C&C Labs News Wire

— Monday, September 30, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 10:56:36 AM ET

New Poll

We've got a new poll! Please vote in it at the top right of the screen. Here's the last poll's results:
Do you like our new layout?
Yeah! Its awsome!
92
63%
Well, it is better than the last one
29
20%
No.
23
15%

Total Votes: 144
Glad to see most people like the layout!

— Monday, September 30, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 9:46:24 AM ET

Multiplayer Test News Release

Here's the official press release about the Multiplayer test:

EA ANNOUNCES PUBLIC TEST
FOR COMMAND & CONQUER GENERALS

3,000 people worldwide to be selected for test


IRVINE, CA (Sep. 30, 2002) - Beginning this fall, 3,000 lucky gamers from around the world will get an early look at Command & Conquer Generals(tm). Electronic Arts announced today that it will hold a public test for the multiplay mode of the game beginning Oct. 25. Command & Conquer Generals will be published by EA (NASDAQ:ERTS) under the EA GAMES(tm) brand this winter.

The public test will give participants a chance to play Command & Conquer Generals multiplay mode via the Internet. The test will include five missions, and allow gamers to play as each of the three unique sides in the game: the superpowers of the United States and China, and an underground political terror organization, the Global Liberation Army, that is bent on liberating the world through anarchy and terror.

Each of the three sides represents a distinct war philosophy and will fight with vastly different tactics and weaponry. All of the units and buildings for each of the sides will be available in the test.

The test will begin Oct. 25 and sign ups will be held through http://generals.ea.com, beginning Oct. 10 at 12:01 a.m. Signups will be open for only 24 hours, and EA will randomly select 3,000 participants from those who sign up.

"Multiplay is a critical part of any RTS game and we're really looking forward to hearing from our fans on how to make the experience in Command & Conquer Generals even better," said Mark Skaggs, general manger of EA Pacific and executive in charge of production for the game. "The team has been working hard, and we're all excited for players to see the innovative multiplay features we've kept under wraps for the past six months."

Anyone who signs up for the public test must meet the minimum system requirements to be eligible for selection. Those requirements will be posted on the public test sign up page of the official Command & Conquer Generals website.

Command & Conquer Generals puts players' trigger fingers on the pulse of modern warfare as they become a powerful general and control massive armies of bleeding-edge military weaponry across a globe teetering on the brink of Armageddon. Three unique sides will be available, each with customizable high-tech arsenals ready to deliver unprecedented firepower on land or in the skies Players can annihilate the opposition in the 23-mission single-player campaign or dish out the damage in global multiplayer mayhem.

For more information on the title, visit the official Command & Conquer Generals website at www.generals.ea.com.

Well I can't wait! And I know lots of you fans out there can't wait either

— Monday, September 30, 2002 —

Posted By: Luckie at 2:55:31 AM ET

Nuclear Launch Video

There is a new video on the Generals wire and we have it. Head over to our videos section to check it out. It's the Nuclear Launch Video and it is of fairly low quality, but worth the look if you've got a fast connection. You can download it directly here. It is, once again, originally from Community Team.

— Saturday, September 28, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 3:53:51 PM ET

Unit Updates

I've just finished updating the American Units page. A visitor to our site emailed me and pointed out that the information about a few of the USA tanks may be inaccurate. Indeed it was. There had been some confusion as to which tank was which, but the information has now been corrected.

— Saturday, September 28, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 3:50:25 PM ET

Awsome Artwork

Over at CNC Series, Auriga has sent in a bunch of Generals-related fan art. They're awsome drawings, so be sure to check them out on this page!

— Thursday, September 26, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 4:34:44 PM ET

Generals Chat Info

Malc of Generals Bunker has had the chance to ask Chris Rubyor (Delphi) a few questions about the first ever Generals chat! Here's a snip of the interview. For the full interview, go here.
Malc: You've said that a few of the best mappers around have the new editor, so
is there any chance of some new screens of it in action?

Delphi-WS: Not yet, a few more tweaks need to be made before more shots if the interface can be released.

Malc: Any ETA on the Generals chat yet?

Delphi-WS: Yep, the first ever Generals chat with Harvard is scheduled for next Thursday 5:00 PM PST on Game Spy. So go download Arcade now!
Generals Bunker has also found a few threads on the Official Generals Message Boards in which Chris posted these messages:
Delphi-EA: Looks cool, maybe I can swing a few multiplayer test slots. Hmm...
and...
Transnote: Delphi when do we find out the signup details?

