Also Known As: banshee_revora (Steam) Joined: 15 Aug 2002 Location: Brazil
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 4:13 am Post subject:
The (null) future of Command & Conquer franchise
Subject description: Kane will now live in death... and only in death. Goodbye, Kane! Our tiberium vision is gone.
Hello ladies, gentlemen and everyone else. Today is the day of the year where I can be more sincere in the news and less carefull about posting predictions. Afterall, if I'm wrong... look at the date, ok? I do have an insurance for lies for the next hours. I am not a seer and nobody else is, so, I'm sure that a part of the content of this news might not eventually become true or could be a distorted vision of a reality.
Command & Conquer is the franchise that inspired the rise of this site and has the games from our best mods here. So, we do have a special care for this franchise here. The latest interesting release from this franchise was the expansion of Red Alert 3, Uprising. Then, things went downhill with Tiberian Twilight (which even became a swear word for the last community manager) and this Free To Play service which was aborted a couple of months ago, with the whole team behind it being dismissed.
Back in Gamescom, I had high expectations for the last C&C game, although I had some doubts about the success of its monetization. I've even told Alex06 that we could meet again in Germany next year. Well... a game being aborted with the whole team dismissed can change my opinion. I'm gonna be honest, Command & Conquer is dead. There is no way it will be successful at the hands of EA anymore. And there are a couple of reasons for it:
1) Command & Conquer is successful only as Real Time Strategy. There were attempts to bring other genres to it. They've all failed, although Renegade was fun. They did not sell well at all and several studios were closed due to that, with their staff dismissed.
2) Real Time Strategy games are restricted to PCs. Does anybody play the XBox 360 version of Tiberium Wars? Does anyone remember that there were C&C3 and Red Alert 3 for mobiles? Is there anyone still playing Command & Conquer for Nintendo 64 or Red Alert Retaliation for Playstation? I think the answer could be yes for a very restricted group of people. RTS games requires you to select a group of units, scroll the screen and issue order into groups. At least one of these 3 tasks will provide issues for touch screens, stylus, joysticks or any other interface. And PCs... are going downhill as a gaming platform, just as the success of the newest Microsoft Windows operational systems. MacOS and Linux machines doesn't have the same amount of gamers as Windows PCs yet.
3) Microtransactions on Real Time Strategy games are polemic and ruin these games. And believe me, EA is no longer satisfied to sell a box of a game and its expansion every year. Games with this kind of policies doesn't provide the same profits of pay to win free to play games of other genres. EA might no longer be willing to spend millions of bucks on this kind of game anymore.
So, that's it. It's just a matter of time until CommandAndConquer.com disappears. Several traditional C&C sites are abandoned like Planet CnC, CnC World and Command & Conquer: Filefront or totally dead like CnC-Source, CNCDEN, RADEN. One of the few exceptions at the english community is CNCNZ.com, which will eventually get bored of posting news about Renegade-X only. The mod community is still alive, because modding is fun and challenging. But they will eventually become a smaller isolated ghettos unless they successfully expands into other things.
The closest thing that could be called at this point a C&C game under development is OpenRA, which will soon feature support for Tiberian Sun resources and some of its mechanics.
Fans of real time strategy games should rely on games like Starcraft 2 which can be modified with its map editor and 3dsmax. Another game that is looking to be promising and, maybe, remind Command & Conquer in several aspects is the Grey Goo. It should bring the mechanics from C&C and even Tiberium will be there... with another name and style, of course: as molecular nanotechnology that is out of control self-replicating bots as explained in Wikipedia.
It's too early to know if Grey Goo will be successful or it will become dust like many other Petroglyph products.
Anyway, what we can conclude here is that, if you are thirsty for more RTS games, you'll either have to look into user made mods or beyond the scope of Command & Conquer games. That doesn't mean that EA may not try to produce another C&C game, but the chances of success are minimal, if it exists.
I long ago resigned myself to this eventuality. The inevitable priority shift of major publishers, and consequently studios, to profit margins by way of broader market appeal could not foreseeably lead to any other fate for games with as (comparatively) small a target audience as C&C.
To me, the greatest shame is not that the C&C franchise is dead, but that it died in such slow silence, ending in a series of muffled whimpers rather than a glorious swan song. Tiberium Wars, in my opinion, represented a distinct slump in quality and imagination, but it wasn't what I'd call bad. I found Red Alert 3 to be, in some ways, even better than its predecessors. The real tragedy, in my mind, is not that the franchise, as a whole, wasn't good, but rather that it was once truly great.
