I've come across another video at
EA Community.de. Our download link for it is
here. The video shows Harvard Bonin discussing online multiplayer in Generals with people he met with in Germany. It talks about quick matches, custom matches, a bit about ladders, and lots of other Generals info. Its another long video - over 17 minutes long. It is also poor quality because it was filmed with a hand-held camera. The sound quality is somewhat poor as well. The video is good for the information that Harvard talks about.
Here is some new information (or at least new to most people) that is included in the video:
During online games, huge amounts of data will collected and stored on the multiplayer servers in order for developers to know what needs to be improved. Such data includes: how many times one unit kills another, which generals won the most, how much money has been collected, and what side won the most. All this data will be totaled, averaged, and used to improve overall gameplay.Harvard hinted that they might have Linux support, if they deem that that is nessicarry.When you install the game you will have the option to send EAP a lot of information, including system settings, etc.When asked: Will you support the game for a period longer than three months? Harvard responded that he can't promise anything, but that they may be able to have a developer keep working on making sure that Generals is running smoothly for up to 18 months.In the Generals Multiplayer section, there will be a "Meta Browser". On the first screen, there will be a record of how many people are online and over the last week which side has won the most. Also on that screen, there will be buttons for Custom Match, Quick Match, etc, plus a button for managing ladders. They are still working out ladders. The main multiplayer screen will be, according to Harvard, the "community center", in a sense.In Quick Match, you will be able to see the number of times a player has had disconnects during online games. When it searches for an opponent, you will be able to filter out players who have had greatly excessive amounts of disconnects. For quick matches, other data will also be available, such as win/loss percentages.Harvard also talked about sometime called Battle Honors, which he described has "persistant accomplishments."You can get certain "Battle Honors," which are special images/icons next to your name in multiplayer, when you achieve certain goals, such as finishing the solo campaign, beating all the skirmish maps on brutal, or having a ceratain win percentage.Generals will store personal statistical information about you and your opponents on EA Pacific's servers.Lots of new info. To hear the whole discussion, download the video.
