Week 1 of the Beta has been a great success with tens of thousands of players getting their first taste of Red Orchestra 2. With the players’ help we’ve been able to uncover and address several issues including a particularly nasty server browser issue which was duly fixed. After opening up the RO2 Beta with 3 maps (Fallen Fighters, Apartments and Gumrak), we are cycling in 3 more maps for everyone later today:

• Grain Elevator – the iconic battle site in the south of Stalingrad featuring long range infantry fighting outdoors and room to room close quarters combat inside
• Red October Factory – night-time fighting in the factory ruins on an epic scale with infantry and tanks fighting side by side
• Barracks – a mix of close-quarter and medium-range combat, sure to be a fan favorite

All 3 maps will have both Territory and Countdown game modes, while Barracks also has the Firefight mode. And, of course, some new screenshots of the maps for you:

[Show as slideshow]

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For all those of you who bought the standard version of RO2 on Steam, who have since decided that you want to play the Beta NOW (not to mention get the other goodies we threw in to the Deluxe version) – Valve have now added an upgrade path for you. No more need to refund and re-buy. Just head over to the Steam store page (http://store.steampowered.com/app/35450/) and add the “Digital Deluxe Upgrade” to your cart. Then you can join in the Beta as fast as you can download it.

For those of you who bought from other digital outlets, go and get them to do the same!

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So, this morning, we have some more previews, in some more languages:

• In German, at Gaming XP.
• And in Portuguese, from Games de Guerra.
• From Australia (yes, in English), one from PC MMGN.

If you know of more, hit us up with them!

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And here is one for all the Italian-speakers out there… we sat down at GamesCom with Stefano Brocchieri from Videogame.it and generally had a great time. I think he liked the game (if Google translator is right!) – please let us know!

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An old friend of ours, Jim Zabek, has been playing the beta some over the last week or so and has now put together a preview piece over at Armchair general. For the grognards among us, Armchair General, is a well-known and loved site. If you don’t what a “grognard” is, its about time you went and learnt a bit more about military history and strategy – and Armchair General is the place to go! Whichever camp you fall into, Jim’s piece is a good read: click HERE!

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