There are those who believe that art is a creation which has no purpose other than itself. I am not among them. Some of the most well-regarded works in film, literature, and video games were those that presumed to let us explore our own conditions and ideas. Works that presumed to see similar ideas in vastly different ways, or even vastly different ideas in similar ways. Works that dared us to see the darker sides of ourselves we eschew in favor of comfort and complacency, or reminded us of the altruism we often neglect for the same. These works, rather than having no purpose besides themselves, have often served every purpose but themselves.
Command & Conquer did, for many of us, once enrich our lives and lead us to previously unexplored realms. Many a modder has ventured from modding into programming, graphic design, or 3D modeling. While C&C may not have so thoroughly upturned our notions and understandings as some artistic works, it certainly did broaden our views and impact our ideas with regards to many things. I'll not presume to judge C&C as art or otherwise, but what I will say is that that true art cannot and will not blossom solely from the shadow of corporate interests. True art sprouts from the dedication and vision of its creators, who look not at what their creation will gain, but at what it will be.
I can only hope that this once great franchise will, in death, retain some measure of the legacy that was so tragically tarnished in its decline.
Requiescat in pace, and pardon my rather uncharacteristically verbose sentimentality. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
Personally I only played C&C and RA1 because of the PS versions and still prefer playing them because that's how I remember them. The PC versions just seem rather odd compared, particularly RA1 as that looks different. Civ 2 as well on the PS1. I don't think they were failures.
Certainly for games to progress into a medium of any worth or importance it won't happen from big companies. It's only the indies that use it to make a statement. Though I think the state of music & film is mostly in a slump at the moment too, just being used as throwaway entertainment. Again, it's the outsiders that will save those mediums. QUICK_EDIT
And PCs... are going downhill as a gaming platform
Not sure in what context that is, but everything I see indicates that PC gaming is growing in popularity. Just as I write this there are 3,869,360 concurrent users on Steam for example.
I'd like to mention a RTS series I have been playing quite a lot recently and that is the Wargame series. Wargame is quite unique being a semi realistic game with tons of playable nations and over 1000 different units. The developer also supports Linux and OS X in addition to Windows. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
EA might no longer be willing to spend millions of bucks on this kind of game anymore.
True, recently everything is about the money.
Banshee wrote:
Anyway, what we can conclude here is that, if you are thirsty for more RTS games, you'll either have to look into user made mods or beyond the scope of Command & Conquer games.
Does anyone still play Age of Empires II? Homeworld 1/2? Empire at War?
I think that these are all good RTSes.... and are modable.
Anyway I think that if EA wants to make a good C&C game in the future, it should start hiring active modders from the C&C Comunity. After all the modding comunity is what holds the "Good old Games" alive. The thing that they (maybe) don't see is that if some "old games" are modable and are still played, perhaps there is live and worth checking them.
I was thinking that if they make upgrades to the (for example) TS,FS,RA2,YR game engine, like Microsoft made the High Resolution Age of Empires II, there will be a success for them.
Joined: 10 Dec 2012 Location: I'm too busy conquering the world!
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 11:25 am Post subject:
PillBox20 wrote:
Anyway I think that if EA wants to make a good C&C game in the future, it should start hiring active modders from the C&C Comunity. After all the modding comunity is what holds the "Good old Games" alive. The thing that they (maybe) don't see is that if some "old games" are modable and are still played, perhaps there is live and worth checking them.
As long as EA pay me $100 per hour for doing one man team job. _________________ Mod Leader and founder of World Domination
That was...beautiful T_T Sums up my feelings, too.
Quote:
The mod community is still alive, because modding is fun and challenging. But they will eventually become a smaller isolated ghettos unless they successfully expands into other things.
Well, nothing continues forever except change. We don't need EA or some other large, multi-national corporation to follow the mainstream and make games accordingly. What C&C needs is a single mod or indie that revitalises the community. It doesn't even have to be anything new, in a sense. Just look how popular Cave Story still is; it came from nowhere, was made by one man and it didn't offer anything out-of-the-box. It was simply fun and atmospheric, with a retro feeling. It managed to bloom in popularity and even gained two commercial remakes, one with higher definition 2D graphics and one 3D game. Not to mention countless mods.
There's also a possibility of nostalgic revitalisation in the future. I know quite a few game genres that existed in the early 90s, but disappeared before the turn of the millenium. Only recently, people who played these games in their childhood have reappeared and revitalised these genres. Of course, that too will end some day unless these people produce something noticable, spiritual remakes or something like that.