Delphi-EA: Marketing guys are telling me tomorrow.
The period of "community speculation" continues...

— Thursday, September 26, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 12:22:41 PM ET

New Video

Community Team.de has done it again! They've released their second movie. Here's what they posted on their site:
I am sure u r still waiting for this. :-) Here is the second piece of the "shred selection". Harvard showed us the possibilities of the graphics engine on a special "Test Map". These test maps are prepared to check special features of the game. I have already seen a lot of these test maps during the presentation in Cologne, however I was not allowed to tape this material. But now, I was able to take this snippet :-) enjoy!
This relatively short 25-second video clip is one of those test map in Generals. It shows Dragon Tanks setting trees and Rangers on fire with a blue flame. You can download it from us here or from Community Team.

— Thursday, September 26, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 10:58:23 AM ET

New Multiplayer Test Info

On the Official Generals Message Boards, Chris (Delphi) posted this message when asked about the status of the multiplayer test.
We have decided on how we will choose people and when it will be released....we just haven't posted that yet.

Better to phrase this would be "community speculation." All the plans, dates, registration process is setup up. We are just waiting on the marketing folks to announce the test.
This is indeed a community speculation phase... let's just hope we dont have to speculate for too long.

— Wednesday, September 25, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 11:19:47 AM ET

Site News

We've got a new war story written by Eternity for ya today. It's entitled The Girl and you can read it here.


Thinking about buying a PC game? Why not buy it online, through our Online Store? Our online store is in affiliation with Chips n Bits Online Game Superstore, a reputable online game store with years of experience. They've got great prices and even ship internationally! Please buy a game and support our site! Thanks!

— Tuesday, September 24, 2002 —

Posted By: Luckie at 3:45:06 PM ET

Logo Chooser is back!

Back by popular demand is the logo chooser! This fun little feature is brought to you by the webmaster himself, MicScoTho. Just click on the logo chooser graphic at the far right of the top bar. We have brought back our old default logo in blue as well as keeping the new logo. What's your preference? Head over to our forums and tell us!


— Sunday, September 22, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 3:34:41 AM ET

Chat Event

Shinano from CNC Universe has found that here on the Official Message Boards, Chris has posted this message about a GameSpy chat event:
Delphi: Yes, I'm working on a GameSpy chat date right now. I'm guessing it will be the first week of October with Harvard.

— Sunday, September 22, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 3:31:39 AM ET

Interview with Chris

Generals FTP has an interivew with Chris here on their website. An English version of the interview is at the bottom of the page. Here's a snip from the interivew:
According to a rumor, the chinese "kirov" of propaganda has been cancelled. Is this unit still of the game ?

The Blimp is no longer in the game. =( BTW it was not like the Kirov, the Proganda Blimp did not have any major offensive capabilities.
Hm... no more Propaganda Blimp. Well, the Chinese do have Propaganda Towers, so the Generals team probably felt that having both would be too much.

— Sunday, September 22, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 3:21:34 AM ET

Multiplayer Test

Sorry I forgot to mention this eariler... EAP has decided to refer to the "beta" as a "multiplayer test" from now on. On that note, here's some info from Chris about the Multiplayer Test:
Delphi-EA: I just wanted to give everyone a quick Generals update:

The multiplayer beta for Generals is no longer referred to as "BETA." We are now calling it a "Multiplayer Test." The reason being it was causing some confusion and clarification was needed.

So now, expect to see some new information on the Generals "multiplayer test" in the next week.
and...
Delphi-EA: The multiplayer test will be limited in number of participants. If you are not lucky enough to be chosen from our fansite community or randomly picked from the boards, you will have to sign-up on the designated dates.

More info to follow in the next week or so.
Also, Bandit from Generals Xtreme had this Q&A with Chris:
Bandit: Will we be testing the anonymous match making system in the multiplayer test or are we limited to custom games?
Delphi: Both!
Sounds like they'll be releasing information on the Multiplayer Test sometime this week. I won't be able to participate though... my computer isn't fast enough (needs to be 1GHZ for the test).

— Sunday, September 22, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 3:16:52 AM ET

Info about Cheats in Generals

Chris posted this message about cheats on the Official Boards:
Any of you guys download the new map hack for War III? Hah!

