By Jim Rossignol on December 11th, 2011 at 9:17 am.
Yes, Bioware are making an RTS. Or more accurately: they’ve now got an RTS studio under the same label. Generals 2 is powered by the Battlefield 3 engine. It’s PC-only. Dr Ray said: ““We’re bringing BioWare’s vision for emotionally engaging gameplay and great attention to quality to the strategy genre and the Command & Conquer franchise. I am excited to welcome BioWare Victory to our label. They are a great addition and the team is working hard to make sure Generals 2 truly immerses and engages players into this intense, gritty, modern war experience.” And Executive producer Jon Van Caneghem said: “With Generals 2, we are bringing the Command & Conquer franchise back to its roots, blending strategic gameplay with fast-paced action — all set in visually stunning theaters of war powered by Frostbite 2.” (Thanks, VG247.)
It’s dated for 2013. See trailer below.
11/12/2011 at 09:19 alice says:
What what WHAT?
11/12/2011 at 11:14 Caleb367 says:
GENERALS 2
OH HELL YES
I’m giggling like a star trek fanboy who’s going to meet Leonard Nimoy.
11/12/2011 at 12:18 Steven Hutton says:
OH
MY
GOD!
YES! I cannot express my positive feelings about this, I just don’t have the capacity to transmit that information.
FUCKING THE BEST NEW EVER.
11/12/2011 at 14:15 BooleanBob says:
Wondered how I’d missed this news by a month before I realised that RPS does the dates in the comments ALL WRONG (for shame!).
Also, if Kieron still worked here I doubt I’d need to do this, but: GENERALS!
11/12/2011 at 14:36 sqparadox says:
@BooleanBob
As I am seeing them, the dates are ordered in the middle endian form (month/day/year), used in the United States parts of Canada and a few other countries. Other countries use little endian and big endian forms (day/month/year and year/month/day, respectively). Each form is an alternative to the other. This is an international site, they can choose to use any of the accepted forms they want to use; that does NOT make the date wrong. What would be wrong is using a non-standard form like year/day/month or month/year/day.
I’m glad to see other people looking forward to this. I’m a C&C fan and a Bioware fan but I’m speculative as to how they will work together (I know it’s a new studio). I hope the positive sentiment is right and we get a true sequel to Generals, but I just can’t trust it till I see it for myself.
11/12/2011 at 15:29 dsch says:
Gosh, someone’s forgotten to take the irony pills today.
11/12/2011 at 17:32 Saleck says:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_0B3Gz7CcrZc/TG3Fex66wvI/AAAAAAAAMSw/DCPZuD0RtV0/s1600/go+america.jpg
11/12/2011 at 22:46 Warduke says:
FINALLY!!!!!!!! Yes!! Yes!! YES!!!!
12/12/2011 at 15:11 Rymosrac says:
If we get the same nonsense excuse about Frostbite 2 being “too complicated for modders” I AM GOING TO GO BUST SOME HEADS.
C&C GAMES NEED MODS.
11/12/2011 at 09:21 kud13 says:
they still haven’t told us which tanks will be romanceable.
also, PC only? this must be a dream.
11/12/2011 at 09:38 SuperNashwanPower says:
I am reminded of several videos on YouTube titled ‘tanks having sex’ that I may have accidentally discovered (didnt want to say ‘come across’ as that gives the wrong impression). There may even have been a high-production-values Arma II one.
11/12/2011 at 09:46 staberas says:
*Slaps kud13 on the face*
No, its not a dream.
11/12/2011 at 10:37 Lemming says:
TBF, as soon as they decided it was an RTS it was going to be PC-only.
I’m intrigued by this though. An RPG studio injecting new life into a dying RTS franchise. It’s so crazy it just might work.
This also might be the only traditional RTS I’ve bought since Total Annihilation. Before that it was Warcraft 2 and Command and Conquer. Yes that’s right, NOT an MMO and a C&C without a subtitle! Crazy days!
11/12/2011 at 10:44 LionsPhil says:
I dunno, RPG/”Emotionally engaging gameplay” just makes me think of the godawful, hammy trainwreck that was Supreme Commander 2.
11/12/2011 at 11:21 Caleb367 says:
iirc, than horrible excuse for a mess that SupCom 2 was has been developed by Square Enix. I don’t know if GPG actually had any hand in the game besides selling its license, as 2 has so little in common with SC and Forged Alliance (besides looking and feeling like a half-baked PS port. PS 1, mind you.)
Damn, my initial excitement devolved into fear a beloved memory will be wrecked again.
11/12/2011 at 13:21 sneetch says:
Actually, Sup Com2 was developed by Gas Powered Games and published by Square Enix.
11/12/2011 at 13:45 Hoaxfish says:
Halo Wars wasn’t that bad
11/12/2011 at 13:52 westyfield says:
@LionsPhil
“You really think those Fatboys will stop me?”
“Actually, yeah.”
