Cblogs Recap: Week 25

-RoodadooReview reviews Mindseize.

-Black Red Gaming continues his coverage of this y?ear's limited E3 conference. Here ??is a look at EA Play.

-Black Red Gaming reviews Summer In Mara.

-Lord Spencer reviews Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko as part of his PS1 REVIEWS blogging series.

-Lord Spencer reviews Roll Away (Kula's World) as part of his PS1 REVIEWS blogging series.

-Shoggoth2588 contin??ues his review of the past decade in gaming with a ?review of 2015.

-Skazfest argues that the excellence of Super Metroid has been matched or even surpassed ?by newer Metroidvanias to the good of video game fans everywhere.

-Nior concludes his Command & Conquer retrospective with a look at the mods that kept the series going after ?its official death.

-Riff Raff wonders about the nature and expiration date of stor?y spoilers.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between the Chrono Trigger soundtrack and the music of Eric Serra.

-Seymour just releas??ed a music album. Go gi??ve him some support.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure and the music of Scritti Politti.

Thanks to Lord Spencer for the Cblog Recap and to our community for another week of great content! If you'd like to see your gaming thoughts recapped on the front page, then head on over to the Community Blogs and join in the funsies.

The post Cblogs of 6/13 to 6/19/2020: EA Play, Super Metroid, and C&C mods appeared first on Destructoid.

Podtoid 447

There were many highlights during the PlayStation Future of Gaming presentation last week, but two of the games that really stuck out to the Podtoid crew were Resident Evil Village and Bugsnax. And while the two games couldn't be more different, when you think about it, isn't the idea of foods that are actually bugs far more frightening than any stupid werewolf we'll fight in the next RE game?

That's just one of the topics on this episode of Podtoid. The team comes together to look back at their favorite announcements from the showcase, the trailers that didn't do anything for them, and what Xbox will need to do with its upcoming show. All that plus Command & Conquer&??nbsp;and glory holes are both making a comeback on Podtoid Ep??isode 447.

If you don't have time to listen now, you can always subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Podbean, and Spotify. You can also check us out on YouTube.

To find past episodes of Podtoid, click here.

The post In another timeline, Bugsnax is actu?ally a horror game appeared first on Destructoid.

Cblogs Recap: Week 24

-Lord Spencer reviews Disruptor as part of his PS1 REVIEWS blogging series.

-Lord Spencer reviews Gex: Enter the Gecko as part of his PS1 REVIEWS blogging series.

-Black Red Gaming sheds a light on the release of Gunfire Reborn and the development of the System Shock remake.

-Blanchimont reviews Phantasy Star Online 2 on the PC.

-Rabite ranks a selection of portable systems.

-Kerrik52 reviews Tales of Xillia as part of his Traveler in Playtime bloggin??g series.

-Sam van der Meer talks about Killer7 in its 15th anniversary.

-Boxman214 predicts what woul?d have been revealed in this ??year's E3.

-Nior continues his retrospective on the Command & Conquer series?? by focusing on the unfortunate death of the franchise. Is this the?? end for the famous RTS series?

-Black Red Gaming predict??s what would have been the big revea??l in this year's E3.

-TheLimoMaker is early in listing his best games of 2019.

-Shouryuuken shares some news on the possible sale o??f Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

-Deatheagle wonders if Earthbound had an accidental secret hard mode.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between some tracks in Chrono Trigger and many other pop culture tunes.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between some famous tracks in Super Smash Bros. and other music in pop culture.

Thanks to Lord Spencer for the Cblog Recap and to our community for another week of great content! If you'd like to see your gaming thoughts recapped on our front page, then head on over to the Community Blogs and tell us a tale.

The post Cblogs of 6/6 to 6/12/2020: Killer7 anniversary, PSO 2,? and portable gaming appeared first on Destructoid.

Unit Ready. Unit Lost. Unit Ready. Unit Lost.

Hey folks, welcome to the weekend, and I sincerely hope it finds you well. It would be ignorant of me to pretend that everything across the world was just fine and dandy right now. This is most assuredly one of the strangest and toughest years I rememb??er facing. But I hope that you and yours are keeping safe and well, Please take care of yourself and others, and find the small joys wherever they lie in these pressing of times.

The opening week of June has seen me spending a lot of my free time mostly attempting to placate a savaged sleep schedule. I did, however, run through the campaigns that make up Electronic Arts' Command and Conquer Remastered Collection. These strategy games recall the heady days of my youth, where I play the original C&C on, of all things, the Sega Saturn. A ridiculous compromise, but I made do, it was a lot of fun. You can check out my thoughts on the remaster right here.

But my business is not the focus of this article - yours is. Drop us a note below and fill us in on the vidya ga?mez that have been keeping you occupied these last seven days. It doesn't matter if they're old or new, whether you like 'em or not, just add your current obsessions to the list below, and show the community how you're right on the cutting edge of entertainment.

Oh, and while you're at it, why not check out our slick new forums. Simply sign up and soon you too can engage in learned discourse, while enjoying pictures of dopey kittens and anime characters. Just remember to be good to your fellow Dtoiders ??while you're there!

Have a safe and pleasan??t weekend, from all of us at Destructoid.

The post Whatcha been playing this week, Destructoid? appeared first on Destructoid.

Cblogs Recap: Week 23

-OmegaPhattyAcid introduces this month's Band of Bloggers prompt dealing with advertisments in video games.

-Lord Spencer concludes his Saturn REVI?EWS series with a review of the consol?e itself.

-Lord Spencer starts his PlayStation? REVIEWS series by sharing the list of g??ames he is going to review.

-Sam van der Meer reviews Arrest of a Stone Buddha.

-PocketCiabatta sheds a light on some of Sega's forgotten properties, beginning with Burning Rangers.

-OmegaPhattyAcid responds to this month's Band of Bloggers prompt by writing about cancelled Star Wars games.

-Shoggoth2588 shares with his gam??ing exploits in the month of May.

-Kerrik52 reviews Patapon 2 as part of his Traveler in Playtime ??blogging seri?es.

-Black Red Gaming shares hi?s list of most anticipated game? releases in June 2020.

-RoodadooReview reviews Hades.

-HyperbolebyDefault reviews Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition on the PC.

-BlackAdler reviews Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling on the PC.

-JagGentlemann discusses how Pokemon Colosseum and Pokemon XD changed his views on the franchise.

-TroyFullbuster discusses the c??oncept of realistic time?? in video games.

-Exber reviews Persona Q2 New Cinema Labyrinth which is his 2019 GOTY.

