By Alec Meer on July 9th, 2009 at 6:20 pm.
This is odd. The revelation that there is to be a Command & Conquer 4 is scarcely any surprise, as EA’s rejuvenated franchise seems to be on a bit of a roll these days (bar the cancellation of FPS Tiberium). That they’re saying it will finish the Tiberium saga is the shocker – surely its silly sci-fi storyline was designed to blather away forever? A red herring, I suspect – yeah, we might finally get answers as to what bechromedomed uber-bad Kane really wants, and what all those magic crystals will ultimately do to poor Earth, but that hardly closes the door on telling more tales in that future-war universe.
For those who don’t play real-time strategy for the lore, C&C4 also promises major shake-ups to the Dune 2-derived formula it’s been based around for the last 15 years…
Class-based play, persistent progression “across all modes” and an all-in-one mobile base, to be specific. At a guess, it’s going to apply something along the lines of Call of Duty 4 experience/ranks to real-time strategy, and build that into a base you trundle with you from to map, rather than simply abandon wholesale and build a new one come every level change.
Which could be super. Or could swamp casual RTSers with hardcore elements. It’s great to see this venerable series enjoy a significant shake-up, though – I’d certainly love to be surprised by Command & Conquer all over again.
It’s due out in 2010 (good lord, that’s such a futuristic-sounding date. Next year is going to be strange), and here’s the full official press release, with a few more detail-snippets:
Behold disciples of Nod, the end is soon upon us. Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) today announced that, after almost 15 years and 30 million games sold, EALA is bringing the award-winning Tiberium series to an epic conclusion with Command & Conquer™ 4. Shipping in 2010, Command & Conquer 4 will introduce a multitude of innovations to the to the classic fast and fluid Command & Conquer gameplay while retaining the core compulsions that fans have come to love over the series’ history. Introducing new class-based gameplay, mobile bases and persistent player progression throughout all game modes, Command & Conquer 4 offers players new, innovative and compelling strategic depth.
“Command & Conquer is a powerful franchise with an amazing 15-year legacy. We are thrilled to bring the dramatic Tiberium saga to a conclusion in Command & Conquer 4. This game is designed to give fans all the answers they’ve been looking for,” said Mike Glosecki, Lead Producer of Command & Conquer 4 at EA Los Angeles. “With its objective-based multiplayer mode, persistent player progression and all-in-one mobile base, players will experience Command & Conquer like never before.”
The story of Command & Conquer 4 takes place after the events of the critically acclaimed Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars™. The year is 2062 and humanity is at the brink of extinction. With only six years left until the mysterious crystalline structure Tiberium renders the earth entirely uninhabitable, the two opposing factions – Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and the Brotherhood of Nod – inevitably find themselves in desperation for the same cause: to stop Tiberium from extinguishing mankind. The unthinkable becomes reality and Nod’s enigmatic leader Kane takes off for GDI headquarters. What is Kane planning in the heart of his enemies’ base? Command & Conquer 4 draws the epic conclusion to the beloved Tiberium universe, where fans will learn the fate of Earth, Nod, Tiberium, GDI and most importantly, Kane’s motivations behind his decade-long plan.
In addition to the two campaigns on the epic battles of GDI and Nod, which players will get to conquer alone or in a cooperative mode, Command & Conquer 4 will also feature a new 5v5 objective-based multiplayer mode, promoting teamwork and cooperation and delivering a social real-time-strategy experience never seen before in a Command & Conquer game.
Command & Conquer 4 is being developed at EA Los Angeles and will ship to retailers in 2010 for the PC. The game has not yet been rated by the ESRB or PEGI. For more information about the game, please visit www.commandandconquer.com or follow the community and development team on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ea_apoc. The July 24th episode of BattleCast™ PrimeTime will give fans the latest news and exclusive information on Command & Conquer 4. Additionally, Gametrailers TV will exclusively reveal the first cinematic trailer for Command & Conquer 4 in its July 23rd episode on SPIKE TV.
09/07/2009 at 18:29 Aldaris says:
*Ahem* W00t.
Sounds nice, I just hope they’ll retcon kane’s wrath.
09/07/2009 at 18:29 Aldaris says:
Also, is that a BF2142 titan ripof in that pic? If so, awesome.
09/07/2009 at 18:31 SwiftRanger says:
PC exclusive and online only according to the GameSpot interview. Certainly doesn’t sound like C&C3/RA3 which is a good thing in my book.
09/07/2009 at 18:36 jsutcliffe says:
I have yet to get round to C&C 3 (or the new Red Alert for that matter). What non-evil (by which I mean Direct2Drive, for no real reason) online sources can they be bought from? Are the single-player portions worth it?
09/07/2009 at 18:36 pkt-zer0 says:
Well, this actually seems interesting. Wasn’t expecting that, to be honest.
09/07/2009 at 18:37 Serondal says:
Online only ? It says in the release there is single player, that doesn’t make any sense. It’s about time C&C died.
