K universe is really perfect for this kind of game, and the video footage shows real promise. We're digging the "up close and personal" nature of the game, as well as the Gears of War-esque finishing moves. Check out the (very lengthy) video after the break. Oh, and be sure to take note of the Xbox 360 logo at the beginning.

Have you been dreaming of an open world game with massive firepower and fully destructible environments without all the pesky legal repercussions in GTAIV? Mercenaries 2 just might be your game. You get to blow things up ... a lot ... with cruise missiles. Let's not forget online co-op either, which means you can blow things up with cruise missiles ... with friends.

As though Mercenaries 2 wasn't enough, we also have all of these:

• Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise
• Warhammer: Battle March
• Rapala Fishing Frenzy
• Infinite Undiscovery
• FaceBreaker
• NFL Head Coach 2009

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise? Infinite Undiscovery? FaceBreaker? Yeah, so apparently "Holiday 2008" is already upon us.

If you can't wait to get your hands on Warhammer Online, EA announced today that an open beta for the game will kick off Sept. 7, giving you a whole 11 days to play before the general populace sullies it on Sept. 18.

So, how do you get in? Just pre-order the game with one of EA's "select retail partners." (We don't know who they are yet, but even money says GameStop is one of them.) Also, those who are already in the closed beta will automagically be invited. So, are you getting in on the ground floor? Or have you been burned one too many times by start-up MMOs?

As one can tell by frequenting the World of Warcraft class forums, one of the trickiest parts of MMO development is making sure that your game's classes are perfectly balanced. If your paladins can walk all over your warriors, or your druids can outheal your priests, you're going to hear about it. For this very reason, many MMO developers choose to keep their catalog of classes fairly limited -- however, Mythic Entertainment's design team reportedly decided upon the classes in their upcoming MMO Warhammer Online after plotting out nearly 250 careers for the title.

This report comes from an interview with Mythic's Creative Director, Paul Barnett, on Videogaming247. Barnett explains that the Warhammer team got a little out of hand when developing certain aspects of the title, and that the team decided to cull their expansive career roster to the 20 classes available at launch. A wise choice, considering the countless months it would have taken to make sure that the Treasure Hunter, Gymnast, Dermatologist, Pastry Chef, Assistant Dermatologist, Chimney Sweep, and Librarian classes were all evenly matched.

We were a bit concerned when Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (or WAR, on the streets) had its release date changed from the comfortingly specific "Sept. 23" to the vague and unsettling "Sept. 08." Little did we know, that change was just a chrysalis from which a new, just as specific but even earlier date could emerge: Sept. 18.

EA would also like you to start referring to Sept. 18 as the "Day of Reckoning," and that's fine, if you want to help drum up some extra interest among friends or family. Just do us a favor and put the kibosh on that when you go out into public, OK?

The Electronic Arts website for Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning has been updated, and the release date has changed from September 23 to the less precise "September 2008." If you were planning to take off work and level grind all day, you may want to reconsider until a more concrete date arrives. Given the MMO's penchant for delays, we don't expect September to be set in stone, either.

We already knew Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning was pretty much done, but now the Electronic Arts website has updated with a release date. The day of reckoning? September 23. There's been no official press release from EA or developer Mythic, so someone has either jumped the gun on updating the site or this won't be the official launch. In the meantime, check out Massively's extensive WAR coverage.

[Via Massively]

Making its way to the Xbox 360 for the first time is the famed Warhammer series. Warhammer: Battle March, from Namco Bandai, is a real-time strategy game set in the Warhammer universe. Battle March on the Xbox 360 includes the original PC released Warhammer: Mark of Chaos, in addition to the upcoming Battle March expansion pack. Warhammer: Battle March includes a single-player campaign and skirmish modes and online support for up to 4 players and the game has ditched resources in favor of keeping it action oriented for console gamers.

While it's difficult to make out the guttural baritone voice of the above trailer's narrator, we're pretty sure that this is an E3 teaser for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II. Those already invested in the series will be glad to know that the svelte Eldar will be making an appearance in the the RTS franchise's latest installment, and that they will apparently wield neat glowing swords. At least, we think they're swords. For all we know, the Eldar might just be on their way to a futuristic fantasy-themed rave -- after all, they are well-known among their contemporaries for being the galaxy's official party race.