-EloBoots discusses how smurfing changed League of Legends.

-Nior continues his Command & Conquer series retrospective with a blog on Red Alert 3.

-Amburger shares her thoughts on how Nintendo's Clubhouse Games: 51 is perfect for a family night.

-Osc continues updating us on his hobby game ??development.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between the soundtrack of Chrono Trigger and several pop culture tracks.

-PhilsPhindings discusses the similarities between the soundtrack of Street Fighter II and the music of John Mellencamp.

Thanks as always to Lord Spencer for the Cblog Recap and to our community for another week of great content! If you'd like to see your gaming thoughts recapped for our front page, then head on over to the Community Blogs and spin us a yarn.

The post Cblogs of 5/30?? to 6/5/2020: Red Alert 3, Pokemon,?? and cancelled Star Wars games appeared first on Destructoid.

Building in Progress

In a surprising announcement, Electronic Arts has stated its intention to release the source code for Westwood Studios' 1995 strategy title Command & Conquer, along with its 1996 sequel Red Alert. The code will be released under a General Public Licence on June 5, coinciding with the launch of the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection.

"This is a key moment for Electronic Arts, the C&C community, and the gaming industry, as we believe this will be one of the first major RTS franchises to open source their source code under the GPL," said EA's Jim Vessella on Reddit. "Along with the inclusion of a new Map Editor, th?ese open-source DLLs should assist users to design maps, create custom units, replace art, alter gameplay logic, and edit data."

"Overall, we are incredibly excited to see what the community creates over the coming months. We anticipate some fantastic content for the Remastered Collection itself, some great updates in current community projects as they incorporate the source code, and perhaps we’ll even see some new RTS projects now ??made possible with the source code under the GPL."

EA hopes that releasing the source code will encourage the C&C modding community, affording them easier access to the tools and assets required to expand the Command & Conquer homebrew universe. Elsewhere in the post, Vessella noted that C&C Remastered will not support LAN mu??ltiplayer at launch, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as having delaye??d development. LAN support will remain a high priority for post-release.

Open source is exciting news for the C&C tech-head community, who will no doubt put these new tools to excellent use, creating a catalogue of new maps, missions, units and storylines. But you know what I'm looking forward to the most? Starring in my ow??n FMV ??cinematics. I wonder if Ivana Milicevic is free...

Command & Conquer Remastered Collection launches June 5 on PC via Steam and GOG.

The post EA to release source code for Command & Conquer and Red Alert to aid modding community appeared first on Destructoid.

We are going to have to act, if we want to live in a different world

[Update: The remaster collection (Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn, Command & Conquer: Red Alert, and their three expansion packs—Covert Ops, Counterstrike, and The Aftermath) will arrive on both Origin (including Origin Premiere) and Steam on June 5, EA revealed today. It's priced at $19.99 base, with options for $59.99 and ??$149.99 special and anniver?sary editions, respectively. You can find th??e debut trailer below.]

Over on the official Command & Conquer Twitter, a new post is suggesting that there is fresh news en route regarding the incoming Command & Conquer Remastered Collection - a rel??ease I somehow keep ?forgetting is in the works, even though I'm really looking forward to it.

Not even a hint has been dropped as to what this news will entail, so we could ??be getting a trailer, a release date, platform announcements, maybe all of the above. Whatever the news, you can be sure that we'll let you know when the intel arrives. From God, to Kane, to Seth, to Twitter, to Destructoid.

In the meantime, you can check out an example of what the remastered versions of the series classic entries Command & Conquer and Command & Conquer: Red Alert will look like right here. The re-release will include feature original C&C gameplay, a new zoom opt??ion, and apparently nothing in the way of microtrans??actions. Pinky swear?

Command & Conquer Remastered is currently in development for an unspeci?fied? release date.

Eyes up, Commander. New Intel coming tomorrow, 0700 Pacific Time: //t.co/URKpUOTX8Q pic.twitter.com/MUUDVQq9rl

— Official CnC (@OfficialCnC) March 9, 2020

The post (Update) Command & Conquer Remastered news coming tomorrow appeared first on Destructoid.

It's 2D in order to maintain the 'original feel'

Did you forget that a Command & Conquer remaster is on the way? Honestly, I kind of did!

Today, around a year into development, Petroglyph Ga??mes and Lemon Sky Studi?os shared footage of the game, which is striving for a "classic 2D visual style" and the same gameplay from back in the day.

Beyond these comparison shots, you can also see the before-and-after with a slider tool.

_{The original Command & Conquer}

_{The C&C remaster}

Some of the assets,? like the Tiberium Silo, are "still in progress."

In the remaster, you'll be able to toggle between the original 320x200 assets and the remastered 3840x2160 assets in real time. You can zoom in, too, with "an effective zoom distance between the DOS and C&C Gold camera heights," according to Command & Conquer producer Jim Vessella.

"As you may remember from one of the first posts, our plan is to remaster (not remake) the classic games," he said. "Creatively, this means our guiding light has always been to remain authentic to the original feel, and we're constantly on the lookout for ways to achieve that goal. When we recovered the source code to C&C Tiberian Dawn and C&C Red Alert, this gave us a viable avenue to accurately match the core g??ameplay, feel, and signature look of the l??egacy titles. We felt the 2D style was the best way to bring all these elements together, and ultimately achieve the authenticity we were looking for."

This probably isn't as modern??-looking as some fans were expecting, but I understand why they took the approach that they did. If literally anything feels off, that'd defeat the?? whole purpose of the project.

Remaster Update and First Gameplay Teaser [EA]

The post Here’s how the Command & Conquer remaster is shaping up appeared first on Destructoid.

Rush on in

Backward compatibility just rushed in, commanding and conquering one of the most well-known real-time strategy franchises. Every Command & Conquer release ??on the Xbox 360 is now playable on the Xbox One.

EA has bolstered its Xbox backward compatibility offerings by adding three Command & Conquer titles and an expansion pack. They are: Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3: Commander's Challenge. The last one, Commander's Challenge, is a version of Red Alert 3: Uprising that doesn't contain the four mini-campaigns; it was adapted speci??fically for release on PS3 and? Xbox 360.

Of course, backward compatibility is not the most ambitious Command & Conquer project taking place right now. EA and Petroglyph are working on 4K PC remasters of the original Command & Conquer and the first Red Alert. Think of backward compatibility like the appetizers and the remasters as the entree. It's a good time for people who are into playing old Command & Conquer games.

@majornelson [Twitter]

The post A bunch of Command & Conquer games are backward compatible on Xbox One now appeared first on Destructoid.

