command-and-conquer-2013
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Command & Conquer cancelled, Victory Games closed
Command & Conquer has been cancelled and EA has closed developer Victory Games. The cancellation comes via a post on the game's site and the studio closure comes from EA in a statement to Game Informer: "This does mean that the Victory Games team will be disbanded. Wherever possible, we are working to help these talented people find other opportunities with EA." The cancellation post says the multiplayer approach to Command & Conquer was its downfall. "Your feedback from the alpha trial is clear: We are not making the game you want to play," the post reads. "That is why, after much difficult deliberation, we have decided to cease production of this version of the game. Although we deeply respect the great work done by our talented team, ultimately it's about getting you the game you expect and deserve." Victory and EA will refund all money spent in the alpha, expected to be handled over the next 10 days. EA say it is looking at ways to "get the game back on track." The blog post, attributed to Victory Studios, was not approved by the development team, Command & Conquer's Marketing Manager says on Twitter.
Command & Conquer's live service designed for 10-year support plan
Victory Games believes it has the tech in place to support Command & Conquer for ten years, according to an interview with VideoGamer. Command & Conquer is being developed as a live service and will be both free-to-play and require an Internet connection. "We built this Command & Conquer shell and frame to be the one-stop place for Command & Conquer for the next 10 years, so we want to add the other universes and maybe even a new universe that we didn't even have before, all under the same landing site, log-in [and] persona that you would keep track of," Victory Games General Manager Jon Van Caneghem said. Canegham also noted that he believes "the days of a boxed release are probably over," making an exception for any potential collector's editions of the game. Command & Conquer will launch this year for PC through EA's Origin service.
Gamescom trailers and screenshots giga-post
Psst, hey kid. You want some ... trailers? How about some Gamescom trailers? C'mere for a second. Yeah that's right, we got all kinds of trailers. Murasaki Baby, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Resogun, Infamous: Second Son, Watch Dogs, pretty much any kind of trailer you wanna put in your eyeballs, we can hook it up. Hey, and you know what? Since you seem like a nice kid, we're gonna throw in some screenshots too. Oh no, put your wallet away – the first one's free.
Command & Conquer being developed 'as a live service'
Victory Games' Command & Conquer, built on EA and DICE's Frostbite engine, is launching as a free-to-play game later this year through Origin. Tim Morten, development director, says that while Command & Conquer will require an internet connection, it makes for a more nimble game that can be updated far more frequently than a traditional retail product. With SimCity still fresh on everyone's mind, I asked Morten about the choice to take the online path. "First thing to know is this is not only a multiplayer game – we do offer skirmish so that people can practice up. I think with SimCity, a lot of people had an expectation to play solo. Many people are going to come to us to play multiplayer so we came from the mentality of, 'How do we the make multiplayer experience as good as we can make it?' The answer to that question is: we try to get rid of as much cheating as we can, and we try to get rid of as many problems with other peoples' lag impacting your own game."%Gallery-191297%
Command & Conquer hoping to 'wash the stain of C&C 4 away'
Electronic Arts and developer Victory Games really, really want you to know that the upcoming, free-to-play Command & Conquer is a legit game. To get back to the roots of what made C&C the franchise it was, the new game is doing its best to make us forget the last ... five years.
Navigating the free-to-play landscape in Command & Conquer
The term "free-to-play" carries with it a certain stigma in the video game industry. It invariably causes gamers to flinch, calling to mind social games like FarmVille. However, as more recognizable experiences enter the realm of free-to-play software, the knee-jerk reaction has begun to subside. With the Command & Conquer series launching under the freemium banner later this year, it would appear that EA is banking on tamer attitudes toward free, microtransaction-based titles.Despite the simplified, non-sequel sounding name, EA's free-to-play Command & Conquer is a continuation of the strategy series. First announced as Command & Conquer: Generals 2 in 2011, developer BioWare Victory plans to launch the game this year with a campaign that continues the Generals lineage, and later refresh the free-to-play game with content set in the Tiberium and Red Alert universes.There lies a very ambitious development plan in place for this series, with gamers playing a key part of the process. Immediately after launch, Victory says it will begin crunching numbers and plugging into the fan community to see what needs to be fixed, changed, or tweaked. Victory promises changes based on this feedback will be implemented every week. Calling it a "Live Service," Victory anticipates the instant feedback will allow Command & Conquer's new free-to-play focus to improve and expand quickly.The downsides of shifting to a free-to-play focus are immediate for franchise fans. Though there will be single-player content, Command & Conquer will not include a single-player campaign and Victory has no plans to include cutscenes or cinematics, which is a massive blow to series supporters. Additionally, Command & Conquer is another in EA's growing list of games that require a constant internet connection.%Gallery-179834%
Command and Conquer sets aim for beta in first half of 2013
Command and Conquer, EA's upcoming free-to-play iteration, is targeting its beta for the first half of 2013. Community Manager Eric Krause laid down the window in a candid blog post, saying the beta will be the longest ever for a Command and Conquer game.Krause also used the post to name-check Command and Conquer 4 as "especially far below the expectations and standards a lot of us had for C&C games." It's interesting to see EA openly criticize its previous efforts, but maybe not surprising given the publisher's approach to the new game. There's been much talk of new directions and bringing the franchise back to its roots, so it's clear EA wants fans to know it's trying to win them back.That includes listening to said fans. EA President Frank Gibeau recently revealed Command and Conquer will have single-player, in response to negative feedback about the decision to can it. By the sounds of it, Victory expects next year to be a slog through many months of further feedback from the beta.
Command & Conquer: Generals 2 has no single-player campaign, could be added after launch
Another shift has come to the world of Command & Conquer: Generals 2, with BioWare Victory General Manager John Van Caneghem announcing the free-to-play game will not include a single-player campaign.Speaking with PC Gamer, Van Caneghem said the focus for BioWare Victory was to develop "co-operative and competitive" skirmishes as the core of the latest game to carry the C&C insignia. More modes – including a single-player campaign – could be added in the future, based on community demand, but the developer has yet to reveal how adding that content will work.BioWare Victory's aim is to bring Generals 2 "back to the roots of what made Command & Conquer great," letting you build a devastating number of units and kill off the competition in a dedicated online space.Originally announced as a new retail game during the 2011 Spike VGAs, Generals 2 has since been shifted to one part of EA's effort to create a free-to-play universe surrounding the Command & Conquer license. "We decided to choose Generals as the first set of games we build under the universe, but we'll be expanding after that, like Tiberium and Red Alert as well as some others as well. But Generals 2 was the first one, and it was one of the biggest sellers, as well as the fanbase has been asking for it for some time," Van Caneghem said.We're not sure that losing a campaign and shifting to a free-to-play model is exactly what C&C Generals fans had in mind when making those requests, though.