09/07/2009 at 18:39 SwiftRanger says:
@Serondal, from the interview:
“As a nice side effect, since C&C4 requires players to be online all the time in order to prevent cheating, we’ll be shipping without any form of DRM.”
09/07/2009 at 18:41 ilves says:
I missed C&C 3 as well, though I’ve played all the other C&Cs. And that does look like a BF2142 titan. If they’re wrapping this whole shebang up, might be interested in picking this one up.
09/07/2009 at 18:43 Duckmeister says:
Personally, even though the Tiberium story was pretty good, I thought that the Red Alert story was the better (and more mind-numbingly convoluted) of the two.
Although I would appreciate finding out why Kane can survive so many deaths. He clones? He holograms? Who knows? I mean, way to take the triumph out of killing Kane at the end of every C&C game, because you know he’ll just come back, and say something like “How do you like me now?”
09/07/2009 at 18:44 The Archetype says:
Requiring you to be online at all times actually seems like one of the cruelest forms of DRM of all.
Still, I’ll probably be buyin it through Steam, so it’s a bit of a moot point.
09/07/2009 at 18:44 Duckmeister says:
Double toast, but I have something to add.
I’d much rather see Command & Conquer Generals 2 than any other C&C RTS release.
09/07/2009 at 18:54 Serondal says:
You have to be online all the time to play single player? they don’t see this as a form of DRM ? This is insane, what happened to the good ‘ol days if buying a freaking game and playing it without internet being involved? It’s expensive !
09/07/2009 at 18:56 TCM says:
If internet is expensive…Well, you probably couldn’t run the game in the first place anyhow.
09/07/2009 at 18:57 Frankie The Patrician[PF] says:
2jsutcliffe:
http://www.g2play.net/store/EA-Games/
09/07/2009 at 19:04 h4plo says:
Awesome – first blip of RTS-excitement since just before the Dawn of War II beta started. Looking forward to see what they do with the pacing, though – not sure that the hero model will work with the lightning-fast pace that C&C games seem to play at lately.
As to the online-only thing: I’d rather have this than a game I can only install five times, ever. Always thought Steam-type solutions are the best way to deal with piracy/security that’s fair to the consumer. It’s a pretty safe bet that any PC that can run RA4 will be on a constantly-fed cable or fiber line.
@Duckmeister: I couldn’t agree more. Tunneling into the main base of an enemy with a schoolbus filled with poison-rocket guys remains one of my favorite all-time strategies in an RTS.
09/07/2009 at 19:05 Don says:
@Aldaris: “is that a BF2142 titan ripof in that pic?”
Well, it’s not flashing in and out and I can’t see prone glitchers through the walls, so I’d say no.
09/07/2009 at 19:05 JKjoker says:
nice, so the new trend is inserting constant online activation DRM in games without calling it drm but “cheating prevention” and completely eliminating the chance of someone playing a single game, you know, WITHOUT INTERNET ? i don’t know about you but i lose net connection a few times a week, sometimes for hours its not as fail-safe as the phone or electric lines, well be forced to get a cracked version just so we can play without being online, sigh…
09/07/2009 at 19:08 JKjoker says:
and btw, if i want to CHEAT in MY single player session, its MY right, you know …
09/07/2009 at 19:10 Pavel says:
Another 30fps capped game? I wish they would cap their awful SAGE engine (which is 8 years old).
09/07/2009 at 19:13 Heliocentric says:
EA DOESN’T HAVE THE BALLS TO TAKE THE RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVE ON KANE SO THE ENDING WILL BE UNSATISFACTORY.
peace through power![/caps]
09/07/2009 at 19:15 JKjoker says:
that the ending is going to be crap is a given, count how many games you played in the last decade with good endings, enough fingers in one hand ? probably with 5 extra ? right
09/07/2009 at 19:24 jsutcliffe says:
@ Patrician person whose name I don’t quite recall
Thanks, but I don’t like how g2play do business. I think I file them as “evil.”
09/07/2009 at 19:26 Noc says:
JKjoker: Portal, HL2 (EP2), God Hand, Knytt Stories (The Machine) and Halo (1) are the first that come to mind, and that fills out a hand’s worth of fingers. I’m sure there are ones I’m forgetting.
After a quick check to good old Wikipedia, Homeworld and Planescape: Torment both scrape in under the wire at ’99, too.
So yeah. Good endings happen.
09/07/2009 at 19:28 Simon says:
So did anyone else notice that they mentioned that it’s going to be the end of the TIBERIUM series?
That means: Red Alert still lives on, as does Generals.
09/07/2009 at 19:32 MasterBoo says:
This is nothing compared to StarCraft II.
;)
09/07/2009 at 19:34 Heliocentric says:
RA has boobies, tiberium has an angry bald man.
09/07/2009 at 19:34 crozon says:
well the been online all the time is not a big thing. seriously how many people here don’t have broadband and isn’t it about time you get it.
09/07/2009 at 19:35 Jeremy says:
I could never understand why people still treat the internet like it’s a flying car.