Made by people who know C&C best

Last month, an EA producer took to reddit to publicly state the publisher's intent to return to the roots of Command & Conquer -- not the mobile stuff t?hat has longtime fans disillusioned with the direction of the series. Now, EA has told us? exactly what it has in store.

EA is remastering the original Command & Conquer (Tiberium Dawn) and Red Alert in 4K on PC. They'll be bundled together as a single collection, along with their expansion packs Covert Ops, Counterstrike, and Aftermath. No ?release date or price has been announced yet.

Maybe the most compelling part of this remaster is who's making it. EA has teamed up with Petroglyph Games who will lead the charge. Petroglyph is a studio that's known for its real-time strategy games like Grey Goo and Star Wars: Empire at War. That's because several of its key employees helped create Command & Conquer before EA shut down Westwood Studios in the early 2000s. The remaster has Command & Conquer's co-creator, lead programmer, and audio direc??tor all working on i??t.

As for an ETA on this project, we might have to wait a bit. EA says it hasn't actually started development yet. That's why it's stressing that fan feedback is so important -- because it can actually help shape how this turns out. Save the most obvious request though, because EA has already addressed it. The Command & Conquer remaster collection won't have microtransactions of any kind??.

C&C Remaster Announcement from EA [reddit]

The post EA’s Command & Conquer remaster is a collection of the original and Red Alert appeared first on Destructoid.

Which games do you want?

[Update: Vessella has already addressed the obvious elephant in the room by saying "We will not be adding microtransactions to a C&C Remaster."]

During its E3 2018 press conference, EA temporarily delighted longtime real-time strategy players by announcing a new Command & Conquer game. The elation was short-lived and summarily followed by disappointment. Command & Conquer: Rivals was a mobile game. It hasn't set the world on fire.

Today's Command & Conquer news is more promising. Producer Jim Vessella took to reddit to reveal that EA plans to remaster some of the series' most beloved games. "We've been exploring some exciting ideas regarding remastering the classic PC games, and already have the ball rolling on our first effort to celebrate the upcoming 25th Year Anniversary," Vessella says. Command & Conquer's 25-year anniversary will be in 2020.

Vessella also mentions that EA will be talking to fans to help shape the future of Command & Conquer, and, presumably, to gather input as to which games should be remastered. I desperately hope it's Command & Conquer: Renegade?? -- a first-person shooter that I didn't know existed until I looked it up 15 minutes ago.

C&C Update from EA [reddit]

The post (Update) EA’s planning to remaster some classic Command & Conquer games on PC appeared first on Destructoid.

Get ready to tap... Strategically!

E3 is generally a pretty exciting time. But, if you're a Command & Conquer fan, it could also be a time for mourning, because EA has just announced Command and Conquer: Rivals, a new RTS that has been "re-imagi?ned for mobile."

My feelings aside, the concept of a portable Command and Conquer could be promising. The battles themselves shown in the gameplay demo seem short enough, notably, with the playing field in complete view. But, after seeing this in action during the demo, I just don't know if I care enough to ever play this when I could just go play Red Alert 2 instead.

With no official release date as of yet, Command and Conquer: Rivals will be releasing on both iOS and Android, with Android u?sers being able to play right now ??in a "pre-alpha" version of the game. Exciting!

The post Command and C?onquer: Rivals announced, stomps on childhoods eve?rywhere appeared first on Destructoid.

Grandpa Simpson.gif

Well, here's a peculiar and seemingly out-of-nowhere development. Tencent has announced Red Alert Online, an upcoming mobile adaptation of the Command and Conquer: Red Alert series.

This is just a cinematic trailer, but the game's official site has some screenshots (which look exactly like you'd expect them to). Yuri's up there in the key art, and Tanya ma??kes an appearance as well.

So yeah, this exists. It would be nice to see? someone make better use ??of the IP for fans.

The post Tencent is doing Red Alert Online for mobile appeared first on Destructoid.

A proof-of-concept for the HTC Vive

I've seen virtual reality dev?elopers convincingly achieve a sort of "living board game" effect with strategy games before, but not qu??ite like this. That tablet interface for base-building is new to me.

This proof-of-concept from creator Ádám Horváth shows how a classic real-time strategy title -- in this case, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 -- might hold up in VR. "Well." The answer is "well." It was built in Unreal Engine 4 using remade-for-3D assets created by ModDB member Sly_Fox.

I'm not even a C&C guy (my only real connection to the series can be traced back to an acquaintance in high school who was utterly obsessed with Red Alert 2) and I still think this looks sweet.

The post Fan experiment shows how cool Red Al?ert 2 could be in VR appeared first on Destructoid.

Check your reference material

The official account of The Russian Embassy in London tweeted an ostensible news report about, "Extremists near Aleppo received several truckloads of chemical ammo." Aleppo is the largest city in Syria, a country wherein 11.5 percent of the entire population has been wounded or killed since 2011. The last reported death toll is 470,000; 400,000 have been killed in violence, while "70,000 [deaths] came as an indirect result of the war."

And so perhaps when tweeting about a region, the UK's Russian Embassy might want to consider not using screenshots from EA's Command & Conquer: Generals just because it is, no lie, the first Google image search result for "bomb truck." Unless the US and China are about to team up to nuke Syria, then the Generals screenshot would make more sense.

The Embassy went on to explain that the, "image [was] used for illustration purposes only," even though a real-life picture of a truck seems more illustrative than a top-do?wn, 3D render of a truck.

Regardless,?? folks are having fun in the responses.

The post Russian embassy warns of chemical warfare with Command & Conquer screen appeared first on Destructoid.

Puff up some deals, bro

Unlike the titles above, the deals this weekend aren't as cheesy. The top Triple-A game of the month on PC, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, snags a nice 25% off at GMG after discount, dropping to only $45.

If that's too rich for your blood, check out Origin's freebie of the month: Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 + Yuri's Reve?nge. No credit card required, just an O??rigin account.

In terms of upcoming releases FIFA 16 has a few solid offers. GMG again is making the best deal on PC with a 23% off discount to $46.20. On the console side, Best Buy is offering a bonus $10 reward + 20% cut for GCU members ($30 membership).

A Square Enix sale is running at GMG with games at up to 80% off. Everything is at or better than Steam Summer Sale 2015 price levels including $3.66 Just Cause Collection, $5.79 Tomb Raider GOTY, and $6.35 Deus Ex Collection. (Yes, its more Edios then Square.)