11/12/2011 at 09:21 Paul says:
Yeah not really made by Bioware. Dilluting the brand like that…not very smart.
11/12/2011 at 10:33 Cross says:
Preecisely. Victory Games was formed earlier this year, and now it’s under Bioware. That’s, just, dumb.
11/12/2011 at 12:34 DClark says:
Yes, EA seems to be labeling all their new studios Bioware-something; it’s now at the point where I can’t look at the Bioware logo on a game and know it’s a quality product, I have to research which Bioware Studio made the game and what have they done in the past.
11/12/2011 at 13:47 Hoaxfish says:
Policy at EA is to force all staff to name their new-born children “Bioware x” where x is the name they would’ve called the child otherwise.
In other news, Bioware Henry is doing very well, though his mother is very angry at her husband for some reason.
I think it might actually be an attempt to work in a couple of thing:
1. People identify “EA” with bad stuff, like DRM, and being banned from your games, and Origin… while “Bioware” is “someone else” on the shallowest level.
2. People used to associate Bioware with good stuff, like BG2… so it’s a “good brand”.
3. Bioware fanboys (not just “normal fans”) will probably buy anything with the Bioware name on it… I don’t think there’s such a thing as EA fanboys atm.
11/12/2011 at 15:20 DarkFenix says:
While I’d not call myself a Bioware fanboy, I was certainly a Bioware fan. Thing is, now all I associate Bioware with is shoddy overconsolised, dumbed down trash. They aren’t the company they once were, where they once saw what a good game was made of, now all they see is dollar signs.
Mass Effect series, started well, got a bit dodgy with the second and I’ve taken to calling the third ‘Gears of Halo 3′. Dragon Age, started fantastically, looked like they at least remembered what made their old games great, then DA2 came along and it was a heavily consolised abomination with the worst ctrl c, ctrl v I’ve seen in a modern game. And let’s not get into what a joke SWTOR is.
I loved C&C Generals and eagerly await a second, but slapping a Bioware logo across it doesn’t enthuse me, it worries me.
11/12/2011 at 19:53 kickme22 says:
FOR EVERYONE AFRAID THAT *BIOWARE* IS MAKING THIS….another game called End of Nations (its going to be an mmorts) is being made by a group containing the ORIGINAL WESTWOOD DEVS from command and conqer!!!!!!!!!!!
11/12/2011 at 21:35 UnravThreads says:
They’re called Petroglyph…
11/12/2011 at 22:19 Josh W says:
When I saw this news I immediately wanted to shout “EA!” the way that others shout “dinkleberg!”. I’d be very suprised if bioware can keep up this level of aquisitions/mergers/name stealing without damage to their reputation or worse, the quality of their games.
11/12/2011 at 09:22 PatrickSwayze says:
Sayyyy Whhuuuutt?
This is MADNESS!
11/12/2011 at 09:42 SuperNashwanPower says:
Madness? THIS…IS…. a third party proprietary engine licensing deal.
11/12/2011 at 11:41 DK says:
Which happens to be the best thing about this. The SAGE engine was a wonderful piece of kit in Generals, and then they loaded it up with newer tech for the follow-ups, which broke it in a hundred different ways. Yet they still kept usign it.
11/12/2011 at 13:09 endaround says:
Its a first party engine. EA is keeping it all in the family.
11/12/2011 at 09:22 KauhuK says:
Well, this was unexpected. I have never played the original C&C Generals, but I hear from everywhere that it is a great game so it must be a great game. This might be interesting but.. dang I dont know what to say.
11/12/2011 at 10:06 DrGonzo says:
Well they are wrong. Ita generic modern warfare toss. It wasn’t as generic back then though I suppose.
11/12/2011 at 10:30 LionsPhil says:
>RTS
>Modern Warfare
Bluh?
C&C:G was pretty darn good. Unfortunately every C&C-branded game since then has been utter wank, and with the original devs long gone* there’s no reason to assume those letters mean anything any more.
* While EA had started shuffling names, I do believe at least some Westwoodies were still involved for Generals.
11/12/2011 at 10:41 Lemming says:
It was a fairly average RTS in gameplay terms, but what it brought to the table was unabashed Team America-style parody.
11/12/2011 at 10:46 LionsPhil says:
DOING WHAT’S RIGHT
PRESERVING FREEDOM
11/12/2011 at 11:26 Caleb367 says:
Vanilla was good enough even if poorly balanced (F-22 Raptors with countermeasures and laser point defense = complete immunity from missile-based AAA), Zero Hour added subfactions, some of the best mods (Shockwave, Contra, Cold War Crisis) rewrote the game and got it awesome.
11/12/2011 at 12:20 Steven Hutton says:
Yep. Generals was good but uninspired. Zero Hour is probably the greatest expansion of all time. (Measured in terms of improvement over the original game).
11/12/2011 at 09:23 Acerbjorn says:
First epic announcing their somewhat cartoony survival-game and now this. What is the world coming to?
