C&C Labs News Wire

— Friday, December 31, 2004 —

Posted By: Blbpaws at 1:32:51 PM ET

Last Poll of the Year, and Poll Results

I was surprised how spread out we were on this poll. I certainly don't think we'll see RA3 before April, as many of you hoped, but I also think its likely we'll see it before the end of October. EA, with the exception of Generals, which was delayed three times, tries to release games early in the last quarter of the year (YR, RA2, and ZH were all released in August, September or October, and Generals orginally had a Nov 15 release date). Time will tell though. Anyway, here are the results:
When do you think we'll see RA3 released?
Before April '05
7
14%
May
3
6%
June
3
6%
July
3
6%
August
2
4%
September
6
12%
October
4
8%
After October
21
42%

Total Votes: 49

Thanks to all 49 of you who voted!
Last edited by Blbpaws on Friday, December 31, 2004 at 6:34:42 PM.

— Friday, December 31, 2004 —

Posted By: Blbpaws at 1:26:03 PM ET

News for 12/31: Updates at Blitz 2, others

Today's news:
  • At All-Stars we are in need of a single player mission maker. Some experience is required. If you're interested, e-mail me at Blbpaws@cncgeneralsworld.com. Also, expect a large update, including new screens, from us next week.
  • The Blitzrieg 2 team has posted up some new screens, showcasing the V2 rocket. They look quite good.
  • Over at Renegade: A New Hope they have released render of their Storm Trooper model. For those who've never heard of R:ANH, it's a Star Wars total conversion for Renegade.
  • Also, on behalf of MicScoTho, Luckie, and all the staff at CNC GeneralsWorld.com, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy and safe New Year. We'll certainly be working on this site for it, and we hope you'll join us.

— Thursday, December 30, 2004 —

Posted By: Blbpaws at 4:39:44 PM ET

News for 12/30: Updates at the DEN, TW2, others

Today's News:
  • The True War 2 team has released a picture of their A10 which will be included in the mod.
  • Lion, from CNC DEN, has agreed to begin a Picture of the Day section of his site. If you're interested in submitting pictures for this, e-mail him at dalion@comcast.net.
  • A new mod is underway called Dawn of Twilight. It aims to bring the Tiberian Sun game to the Dawn of War engine. They need one more modeller, skinner, and coder. If interested, post in the TiberianSun.com forums.
    • Last edited by Mike on Friday, December 31, 2004 at 2:05:13 PM.

— Wednesday, December 29, 2004 —

Posted By: Blbpaws at 5:16:20 PM ET

New C&C Mod Annouced, Updates at CNC DEN

Top stories for today:
  • Project Perfect Mod has annouced a new mod, Tiberian Survival. It will bring the Sole Survivor (an very old, non-storylined C&C game) to the Tiberian Sun universe. More details can be found on their forums here .
  • CNC DEN has a new featured map, "Triple Threat," and a new, Renegade-themed, wallpaper.


Got news I'm not reporting in the evenings? E-mail me at Blbpaws@cncgeneralsworld.com and I'll try to rectify the situation.

Last edited by Blbpaws on Wednesday, December 29, 2004 at 10:19:30 PM.

— Tuesday, December 28, 2004 —

Posted By: Blbpaws at 6:53:20 PM ET

Updates at An Act of War, New World Order...

  • PCTeen1, from An Act of War informs us that he has posted a new picture of the M1A2 Abrams, which will be updated in version 2.0 of the mod. v2.0 will also feature a navy for the US and Iraq sides (North Korea's navy will be added in version 3.0).
  • The Zero Hour mod C&C: New World Order needs new members. Currently, the team is looking for people who can do any of the following:
    * Skinning/UV Wrapping * Infantry Modelling * Coding * Vehicle/Structure/Infantry Animating * 2D Art * Single Player Mapping * Voice Acting * Generally, any modding skill that is needed to create a mod
    Additionally, they need a webmaster for the mod's site. Those interested should post a message in the forums.
  • At CNC Unleashed Bradon has posted a modding round-up. Its very comprehensive and includes all the latest news from all the mods in the community. Check it out if you haven't been keeping up with the news.
Last edited by Blbpaws on Tuesday, December 28, 2004 at 11:56:19 PM.