Top Deals

• Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Steam) — $45  (list price $60)
• Hitman (Steam) — $46.20  (list price $60)
• FIFA 16 (Origin) — $46.20  (list price $60)
• Mad Max — $22.42  (list price $60)
• WWE 2K15 (Steam) — $9.62  (list price $50) <- historic low
• FIFA 16 + $10 Rewards (PS4, XOne, X360, PS3) — $59.99  (list price $60)
• Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 + Yu?ri's Revenge (Origin) — FREE
• PlayStation 4 Destiny Taken King Bundle + MGSV — $399.99 <- added Sunday

Square Enix Sale

Use Code: SAVE23-WITHGM-GSEP15

• Tomb Raider Collection (Steam) — $15.40  (list price $80)
• Lara Croft and The Temple of Osiris (Steam) — $7.70  (list price $20)
• Deus Ex Collection (Steam) — $6.35  (list price $33)
• Tomb Raider Game of the Year Edition (Steam) — $5.78  (list price $30)
• Tomb Raider (Steam) — $3.85  (list price $20)
• Hitman: Absolution (Steam) — $3.85  (list price $20)
• Hitman Collection (Steam) — $7.70  (list price $40)
• Just Cause Collection (Steam) — $3.66  (list price $19)
• Just Cause 2 (Steam) — $2.89  (list price $15)
• Kane and Lynch 2 (Steam) — $1.93  (list price $10)
• Deus Ex: GOTY Edition (Steam) — $1.35  (list price $7)
• Just Cause (Steam) — $1.35  (list price $7)

Recent Releases

• 09/17: Skyshine's BEDLAM (Steam) — $15.40  (list price $20)
• 09/16: Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 (Steam) — $38.50  (list price $50) <- crap port
• 09/15: Forza Motorsport 6 + $20 Gift Card (Xbox One) — $59.99  (list price $60)
• 09/03: Company of Heroes 2 The British Forces (Steam) — $9.44  (list price $13)

Upcoming Releases

• 09/22: Blood Bowl 2 (Steam) — $34.65  (list price $45)
• 09/24: FINAL FANTASY V — $11.09  (list price $16)
• 09/25: Grand Ages: Medieval (Steam) — $26.18  (list price $40)
• 09/29: Sword Coast Legends (Steam) — $26.79  (list price $40)
• 09/29: NBA 2K16 (Steam) — $37.97  (list price $60)
• 09/30: Might & Magic Heroes VII (Uplay) — $38.50  (list price $50)
• 11/10: Fallout 4 (Steam) — $46.20  (list price $60)
• 11/26: Trackmania Turbo (Uplay) — $29.17  (list price $40)
• 12/04: Mario Tennis Ultra Smash (Wii U) — $39.99  (list price $60)
• 02/05: XCOM 2 (Steam) — $33.88  (list price $60)
• 03/08: Tom Clancy's The Division (Uplay) — $41.01  (list price $60) <- will it suck?

PC Game Deals

• Grand Theft Auto V — $44.99  (list price $60)
• Kyn (Steam) — $16.99  (list price $20)
• The Banner Saga (Steam) — $6.79  (list price $20)
• Toren (Steam) — $4.99  (list price $10)
• Ship Simulator Extremes (Steam) — $4.99  (list price $20)
• Ancient Space (Steam) — $4.99  (list price $20)
• Grid Autosport (Steam) — $4.96  (list price $50)
• Out There: Omega Edition (Steam) — $3.85  (list price $10)
• To The Moon (DRM-Free) — $1.99  (list price $10)
• Valiant Hearts: The Great War — $3.75  (list price $15)

Console Game Deals

• Guilty Gear Xrd Sign Limited Edition (PS4) — $44.99  (list price $70)
• Dead or Alive 5: Last Round (PS4) — $24.99  (list price $30)
• Rare Replay (Xbox One) — $19.99  (list price $30)
• Payday 2 Crimewave Edition (PS4) — $19.99  (list price $50)
• Project Cars - Used (Xbox One, PS4) — $14.99  (list price $40)
• NBA 2K15 - Used (PS4, Xbox One) — $12.99  (list price $40)
• Madden NFL 25 (Xbox One) — $7.99  (list price $30)

Laptop Deals

• 15.6" Alienware 15, i7-4720HQ, 1080p, GTX 970M — $1,274.99  (list $1,500)
• 17.3" Asus Touch i7-4720HQ, 8GB, GTX 965M, 1080p — $1,149.99  (list $1,380)
• 17.3" Lenovo Y70 i7-4720HQ, GTX 960M, 16GB, 512GB — $1,099  (list $1,800)
• 14" Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon i5-4300U, 1440p — $779.99  (list $1,200)
• 15.6" Lenov??o Z51 i5-5200U, 8?GB, R9 M375, 1080p, Win10 — $649  (list $1,050)

HDTV Deals

• 60" Panasonic 4K LED TV — $1,299.99  (list $1,900)
• 49" LG 4K LED Smart TV — $549.99  (list $600)
• 58" Seiki 1080p 120Hz LED HDTV — $399.99  (list $800)
• 42" Vizio 1080p 120Hz Smart LED HDTV (Refurb) — $279.99  (list $450)
• 40" Changhong 1080p LED HDTV — $199.99  (list $250)

The post Smokin’ hot 25% off Phantom Pain for PC, freebie Red Alert 2 returns appeared first on Destructoid.

*Shakes fist at GameSpy*

Electronic Arts said last month that it was working to ??find a solution to the GameSpy Technology shutdown ?on May 31, 2014 that will mean the end of online functionality, including multiplayer, for a number of titles that rely on the service.

"Unfortunately, du?e to technical challenges and concerns about the player experience, we do not have a solution at this time," the company wrote in an update. "Online services for EA games on the GameSpy platform will be closed down at the end of June."

A full list of games going offline on June 30 is viewable here and also included below.

"We know some of these games are still fan favorites, including Battlefield 2, Battlefield 1942, Medal of Honor: Allied Assault and Command & Conquer games. We are still investigating community-supported options to preserve online functionality for these titles, such a??s multiplayer. Significant technical hurdles rema??in, and at this time we don't have anything to announce."

Not all hope is lost, as we've seen third-parties help other games which will be impacted by the shutdown, like Halo: Combat Evolved. Shame. Real shame. Some of these games are really good? and even though their respective player bases are surely dwindling, it's sad to see them go.