09/07/2009 at 19:38 Azhrarn says:
@Heliocentric: an angry bald man that is a lot more interesting than the gratuitous boobies in RA3.
I’m looking forward to how this is going to turn out. I doubt it’ll give the closure the story has been leading up to, since that would probably be to controversial. (with the religious angle and all) But colour me interested.
09/07/2009 at 19:44 Duckmeister says:
I think Helio has nailed why the Tiberium story’s ending will suck. 8 years ago, EA was willing to make whatever controversial religious connection to Kane or Tiberium they wanted, but now, it’s such a so-called “touchy” subject that they don’t want to “risk it”.
Frankly, I highly doubt that anyone who would be willing to buy C&C 4 today wouldn’t shy away from it just because they said Kane was a muslim or something stupid like that.
(Yes, I know the obvious connection in the names, like “Kane and Cain”, but I was just saying that as a broad generalization)
09/07/2009 at 19:47 JKjoker says:
@Noc: you call HL episode 2′s “end” an ending ? bleh, i havent played/finished the others, Halo’s ending quality is irrelevant it committed suicide with the constant copy-pasting of rooms and general unoriginality i couldn’t care less how it ends, i still have to finish portal, hmm
09/07/2009 at 19:47 Duckmeister says:
Double toast again, but here’s my take:
EA, make Skate 3 for PC, Command & Conquer Generals 2, and fix the pricing models and recent stupid gameplay changes in Battlefield Heroes before you make C&C 4, please.
09/07/2009 at 19:48 Carra says:
Heh, the recommended old story is “Back Once Again For The Renegade Disaster”.
Done with the sequels, bring on the prequels.
09/07/2009 at 19:48 JKjoker says:
oh, yeah Torment had a great ending, but i think its just on the cut line, December 1999
09/07/2009 at 19:50 Tei says:
I hate how poorly C&C has been managed. It started as a realisitic-futuristic RTS. Something more original than a “orcs & humans” game called Warcraft.
What is a Intelectual Property building if all elements are stollen from other people, or from the trash pop culture?
The only science fiction videogame ever mas is sid meier alfa centauri. Is really sad that videogames, with the potential to show incredible and original futures, has to vomit the same genericness as fantasy books.
09/07/2009 at 19:51 Serondal says:
TCM – The internet is expensive, I have to bay more for my stupid cable internet then some people make in a year in some parts of the world. The point being I do have internet 100% of the time, when times get hard that is the first thing that goes as it isn’t something I need to survive. IT would be nice to actually be able to play the games I’ve already paid for on the computer I’ve already paid for. Right now I’ve got 6 games on Steam I can’t play because the stupid offline mode won’t work and I can’t fix it without being online , wtf is it even there for ? Lol.
As far as the argument between RA and normal C&C I have to agree that RA iis a lot more fun most of the time. I still play RA 2 with Yuri’s expansion.
09/07/2009 at 19:54 Lorc says:
“[NOD and GDI] inevitably find themselves in desperation for the same cause”
I hope nobody was paid to write this.
09/07/2009 at 19:55 LQB says:
The press release reminds me of how the Relic developers would describe Dawn of War 2.
09/07/2009 at 19:58 Serondal says:
er pay, not bay ; P
09/07/2009 at 20:13 Jad says:
As a nice side effect, since C&C4 requires players to be online all the time in order to prevent cheating, we’ll be shipping without any form of DRM.
Grrrr. Why has DRM, which was once a broad and useful term (albeit somewhat nebulous), become narrowed down to a very specific definition (“SecurRom, but only version 7, when it has limited activations, less than 6″)? The company’s (Copy)Rights for a Digital product are being Managed by this scheme!
For most of us, DRM is not necessarily a bad thing. If you’ve ever typed in a CD key, then you’ve accepted some form of DRM. However, there is certain forms of DRM that are evil.
And this one is pure evil.
To those of you saying “comon, who doesn’t have internet?” — SHUT UP and THINK.
How many of you still own a copy of an old C&C (I still have my original, 1996 Red Alert)? Would you like to play the game again, in single player mode? Quick — whats your Red Alert 1 online profile name? Your password? Are Westwood’s Red Alert 1 profile servers still running?
Oh wait, Red Alert 1 didn’t require servers to run a single-player game? It didn’t require an online profile to play a single-player game? Man those guys back in 1996 sure were dunces!
09/07/2009 at 20:14 Jad says:
Damn, stupid italics. Only the first sentence is supposed to be italicized.
09/07/2009 at 20:18 Serondal says:
It is pretty evil, but I must also say that it may be a bit to soon to jump at this one. They may have a single player offline mode you can play without being connected to the internet where you can’t xfer that character into online mode. I seriously doubt it though, as of late most EA games require you to be online to even install them so another EA game I’m not going to be buying. I have nothing against EA like most people seem to, I just simply can’t buy the game if I can’t activate it since I currently have no net at home.
09/07/2009 at 20:18 ad_hominem says:
@JKjoker
Time Gentlemen, Please! Has a brilliant ending, and that came out last month.