— Monday, December 27, 2004 —

Posted By: Blbpaws at 9:03:21 AM ET

Brief Community News Updates

  • CNC DEN has 23 new game replays up, as well as a new mission, "Raid." Lion has also updated the poll there.
  • Planet CNC has a new RA3 themed wallpaper from General Kane Nash. Fallen_Crusader also has updated their Command and Comedy.
  • The Red Alert: Regeneration mod released some new renders today.
  • The Finest Hour mod has released a number of pictures today.
  • Halogen has released two new pictures today. One is of a Barracks and the other of a Construction Mech.
    • Last edited by Blbpaws on Monday, December 27, 2004 at 6:47:07 PM.

— Saturday, December 25, 2004 —

Posted By: Blbpaws at 5:22:04 AM ET

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

On behalf of the entire staff at Generals World, I'd like to wish all our visitors a very safe and Merry Christmas. I know I'm going to be busy for the rest of the day, and I'm sure Luckie, MicScoTho, and the rest of the staff will be as well, so I don't think you can expect many more updates today. ;)
Last edited by Blbpaws on Saturday, December 25, 2004 at 11:30:14 AM.

— Friday, December 24, 2004 —

Posted By: Blbpaws at 12:41:47 PM ET

Community Updates

  • Lion, from CNC DEN , has uploaded a new mission, "In Thy Name" and has posted a Christmas card/wallpaper. Check them out!
  • The First Tiberium War has been released. It's in beta form and weighs in at a rather hefty 121MB.
  • The Blitzkrieg 2 team has released some new screens.

— Thursday, December 23, 2004 —

Posted By: Blbpaws at 5:32:27 PM ET

Defcon Reviewed and Other Tidbits

CNC Central has reviewed the Defcon Mod, a total conversion for C&C Generals. They gave it an overall score of 8.5/10; not bad at all.

Also:
  • HeXetic, from Planet CNC reports that they have fixed their file upload script.
  • CNC DEN has a new map, Airforce Desert, and a new singleplayer mission.
  • Also, the ~X~ Clan plans on having an open tourney on Christmas day. Head to their site for details.
Last edited by Blbpaws on Thursday, December 23, 2004 at 10:52:36 PM.

— Wednesday, December 22, 2004 —

Posted By: Blbpaws at 10:33:33 AM ET

New Poll and Poll Results

I updated the poll today. I must say I was surprised that so many people were glad to see EA make RA3. I thought it would be a much closer race. I personally don't care which game we get, as long as its a a solid, well supported, game. Will we get that? Time will tell. Anyway, here are the results from last week:
Are you glad EALA chose to make RA3 instead of CNC3?
Yes
39
61%
No
11
17%
CNC3? RA3? I WANT ZH 2!
13
20%

Total Votes: 63

Thanks to all 63 of you who voted!

— Wednesday, December 22, 2004 —

Posted By: Blbpaws at 10:27:16 AM ET

Community News Update

Some brief tidbits from around the community today:
  • CNC DEN has new maps up, including a very cool "featured" map titled "Trains, Drains and Valve Stations." In addition, Lion released his Christmas Map Pack. They also have new fan art drawings up. Give 'em a look. Lion also has a new, "fun" mod up.
  • There is a free arcade game in which you take control of a Paladin tank and fight. Reminds me of the old one where you did the same thing with a Comanche. Anyway, play it here .
  • Planet CNC has updated their mailbag.
  • Cold War Crisis has a huge update at their site, including a new render, and the winners of their contests.

    • That seems to be all for now. Expect more All-Stars goodies in the coming weeks though.
      Last edited by Blbpaws on Wednesday, December 22, 2004 at 3:30:11 PM.