Update on EA Titles Hosted on GameSpy [EA]

June 30th, 2014 -- Online Services Shutdown

• Battlefield 1942 for PC and Mac (including The Road to Rome and Secret Weapons of WW2 expansions)
• Battlefield 2 for PC (including Special Forces expansion)
• Battlefield 2: Modern Combat for PlayStation 2
• Battlefield 2142 for PC and Mac (including Northern Strike expansion)
• Battlefield Vietnam for PC
• Bejeweled (r) 2 for the Wii
• Bulletstorm for PlayStation 3
• Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars for PC and Mac (including Kane's Wrath expansion)
• Command & Conquer: Generals for PC and Mac (including Zero Hour expansion)
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 for PC and Mac
• Crysis 2 for PC
• Crysis for PC
• Crysis Wars for PC
• Dracula - Undead Awakening for the Wii
• Dragon Sakura for Nintendo DS
• EA Sports 06 for PC
• F1 2002 for PC
• FIFA Soccer 08 (KOR) for the Wii
• FIFA Soccer 08 for Nintendo DS
• FIFA Soccer 09 for Nintendo DS
• FIFA Soccer 10 for Nintendo DS
• FIFA Street 3 for Nintendo DS
• Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers for PlayStation 2
• Global Operations for PC
• GREEN DAY: ROCK BAND for the Wii
• James Bond: Nightfire for PC
• Madden NFL 08 for Nintendo DS
• Madden NFL 09 for Nintendo DS
• Master of Orion III for PC
• Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for PC and Mac (including Breakthrough and Spearhead expansions)
• MySims Party for Wii
• MySims Racing for Nintendo DS
• MySims SkyHeroes for the Wii and DS
• NASCAR Sim Racing for PC
• NASCAR Thunder 2003 for PC
• NASCAR Thunder 2004 for PC
• Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 for PC
• Need for Speed: ProStreet for Nintendo DS
• Need for Speed: Undercover for Nintendo DS
• Neverwinter Nights 2 for PC and Mac
• Neverwinter Nights for PC, Mac and Linux (including Hordes of the Underdark and Shadows of Undrentide expansions)
• SimCity Creator for Wii
• Skate It for Nintendo DS
• Sneezies for the Wii
• Spore Creatures for Nintendo DS
• Spore Hero Arena for Nintendo DS
• Star Wars: Battlefront for PC and PlayStation 2
• Star Wars: Battlefront II for PC and PlayStation 2
• THE BEATLES: ROCK BAND for the Wii
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08 for Nintendo DS

The post These are the EA games going offline on June 30 appeared first on Destructoid.

Kill them like watermelon

EA stopped development on the latest Command & Conquer, and closed the studio working on it. The game was in its early alpha stages as a free-to-play title, and EA released a statement saying that all purchases during the alpha would be refunded. EA also said that anyone that was eligible for the early beta access would be able to ??do so "once production of? this title resumes under a new studio."

This is good to know. ?I don't have any faith in EA ever making another PC game that won't suck, but it's interesting to see that they are keeping it in development. They will probably try to make it run on the Frostbite engine, add lots of?? DLC, and have it require a constant internet connection.

EA Looking? To Resume Command & C??onquer At New Studio [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]

The post Command & Conquer games will continue with new studio appeared first on Destructoid.

Developer Victory Games 'disbanded'

We'd like more Command & Conquer -- without the hooks of free-to-play digging into our skin, if at all possible. I guess it's not. Electronic Arts has canceled the new C&C, which ha?s ?been playable in an alpha capacity, and closed developer Victory Games.

"Part of being in a creative team is the understanding that not all of your choices are going to work out," writes the studio. "In this case, we shifted the game away from campaign mode and built an economy-based, multiplayer experience. Your feedback from the alpha trial is clear: We are not making the game you want to play. That?? is why, after much difficult deliberation, we have decided t??o 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."

Polygon got confirmation from EA that "The team at Victory Games will be disbanded. Wherever possible, we are working to help these talented ?people find other opportunities within EA."

"We believe that Command & Conquer is a powerful franchise with huge potential an?d a great history, and we are determined to get the best game made as soon as possible," said Vict??ory. "To that end, we have already begun looking at a number of alternatives to get the game back on track." It's been a bad time to be a fan of this series for quite a while now.

EA cancels Command & ?Conquer, closes development studio [Polygon]

The post EA cans free-to-play Command & Conquer appeared first on Destructoid.

Coming next year

It feels weird to write a headline like that. If you told my high-school self that campaign missions coming to a Command & Conquer game was news, I'd call you a goofy goober. Yet, here I am. Years older and wiser, telling everyone that the newest Command & Conquer game has co-op and ca?mpaign missions, and this this is?? news.

The newest C&C being a free "service," the biggest focus was and still is the multiplayer aspect. It's not surprising, given EA's priorities as of late, but that doesn't make it any less disappointing. The addition of single-player content was brought about by fan feedback, which comes as no surprise. Of-freakin'-course fans are going to want a campaign in their C&C game. 

The post Story-driven campaign coming to Command & Conquer appeared first on Destructoid.

May take a page from League of Legends

Command and Conquer is back, and this time it's going the free-to-play route. Now before you cringe too hard from the last statement, much is still undecided when it comes to the freemium model that will be in place when the game hits Origin later this year. Speaking with Victory Games' senior development director, Tim Morten, one possible model the game may follow takes a page straight out of League of Legends.

While Command and Conquer will be primarily free, what was made clear is that the game's microtransactions will be geared towards the return of the generals to the series. Similar to champions in League of Legends, generals may be on a weekly rotation for players to ?use, with the ability to buy favorites at any time for those who can't live without a certain someone.

Why this makes the most sense for the new Command and Conquer is due to the v?ariety in strategy they bring to every battle. Each ?general from one of three game's three factions (Global Liberation Army, European Union, and Asia Pacific Alliance) offer up their own strengths and weaknesses that will be invaluable in the right hands. Additionally, this time around the Global Liberation Army's generals hail from a more worldly origin; not to single out any one ethnicity like before.  

A lot is till up in the air, but one thing is for sure Command and Conquer is one sexy looking RTS game thanks to the power of the Frostbyte engine, DX 11, and fantastic physic effects. I'm not the biggest RTS buff, but if all the depth that has made the se?ries as iconic as it is over the years stays intact (which so far looks like it's on track to do) then this should be another respectable entry and one I'd be more than glad to hop into due to the relatively cheap entry barrier when it hits later this year.

The post Command & Conquer will offend everyone equally appeared first on Destructoid.

Worst company in America? You decide.

It wasn't much of a surprise when Electronic Arts was recently voted the Worst Company in America by readers of Consumerist for the second year in a row. Though the game publisher's sins are arguably less substantial than those of their competition, nerds have soundly declared that borked SimCity servers are officially worse than the predato??ry housing l??oan tactics responsible for the current financial crisis. 

