C&C Labs News Wire

Quite a few things have happened recently. Here's what you should know:

• The free Battlecast Viewer has been released (too late to be of much good, one might say). For more explanation, see Apoc's post here. In effect, the Viewer (weighing in at a rather hefty 1.4GB) lets you watch C&C 3 games without owning the game itself. You can't play, though; only observe multiplayer matches. For those of you who haven't bought the game yet, which I imagine is a relatively small percentage, this could be a good tool in your decision-making process.
  
• They've also revamped, in a very neat way, the Battlecast website. It loads faster, and has a nice organization of thousands of matches. Those of you interested in watching replays of C&C battles will find it interesting to check out.
  
• Episode 3 of Battlecast Primetime is available on C&C TV. It features coverage of new C&C matches, as well as news on Kane's Wrath (the upcoming expansion pack for C&C 3). Namely, each side gets a huge, new "epic" unit that's designed to be the true ultimate force on the battlefield. Nod's, the only one announced, is a unit that shifts type based on what's garrisoned inside.
  
• Also announced was the cast of Kane's Wrath. In addition to Joe Kucan, two new members were added: Natasha Henstridge and Carl Lumbly, who both play Nod characters.
  
• There's a new feature started called "Ask a Developer" on the EA forums, in which you case ask the makers of C&C questions that are on your mind. Ask away!

Just when you might have thought all C&C modders had moved on to C&C 3, Spartan07 would like to announce the launch of the Generals British Forces mod website.  Generals British Forces is a modification currently under development for Zero Hour. The mod aims to add Britain as a new faction within Zero Hour, incorporating elements of the British army, Royal Navy, and Royal Air Force.

While Generals British Forces has a number of models created, the team is actively looking for new members, including coders, mappers and skinners. If you're interested in joining the team, please post in their forums. For more information about the mod, be sure to check out the website, which includes information about it's current status as well as planned units, structures, and more.

Patch 1.09 for Tiberium Wars has been released today. You can download the small version of the patch by using C&C 3's in-game updater. For the complete patch change log, please see this posting.

If you're having trouble downloading the patch through the game, you can download it directly from Generals World by visiting the Tiberium Wars Patches page. EA also has a listing of mirrors posted here.

Community Manager APOC sends word that C&C 3 patch 1.09 will be released tomorrow:

Click here to read the full release notes. Here's to another Command & Conquer 3 patch. For those keeping score at home, C&C Generals (without the expansion) was patched 8 times.

One of the top artists in the community, General Kane Nash, released a new wallpaper recently titled "The World Guardians" and about the Global Defense Initiative from C&C. You can see it below:

After a long couple months of work, the C&C: All Stars team has finished a new patch for the mod, version 1.1. While the full change list is very long, here are a few notable changes:

- Numerous balance changes and bug fixes
- Improved Tiberian Coalition and Red Alert Alliance AI
- Some small graphical updates, mostly to rubble models/skins
- New 5 player map: Free For All Stars
- Amphibious units are now able to travel in and out of water on most official maps
- CrosuS support
- Added support for international editions of Zero Hour:
  German, French, Spanish, and Korean

Many of these, particularly the last, will hopefully enhance the All Stars experience for all of you. If you've never heard of All Stars before, I highly recommend you check it out--it's one of the top-ranked Zero Hour mods. Go and download the patch, or the full mod, here!

EA announced a new compilation pack today that will interest some of you. Here's the press release:

EA ANNOUNCES THE COMMAND & CONQUER SAGA AND CELEBRATES 12 YEARS OF THE POPULAR SERIES

Collection of Thirteen Command & Conquer Titles

LOS ANGELES, Calif., October 2, 2007 – Experience Command & Conquer™ like never before—thirteen Command & Conquer games spanning three generations of the series in a single package! Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced The Command & Conquer™ Saga, a massive compilation of over a dozen Command & Conquer games including the award-winning Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars™ and all the titles featured in Command & Conquer™ The First Decade. Available in North America this October for the PC, The Command & Conquer Saga marks the largest PC franchise compilation to date.

With over 25 million copies sold worldwide, the Command & Conquer franchise has defined the Real-time strategy (RTS) genre with fast and fluid gameplay, cutting-edge visuals, epic storylines, and rich campaign missions. The series has evolved over a decade, spawned over a dozen titles, and continues to be the genre benchmark by which all RTS games are measured. With its explosive style of warfare, the Command & Conquer franchise has grown over the years to span multiple fictional genres, including the science fiction Tiberium Universe, the revisionist history of the Command & Conquer Red Alert Universe, and a twist on modern warfare with Command & Conquer™ Generals.

The Command & Conquer Saga contains the following titles:

-- Command & Conquer™ (Aug. 1995)
-- Command & Conquer The Covert Operations™ (April 1996)
-- Command & Conquer Red Alert™ (Oct 1996)
-- Command & Conquer Red Alert Counterstrike™ (Mar. 1997)
-- Command & Conquer Red Alert™ The Aftermath™ (Sept. 1997)
-- Command & Conquer™ Tiberian Sun™ (Aug 1999)
-- Command & Conquer™ Tiberian Sun™ Firestorm (Feb. 2000)
-- Command & Conquer Red Alert™ 2 (Oct. 2000)
-- Command & Conquer™ Red Alert™ Yuri’s Revenge™ (Oct. 2001)
-- Command & Conquer Renegade™ (Feb. 2002)
-- Command & Conquer™ Generals (Feb. 2003)
-- Command & Conquer™ Generals Zero Hour (Sept. 2003)
-- Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars™(Mar 2007)

The Command & Conquer Saga has a US MSRP of $49.99. All games included in the compilation are rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB.

The development team at EA Los Angeles continues to give back to their community—one of the largest and most active fan communities in the world. To help celebrate the series’ twelfth anniversary, EA recently offered a free download of Command & Conquer Gold which garnered close to 3 million downloads to date. Over the next few months, fans can expect even more from the Command & Conquer team including exclusive content, video features, original programming through the Command & Conquer online network, and more. For up to date information on the anniversary activities or for more information about The Command & Conquer Saga or the Command & Conquer series, please keep visiting right here at www.CommandAndConquer.EA.com.