PPM's new goal of trying to expand into other franchises will only lead to uncontrollable strain, considering how little active moderation we have. Also, it's very difficult to lure other communities here, as we have nothing new to offer, other than maybe cross-franchise advice. The other-than-C&C-modding sections are empty of material, for example the SCII subforum has no mods or maps to showcase. Instead of expanding, I would recommend intensifying. There's never been a C&C community project, for example. Considering the number of games, there could be one for each. New people need to band up more in projects instead of working alone, this would enhance and speed up learning, not to mention single-man projects are often doomed to fail (with a few shining exceptions of course). _________________ QUICK_EDIT
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 12:37 pm Post subject:
Re: The (null) future of Command & Conquer franchise
Banshee wrote:
2) Real Time Strategy games are restricted to PCs. Does anybody play the XBox 360 version of Tiberium Wars? Does anyone remember that there were C&C3 and Red Alert 3 for mobiles? Is there anyone still playing Command & Conquer for Nintendo 64 or Red Alert Retaliation for Playstation? I think the answer could be yes for a very restricted group of people. RTS games requires you to select a group of units, scroll the screen and issue order into groups. At least one of these 3 tasks will provide issues for touch screens, stylus, joysticks or any other interface. And PCs... are going downhill as a gaming platform, just as the success of the newest Microsoft Windows operational systems. MacOS and Linux machines doesn't have the same amount of gamers as Windows PCs yet.
Booooo! My first C&C game I owned was Sega Saturn Command & Conquer (1) and it still has a big place in my heart, so big that I ripped all the redbook CD Audio music from it to my Tiberian Sun mod and it is better then MSDOS C&C1 imo, also same goes for PS1 & N64 C&C1 & RA1 with PS1 Retaliation being superior to PC RA1:CS & RA1:AM in some ways. Man now I want to replay C&C1 on Sega Saturn (Saturn SSF Emulator for PC with legit Saturn disc in DVD drive FTW) gonna go and grab my mission password document and all the cheatcodes for the game Also no I am not really back, I just very rarely go here nowdays because I play alot of different games and can not focus on C&C all the time. QUICK_EDIT
Also Known As: banshee_revora (Steam) Joined: 15 Aug 2002 Location: Brazil
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 2:25 pm Post subject:
@Omegabolt and djohe:
Banshee wrote:
I think the answer could be yes for a very restricted group of people.
I know some people play these games for consoles, but the vast majority of the C&C sales were for PC and the games that were sold both for PC and consoles got much more sales on the PC version.
@Tore: Compared to other platforms, specially mobile and using as a reference EA's ambitions, 3 million users is far from being satisfactory, specially when only a small percentage of it would buy RTS games.
PPM's new goal of trying to expand into other franchises will only lead to uncontrollable strain, considering how little active moderation we have. Also, it's very difficult to lure other communities here, as we have nothing new to offer, other than maybe cross-franchise advice. The other-than-C&C-modding sections are empty of material, for example the SCII subforum has no mods or maps to showcase.
You have a good point regarding the lack of attractive material for non-C&C games. However, that won't stop me from trying to expand PPM into other games. What needs to be done here is to make our C&C content more attractive for non-C&C users. And that's a kind of science I'm new at and I'm trying to learn about.
Crimsonum wrote:
Instead of expanding, I would recommend intensifying. There's never been a C&C community project, for example. Considering the number of games, there could be one for each. New people need to band up more in projects instead of working alone, this would enhance and speed up learning, not to mention single-man projects are often doomed to fail (with a few shining exceptions of course).
Of course, that expansion won't stop us from intensifying our C&C content, which is constantly being done. Regarding a C&C community project, honestly, PPM:Final Dawn started as one, but as every other attempt to do that, it eventually failed and had to scale down into a project of a small group of people. QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 25 Sep 2006 Location: Teamblackistan Posts: Over 9000
Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2014 3:16 pm Post subject:
April fool's aside, we know this isn't necessarily a new idea, just one that's been snowballing for quite some years now.
Since playing Renegade X recently, it renewed a lot of confidence that the universe of C&C is still alive & well in the modders, even if the franchise itself has been shat on by its owner for some time.
I agree that to keep the PPM community fresh and attractive, we should continue to absorb new material into our modding arsenal. But, I have confidence that modders have & will continue to keep C&C alive much longer than anyone would have expected.
Joined: 12 Sep 2003 Location: In my own little world
Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 2:24 am Post subject:
C&C is...