— Tuesday, December 21, 2004 —

Posted By: Blbpaws at 4:17:03 PM ET

Finally, some new All-Stars Screens

I finally got around to posting these. Thanks to CommieDog for taking them:


Last edited by Blbpaws on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 at 10:25:16 PM.

— Monday, December 20, 2004 —

Posted By: Renaissance at 5:48:28 AM ET

Almost Christmas

For those of you heading out this week, we, the staff and members of CnC Generals World, would like to wish you a safe and memorable trip. If there is one thing we have come to know, it is that the members of the CnC community are not only friends but family.

For those of you sticking around, the CnC Den has four new maps; one for each day leading to Christmas. You can get them here.
Last edited by Blbpaws on Tuesday, December 21, 2004 at 10:23:54 PM.

— Friday, December 17, 2004 —

Posted By: Renaissance at 5:04:12 AM ET

Renegade Lives???

Coming shortly after EA's announcement of RA3, the community continues to breed new life, and with that I present you with good news. As we all know, The Renegade Alert game project was canned for W3D and now has no support. Conversely, the Source project of Renegade Alert has been renamed Red Alert: A Path Beyond.

Also, The Dead Six merged with Red Alert: APB. Here are Dante’s comments about the merger:

As most of you know, I worked a lot with all the mods for C&C Renegade, as much as I could I helped out when needed, and even took over some as the lead producer. I have always loved sharing of work, and helping other teams/people when they need it. And to this end, I have decided to continue with this, and provide The Dead 6 as a moddable base, complete with an SDK, custom tools, etc... This way some of the mods that loved the gameplay of Renegade, will be able to build there mods with much more functionality and playability on a newer and much better game engine.

This is where Red Alert: A Path Beyond comes in, we (The Dead 6 Team) are taking them in under our wings, providing them with early builds of the engine as we go, letting them use our development tools, as well as even to some points helping point them in the right direction with most of the stuff they won't be familiar with when coming into the new game engine. With this, we will also be linking the Red Alert: A Path Beyond Single Player storyline closely with our own, to provide 2 campaigns of fully playable C&C in first person, the way Westwood dreamed it would be, and the way that the fans have come to expect after nearly 10 years of C&C.

We hope that this will become a very prevalent relationship, and wish that some other teams would have seen the vision that we are heading for. It's sad that some other mods will not be joining us in this effort, but teamwork is what this entire project is about, without that, it won't be successful.

This coming year will be great for The Dead 6, and now will be great for Red Alert: A Path Beyond as well.

Live the new motto, and lets learn to have fun, support our mods, and finally, just have fun.
"Everything that happened in Renegade, stays in Renegade..."

- Tom "Dante" Anderson
Growth such as this is quickly spreading through the CnC community as it continues to evolve; well, that can't be bad news.
Last edited by Renaissance on Friday, December 17, 2004 at 10:07:08 AM.

— Monday, December 13, 2004 —

Posted By: Blbpaws at 3:33:35 PM ET

New Poll and Poll Results

Ah yes. With the annoucement of RA3 to the glee of some people in the community and the absolute dismay of others I have turned to the great fans of GW for your opinion. I must say I don't care which game was made, I just want a quality, well supported game. Like MicScoTho and others, I was very surprised with the way EA chose to annouce RA3 in this way and with the candor that they addressed their previous support mistakes. They could either recognize that their fanbase (and in some places, their employees) was turning on them and their lack of support and they wish to change their ways and generate more sales, or the are just putting up a smokescreen before returning to their old ways. As of now, I refuse to believe that they care about their games as much as some companies, such as Westwood did, though I am not one of the "BR1NG BAK WESTWOOD11!!!" types. If EA wishes to prove me wrong, I'd be overjoyed. Just my $.02.

As for the results from last week here they are:

The biggest reason I play ZH now is
mods!
18
45%
playing with friends online
4
10%
online play in general
0
0%
skirmish AI...hey, they can't activate the Scud Bug
2
5%
I don't play it much anymore
16
40%

Total Votes: 40

Thanks to all 40 of you who voted!
Last edited by Blbpaws on Monday, December 13, 2004 at 10:26:32 PM.

