C&C Labs News Wire

— Thursday, August 16, 2012 —

Big news from Germany on the next C&C: It will not be Generals 2 available via retail, but a "free to play" game called Command and Conquer, of which Generals 2 will be the "lead product." EA Community Manager CIRE explains

Today at gamescom, we announced a bold move for EA and especially for the C&C franchise. I don’t want to go into the typical marketing mode here with you guys. Instead, I want to talk to you as an honest C&C fan.

If you haven’t seen it already, WATCH THE TRAILER! Pretty awesome and yes, that’s how the games looks on max settings right now. But you probably have a billion questions, so instead of simply linking you to the FAQ (oh, I just did), I will answer some questions right here.

There is a reason why this looks like Generals 2. Content we’ve built for Generals 2 isn’t going into the trash – It is marking the initial content for this new Free Command & Conquer game. The way you play won’t change – Start a fully feature loaded desktop client, choose a game mode, play with friends, build bases, gather resources and command massive armies – Just like you are used to from the original Generals. The major difference between Generals 2 and this newly announce Command & Conquer is the amount you have to pay.

You don’t have to pay 60 dollars upfront for a game that you haven’t played before. You can start for free and play for free. Everything is packed into the Frostbite 2 engine, which delivers a never before seen level of visual awesomeness for the C&C franchise. If you like the game, there will be possibilities to support its development with cool customization options that will give you the power to differentiate your army from everybody else on the battlefield.

I know this is something else – Something many of you didn’t expect and most of you probably will instantly counter with “RIP C&C” or “PIEP CENCORED PIEP”. My immediate first thought after hearing this the first time was similar. But after thinking a bit more about it, I realized that this is how games will change in the near future – This is a chance to bring the franchise to players that were always afraid of spending 60 dollars upfront as they didn’t know if they would enjoy an RTS. A chance to create a supported platform for Command & Conquer that will be influenced by how you guys are playing it and what you’re asking for. It is also planed to revisit the Red Alert and Tiberium universe in the future.

This post became much longer than I wanted to, but I care about C&C as much as you do. And that’s what I want to bring across here – It is different, but not from the inside as the core C&C gameplay is there – It is different from the outside which we can use for our advantage, creating a fresh new start for the franchise to new audiences as well.

In a lot of ways, this is probably the biggest change I've seen the series in the almost decade and a half I've been playing C&C games. It's probably an admission that EA's old model of somewhat rushed--and sometimes outsourced--games simply isn't able to keep up with the massive success of Blizzard's Starcraft 2. We have an article reflecting on this change in the works, but for now you should take a look around the new C&C site, register for the beta, and see what you think about this massive change.

Last edited by Blbpaws on Friday, August 17, 2012 at 3:17:14 AM.

— Wednesday, August 15, 2012 —

Posted By: Blbpaws at 1:01:23 AM ET

Staying Alive

Just wanted to check in with everyone out there. Rest assured, we're alive and well here at C&C Labs, even though the C&C Community is awfully silent as we await more news from EA. Even as the news is slow, though, we've still got a great selection of Maps and Mods for you to try out, for a wide variety of C&C games. Both are a great way to extend the replay value of C&C games while checking out some of the fantastic creations by both our in-house team and our whole community.

As to what that in-house team is up to...I don't think we're ready to go there quite yet, and it might be a while before we do. Let's just say though that we're not the type of people who can stand being bored without something to do for too long, and something's brewing. On that note, if you're a 3D artist or a concept artist looking for a project, our experienced team (The Red Alert, C&C 3: The Forgotten, C&C All Stars) might have space for one more....Drop me a line at Blbpaws@cnclabs.com.

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