The problem is in the code and our coders have learned a thing or two from Yuri's. Won't it be nice to have a message in Generals pop up on your screen notifying you when a player is trying to use a trainer? Now that's a good start. Heck won't it be even better when it's directly reflected on their record? Ladder admins and players can then "blacklist" these players from matching. Woot!

Blacklist? Oh yeah, Generals has a complete filtering system that will allow you to customize your matching options.

quote:


dont be so sure.. look at the official generals website. how "supported" is that!


LOL! It's a preview site, our full site is going live in just a few short weeks. LOL!
Chris also posted this message on this thread:
If cheats do happen to appear in Generals, the team is committed to fixing them. It will be nice though to see the message when someone is caught. I only wish Generals could take a picture of their face when it happens.
Let's hope that they live up to their promises about filtering about cheaters... it isn't that easy to outsmart the people who make online trainers. And it's good to see that they'll be changing the Official Site soon. You can read the thread that this message was posted in right here.

— Friday, September 20, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 7:23:49 PM ET

New Video

Community Team has released yet another Generals video. This video is only about 50 seconds, and is rather poor quality, but it has some new things in it. It shows what appears to be a commando, climb up a cliff, plant a C4 in a Chinese Command Center, and then scale back down the cliff. You can download it from us here. Here's what was posted on Community Team's site:
This short snippet is one of three pices of material I dont want to show, because it was made from a verry bad position and realy unprepared. - But, now I will provide this stuff, to make the time between now and the start of the Multiplayer Test short as possible... So dont be scared about the quality... the content is counting :-)
Thanks to CNC Unvierse for the heads-up.

— Friday, September 20, 2002 —

Posted By: Luckie at 4:23:14 AM ET

Luckie's Amazing Screensavers

After a long wait, and painstaking hours of Flash MX, my screensaver is finished. It features countless screenshots from everyones favorite upcoming title: Command And Conquer Generals. It's available in two forms. One for the slower computers, with slightly decreased graphics and no music, and one for the faster folks with full graphics quality and music. I hope you enjoy.

Download the High Quality Version

Download the Low Quality Version


— Wednesday, September 18, 2002 —

Posted By: Luckie at 3:38:13 PM ET

PCZone Preview Snippets and Scans

CNCDEN has posted scanned images of a new Generals preview in PC Zone, a UK magazine. Head to HERE to see the pictures and head to CNCDEN to see some of the information contained in the preview.

— Tuesday, September 17, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 10:33:02 AM ET

Generals Gone Alpha

Community Team.de is reporting that Generals has gone Alpha. Alpha means that all of the features in Generals have been inserted, and that things just need to get fixed up. Here's the translation, courtesy of CNC Unvierse.
What we've been waiting for has finally happened. We've heard EAP sources, that C&C Generals went alpha yesterday. Alpha means the engine and the planned features are already in, and must only be tested. Nothing more seems to stand in the way of the planned release in January. The developers are confident in this assertion.
This is likely to be true. Chris will probably confirm or deny this sometime soon. In the recently released video of the 4th US mission, Harvard Bonin said that they were going to go to alpha "next month". The video, however, was filmed sometime last August, so that would make "next month" be September.

— Tuesday, September 17, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 10:23:57 AM ET

Delphi Interviews

There's been several interviews with Chris Rubyor (Delphi) recently.
On this Official Generals Message Boards thread, Rolan asked Chris this question about the beta:

Rolan: Now any news on the official Generals Beta?

Delphi-EA: Actually from what the marketing peeps are telling me, an annc is going to be very soon.

More about the beta... Paradox from CNC Generals.com asked these questions:

Paradox: In a recent Generals video, Harvard can be heard mentioning the beta will take place "next month," if at all. Next month referring to October. Could you shed some light on how accurate this is?*
Delphi: Sounds accurate to me, but of course I can not pin a date to anything.

Paradox: What sort of audience do you expect the beta to reach out to?
Delphi: It will be limited in number, more details to be released soon.

Paradox: As of yet, what do you expect the rig specifications for the beta testers will be, taking the potential --even if minimal-- optimization the game will undergo in due time?
Delphi: Your machine will need to be 1 GZ or better for the beta.

From this thread, also on the Official Generals Message Boards, TsNod has asked these questions:

TsNod: Will there be an insider program/tourney, pre-order features like RA2 and Renegade?
Delphi: Sorry too early We'll know for sure by October.