11/12/2011 at 12:01 Tyrone Slothrop. says:
A time of chaos and conspiracy clearly.
11/12/2011 at 19:30 Milos says:
Did we request something?
11/12/2011 at 09:27 Baka says:
Hum. Are succesful studionames now used for marketing, too? I’m pretty sure the “regular” BioWare Group won’t work much on this game (not that they still exist since the isometric glory days).
11/12/2011 at 10:26 UnravThreads says:
BioWare still exist, they’re probably officially known as “BioWare Edmonton” or something now, but they are still around. BioWare Montreal is one of the original studios too, I think. But the BioWare brand is also now a bigger thing for EA, as it encompasses their online side of things (What was EA2D, Mythic, Austin, KlickNation, etc.) too. And now clearly this.
11/12/2011 at 10:35 HermitUK says:
Yep. See also Epic Games plastered all over Bulletstorm (Which was People can Fly) to generate interest. Also, Zenimax now put the Bethesda name on anything they can, even if the actual studio haven’t had anything to do with the game (Rogue Warrior, Brink, and so on).
11/12/2011 at 10:49 Sami H says:
Bathesda Softworks is the actual publisher. Bethesda Game Studios make Morrowind and the like, and Zenimax was just formed to be an umbrella company for all of their studios/projects.
People Can Fly is part owned by Epic and Bulletstorm was developed by both companies, hence both their names apprear on it.
/pendant
11/12/2011 at 13:13 endaround says:
Bioware Montreal is rather new actually. It basically exists because Quebec gives video game developers huge tax breaks. Bioware Austin (SWTOR) does have some actual people from the original Bioware working there.
11/12/2011 at 09:31 Inigo says:
“We’re bringing [STUDIO NAME]‘s vision for emotionally engaging gameplay and great attention to quality to the [GENRE] genre and the [TIRED SERIES] franchise. I am excited to welcome [STUDIO NAME] to our label. They are a great addition and the team is working hard to make sure [GAME TITLE] truly immerses and engages players into this intense, gritty, modern war experience.”
“With [GAME TITLE], we are bringing the [TIRED SERIES] franchise back to its roots, blending strategic gameplay with fast-paced action — all set in visually stunning theaters of war powered by [PROPRIETARY ENGINE WE'RE TRYING TO LICENSE TO OTHER PEOPLE].”
11/12/2011 at 09:45 SuperNashwanPower says:
I didn’t know GlaDOS wrote press releases?
11/12/2011 at 11:27 Caleb367 says:
I want to give a thumbs up vote on your comment, SuperNashwanPower. I really do. Even if I hate that thumb vote thingie.
11/12/2011 at 14:02 ThTa says:
“We’re bringing Valve‘s vision for emotionally engaging gameplay and great attention to quality to the puzzle genre and the Call of Duty franchise. I am excited to welcome Valve Alaska to our label. They are a great addition and the team is working hard to make sure Call of Duty: The Revengening truly immerses and engages players into this intense, gritty, modern war experience.”
“With Call of Duty: The Revengening, we are bringing the Call of Duty franchise back to its roots, blending strategic gameplay with fast-paced action — all set in visually stunning theaters of war powered by UBIart.”
11/12/2011 at 16:15 N'Al says:
Is this the right place to point out that the latest MGS spin-off will be called Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance?
That’s right, Revengeance.
11/12/2011 at 21:04 SuperNashwanPower says:
Cheers Caleb. We shall just have to improvise
…………`
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….._ __.’ (____)
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……_’ ._ .’ (____)
…….` (___)
–`’——’`
EDIT: Yeah. ASCII art not quite working.
12/12/2011 at 07:42 lowprices says:
@N’ai:
I’m glad to see I’m not the only person that had a problem with that title. No-one else on the internet seems to have a problem with it.
Maybe because English-language pedants tend to gravitate towards pc gaming?
12/12/2011 at 08:57 N'Al says:
@ iowprices:
I don’t have a problem with the title per se, but it is highly silly. Then again, in a nutshell, so is MGS.
11/12/2011 at 09:34 Lobotomist says:
Next : Sims 4 by Bioware
“We are aiming for classic Bioware storytelling in Sims universe” .. hehehe
….
But really
Doctors themselves told this the best in Eurogamer interview. When they commented on players claiming that EA killed Bioware. Doctor said : “Its ridiculous, we are the EA”
What happened , is that for some reason Doctors are promoted to high level executives of EA. Head honchos almost. And Bioware is no more Bioware , but just a more “popular” label for EA inhouse development.
There is trully no Bioware anymore.
11/12/2011 at 09:49 PatrickSwayze says:
The dialogue wheel would be epic
11/12/2011 at 10:36 MichaelPalin says:
@ PatrickSwayze
“We are the EA”
They chose the renegade option.
11/12/2011 at 11:16 wodin says:
I’ve always wanted a Sims style game set in WW1 trench system.