Regardless of whether you agree with EA's win, it's obvious that gamers really dislik?e this software giant. Let's take a look at the reasons why.

Lack of creativity

Electronic Arts is terribly afraid of the word "creativity." Being creative means taking risks, trying things which haven’t been tried before. EA, meanwhile, prefers to release the same game as many times as possible, seeing just how much money they can milk out of a franchise before the public realizes they probably don’t need the “Extreme Farming” expansion for The Sims. 

_{I've said it before, but this is still the stupidest thing ever.}

For a good example of how shameless Electronic Arts is about their lack of original ideas, look no further than Goldeneye: Rogue Agent. After snatching the Bond license away from Rare and churning out an endless procession of uninspired shooters, EA finally decided to just try and trick people into thinking they'd crafted a sequel to the N64 hit. The game wasn’t even based on the movie Goldeneye, it was about a dude w??i?th an actual golden eye, which makes literally no sense whatsoever. 

Worst of all, EA doesn't even have the decency to recognize when they've published another uninspired piece of crap. Medal of Honor: Warfighter was universally panned by critics, though rather than recognize their failure and learn from it, EA execs decided to loudly whine about how unfair the scores were. Is there anything more pathetic? than a bunch of filthy rich executives crying because reviewers judged their game based ??on its merits rather than its gigantic marketing budget?

Buying out the competition

As established, EA hates coming up with new ideas, and nowhere is this more apparent than their mas??sive lineup of cookie-cutter sports titles. Of course, who can really fault them for taking advantage of those knuckle-dragging cretins who are happy to pay $60 for the exact same ??game they bought last year?

_{Look at how excited John Madden is about his royalty check.} 

That being said, it’s pretty pathetic to see how t?errified EA is of their competition, likely aware that any developer ??with even a sliver of respect for the customer could easily blow their half-assed efforts out of the water.

That’s exactly what happened in the case of Sega’s NFL 2K5, a game which was not only hailed as one of the best football games of all time, but actually sold for $10 less than EA’s latest lazy installment in the Madden franchise. Sweating profusely as they considered the idea of actually having to work for their consumer's money, the EA execs frantically called up their chums at the NFL, negotiating an exclusive contract and killing off any competing NFL game series, including NFL 2K and NFL Blitz. 

Of course, Electronic Arts themselves actually brought back the NFL Blitz franchise in 2012, which is pretty disgusting when you think abou?t it. It’s one thing to commit murder, it’s another to reanimate your victim's corpse and force it to dance fo??r nickels. 

Treating workers like Slave Labor

You might argue that EA can’t be faulted simply for being good at business, and I’ll be the first to admit I’ve got nothing against good old fashioned capitalism. Problem is, Electronic Arts is a little too old fashioned, the company clearly pining for the days when where treating your workers like s?laves was just par for the course.

_{Ah, the good ol' days.}

See, in America we have something called “overtime law,” wh??ere any employee working in excess of forty hours in a week get paid at 1.5 times their normal rate for those additional hours. It’s supposed to encourage companies to hire additional workers, rather than simply hiring a burly guy with a whip to provide encouragement.

Somehow though, EA never got the memo about not forcing your programmers to work like sweatshop laborers. In 2004, Erin Hoffman, the so-called “EA Spouse,” posted a scathing expose on how the electronic giant had treated her husband and other employees, forcing them to work as many at 84 hours a week  without any overtime compensation. Her speaking out led to three separate class-action lawsuits being filed against EA?, the software ?giant forced to shelve their plans for motivational shock-collars.

_{Beatings will continue until morale improves.}

Ruining companies

In the 90s?? Electronic Arts set about buying up every awesome PC developer they could find, with the hopes of working with these talented studios to create great software values for the consumer...

Wait, that’s wrong. What EA actually wanted was to buy up a bunch of already popular franchises, then force the developers to release an endless stream ??of crappy bug-laden sequels.

Remember the biblical story of Abraham, who was commanded by god to take his son Issac up to a mountain and stab the kid with the first sharp rock he could find? It was kind of like that, except Issac was the Command and Conquer series and Electronic Arts wasn't kidding around about the “murder your child?” decree.  

 _{C'mon Abraham, just ship Ultima IX. Who cares if it sucks?}

Not that EA cared as they helped run studios like Westwood and Origin into the ground. Once the studios were no longer profitable, they simply fired everybody and pocketed wh??atever cash they'd made. Everybody wins, except of course for those developers who were forced to stab their most-beloved creations to death. 

Poor Richard Gar??riott. I hope he's happy now that he lives in space.

Shamless Money-grubbing

Though most publishers these days have resorted to a variety of tactics to earn som?e additional cash, Electronic Arts is perhaps the most shameless about these practices, eagerly trying to squeeze every possible dollar out of your wallet.

_{Countless hours of login screen fun.}

• Downloadable content - You can be sure every EA release will come loaded with it, much of which probably should’ve been included in the retail release. 
• Used games - Sorry buddy. If you want to play with your friends, you’re gonna need this ridiculous online pass. 
• Micro-transactions - Because your favorite video games are made better when you're constantly being asked to feed them quarters
• Digital-rights management - EA promises to make sure that playing the game you bought is as frustrating as possible, either loading your computer up with DRM software, or forcing you to wait weeks for them to fix the servers before you can actually play that copy of SimCity you bought.

See, the reason gamers love companies like Valve, is because Valve makes it clear they loves the consumer. Gabe Newell has proven you don’t have to constantly shit? all over your customers just to turn a profit. Every time I buy a gam??e on Steam, I feel like I’m supporting a company which actually cares about me as a customer.

With Electronic Arts, I get the feeling my money is being used to purchase orphaned children, whose souls are used to power EA's massive fear?? engine, gradually opening the portal to the hellish nightmare realm where their demonic overlords plot the total enslavement of humanity.

Call it a hunch.

Non-Existent Customer Service

It’s interesting to see how different companies approach the issue of customer service. Many retailers hold by the old adage “the customer is always right,” going ou?t of their way to please every patron. Electronic Arts goes by the motto "we hate you, give us your money," something which has unsurprisingly earned them few fans.

_{Hi! How can we make your life miserable today?} 

EA's inability to care about their consumers was less of a problem back in the retail days, though the move towards digital downloads has forced people to deal with Origin's incompetent customer service reps. Got charged twice for Battlefield 3? That's a banning. An opponent swore at you during a game session? That's another banning. You pre-ordered Command & Conquer: Generals 2 before it got announced as free-to-play and now need a refund? Sorry bro, better luck next time.