TsNod: Is there any chance of an official ladder being made?
Delphi: Good question, the team is toying with the idea.

TsNod: Will we ever get to get an autographed copy of the game for a bit more money?
Delphi: It's really up to the marketing guys, so I won't know for sure until October or November. Top secret

TsNod: Will upgrades be used individually, or will an upgrade research upgrade all units of its kind?
Delphi: Units have different types of upgrades, some are specific to the unit type where as others are researched for all units.

TsNod: What kind of music do you all plan on using for CnC Generals?
Delphi: We will be using a new musician and new music types this time around.

TsNod: What types of terrains are there? Is there any Tundra like Terrains?
Delphi: Players will have access to snow, temperate, urban and desert. Now there are variations on these tiles so you'll get more than just one type of snow tile.

TsNod: If Rangers can rappel down the sides of buildings...How about cliffs?
Delphi: No rangers can't, but some special units can.

TsNod: Besides the map editor, what else is available for modding? Or is it all included in the editor? (Unit editing, etc.)
Delphi: With Map Editor, from a General perspective, map makers can create their own multiplayer, skirmish, and mission maps. They will also have access to scripting features and can edit the ini files of the units and structtures.
Map makers can put their own music and sound to the game which is done with scripting.

TsNod: What can the civilians do in multiplay games?
Delphi: Run and Scream. [Is being his usual self and keeping some info away]

TsNod: What are the specs that the demonstrations for Generals was used? Like what type of cpus were used?
Delphi: They used a 2.5 Gigs with 512 MB RDRAM and a GeForce TI 4600 128 MB. Most companies use machines like this to demo games.

TsNod: Will there be a World Domination ? And will it be like RA2's and Firestorms?
Delphi: At this time there is no information on game play of that type, there will be other multiplayer forms anyway.

TsNod: Will soldiers have programmed dodging manuevers for when under heavy fire. example: will they run for cover behind a rock or tree.
Delphi: Heh, how does that help against drones who can fire over the rocks.

TsNod: Will there be a female in the game
Delphi: Yeah the Hacker.

TsNod: Do you start off only building infantry and as your get further into the campaign you gain access to construct tanks and weapons of mass destruction?
Delphi: As the game progresses more units are unlocked.

Shady from CNC Uprising asked Chris these questions:

Shady: Will there be a chance of the System Req's for Generals being reduced in the future??
Delphi: Possibly, we won't know for sure until the game is fully optimized.
Shady: Renegade Patch and Nux server... When??
Delphi: No eta.

The community is keeping Chris busy as usual. 


— Tuesday, September 17, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 10:14:33 AM ET

Video Added

I've added a neat video to our Video Downloads page. However, it is a huge 88 MB in size, and it is nearly 18 minutes long. The video shows the 4th US mission in Generals. CNC Universe has a nice description of it, so head there to get a more complete view of the video. Thanks to CommunityTeam.de for this video.

— Monday, September 16, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 1:55:52 PM ET

New Layout and Poll

We've made the transition to the new layout! We hope you like it! Along with the new layout comes a ton of new content (see the News Wire post above), and a new poll. Here's the last poll's results:
What do ya think about EAPs decision to not have an official ladder in Generals?
Ladders run by fans will be great!
26
21%
Hopefully it will get rid of some of the cheaters
32
26%
I hate the idea! They should have an improved version of the RA2 ladder!
26
21%
Not sure yet, its too early to tell.
35
29%

Total Votes: 119

— Wednesday, September 11, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 1:39:44 AM ET

New Screenshots

There are six more screenshots on a German Generals preview. They can be found at GameStar. I'll be updating our screenshots page with loads of screenshots this weekend. In the meantime, see the screenshots here.

It has been one year today since the WTC towers fell. Please take a moment to remember those lost, and those who lost friends and family most dear to their heart.

— Sunday, September 8, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 2:50:00 AM ET

Community News

Here's the latest Generals and Westwood community news:
  • CNC Generals Nation is in need of staff!! They are looking for news updaters and feature writers. Click here to see the requirements.
  • CNC Universe has a ton of new screenshots from a DVD from a German gaming magazine.
  • Game Revolution has a new Generals preview. Two videos are included with it as well, but they are nothing special.
  • CNC Den has some new Generals wallpapers.
  • Generals Bunker has a picture of what might be the initial box art for Generals.
  • Over on this thread at the Official Generals Message Boards, a member of the EAP staff has leaked some beta details. Here's what was said:
    Shanahan-EAP: There will be a beta that everyone can register for. It will be limited though, not sure yet on the total number.