11/12/2011 at 09:34 SuperNashwanPower says:
BA BA, BAA BA B…. wait, sorry thats not right
Looks kersplodey. Count me interested, as I have never really played RTS’s. Time to branch out from the viscerality and immersions and cinematicisationment of FPS’s perhaps
11/12/2011 at 09:46 Yachmenev says:
So what you´re saying is that your attention for the genre is only caught when the evil empire slaps another studios name on a brand new one, gives them an old genre franschise made famous by other developers, announces it without any real gameplay details, and says that you can play it in two years time? :)
11/12/2011 at 09:49 SuperNashwanPower says:
ITS LIKE YOU’RE INSIDE MY MIND
11/12/2011 at 09:37 Yachmenev says:
I´m sorry, back to it´s roots? When did they ever leave their roots? Perhaps the latest one was a bit of a stray of the old formula, but C&C3 played more or less like C&C1.
And no, it´s not a good thing. :)
11/12/2011 at 10:32 LionsPhil says:
C&C3 is nothing like C&C1.
Fire up DOSBox some time. EA made the ISOs freely available a few years back and file-hosting sites still seem to mirror them even though our favourite Evil Empire seem to have since said “nope, buy it on Origin” on the official site.
Especially in the GDI singleplayer, the key difference is just how slow the economy is. You’re not going to be able to afford to tank-rush, so it’s time to get smart with mixed forces. Two medium tanks cost the same as one medium tank and a squad of five grenadiers, but the latter can take on a much wider set of threats effectively. It’s a bit micro-y to make sure the right kind of unit is firing at the right opponent, but it’s nowhere near the Starcraftian noise-and-motion twitch-fest the series has become.
11/12/2011 at 11:59 Yachmenev says:
I´m sorry, but if the speed of the economy is the key aspect that´s different between C&C1 and C&C3, then there really haven´t been much change. :)
11/12/2011 at 17:15 LionsPhil says:
Yes, I can see how now a major aspect of RTS gameplay having radically changed is actually staying completely the same. How could I have been so foolish as to challenge your ignorant assertion.
11/12/2011 at 09:40 alinos says:
Battlefield 3 engine.
Sigh. So most likely no mod’s then
11/12/2011 at 10:23 ninjapirate says:
Now that you mention it… ugh.
11/12/2011 at 09:43 Deadly Habit says:
Damn it I wish they’d revive the Dune franchise too
11/12/2011 at 09:47 SuperNashwanPower says:
I want to know when the Frostbite-driven FPS re-boot of New Zealand Story is coming out. I can’t wait to QTE-stab those damn balloon-riding monkeys.
11/12/2011 at 09:45 negativedge says:
welcome to modern big dollar video game development, where a property developed by one studio is transferred to an unrelated company for a name that has nothing to do with anything involved, and then developed by a third, proxy team unrelated to either. so in case you wanted to pretend your RTS was C&C while also pretending it was Mass Effect, you’re in luck. I look forward to encountering the sore-thumb bullet points Bioware hands over to these guys so that this can be “fully integrated into the brand.” EXCITING MORAL CHOICES after each battle, here I come!
11/12/2011 at 09:47 negativedge says:
oh yeah, and how could I forget the little bit of DICE in there too. design-by-demographic. you can bet this one started in a board room with a power point presentation describing the theoretical ideal player.
11/12/2011 at 10:41 MichaelPalin says:
But, but, but, they are “returning to the roots” (TM)!
11/12/2011 at 14:03 Hoaxfish says:
the moral choice will be very deep, it will allow you access to battle-nuns or prison-stabby-arseholes units… neutral-choice players will get a hamburger bun, without the hamburger
11/12/2011 at 09:46 sinister agent says:
AK47s for everyone!
(cheers)
I may never forget watching several friends play this over a network back in their university days. Even just watching was a laugh. I think my favourite moment was watching someone launch a tactical nuke at an angry mob. They were thrown up into the air in a human shockwave. Should have been disturbing, but it was just too silly. I did love me those GLA guys, though I really hope they can sort out the over-reliance on micromanagement that’s always been the bane of C&C.
11/12/2011 at 10:37 LionsPhil says:
I think it helped a lot that the early-ish physics had their non-ragdolled bodies bounce like they were made of rubber. That and the comedy stunt-man wheeling-arms-and-legs animation as they flew through the air.
11/12/2011 at 15:59 Fumarole says:
Thank you for the new shoes.
11/12/2011 at 17:15 LionsPhil says:
Best upgrade.
11/12/2011 at 18:46 sinister agent says:
Definitely. I’d forgotten about that. The suicide bombers waving their arm around were wonderfully silly, and the guys on the bikes would be catapulted through the air at the slightest provocation. Funtimes.
11/12/2011 at 21:13 destroy.all.monsters says:
Only game I’ve ever seen that made suicide bombers look and sound amusing.
We must have justice!
Supreme truth!
Also a dirt cheap way of wrecking expensive armor for next to nothing.