09/07/2009 at 20:20 JonFitt says:
Wow, 15 years of C&C. That makes me feel old, since I remember when C&C was new-fangled.
I didn’t play C&C3 since I don’t care for the hyperspeed click per minute style of RTS the C&C is/has become. But, I used to enjoy the cut scenes, is there a YouTube video of these so I can catch up?
09/07/2009 at 20:21 UK_John says:
I was around at the start of PC gaming’s greatest hours when C&C came out. I was there at the height of PC gaming when Red Alert came out. By the time of the yucky C&C 3, PC gaming was getting yucky too, and now 2010 we see the last C&C, when PC gaming is on a downward spiral. Sort of like C&C has followed PC gaming and that both are now coming full circle…
09/07/2009 at 20:31 jalf says:
ah yes, the joys of revising history to fit your conclusions.
PC gaming has had plenty of greatest hours. When C&C came out was just one of them.
We’re living in another one of them now. The indie scene is making sure of that.
09/07/2009 at 20:33 Serondal says:
Oh my Lord UK_John is back.
09/07/2009 at 20:38 JKjoker says:
@ad_hominem: its *so* new its not even on gamerankings or metacritic
09/07/2009 at 20:39 radomaj says:
One feature that is absolutely necessary for a new RTS game? Bring me SupCom-style zooming! The minimap is dead, long live the minimap!
09/07/2009 at 20:42 JKjoker says:
@randomaj: while i love NOT having any limits with my zoom (hated, HATED, warcraft 3′s limited zoom) you ended up playing SupCom with the zoom all the way out and watching the boring icons, you need to allow it but dont let the action become so messy you can only follow it with the zoom maxed out
09/07/2009 at 21:05 Xercies says:
Dear EA please put walls in this release.
K Thx
Xercies
Anyway I don’t know what it was, but i doidn’t particularly like C&C 3, it didn’t seem C&C to me. And this doesn’t either.
But who could say no to Kane the greatest game character ever made.
09/07/2009 at 21:08 Rob says:
Tiberian Dawn (Original CnC): Kane is absorbed by the ION cannon light in the GDI ending. Kane lives in the NOD ending with the GDI being disbanded.
Tiberan Sun: Kane returns with a huge metal plate over part of his chrome dome. Part cyborg? GDI ending has him dying again. I think he’s shot or something. NOD ending has the world’s atmsophere being ripped apart by a Tiberian Missile; the world turns green. Also, scrin crash ship midway through the GDI mission. Thats about it. (Some NOD tech is “part scrin”, but thats only in the manuals)
Tiberian Sun: Firestorm : GDI ending is pretty much “lol secrets of tiberium, we found them now”. NOD ending is much odder – The destruction of CABAL reveals that CABAL’s core is actually somewhere else, and has clones of Kane – it ends with Kane’s voice intermingling with Cabal’s – “We must reassess our primary directive”. I personaly find This the most interesting ending, but it was never explored.
CNC 3 was another reboot – Never played it.
So CNC 4 is going to be….another reboot. Who would have guessed.
09/07/2009 at 21:17 Serondal says:
CNC 3 isn’t a reboot it actaully follows after the story line of Tiberium Sun and it’s expansion pack expands the back story even more because you fill in the gap between C&C 2 and C&C 3.
09/07/2009 at 21:23 Rob says:
Interesting. I only played a bit of it and it didn’t seem too fun, so I never played anything past the demo :/
09/07/2009 at 21:32 Serondal says:
The game itself was strange yah, but the inbetween level live action cut scenes were fantastic! Did you know Swayer from Lost plays one of the Nod generals ? Lol
09/07/2009 at 21:33 DK says:
@Serondal, by “follows the story line” you mean retcons the everloving Kane out of it.
Walkers? Nah, it turns out Walkers suck and tanks are far more practical….
1 expansion later…how about them walkers boys!
09/07/2009 at 21:38 Serondal says:
@DK it didn’t actaully retcon the walkers, if you paid attention you’d see that they flavor text states that walkers were replaced by tanks because they were less expensive to make (because they’re doing so poorly money wise) The Steel Talons were created to keep using this kind of advanced walker technology (And they’re a bit further back down the time line than the origonal C&C story line at that) With zocom using the extreme advanced stuff like hover weapons and sonic weapons. Nothing was actaully rectoned it just progressed the story line.
What I want explained is how Kane showed up in Red Alert :P
09/07/2009 at 21:42 Gap Gen says:
So this will die, as in Lara Croft is dead?
09/07/2009 at 21:42 JKjoker says:
@Xercies: im with you, but i doubt theyll readd the walls, they allow for defensive play and thats not encouraged (or rather HATED) for online play (matches must be between 15 and 30 mins and thats probably already too long for some players), thank them they if they manage to add “useful” defensive structures, warcraft 3 suffer this and it looks like starcraft 2 will also (or it might be that the players in the battle reports just suck and ignore defense completely)
09/07/2009 at 21:44 Serondal says:
Gap Gen – Yes I and hope when it goes down it takes Zombie Lara Croft.
