Ace Of Base: EA Talks Command & Conquer's Roots

Command & Conquer's march into free-to-play territory has been fraught with confusion. Will it have single-player? Won't it? Is it even technically Command & Conquer Generals 2 anymore? I guess not, seeing as EA's taken to shaving off that grizzled, battle-tested moniker in favor of the simple, sprightly Command & Conquer. And that, it would seem, wasn't some careless "why not?" decision made on a whim. "We need to kind of wash the stain of C&C 4 away," said lead designer Samuel Bass. The goal? To go back to the series' roots. By, er, using Generals as a blueprint. I guess Victory's reasoning kind of makes sense in video form. See the whole thing after the break.

So yeah, it's all about base-building and factions with multiple, extremely varied play styles. And while Victory said some nice things about fans who've been around since 1995, the foundation here is definitely Generals. Don't get me wrong: that's a solid place to start, but here's hoping classic C&Cs are getting equal amounts of attention from Victory's rather excitable legions.

You can sign up for the newest, freest, hopefully least not-good-est Command & Conquer's beta right here. There's still no start date just yet, but you may as well put your name in the hat.

For now, though, what's the general feeling on this one? Victory's certainly talking a big game, but do you think it's actually moving in the right direction?