I think it’s odd that the Act of War series got so overlooked when I felt they did nearly everything better than Generals/ZH but it certainly wasn’t funny/amusing. Tough though. Worse with the Almost Human AI mods.
11/12/2011 at 09:52 destroy.all.monsters says:
I’m actually stoked to see this. They retained the USA’s GDIish weaponry and the GLA’s cobbled together pieces of junk look. I’ve been expecting nothing but the worst since the initial announcement and I’m pleasantly surprised.
EA would have to be incredibly stupid not to realize how important modding is to the CnC community since modding is what made Generals/Zero Hour as popular as it *still* is. From Deezire’s Director’s Cut versions of both games to Shockwave, Rise of the Reds, Contra and many many others have taken the game to whole different levels with new units, play styles, maps. CnC has been modded ever since the very first game so I just can’t believe they wouldn’t release mod tools and an sdk for it (though even without them I reckon it would be a mere matter of months before there were a whole host of tools anyway).
After the grim news about Stalker/GSC I’m ready for some good news. I hope this is it.
Hmm I may have been premature: http://www.ppmsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31720
(via the forums at CNCNZ.com)
11/12/2011 at 10:21 Narretz says:
I love how they say / seem to say that it will be too difficult for modders to mod it. This is just insulting to modders, especially when you look at total conversions or games that were modded to hell and back, even without mod support (e.g. Diablo 2)
11/12/2011 at 12:55 Dances to Podcasts says:
Not to mention all the broken games out there that get fixed by mods…
11/12/2011 at 09:52 ahac says:
I’d say ME3 is a Bioware (still a good studio) game but C&C:G2 a “Bioware” (EA brand) game.
But… I guess it can’t hurt if the real Bioware is helping “Bioware” Victory with this game.
When the first trailer announcing the announcement was released with 2 sec of game footage my first thought was: “Bioware” is making Generals 2?
It still has that C&C look so I guess they are doing something right.. :)
11/12/2011 at 09:53 Turkey says:
RIP Bioware Victory
2011-2013
11/12/2011 at 10:02 TwwIX says:
My interest in the C&C series died long ago.
11/12/2011 at 10:03 Arcalane says:
Wait, what?
11/12/2011 at 10:04 Inglourious Badger says:
PC only WTF!? This is…interesting news. I am actually a teeny bit excited to see an RTS in the Frostbite 2 engine. Generals games did always produce a lot of collateral damage. That said, Men of War and the others have had destructible terrain/buildings for quite a while now, so…. yeah. Why did we need Generals 2?
And is releasing a PC only RTS in the modern world a good idea? Isn’t this the sort of thing that publishers say nobody buys they just pirate? I might have to buy it just to prove them wrong, hope it’s actually a good game
11/12/2011 at 10:15 Malawi Frontier Guard says:
Those shadows are really, really blue.
11/12/2011 at 10:28 UnravThreads says:
Jon Van Caneghem is involved? Sign me up.
11/12/2011 at 11:22 FCA says:
That was the real double take for me: “Executive producer Jon Van Caneghem”.
Bioware doing RTS, whatever… they made MDK2, so they aren’t RPG exclusive by any means, but the creator of Might and Magic and Heroes of Might and Magic is involved? Make it so!
11/12/2011 at 13:52 Rhygadon says:
Exactly! I have zero interest in C&C, but anything van Caneghem does will at least be worth a look. He has his share of misses, but the hits were genre-shaping.
11/12/2011 at 15:10 Wizardry says:
I can’t think of many “misses”. He wasn’t the designer for Heroes of Might and Magic IV+ or Might and Magic IX.
I can’t believe he’s now effectively working for BioWare though. It’s embarrassing. One of the best RPG developers/designers now working as executive producer for an RTS franchise… developed by BioWare.
11/12/2011 at 10:30 derella says:
This is sad, and has nothing to do with Bioware — it’s EA realizing that slapping the Bioware brand on anything will geet it more attention/sales. Of course, in doing so they are just one step closer to making the brand worthless.
11/12/2011 at 11:13 adamiani says:
This is an interesting marketing move. I’d basically come to understand Bioware as the division label for EA-RPGs– given that they have development studios in Austin, Montreal and Edmonton, plus the rebranded EA-2D (which, wasn’t wholly an RPG house but mostly notable for 2d tie-ins to other RPGs, like Dragon Age Legends) and Mythic.
But moving EA-Victory under their label doesn’t fit the pattern, it doesn’t build this brand identification, and — as near as I can tell– it doesn’t seem to have any significant connection to “Bioware” from a heritage and personnel standpoint. Presumably, it’s organized under Dr. Muzyka, but it does certainly break the mold, and reduce the brand identification with RPGs. Hm. Looks like they did that with Klicknation, too (the new Bioware Sacramento), earlier this month.
It’s an interesting decision, really.
11/12/2011 at 10:55 jalf says:
Yes, sure, fine. But when are they going to make a sequel to that Sonic RPG they did? That’s what I want to know!