09/07/2009 at 21:53 Jae Armstrong says:
But will it have big stompy robots? I gave up on three when I realised they’d dropped. That and the claustrophobia-inducing “I can’t breathe” maps and nose-to-the-mud camera straight after Sup Com.
09/07/2009 at 21:54 LionsPhil says:
“Although I would appreciate finding out why Kane can survive so many deaths. He clones?”
That’s what the Nod ending of Tiberium Sun: Firestorm strongly implies. Also: Deus Ex-ian AI-merging! (Finally playing that a few years ago, I was surprised to find that Firestorm was actually quite a bit more fun than its rightly-panned unexpanded parent—and a hell of a lot more varied than SupComm.)
I agree with JonFitt that C&C3 was “hyperspeed click per minute”, and never got past the demo as a result. Silly, really: original C&C was actually really quite slow, especially when tensely waiting for the next trickle of harvested credits so that you can please repair that Advanced Guard Tower before the next attack shows up.
09/07/2009 at 22:00 Serondal says:
I never found C&C 3 to be hyper click per minute and those tense moments of waiting for credits to come in still show happen actually. There is very little micromanagment at all just playing against the computer. Your units don’t have special powers and they’re not all that complicated, clicking faster isn’t going to gain you anything. It isn’t like WC3 or Dawn of War 2 where dancing your units about and using special abilities at the right time will make a big difference.
It is still all about numbers and using the right unit mixtured. about the most complex it gets is “this vehicle is good against other vehicle and this one is good against infantry” that’s about it .
09/07/2009 at 22:07 Serondal says:
BTW for those of you that never played it
1)When the aliens scan Kane they find that he was already in their database and that he is not human or any other race they have in their database
2)At the end of C&C 3′s expansion (Which is the furthest forward in the time line the games go) Kane defeats GDI and gets an alien artifact which he installs inside another AI much like Cabal called LEGION and says LEGION, my child, you are my greatest creation. It is time for you to take center stage; time for you to achieve the purpose for which you were created! One Vision, One Purpose!”.
09/07/2009 at 23:08 Duckmeister says:
So wait, CABAL was the rogue AI thing that everyone fought against in the one game, and then it turns out that it was Kane’s creation even though the NOD end up fighting it.
Wasn’t legion the thing that that girl from battlestar galactica put a virus into in what is possibly the sequence with the most horrible acting ever?
09/07/2009 at 23:13 Serondal says:
Cabal was just an evil AI but then it WENT rogue, I believe it decided to destroy all life or something O.o
I’m not saying it is a good story line I’m just saying C&C 3 doesn’t retcon C&C 2, it just expands on its insane story :P I think the player is actaully Legion for part of the C&C 3 campaign . I dunno it is all very confusing I’m sure C&C 4 will only make it even more so.
If I had to take a wild guess I would say the Earth has become so bad that the GDI has taken to using flying bases to patrol the planet because walking around on the ground is too dangerous or something ? If that is the case then will C&C 4 be all aerial combat ? lol This looks like it will be interesting.
I never actually tried Redalert 3 because C&C3 had given me enough C&C to last me the rest of my life.
09/07/2009 at 23:36 Duckmeister says:
See, I think that Einstein creating a time machine to kill Hitler in 1933 to prevent WW2 making a parallel universe in which Russia uses mind-control to invade the United States while United States allows Einstein to create wormhole technology to make up for their disabled-by-tesla nuclear weapons is a MUCH better story than Tiberium.
09/07/2009 at 23:38 Batolemaeus says:
Oh hey, another shitty EA game. I’m still not exactly happy that they killed my favourite rts-series, C&C. What next, bring that brain-dead achievement-crap to C&C, too?
Any C&C they made after RA2 felt like some rotting Zombie. A resurrected corpse without a brain that some mad scientist had experimented with.
/rant
09/07/2009 at 23:40 Batolemaeus says:
Btw., since i can’t edit my previous rant, i’ll add this:
Einstein should have used the chronosphere to make sure after westwood pulled out no further sequels to C&C could be made..
09/07/2009 at 23:54 Serondal says:
That or we could get Yuri to mind control EA’s board of directors and have them walk into a giant meat grinder for extra minerals then replace them with clones that will make any game we demand of them for free ;)
10/07/2009 at 01:17 Patrick says:
“It’s due out in 2010 (good lord, that’s such a futuristic-sounding date. Next year is going to be strange)”
we’ve all been saying this for years. When 2000 rolled around, well, it was basically just after the 90′s. Even then, 2009 didn’t seem like it was going to be the future. But 2010? Flying cars, robot pedicures, all that.
10/07/2009 at 03:51 Duckmeister says:
It’s funny how much arbitrary numerical patterns affect our thinking. Patrick hit it right on the head.
Speaking of the future, apparently sci-fi films have added two laws to their structure. They must have a black president, and they must have something to do with the bad guys polluting the environment.