    A few things that make a good beta tester:
    1. Ability to communicate well
    2. Attention to detail
    3. Knowing the difference between "playing" the game and "testing" the game
  • In another recent post on the Official Generals Messageboards, Chris Rubyor (Delphi) posted the current system requirements for Generals:
    The bare minimum right now is:

    PIII 800
    128 MB RAM
    Geforce 2

    Presently running below this is not recommended.
    I just bearly make those... hopefully I'll get a new computer before Generals comes out

— Friday, September 6, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 1:37:53 AM ET

Video Translation

CNC Series has a translation for the "Physics Test" video that I uploaded yesterday. The video has German commentary, and Ghettoblaster has been kind enough to translate it for us. Head to CNC Series to read it.

— Thursday, September 5, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 11:18:44 AM ET

SAGE Engine Test Videos

There's three new Generals videos out! They aren't of missions, but instead they test different SAGE engine effects. Check out our Video Downloads page for more information. The videos are called Physics Test, Big Fight, and Chain Reaction. You will need the DivX Codecs (use the DivX 5.0.2 Bundle download on that page) to watch these video.

— Wednesday, September 4, 2002 —

Posted By: Mike at 10:15:44 AM ET

Generals Videos

Here they are folks! Freshly uploaded to our Video Downloads page... 6 new Generals videos! First of all, I would like to thank CNC Universe, who found most of the videos, and of course CommunityTeam.de, where the videos are initially from. The newest videos are at the top of the list, and the bottom few have been previously released but i just got around to uploading them now. So now, without further ado, here are the videos:
  • Map Editor: In this movie, Harvard shows off the map editor.
  • Unknown Mission: This video has footage of an unknown USA mission, in which you must liberate a USA base.
  • Seige of Baghdad: This Seige of Baghdad video shows the first American mission in Generals. The hand-held camera shakes quite a bit at first, but its definitely awsome to watch.


  • These videos where released within the last couple of weeks, from various sources:
  • Computer and Video Games Movie: Includes all the footage from the 13 GameSpot movies, in .mov format and in better quality.
  • Operation Blue Eagle: This large movie (95.1 MB!) shows the mission where the UN Negotiator is assasinated by the GLA. For people with fast internet connections, this is a great download.
  • White Knight: (66.5 MB) The White Knight mission video shows everything from GLA Rocket Buggies to American Crusader tanks and more. The video and sound are good quality.
  • Have fun downloading and watching the videos (especially you 56Kers out there ). I listed the file sizes for the two biggest files. For the file sizes of the other files, visit our Videos page.

    — Tuesday, September 3, 2002 —

    Posted By: Mike at 3:51:52 PM ET

    Coming soon...

    We've got lots of stuff for ya coming on up soon (some things sooner than others). I've been busy with school and other stuff, and we had a bit of technical troubles (PC virus), so that new layout is taking a bit longer than I expected. The screensaver is virtually done, but we're holdin that off until the new layout launches. Also, you can expect some new Generals movies to be available for download from our site tomorrow morning. You may have noticed news posts about them at other sites... there's a few new Generals videos out. Unfortunately, some of them are quite large, and I can only upload so fast, even with a cable connection. Since I'm really busy right now, I'll post the sites that found the videos once I've got them uploaded.
    Update: I'll have the videos up this afternoon. Two of them are still uploading, and I'm off to school right now.

    — Sunday, September 1, 2002 —

    Posted By: Mike at 4:38:53 PM ET

    Ice-Bird.net Generals Screenshots & Preview

    Ice-Bird.net (German) has both a new preview and new screenshots of Generals!

    Click here for the German version of the preview. An English translated version can be found here, thanks to Gamers Europe.

    All 24 of the screenshots and other pictures can be found on this page. Some are miscolored, some were taken with a digital camera, but nonetheless they are new images to feast your eyes on, so be sure to check em out!

    In addition to the preview and screenshots, they have released three *new* videos. They are all quite small, but show never before seen footage of the GLA Scud Storm superweapon fireing, the US attacking a GLA base, and the US attacking the Scud Storm. You can download those videos here, here, and here, respectively.

    Links