Well, in a market saturated with games usually requiring the IQ of a toddler (I don't mean that to belittle the masses but compare Homeworld 2 to say Call of Duty series), where accessibility is interpreted as "PRES ONE OF TRHEE BUTTONZ TO WIN" simplicity, the mainstream market has gravitated towards mass market appeal. Classic RTS such as old school C&C, Homeworld, Supreme Commander/Total Annihilation, Rise of Nations and their ilk which required thinking and actual strategy rather than macro buttons or press 1 for nuke, 2 for carpet bomb.
In an ever shifting market like this, instant gratification is catered for more than planning and strategy. Would you rather win an epic single mission spanning three hours with careful strategy and thinking or buy DLC to complete a quick team deathmatch with an overpowered gun that cost you £5 real money? Sadly, with the descent of gaming has been the latter, with companies like C&C's holder EA and others like Ubisoft and countless more following suit. Games by larger publishers are no longer about quality or towards some kind of grand vision of a vibrant, beautiful universe to build but rather mass market appeal and demographics. And sure, you can partially understand, they pour millions into these projects but the unfortunate side effect to this is they all fade into the same bland, grey games we see year after year. Call of Duty, Mass Effect, FIFA/Madden, Battlefield, even the Halo series which I am an ardent fan boy of, after it's last release simply felt tedious in a number of sections and especially in multiplayer.
So is C&C dead? Only in as much as most innovative and original projects by major publishers are, so yes. But does it live at the same time? Yes. Westwood created two beautiful and unique universes and offered us years to explore them, and while it's sad I probably won't be able to invade Moscow in full 1080p resolution seeing the dirtied snow fly off my Medium Tanks treads, I don't lose that much hope as the art, lore and previous games offer enough to modders and fans alike to rebuild in other engines and mediums. It is good to know that despite EA's appalling record, I can still relive those fantastic moments of playing Red Alert: Retribution on the playstation and activating my Firestorm Generator on Tiberium Sun saving my bacon for the umpteenth time.
Command & Conquer is dead. Long Live Command & Conquer. _________________ AI
Empire Earth: The AI doesn't build their bases in a logical fashion, but has superb offensive and defensive capabilities.
Red Alert 2: The development team was stoned during this part of the programming.
2) Real Time Strategy games are restricted to PCs. Does anybody play the XBox 360 version of Tiberium Wars? Does anyone remember that there were C&C3 and Red Alert 3 for mobiles? Is there anyone still playing Command & Conquer for Nintendo 64 or Red Alert Retaliation for Playstation? I think the answer could be yes for a very restricted group of people. RTS games requires you to select a group of units, scroll the screen and issue order into groups. At least one of these 3 tasks will provide issues for touch screens, stylus, joysticks or any other interface. And PCs... are going downhill as a gaming platform, just as the success of the newest Microsoft Windows operational systems. MacOS and Linux machines doesn't have the same amount of gamers as Windows PCs yet.
As one of the few people who has almost ENTIRELY played console CnC's I'd like to say your logic is flawed. Though yes things are rocky, it seems your and 99% of the cnc fan base had never touched a console rts since SC64.
though not as smooth at MLGPRO pc player skill, the CnC360, KW360, RA360 and RAps3 paly well, allowing for a good amount of the control. And further you have the current pinnacle of Console RTS's, TC's End War. If someone could afford to combine the radial menus of KW and RA360 with the voice control and way points of endwar, you could have a deep RTS experience on a console.
So Try to learn something about what your bashing. I started off on the CnC forums fighting for a patch for CnC360, When people said Microsoft's patch limits, I said use Free Map packs! At the time I did not know about M$'s policies concerning that, but no one said anything about that, all they said was "CnC on Consoles, you pleb, play a real CnC" _________________ I am Zengar Zombolt, The Sword That Cleaves Evil! There is Nothing I can not Cut! QUICK_EDIT
Also Known As: banshee_revora (Steam) Joined: 15 Aug 2002 Location: Brazil
Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 10:24 pm Post subject:
Zengar_Zombolt, I'm not underestimating the use of other platforms for C&C games, but truth to be said: RTS games do not sell well at all when compared to PC.
I must admit that the last console C&C game that I've played was C&C 64. It was pretty much playable, but honestly, I play much faster and better at PC than having to switch between the game and the sidebar to construct things.