— Monday, December 13, 2004 —

Posted By: Renaissance at 6:45:18 AM ET

Some bits of excellent news today

The First Tiberian War TC mod for Zero Hour is on the verge of being released as the countdown clock reads 9 days. The First Tiberian War is a TC for Zero Hour which appears to do more than just satisfy our need for CnC action in the dawn of yet another Command & Conquer title.

CNC DEN has yet more maps to whet your appetite.

CNC World is back online and in the process of restoring their site to all its splendor. They are however in need of staff; specifically mentioned were: News Updater and visual arts (skins/wallpapers)

Quoting CNCNZ:
The first of what will most likely be many Red Alert 3 fansites has opened over the weekend. Its called CNCRedAlert3.com. Naturally the site is short on news and info right now but you have to start somewhere I guess. Give CNCRedAlert3.com a visit.

A reminder: CNC Series is amidst a site overhaul. They have however made it possible to view their current, vast database of CnC knowledge; access it here.
Last edited by Mike on Monday, December 13, 2004 at 4:33:13 PM.

— Friday, December 10, 2004 —

Posted By: Blbpaws at 3:32:25 PM ET

Community News

Here's the latest news (sadly, no RA3 stuff):
  • CNC DEN has new maps (as always), a new mod, and other updates.
  • Planet CNC has new updates on various mods, and they're now sporting their winter layout.
  • Cold War Crisis has posted their first infantry render -- that of a Russian Conscript. Check it out!
    • Last edited by Blbpaws on Saturday, December 11, 2004 at 5:39:27 PM.

— Tuesday, December 7, 2004 —

Posted By: Mike at 4:55:28 PM ET

Further Confirmation

Lion of RADEN has received confirmation from two EA employees that the email sent out to the fans yesterday is in fact legitimate. Here's what Mike Murphy, an online community manager for Electronic Arts, had to say:
Mike Murphy (EA): Indeed it is a real email, but other than what Mark wrote, I can't comment on anything further about the game.
Lion also contacted the Senior Community Manager at EA, Nathan Fahrenthold. Nathan also confimed that the email is real:
We really wanted to reach out to the community with this announcement as opposed to messaging one of the large game news sites. We hope to continue doing this in future announcements.
Also newsworthy is the fact that Nathan will be managing the online community for the new Command & Conquer game.

Stay tuned for all of the latest updates. Generals World has some exciting plans for the future that have been underway for quite some time. See - a little push from EA, and look at all of the buzz.

Thanks again to Lion for contacting the people at EA.

Update: I just ran across this thread posted by Mark, in Middle-Earth MW's Battle for Middle Earth forums. It's entitled "A word about support". I think you'll all find it worth a read. Here's a clip from it:
Some of you have been asking about post product support for B4ME, especially given the notes that we are thinking of an expansion pack and working on RA3.

Rather than get into arguments and debates about how much support there has been on Red Alert 2 or Generals and then whether people will be happy with support for B4ME, I thought I would give a bit of the bigger picture going forward.

The key thing to note is that we're going to have a dedicated team for B4ME going forward. This differs from our past process of having a our one team jump from product to product(i.e. Red Alert 2, Yuri's, Generals, Zero Hour, B4ME). The very nature of having this team means that the landscape for support and development of B4ME games has changed from how things have worked in the past.

Next thing, is that we are going to support the product (and already have) because we know it's important and it's the right thing to do.
I'm rather impressed by Mike's admission that EA's support for some prior C&C titles has been, well, lackluster. They're promising more support for Battle for Middle Earth than previous titles. Not saying I haven't heard that before, but this time they do appear to be making structural changes internally to have a team dedicated to B4ME product support. We can only hope that this will be extended to the next Command & Conquer.
Last edited by Mike on Wednesday, December 8, 2004 at 6:35:13 PM.

— Monday, December 6, 2004 —

Posted By: Mike at 6:00:55 PM ET

<font color=red>The REAL C&C 3</font>

Firstly, kudos to PlanetCNC for beating us to this by about five minutes! =)

We now have official confirmation that the next Command & Conquer game will be in the Red Alert Universe. An associate of mine received this email from EA's Command & Conquer mailing list.