11/12/2011 at 10:57 The Infamous Woodchuck says:
god please, if you could hear me, please im begging you, dont make bioware mess this up please!
11/12/2011 at 11:23 Fwiffo says:
Bear in mind the developers are Bioware-In-Name-Only.
So; this is a PC Exclusive,
Revival of C&C,
From EA,
Using an engine from DICE,
Developed by a new studio comprised of EALA refugees,
Under the Bioware banner.
My melon is thoroughly twisted.
11/12/2011 at 11:33 The Infamous Woodchuck says:
oh thats a relief.
11/12/2011 at 10:59 mandrill says:
Can I have some shoes?
11/12/2011 at 11:24 The Infamous Woodchuck says:
no. The cost is to great!
11/12/2011 at 22:17 Kompatriartes says:
You must construct additional pylons.
11/12/2011 at 10:59 drewski says:
Dumbed down for console etc.
11/12/2011 at 11:06 Arcanon says:
They said it’s a PC exclusive.
11/12/2011 at 11:15 Dominic White says:
Since when has that stopped people from whining about games being dumbed down for consoles?
11/12/2011 at 14:30 subedii says:
Out of 100 comments so far, the only comment referring to “consoles” is this one.
11/12/2011 at 11:06 Arcanon says:
I’d be incredibly excited about this…..if it had been developed by someone else: Bioware is just a brand, sure, but I think they’ll be able to pull off a great RTS, that’s not the problem, the problem is EA’s “DLC-policy”, since “modders are retarded and Frostbite is too difficult for them, you won’t be getting any modding tools, have an overpriced downloadable piece of shit instead”.
Skyrim was a terrible port to the PC, but all things considered I respect Bethesda for showing some respect to their modding community…..the only game released by EA/Bioware/whatever with a good modding base was Dragon Age: Origins, my hopes are kinda low for this new title.
ALSO…..”Ouch, ok ok I will work!” <3 GLA
11/12/2011 at 16:32 jeremypeel says:
“the only game released by EA/Bioware/whatever with a good modding base was Dragon Age: Origins”
Oh man, you should look up Neverwinter Nights. You’d be surprised.
11/12/2011 at 18:37 skyturnedred says:
To be fair, Bethesda needs modders to fix their games.
11/12/2011 at 11:19 Davie says:
Dear god, it’s Christmas come early. Or, hmm, some suitably agnostic analog come early.
11/12/2011 at 11:25 Carra says:
It’s good to see Bioware differentiating from RPG games only. But I hoped to see a new IP.
11/12/2011 at 11:42 Zulthar says:
Wait. What?
Bioware making an RTS?
PC only?
Frostbite 2?
What the hell is going on?
11/12/2011 at 11:50 Navagon says:
Emotional. Emersive. Let’s hope the game is less bullshit than his PR.
11/12/2011 at 11:57 Bharg says:
It’s funny they want to return to the roots of C&C with a new Generals title.
Generals was never supposed to be called C&C in the first place and later Kane’s Wrath was invaded by that Commader ability crap…
11/12/2011 at 12:09 Arcanon says:
Well there’s really nothing more to add to Red Alert and Tiberium, and Generals was a really good RTS, one of the best of its time, people have been screaming for a sequel, makes sense to start from there. “Roots of C&C” is probably PR bullshit, but we can’t really say anything about that until we know more about the game, the title is just a title…..just think of Dragon Age 2, they made us think it had something to do with DA:O xD
11/12/2011 at 12:59 bigdeadbug says:
Double post :((
11/12/2011 at 13:01 bigdeadbug says:
Well it depends on the gameplay. If they use the classic CnC gameplay the maybe its worth calling it that. If on the other hand they copy pasta Generals then it has no relevance to the CnC games, in-fact its just there to boost sales… kinda like what there doing with the Bioware brand (OH NO I DIDN’T).
11/12/2011 at 12:07 rocketman71 says:
As long as it isn’t that “you constantly have to be online” shit they tried to pull with C&C4, you know, the “lose connection one second and your finished mission will count for nothing”…
And as long as this doesn’t come with that POS Origin…
… I could perhaps look at it.
Yeah, it’s going to be a big no.
11/12/2011 at 12:17 Ganj says:
Hmm, an mmo, now an RTS. I get the sense they were kicking themselves when Perfect World got the jump on them for Runic…
11/12/2011 at 12:22 Demiath says:
Well, if there ever was a time for “what is this I don’t even” this would be it…
11/12/2011 at 23:08 TheGameSquid says:
I understand your feelings Demiath, but this just isn’t Bioware developing this. This is just another internal EA studio that was recently established. They might as well have called this EA Whateverville, but instead they just called it Bioware Victory just so they could smack the ‘Bioware’ label on it.
Marketing-wise it seems this strategy is doing wonders for EA. They’ve got everyone believing that SW:TOR is actually being developed by the same people that brought them ME and DA, while in truth it’s being handled by what’s left of Mythic and a couple of dudes from Edmonton.