That’s why you should all watch District 9, because it will be the best sci-fi movie ever, and because it’s directed by Neill Blomkamp, the best sci-fi director ever, and because it has none of those things described above.
Neill Blomkamp is the MAN!
10/07/2009 at 05:04 SwiftRanger says:
“I’m not saying it is a good story line”
I am just gonna remember this I think. ;) It’s not much worse off than other RTSs though.
10/07/2009 at 06:48 Mr.President says:
Well, crap.
I was hoping for Generals 2. There were rumours that it would be next. Who cares about the Tiberuim series anymore?
10/07/2009 at 08:58 Sunjammer says:
I haven’t enjoyed a C&C game since, well. C&C. But i do respect the titles, they’re just not for me. Something about spam centric RTS just seems so backwards today.
10/07/2009 at 10:32 Dan (WR) says:
I’d have to throw in with those criticising C&C3 for becoming “hyperspeed click per minute”. I found it that I was reacting and blob rushing rather than doing anything vaguely strategic.
What bugs me most though is that by appealing to some hardcore spider-fingered multiplayer yoof RTS gamers, developers are cutting out another audience. My uncle got me into gaming as a kid and he’s always been a strategy boff. He enjoyed Dune 2 and the old C&C games but he had no chance with C&C3. When I’m in my 60s I’d hope that people would be making strategy games that run at a pace I could hope to manage. Whatever happened to speed sliders on RTS games?
10/07/2009 at 10:43 phil says:
Not to geek out to completely, but from the scrin files, wasn’t Kane known to them before the invasion as a non-human thingy (in fact all this Land of NOD stuff could suggest he was in fact Cane, of Abel offing fame) and from Kane’s Wrath ending isn’t Legion sent though a scrin portal to go take over the Scrin.
Could the majority of Command and Conquer IV happen off world perhaps?
10/07/2009 at 12:55 Duckmeister says:
Ah Phil, people have already geeked out here before you have admitted so. Yeah, it’s like the aliens have a second tacitus, and they didn’t know that Kane had a tacitus, so they scanned him and found out he was already in it as something not human or alien. Yeah, there was that connection between Kane and Cain. Yeah, C&C 4 might go all Quake 4 on us (lol we attk homworld).
10/07/2009 at 14:31 Eisenhorne says:
If you have no Internet at home – not even $10 dialup then you are not who EA cares about because if you can’t keep a $10 Internet connection up then you probably can’t afford the game in the first place. If you are that person then believe it or not you are the very small minority out there and won’t even account for 1% of EA’s sales. Not buying the game because DRM requires Internet is just plain stupid. Internet based DRM is the best solution, those guys back in the 90′s who supposedly got it right by not having DRM didn’t sell their game in a world where EVERYONE has Internet that can steal your game. Internet DRM is the most uninvasive and transparent AND secure way to protect so get used to it or turn off your Internet then we will no longer have to read your hollow arguments. Out
10/07/2009 at 14:51 Lanster27 says:
Did they mention if Jennifer Morrison is gonna return in the cast? If so, I’m so buying the game.
10/07/2009 at 15:14 JKjoker says:
oh god, i just can’t believe what i read sometimes, so there is nothing wrong about a DRM that requires constant connection to the net ? lets just see 3 of the infinite problems with that
1- you are basically giving your computer away to EA, they will gather free marketing info from it, they will scan it, they will bitch you about blacklisted programs and so on.
2-you are giving EA the right to cut your game, actually, all your games, if you ever do anything to “anger” them, they just need to ban your ip, mac or account and boom, you are no longer able to play the games you paid for, cool!
3-how are they going to solve the inherent problems with the internet connections ? not always up, no constant ip, etc
you think ppl with these problems are irrelevant ? you know how many laptops and netbooks were sold last year ? you are going to completely ignore them as a market ? that sounds *really* smart
10/07/2009 at 15:38 jalf says:
@JKjoker: Paranoia machine still in full swing, I see.
You’re right about 2 and 3, and those alone are reason enough why this form of DRM is problematic, but #1 is just silly. Most countries have some kind of privacy laws, you know, which prohibit companies from just snooping arbitrary information from your computer. Of course EA could break those laws, but then we might as well worry that they start putting explosives in the boxes when you buy games too. If we assume that EA does not intend to willfully break any laws, then #1 is not an issue.
It’d be so much easier to take your post seriously if you stuck with the very real problems that exist with their always-on model, rather than inventing conspiracy theories as well.
I should probably point out though, that 2 and to some extent 3, are also issues with Steam. Do you direct the same amount of hot red anger at them?
As for me, my stance on DRM is simple.
As long as they do not prevent me from installing the game an arbitrary number of times on an arbitrary number of computers, I can tolerate it. If they do not allow those things, I won’t buy the game, period. If they do allow it, I can be persuaded to buy it, depending on what other effects the DRM has, and the price and quality of the game.