The recent SimCity debacle was excellent evidence of how little Electronic Arts cares about their customers. When you sell somebody a $60 product that doesn’t work, the right thing to do is offer them a refund. However, the idea of swimming in a slightly smaller money pool was enough to send EA executives to tears. No refunds for anybody, though yo?u do get a free copy of? whatever game EA calculated would least affect their bottom line.

So, Electronic Arts has established the precedent that they are allowed to sell you something that doesn’t work, then refuse to?? give you back your money, and potentially ban you for complaining about it.

If that’s not enough cause to cancel your Battlefield 4 pre-order, I don’t know what is.

_{Preorder your inexplicable Origin banning today!}

In summary, Electronic? Arts is like most American companies, their blind greedy love of money resulting in a terrible exper??ience for the consumer. Though we can't argue that they put out some great games now and again, it's their crappy business practices which are the problem.

The Worst Company in America? Maybe not, but they'r?e definitely worki??ng hard to keep the title.  

The post Why people hate Electronic Arts appeared first on Destructoid.

Electronic Arts has just released the poignantly titled Command & Conquer: Ultimate Collection to the hungry PC masses. If you missed the initial announcement earlier in September, this package contains 17 games in the Command & Conquer series, ??spanning all its PC iterations. 

Personally, I was more of a fan of the earlier Red Alert games in the series; with its fantastic sprite work and interesting unit designs, it was always a treat to play...until those darn Soviet Attack Dogs and Tesl??a Troopers come in to ruin your day.

Command & Conquer: Ultimate Collection is available now at $49.99. Not a bad price for some of the best real-time strategy games? on the PC.

The post BAM! Command & Conquer: Ultimate Collection released appeared first on Destructoid.

Command & Conquer The Ultimate Collection brings together the 17 influentia??l real-time strategy games released in the series over the past 17 years for cheaper than most retail games. It's kind of like a Steam deal without Steam! This compilation will be available online and at retail in October.

Here's what you'll get:

• Redeemable download code for all 17 Command & Conquer titles on Origin™, including:
  
  • Command & Conquer
  • Command & Conquer™ The Covert Operations™
  • Command & Conquer™ Red Alert™
  • Command & Conquer Red Alert™ Counterstrike™
  • Command & Conquer Red Alert™ The Aftermath™
  • Command & Conquer™ Tiberian Sun™
  • Command & Conquer™ Tiberian Sun™ Firestorm™
  • Command & Conquer Red Alert™ 2
  • Command & Conquer Red Alert™ Yuri’s Revenge™
  • Command & Conquer Renegade™
  • Command & Conquer™ Generals
  • Command & Conquer™ Generals Zero Hour
  • Command & Conquer™ 3 Tiberium Wars™
  • Command & Conquer™ 3 Kane’s Wrath
  • Command & Conquer™ Red Alert™ 3
  • Command & Conquer™ Red Alert™ 3 Uprising
  • Command & Conquer™ 4 Tiberian Twilight
• Best of Command & Conquer music compilation
• Exclusive commemorative art
• Early access to the next Command & Conquer (coming 2013)

It may not be as elegant as the Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary Ultimate Box, but it's also not $450!

The post Command & Conquer all 17 C&C titles for $49.99 appeared first on Destructoid.

EA has unveiled a brand new, free to play Command & Conquer game that they're simply calling Command & Conquer.

Now I know that many who have been following the franchise recently would have undoubtedly heard of Command & Conquer Generals 2, and are wondering what on earth has happened to it now that this has transpired. Well, according to Command & Conquer's FAQ on their site (you can sign up for the beta on said site)?? the team have:

...decided to take Generals 2 in an exciting new direction as EA's first HD, free online game. Command & Conquer. The Generals 2 universe is the first of many free offerings that [the team] will deliver with Command & Conquer.

So it seems as though that whatever Generals 2 was supposed to contain will be released for free in this new game. Command & Conquer will launch sometime in 20?13 as a free, Origin exclusive game.

Command & Conquer fan??s, do you feel that EA's made the right decisi??on here?

The post gamescom: EA announces free-to-play Command & Conquer appeared first on Destructoid.

So long as you're waiting for Command & Conquer Generals 2 like the rest of us, perhaps you'd like to try Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances? It's a browser-based MMO that is now playable in open beta. If you have an EA account (and can r??????????????????????????emember?? the damn password) it only takes a few seconds to get in.

To be frank, it feels like another social-heavy web game, only with a C&C theme. Not that there's anyt?hing inherently wrong with that -- ?it'll be popular with a different audience, I'm sure -- but the lack of player autonomy in certain decisions always bugs me.

I do like that Tiberium Alliances will eventually come to mobile devices with cloud sav?ing, though. That could be neat for those who get sucked into the game.

The post Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances enters open beta appeared first on Destructoid.

I've never had much of a knack for strategy or warfare. I'm not relentlessly evil enough to be a dictator, and I'm not selfless and stalwart enough to be some sort of freedom fighter. So when the big WWIII hits, I'm probably going to be one of those dudes who buries himself in some hidey hole and fights the war in his own disconnected, demented way...like Tim Robbins in the War of the Worlds remake.

Thankfully, the upcoming free-to-play MMORTS End of Nations gives players the chance to fight alongs??ide friends for a good cause, as ?well as f*ck them over in the process. Its deviation from the usual RTS style might be a bit off-putting to some traditionalists, but the changes are indeed interesting enough to merit a tryout.

Besides, it's not like you have anything to lose. This ga??me doesn't cost you a dime.

End of Nations (PC)
Developer: Petroglyph Games
Publisher: Trion Worlds
Release: Fall 2012

Freedom is indeed free

I'm just going to get this out of the way, because plenty of people still think that "free" is synonymous with "cheap," especially with regards to game design. However, anyone who has played games like League of Legends or Heroes of Newerth can tell you that that's completely untrue. Also, anyone who has played Trion Worlds' previous MMO, Rift, can te??stify that this company certainly makes qu??ality games.

End of Nations is comple??tely free. Yes, you read that correctly; you don't have to pay a single cent ?to experience all of the game's content. That's a pretty sweet deal. So if you're on the fence about whether or not to give this one a try, at least you aren't risking anything by doing so.

I know you're probably thinking, "How do they plan on making any ?money?" Simply by providing anyone with time constraints (i.e. actual adults) the choice to buy experience boosts and other types of handicaps so they can enjoy the later content of the game a bit sooner than us leeche??s. That's all ... no pay-to-win crap that people usually complain about when it comes to F2P games.

So freakin' relax.