Honestly, I’m beyond caring at this point. If they want to couple water-down the Bioware name, that’s fine by me. I don’t need them anymore.
11/12/2011 at 12:27 Jabberwocky says:
You’d think with Bioware / EA’s big budgets, they could afford to get rid of that weird flickering on their logos in that trailer.
11/12/2011 at 12:57 pipman3000 says:
will tali be in it
11/12/2011 at 15:34 tungstenHead says:
No Taliban. They’re the GLA.
Wait…
11/12/2011 at 12:58 Fishook says:
It just a way to con comsumers they are getting a Bioware product when they are not really, it a common trick with all publishers, so nothing new. As for being PC only do you really think a RTS will sell well on a console they have tried it in the past and they have been flops in comparision, it does’nt work,but they need to make it work on low spec machines for it to be sucessful, rather than power hungry gaming rigs, they do it for MMO’s but no other genre, and then they moan about sales make it Laptop friendly and intergrated graphics chips supported and it could sell well like Football Mgr does in the UK. Thats the key for future PC games rather than power hungry gamers look at Skyrim a fair low spec game which has sold well. I have a decent rig but they should tap into the lower end market (make the game properly scaleable). I am not a C&C fan whatsover but enjoyed the earlier ones in the series. That will make PC gamming sucessful again and have less restricted DRM.
11/12/2011 at 13:02 Real Horrorshow says:
Should be decent but my jaw isn’t on the floor.
This looks too “hardcore modern military combat BOYEEE” for C&C.
11/12/2011 at 13:13 Anders Wrist says:
Nice. Isn’t Jon Van Caneghem the creator of the Might & Magic roleplaying game series?
11/12/2011 at 15:02 Wizardry says:
Yes.
11/12/2011 at 15:03 UnravThreads says:
And Heroes of Might & Magic, and King’s Bounty.
Guy is a god.
11/12/2011 at 16:36 jeremypeel says:
Here’s hoping for an unprecedented stategic move sideways from Jon Van Caneghem into BioWare to develop turn-based strategy RPGs.
He’ll make the move in just two or three turns. You’ll see.
11/12/2011 at 23:13 TheGameSquid says:
Van Caneghem is indeed a legend. Unfortunately he hasn’t done anything of significance in the last, what, 10 years now? He’s kind of like Lord British in that regard…
11/12/2011 at 14:07 Halkyon says:
The best thing about C&C Generals was the humour. Your GLA workers asking you if they can have shoes and sending mobs cheering about “AK47s for everyone!” made that game. The Chinese voice-overs were also pretty eeer… racist.
I hope they don’t lose the fun in the “gritty”ness.
11/12/2011 at 14:47 SiHy_ says:
So when they say “back to its roots” does that mean I’m just going to spend an hour on each mission, building Mammoth tanks until my unit cap is reached and then barge my way into the enemy base, just like the old days?
Who am I kidding, I do that on every RTS ever.
11/12/2011 at 14:58 fritz says:
Best news of the year.
Except that it’ll be probably Origin – only. :(
11/12/2011 at 15:20 Norramp says:
Ha, nice try EA. Nice try.
1. You know it’s only going to be on Origin.
2. I can just about guarantee that by the time it’s done you will be hitting “A to start”.
3. Bioware is now just a marketing tool. If Mass Effect 3 can’t be had outside of Origin I won’t be playing it.
11/12/2011 at 15:29 ThePeon26 says:
I hated the first C&C Generals I will probably hate the second one also.
Last time it was USA , KINA and GLA. What will it be this time USA, Korea and Iraq ??
I lost all hope in the C&C series after C&C 4 but with this I lost even more hope what I liked about the first C&C was it was fun and it was GDI VS NOD made up factions in a made up story. If they and RA was fun sure it was about US and Russia but at least it was fun. Im sick of modern FPS game why would I even want a modern RTS. Well time to find a new RTS serie to love cuz both Warcraft and C&C has both gone to hell Warcraft is now a shitty mmo and C&C will be about US and there fight against terrorist.
11/12/2011 at 15:30 Wezz6400 says:
After Westwood had been dissolved and it’s remains merged with EA Pacific into EA LA, EA slapped the CnC brand onto a mediocre RTS that had nothing to do with CnC. The game didn’t live up to EA’s expectations, so a few months after the release of the one and only expansion pack they stopped patching it. Generals killed CnC off, as the next CnC game wasn’t released until CnC3 four (!) years later.
After the steaming pile of sh*t that was CnC4 EA LA was dissolved. Now EA is slapping it’s Bioware brand on a new studio which is bringing CnC back to it’s roots by making a sequel to a mediocre game that performed poorly and wasn’t a proper CnC game to begin with. Don’t make me laugh…
Over ten years after it’s release EA still hasn’t been able to top RA2′s gameplay, I have very little faith they’ll be able to do so this time.
11/12/2011 at 15:51 cjlr says:
So help me god, but I will be a CnC fanboy until the day I die – even if that name has long since lost its meaning.