Hi everyone,

I hope everyone is enjoying one of the best years ever for PC gaming.

On the eve of one of our own major releases, The Lord of the Rings™, The Battle for Middle-earth™, the one thing we've grown to understand is how important the community - our most loyal supporters - is for industry. This started back in our days at Westwood where the community for our games has always been a big priority. We understand that you are the most important and influential group for us and we are constantly amazed at the amount of talent used to create quality assets and mods.

Having said that, we have a MAJOR announcement to make and we are making it exclusively to our long time C&C fans. This announcement is not going out to the press and it won't appear on the EA website or anywhere else online. We are very proud to announce that the team that brought you Command & Conquer™ Red Alert 2™, Command & Conquer™ Yuri's Revenge™, and Command & Conquer™ Generals has officially started work on our next project set in the Red Alert universe!

As I mentioned, we're very proud to ship what we feel is one of the best RTS games ever released. Most of you have probably heard of The Lord of the Rings™, The Battle for Middle-earth™ which hits stores this week. We've introduced some really innovative features and gameplay mechanics, which you should definitely check out when you get a chance. You will also see a major enhancement to the Sage graphics engine we originally created for Command & Conquer Generals. Expect us to leverage and continue to evolve this powerful engine as we start work on our new Command & Conquer game.

Thanks again for all your support over the years. This entire team is incredibly excited to work on the next Command & Conquer chapter. Look for an official announcement soon and have a wonderful holiday.

Mark Skaggs
VP and Executive Producer
Electronic Arts

Oh, and don't worry, the message isn't spoofed or anything - the Generals World team has checked and rechecked the message for possible signs of fraud and found none. Still not convinced? This page has the email exactly as it appeared in the Inbox. Check it out for yourself.

Basically, this sums it up:

Red Alert 3

Last edited by Mike on Tuesday, December 28, 2004 at 2:40:58 PM.

— Sunday, December 5, 2004 —

Posted By: Blbpaws at 1:13:54 PM ET

New Poll and Poll Results

Been a while since I've done one of these...

Here are the results from last week (and I must say I'm with the group of you who say you're not getting BFME....EA needs to support its games):

With Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth coming out soon (December 6), will you be considering buying it?
Considering?!?! I preordered!!
6
12%
It's a possibility
10
20%
Not interested.
20
40%
NO. MORE. EA. GAMES. FOR. ME.
13
26%

Total Votes: 49

Thanks to all 49 of you who voted!

— Thursday, December 2, 2004 —

Posted By: Renaissance at 7:01:26 AM ET

CnC Mod Round-up

The CnC communities may appear quiet, maybe a little too quiet, but only because CnC modders alike are putting their nose to the grindstone in an effort to release a plethora of mods. Today I have a roundup of some very promising concepts turned reality; Enjoy!

CnC: All Stars: Status: internal Stage: Alpha - Progress: 36%
Advanced AI Mod: Status: public Stage: Beta 0.95 - Progress: N/A
Battletech: TCS: Status: Public Stage: Beta v1.30 – Progress: 67%
An Act of War: Status: public Stage: Beta v1.1 – Progress: 46%
CnC Holland: Status: Public Stage: Beta 1.6 – Progress: N/A
Blitzkrieg II: Status: public Stage: v0.38 - Progress: undisclosed
SW: Imperial Assault: Status: internal Stage: Alpha - Progress: 68% till public Beta
TrueWar: Status: internal Stage: N/A - Progress: undisclosed
CnC ZH: Second Wave: Status: public Stage: 2.51 - Progress: discontinued

Call To Arms is dead in the water due to staffing issues and is looking for new team members.

NOTES:
An Act of War has moved here: http://www.derelictstudios.net/aaow/
Imperial Assault has moved to : http://www.imperialassault.com/
Last edited by Renaissance on Thursday, December 2, 2004 at 1:52:37 PM.

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