War has changed

From what I played, I didn't manage resources or build bases of any kind. Matches were won by meeting a set of pre-existing conditions, or simply by outlasting the other player. Players start off by choosing one of two factions -- the Liberation Front or the Shadow Revolution -- before entering matches with their "squads," customizable sets of units that each player controls. As they progress through the game, player??s earn points that go towards upgrades, new units, and better super weapons ... pretty self-expla??natory stuff.

The first mode I played was creatively named "Last Man Standing," where I and another press member battled again??st waves of enemy forces -- both of us at separate ends of the map. Before the match, we picked a squad of units, and were tasked with defending our capture point for as long as we could; whoever lasted the longest won the match. The best part about this mode (and what led to my victory) was that I could send "gifts" over to the other player's blockade. In this case, "gifts" translates to clusters of mines that I dropped directly into his units.

Other modes were a bit more directly competitive. At the event, the opposing side of the table consisted of Liberation Front players, whereas my side (designated as "Team Stinkeye" by yours truly) was nothing but Shadow Revolution. After starting at opposite ends of the map, both teams fought for control over different points on the battlefield; some points granted a bigger cash flow to repair units and buy super weapons, whereas others depleted enemy reinforcements at ??a faster rate. We lost, unfortunately, though Team Stinkeye shall never be forgotten

I must say, having each member of the team control their own set amount of units is a rather interesting approach to RTS multiplayer. While most players at the event controlled their squads ??as a single entity, rather than splitting them up, I'm curious to see what strategies a??re formed with this different style of gameplay.

The smell of napalm in the morning

For those who don't know, the developer of End of Nations, Petroglyph Games, was founded by ex-employees of Westood Studios. Anyone familiar with Westwood surely knows of their flagship franchise, Command & Conquer, which is now seein?g decent succes??s under the guidance of Electronic Arts.

So with End of Nations being developed by key minds behind one of the most influential strategy games ever, you can bet your war bonds that I'm enthusiastic. Also, it should come as no surprise that End of Nations features a similarly epic, baroque style that Command & Conquer had. Global conflict, evil military organizations and odd technologies are but a few of the features that'll make you Brotherhood ??of Nod fans feel right at home.

The conflict itself is particularly familiar. Basically, some jerk ??decided that the United Nations wasn't living up to its intended purpose, so he decided to form the Order of Nations. Their goal: to wipe out all of the world's individual governments and replace them with a singular one. Unfortunately for all fascist regimes, people don't take too kindly to control these days, so, as a result, the two aforementioned factions were formed to combat this evil empire.

To make things more interesting, both factions happen to dislike each other a bit ... hence FedExing landmines to my opponent. The overall conflict is a bit crude and cartoonish, but it does fit well with the game's number of modes and locales??. These types of games never really lend themselves to plausibility, anyhow. Just fun.

...Only who is left

End of Nations is an idea that I've always been interested in. Social titles like Empires and Allies have shown that strategy games work nicely with open and seamless communities, so I'm anxious to see how crazy the clashes in EoN will get.

I won't lie, it is a different kind of RTS. If you're some sort of RTS god (or if you're Korean), then End of Nations is going to be unfamiliar territory for you. Still, that's no excuse?? to not give this game a shot when it launches this fall. Your wallet will remain untouched.

Your pride, however, is another story. Later in the event, every member of the press teamed up ?against the Trion Worlds QA department. To say we were massacred and humiliated is a gross unders?tatement. Jerks.

The post Preview: Fighting an evil U.N. in End of Nations appeared first on Destructoid.

Up next for Electronic Arts Phenomic, the studio behind BattleForge and SpellForce, is a free-to-play MMO take on Command & Conquer. It was only a matter of time.

In a less obvious move, C&C Tiberium Alliances will be playable on mobile devices in addition to offering standard browser-based play. Of course, you can ant??icipate there being plenty of social elements. Remember, friends don't let friends spam others with in-g??ame status updates.

Those interested enough to throw their name in the running for beta access can do so here.

The post Command & Conquer goes F2P MMO with Tiberium Alliances appeared first on Destructoid.

You've likely seen the reveal trailer for Command & Conquer Generals 2 by now, so let's talk about the first details and screenshots. Powered by the Frostbite 2 engine, this one is coming to PC in 2013 by way of BioWare Victory. Yeah, seriously -- this is what that teaser screenshot was for.

"With Generals 2, we are bringing the Command & Conquer franchise back to its roots, blending strategic gameplay with fast-paced  action," ??says executive pr?oducer Jon Van Caneghem.

The one-sentence ??back story can be described as all of the world's leaders being obliterated in a terrorist attack, leaving behind military? superpowers. That's where you come in. You do want in, right?

The post First screenshots of Command & Conquer Generals 2 appeared first on Destructoid.

Earlier this week, Electronic Arts invited Destructoid out to its studios in Redwood Shores to check out Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight for the PC. While most people's priorities would be to find out how Command & Conquer 4 is changing the C&C formula, my main concern was finding out if we would be seeing any celebrities making an appearance. What can I say? I have a gu?ilty pleasure when it comes to celebrities and gossip.

I asked lead designer and the man behind the Command & Conquer fiction, Sam Bass, if we would be seeing any celebrities pop up. We won't be, and we can blame Sam for ?that. Luckily, there's a go?od reason behind this.

"Our cinematics always get written off as sort of campy," he explains. "It works really well for Red Alert where it’s kind of tongue-in-cheek. Whereas C&C 4, the story itse??lf is pretty dark. It&rsquo;s a dark gri?m, tale. So we wanted to have it be more believable."

Sam goes on to say "the goal was to hire act?ors who weren’t known, outside of Joe Kucan [Kane] of course cause I?? think there would be rioting if we replaced Joe. And he’d personally kill me."

"We wanted to get actors who weren’t known faces but were good actors so you could just believe them as the character as opposed to going “OH IT’S THE GUY FROM STARSKY AND HUTCH!” So we wanted to take a different approach. It’s a little risky cause you get a little less bit of mind share with unknown people but I th?ink it actually reall??y helps the story."

The cinematics this time around have more of a "movie-like" quality to them, too. The actors are on real sets, and the camera moves about as opposed to the static shots of Red Alert 3. My time was short with Tiberian Twilight, but the new cinematic approach hooked me in pretty fast; I was actually shocked by one of the ??game's early story events.

Check back later today as I'll be bringing you a full preview of Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight. And remember, blame Sam Bass for the lack of what you're seeing above in Tiberian Twilight.

The post No major actors in Command & Conquer 4, and here’s why appeared first on Destructoid.