Requiring internet connectivity isn’t necessarily a deal-breaker for me. I understand that it’s a problem for a large number of people, and for that reason alone, I think it’s a bad business decision, but I personally am online while playing games so I can live with it.
And them being able to ban me? Yes true, that’s a problem. But the same applies to Steam. It’s not a new problem. Gamers have accepted that for years now. I still buy boxed games whenever possible to avoid this reliance on Steam, but that’s not always possible.
10/07/2009 at 17:39 Duckmeister says:
I sort of agree with jalf.
I recently made the mistake of buying games over steam I could’ve gotten from other sources. Due to various issues I am now out of $80 and stuck with 0 games to play from steam.
I will never use steam to play anything but steam-exclusive games such as TF2.
The reason being for this is because when you pay money for your games, you are not buying the game, you are just buying the right to borrow the game for an indefinite amount of time. This right is something they can take away at anytime with no refund or reason.
This is why the current VAC is borderline fraud. They can claim you’re cheating through an “automated” service, ban you, and they do not have to provide any proof, reason, or anything. I am very suspicious from my past experiences with it. All of the fanboys/trolls who say “you only get banned if you did something wrong” are simply that, fanboys and trolls.
It’s no wonder why they can provide so many weekend deals at 50% off. You’ll be paying the second half for the game when you buy it again after they ban you.
On top of that, you can’t transfer games to one account from another. So, if you did get VAC banned, you couldn’t transfer any of your non-banned games to a clean account, thus knocking you out of the “unaffected” games as well.
This is why I love Stardock’s service, because there is resale to publisher and no “we ban you from all of your games goodbye” component.
The fact that people are so lax with buying their games through online services like this scares me. Too many people have had their money thrown down the drain because they thought it was so great to play their games through an online service.
People, buy boxed copies in the future so bad stuff does not happen to you.
10/07/2009 at 17:46 Serondal says:
@Eisenhorne – Lol, I dunno if your parents pay for your internet or what but in the real world where people have childern ect the internet is considered a luxury not something that /everyone has/ And in the United States were people are losing jobs in massive numbers I’m certainly not the minority, in fact I probably make more money then a few million people living in my own country just because I actually have a job peroid.
BTW Dial Up connections cost more than 10 dollars a month, it is actaully keep just to get cable or direct DSL since you don’t have to have a home phone line, who has home phone lines any more? Oh wait now I’m making vast sweeping judgements including a billion people I don’t personally know or have any stats on like you, darn ;)
Point being there are many reasons someone might not be able to afford the internet for a month or two, but you implying that I’m so poor I can’t afford a video game is pretty funny to me. The fact is I can afford to buy a 50 dollar video game when the mood takes me and I can afford to pay for the internet every month, but if something comes up say, my wife gets pulled over with a suspended lisence and expired tags on her car and I have to pay a few hundred dollars to get her out of going to jail, well suddenly all that extra money is gone bro.
10/07/2009 at 17:50 JKjoker says:
@jalf: i take youve never read an EULA, if there is any legal barriers you will be signing permission for them with that accept button.
10/07/2009 at 17:51 Serondal says:
Duckmesiter – I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. There are all the dangers of buying from STeam that you mentioned and they are all true. Indeed right now I can’t play any of my steam games because off line mode just doesn’t work right (oh well) But on the other hand I have 2 young children so all my boxed copies are in constant danger of being destroyed lol! Luckily Stardock lets you register your boxed copies on Impulse and download them any time in the future even if the CD is destroyed, which is the only reason I can play Sins of a Solar Empire ATM. My Sins of a Solar empire CD is covered in cat hair and dried up orange juice because my daughter thought it was a giant shiney cookie then threw it at the cat when it tasted like S@#$
10/07/2009 at 18:19 Anthony Damiani says:
Me, I haven’t enjoyed the series since Zero Hour, and even then it was a dated interface with blob-centric tactics. Each iteration seems to make it more an arcade-paced game, when I find I prefer the tactical depth of, say, Company of Heroes better.
The cutscenes are still cheesy fun, but I’ve mostly grown out of suffering through the missions to get to them. The multiplayer has always suffered from poor implementation (trying to find a co-op game in RA3 was just silly). I have fond memories of the series from my youth, but I’m going to need a little more to be sold on this one.
10/07/2009 at 18:31 KDH says:
@Serondal: Maybe look at your own argument before accusing others of making sweeping judgements. In my part of the “real world” Internet is not considered a luxury, but something /everyone/ has. Especially, those with kids are the group rating highest in the statistics with a massive 97% Internet penetration.
I suspect Eisenhorne is mostly right. The demographic that the gaming companies are trying to reach is generally connected to the Internet. The few that aren’t can be written of quite easily as acceptable losses if you can make a DRM system that would prevent piracy.