I've also seen (but didn't play) C&C3 for Tiberium Wars for XBox 360. I saw that at EALA where Louis Castle presented the game, when they were still developping it. The controls looked pretty good and they've fixed the selection box at the center of the screen. I'm not sure if that was good enough to select a high amount of numbers and select teams. Anyway, it's still much easier to play the game with a mouse rather than using a fixed selection box. And the PC version has sold much more copies than the XBox 360.
Anyway, to make things clear, I didn't bash any non-PC version of the game in my news. I just said that they do not sell as well as they do on PCs because the user interface provides obstacles for the device used to interact with the game, causing to not be as responsive and fluid as the PC version for the player, even if these games are pretty much playable and fun. QUICK_EDIT
He's not bashing it. The Dreamcast was the last console to have a mouse & keyboard. M & K are the reason RTS gaming belongs to pc due to the same reason that you can see as well. Controls are shit with a console controller and just like how shooters use aim assist rts games on consoles try to compensate (compensate for being inferior!) with mic or ring menu or other headache infusing methods.
Endwars voice control only prove that its a headache infusing method of controlling a game that has to be severly dumbed down to function with it.
BTW I play RTS games with others over teamspeak. 2vs2 or 4vs4 is impossible with voice commands AND team conversation.
Anyway good news everyone there's a new rts coming called Act of Aggression. oh and yes its a new entry in the "Act of" series. sort of. So stop throbbing over Generals 2 and EA, they are both trash anyway and don't deserve any tears. Act of Aggression is made by Eugen Systems the devs of Act of War, RUSE, Wargame from which the later is slightly moddable and the devs are a bit mod friendly. Mod friendly in th way of not banning you nor restricting you but theey're not all that helpful either. They let a modding section live in their main forums afterall...
Banshee don't kid yourself pc is going strong. Non gamers are going to drop pc for mobile phones and poor kids for a console just as usual. Windows as bad as it may be still has an overwhelming supremacy on the market and windows 7 is supported till 202X.
People today say RTS is doomed just as they said Space shooters wer doomed and now look at Kickstarter there's at least 3 space shooters coming with one having over 30 million$ from donations.
PC gaming looks delightful the AAA industry however it does not. _________________ Free Tibed!
EA for worst company of the decade! QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 16 Feb 2005 Location: North America Posts: You cannot comprehend...
Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2014 12:24 am Post subject:
Crimsonum wrote:
To be honest that sounds like Ego Faggot, which would not have such great market value.
Wait wait, WHAT? Isn't it pronounced, Eh-Cough-A-Gee?
Grey Goo is just as gay. Hell, the guy who invented that term regrets it thats for sure. _________________ Destroy to create. All for the hunt to dominate!
No wonder that search engine is called Google. Self replicating unstoppable crap taking over everything. _________________ SHP Artist of Twisted Insurrection: Nod buildings
And the PC version has sold much more copies than the XBox 360.
Well DUH!
Quote:
Anyway, to make things clear, I didn't bash any non-PC version of the game in my news. I just said that they do not sell as well as they do on PCs because the user interface provides obstacles for the device used to interact with the game, causing to not be as responsive and fluid as the PC version for the player, even if these games are pretty much playable and fun.
Sorry about that, It is a twitch reaction. You guys(PC CnC fandom) really have not made a good impression for not having misconceptions everywhere.
Just because something is not working now, does not mean you cna't work on it. And the PS3 can use a mouse and keyboard. _________________ I am Zengar Zombolt, The Sword That Cleaves Evil! There is Nothing I can not Cut! QUICK_EDIT
@Tore: Compared to other platforms, specially mobile and using as a reference EA's ambitions, 3 million users is far from being satisfactory, specially when only a small percentage of it would buy RTS games.
.
The mobile market is saturated and volatile and very few titles on mobile enjoy success. Most of the users there are casual and thus will not stay true to brands as much as core gamers will. Just look at what happened to Zynga it used to be a casual gaming juggernaut and now they are almost irrelevant. Sure companies like EA and Activision attempt to release games on mobile platforms in the hope something will catch on. They rarely do, just look at the "Dungeon Keeper" game EA released on iOS.
Steam does not have ~4 000 000 registered users what I was refereed to was concurrent users - users online at the same time.
Right now there are 3,970,209 concurrent users online on Steam the peak was 6,278,807 concurrent users. In October of 2013 Steam had 65 million active registered users, more than Xbox Live.
Steam is not the only service to measure the popularity of PC gaming there's also Origin and don't forget the massive successes that games such as World of Tanks and League of Legends are enjoying.