I am… reservedly optimistic. I never imaged we’d get a proper old-school RTS ever again, but this might just be. Generals was a little broken, but Zero Hour was fantastic. Wait and see, I suppose. Only two years to go…
11/12/2011 at 16:47 The Magic says:
Command & Conquer Generals made me VERY VERY uncomfortable. It felt like the most discriminatory, america flag waving, “TERROR IS EVERYWHERE AND THEY WILL EAT YOUR BABIES” psychopathic game I had ever played. Especially considering since it came out only 2 years after 9/11 and people were in general still the slavering mob that bayed for foreign blood.
I didn’t play it for very long
11/12/2011 at 16:59 subedii says:
Wish I could find it, but I remember an interview with one of the former devs about that. Basically he said that Generals was going through iterations and pretty directionless with no real idea of what to do with it until 9/11 happened, at which point the game shifted to take on the whole “War on Terror” theme. He seemed pretty despondent about the direction things took.
11/12/2011 at 17:00 Halkyon says:
Oh come on, it was entirely ironic, almost satirical, I think you got the wrong end of the stick.
11/12/2011 at 17:08 The Magic says:
Well as I said, I didn’t play it very long, and to be fair i was only about 13 at the time and still truly afraid of being either A: killed by some random anti-muslim mob (i’m a muslim by the way) or B: arrested and tortured for no reason (which actually did happen to my brother because one of his friends looks rather stereotypical, though thankfully he wasn’t tortured.)
So maybe i took it wrong but Generals is not exactly Team America: World Police, is it.
11/12/2011 at 17:20 LionsPhil says:
Actually it pretty much is.
11/12/2011 at 17:38 The Magic says:
well if it is being sarcastic and absurd, its at least a little more subtle than team america (which obviously isn’t hard,) but at the time it came out (and to some extent even now) some people would see that as completely straight. I mean at this point in time people believed that Al Qaeda had mountain fortresses with tanks and deep undergound walkways, as well as strong connections with Iraq who had nuclear weapons. (we had just invaded)
Jingoism in America and to a lesser extent in Britain was still relatively high and in certain circles, this sort of language was par for the course.
So maybe you’re right but I dont think I’ll ever be 100% convinced until the writers themselves tell me so. That may be unreasonable but at least i’ll take a look at Generals 2 rather than disregarding it completely.
12/12/2011 at 08:35 Untruth says:
You have a fair point and it’s a persistent one that should be raised more and often – games (and comedy, and films) have a responsibility in satire to know their audience. Subtle (read: often lazy) satire is useless if it’s going to be misread by 90% of the audience. It’s just a waste of a good message.
11/12/2011 at 17:08 KingJason13 says:
Right…. They’re be only one button used but it’ll bring the “awesome”…
11/12/2011 at 17:12 MonkfishEsq says:
Oh cool, something new for Bioware to ruin.
11/12/2011 at 17:27 buzzmong says:
Frostbite 2?
If it forces me to use Battlelog or Origin, it can fuck right off.
11/12/2011 at 17:51 Stewox says:
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
11/12/2011 at 18:35 Big Murray says:
If you go to the website, there’s a “Pre-Order Now” button.
The game’s not even due to be release for another 2 years …
11/12/2011 at 21:19 Synesthesia says:
is gritty an eufemism for “everything is grey”?
11/12/2011 at 22:53 Vraptor117 says:
I’m not sure how I feel about this. C&C was like an awesome grandpa. You would go to his house, hear his cool stories and play with his toys (like Mammoths and Nod buggies). It was just fantastic, like toy soldiers come to life, even in the later years where he started going a little crazy (RA2, Generals, C&C3). Then grandpa died. But instead of burying him and letting the warm memory linger forever, they strung up his corpse with little wires and made him dance about, pantomiming former life (RA3, C&C4). Now, nothing is left that resembles your awesome grandpa, just bones and and bits of dried skin and dust and creaking wires.
The fact is that the Generals franchise should never have used the C&C label. EA used it just for marketing. Generals has about as much in common with C&C as Starcraft does. So don’t call it “C&C”. At this point, all you’re doing is desecrating a corpse.
11/12/2011 at 23:27 Trippin says:
Don’t know if anyone saw this connection before, but if any developer in the EA tree can use the Frostbite 2 engine, how in the name of everything can it be hard too use, or in other words, WHERE ARE THOSE FREAKING MOD TOOLS!!!!
12/12/2011 at 01:00 HeavyStorm says:
Gonna suck. And gona sell. So, moving along…
12/12/2011 at 05:15 Uninteresting Curse File Implement says:
I cannot watch video at work… Is this fake news? Is Jim being sarcastic? These quotes from developers sound like a parody.
But I want there to be a Generals 2 so much that I’ll pretend to believe you.
And it will totally be on consoles, just not the current gen of consoles.
12/12/2011 at 10:51 Kaiji says:
This is like a joke without a punchline.