10/07/2009 at 18:41 Serondal says:
97% Of what? All people in the world, people in which country or state? EA is not a company that is worried about losses due to DRM at any rate, and they never have been. Believe what you will but there are many people that do conider the internet a luxury item simply becasue it is not required to survive like say, food and water, heating and cooling. The Internet is no more vital to your life than cable TV or getting newspapers
10/07/2009 at 18:58 KDH says:
95% of the entire population of my country below the age of 40 has access to an Internet connection at home. The rest of Scandinavia is probably similar, with the rest of Europe landing at a somewhat lower number. Still, we are talking gamers here – population totals aren’t awfully relevant. Most gamers I know consider the Internet to be about as important as food, water, heating and cooling so you can be pretty sure that they are generally more connected than the population average. ;-)
Of course some of them will at some point be so pisspoor that they can’t afford a decent connection, but I don’t believe they’d buy games then either. I think that the amount of (paying) customers you prevent from using your product by having an Internet activation or similar is marginal to say the least.
10/07/2009 at 19:08 Serondal says:
You’re missing the point KDH. IF you already bought the game then become piss poor (Hence losing your internet even if it was just for a few months) you’d not be able to play the game at all, even in single player /that/ is my problem. When you say have access does that = are paying subscribers or just that they could have it if they could afford it?
10/07/2009 at 19:12 KDH says:
Paying subscribers.
And yeah I see what you are coming at now. I was thinking of online activation only :-/
10/07/2009 at 19:16 Serondal says:
The guys are right though for the most part , EA doesn’t really care about me or people like me any way so my complaints all of deaf ear. Even though I bought every C&C game released previously since C&C first came out they don’t give a dang about their long term customers only about the money they can make up front. They’re not going to make money from people like me who’s income is just enough to have luxury items if everything is going smoothly.
10/07/2009 at 21:53 JKjoker says:
@Serondal: and you make an interesting point there, while Steam is already running, established and self funded, whatever EA is planning will only be running for ME2 (as far as we know), like you said EA doesnt give an ass hat about their long term customers so how long are they going to keep the servers up without a subscription income ? while they are not Atari, they are not known for their “extensive” product support…
they might want to try to create a Steam like service themselves (didnt they already tried that before?) but that is very likely to fail against Steam further increasing the odds of the servers going down
10/07/2009 at 21:55 JKjoker says:
oh crap, i thought i was reading the mass effect 2 thread, *embarassed*
10/07/2009 at 21:56 JKjoker says:
err. nm, im confused -_- i better go sleep for a while
10/07/2009 at 22:25 Railick says:
EA actually has an online store already and this is valid regardless if it is ME 2 or C&C4 so don’t feel bad :) Their online store lets you buy and download content just like Steam or Impulse only I believe it JUST has EA games and it really sucks (IMO)
10/07/2009 at 23:17 cjlr says:
Yeah, I’m pretty damn skeptical. This is EA we’re talking about, remember? Firestorm and Yuri’s Revenge were the high points of the series. Post EA acquisition, C&C has (surprise!) tanked. Westwood’s original plan for C&C3 would have finished the story as a trilogy. Now only the denizens of some alternate universes get to enjoy it.
Shit. I’ll probably get it anyway, though.
Also, EA’s online store is (as I’ve heard second-hand) atrocious.
10/07/2009 at 23:34 destroy.all.monsters says:
My sense is that without Adam Isgreen to write this that it will probably be lame. Perhaps a write in campaign to bring in Isgreen is in order on the exceedingly off chance they would hire him.
I <3 Kane and was so disappointed in C&C 3 because other than the cutscenes it just wasn't enjoyable to me. Yet I've played TD, RA1 and Generals/Zero Hour to death. I can't get enough of those games. Spam air and spam tanks just = meh.
Qualifiers: Since TS and RA2 came at a time I wasn't gaming much I missed them until the First Decade pack came out so I don't have any emotional or real gaming attachment to them.
11/07/2009 at 00:26 DK says:
“Westwood’s original plan for C&C3 would have finished the story as a trilogy.”
It also had far better art design. EA’s CnC 3 basically ripped off parts of the original CnC 3 concepts, but threw NOD and CABAL unit designs into one single faction – leading to such hilariously schizophrenic faction design as a packed up MCV having one of the best animations and designs, while the main mech looks like it has 3 frames of animation.
11/07/2009 at 00:34 Railick says:
Which mech do you consider to be the main mech? Based on your description I’m guessing you mean the artillery mech :P
I’m not sure if it had chicken legs or not, but it should have if it didn’t.
To qoute gir “It’s got chicken legs!”
11/07/2009 at 14:06 DK says:
I mean the NOD Avatar by “NOD main mech”. Should have been more clear, sorry. That thing spends most of it’s time sliding around, and I’m reasonably sure they haven’t even given it a rotation animation. It just “turns” like a sprite.
12/07/2009 at 00:14 Cronym says:
“In addition to the two campaigns on the epic battles of GDI and Nod, which players will get to conquer alone or in a cooperative mode, Command & Conquer 4 will also feature a new 5v5 objective-based multiplayer mode, promoting teamwork and cooperation and delivering a social real-time-strategy experience never seen before in a Command & Conquer game.”
I smell a DotA-like mode.