I guess you aren't aware of Men of War Assault Squad 2 either. Part of a WW2 RTS game series which has better destruction engine than any other game I have played in addition to a ballistics and penetration system that rivals games like World of Tanks.
Or how about the crowd funded spiritual sequel to Total Annihilation Planetary Annihilation currently in development.
The PC gaming market is in no way failing and there are many good strategy games on the horizon and they are doing fine in terms of popularity many of them quite complex and in-depth as well.
By the way if it weren't for Command & Conquer on the PS1 I might have not discovered C&C at all.
PillBox20 wrote:
Does anyone still play Age of Empires II?
2,395 people play Age of Empires II HD now, 1327 playing the original AoE II: The Conquerors on Voobly. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
"Grey goo (also spelled gray goo) is a hypothetical end-of-the-world scenario involving molecular nanotechnology in which out-of-control self-replicating robots consume all matter on Earth while building more of themselves, a scenario that has been called ecophagy ("eating the environment")"
Sooooooooo. Did I pass? _________________ Destroy to create. All for the hunt to dominate!
This thread is getting lame. First, it's complaining about C&C being dead or alive, then Natus can't tell the difference between artificially inflated gameplay times and the change to a faster paced experience and Dominant is being stupid.
/ppm/, you suck. _________________ KGR | AT
AZUR
Discord: theastronomer1836
Steam QUICK_EDIT
There's the (proverbial) door. Nothings keeping you. not eben tradition. If I could leave the first forum I was on after almost 10 years of posting activly, then you can leave too. _________________ I am Zengar Zombolt, The Sword That Cleaves Evil! There is Nothing I can not Cut! QUICK_EDIT
There's the (proverbial) door. Nothings keeping you. not eben tradition. If I could leave the first forum I was on after almost 10 years of posting activly, then you can leave too.
I'm not leaving. I have no plans on leaving. It's just my job to complain about the stupidity around here, otherwise it might go unabated. Now stop being a moron, you pleb and go back to what you were doing. If I'd wanted your opinion, I would have asked. _________________ KGR | AT
AZUR
Discord: theastronomer1836
Steam QUICK_EDIT
There's the (proverbial) door. Nothings keeping you. not eben tradition. If I could leave the first forum I was on after almost 10 years of posting activly, then you can leave too.
I'm not leaving. I have no plans on leaving. It's just my job to complain about the stupidity around here, otherwise it might go unabated. Now stop being a moron, you pleb and go back to what you were doing. If I'd wanted your opinion, I would have asked.
Now to continue with the conversation. We just have to wait for a resurgance in classic RTS, but some guys need to take things easy before blind bashing. I think there will be more than a few indie RTS's before then, like OpenRA.
And for the record, I think CnC4 should have been a storyless console relase. Think about it, Large oversized units, easy to separate teams, big team battles, Pop caps. _________________ I am Zengar Zombolt, The Sword That Cleaves Evil! There is Nothing I can not Cut! QUICK_EDIT
0.A.D is a nice example of a free traditional RTS game. It's getting better and better, it's been in development for many, many years now but after it went open source a few years back the development really ramped up. _________________ QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 21 Nov 2013 Location: Quarantine-IV, Ural Mountains Re-gen prison
Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2014 10:40 pm Post subject:
Why couldn't EA just sell C&C? It was EA's fault for firing most of the original Westwood staff, but what if Westwood hadn't got rid of the series in the first place? The franchise might not have dive bombed as low as it did with Renegade, and the series could have actually went out with a bang. Or, better yet, it could still be going strong. As said by PillBox20, hire the modders who are keeping the series alive. Or even the people who started it all with Tiberian Dawn. Why not give the series a rebirth, or a "Re-Genesis"? What is stopping them? _________________ All modding I do is now recreational, but Re-genesis is not forgotten. It's now a book based on a futuristic holocaust on humanity's next evolution. However, I'm pinning on my PPM hopes in voice acting. QUICK_EDIT
The spiritual successor to Westwood hasn't made a good game for almost 10 years. WW already started slipping with Tiberian Sun; it's very probable that C&C would be doing just as poorly if they were still alive. The story would likely be more coherent though. Of course it's hard to say if Tiberian Sun and the later C&C games would've been better if EA hadn't influenced Westwood as much as their did (EA's ex-ceo apologized for EA's habit of killing smaller companies, so I think that EA had some effect on how TS turned out).
EA actually built a succesful game with C&C3. However, first RA3 did relatively poorly (compared to RA2 and especially RA1), and then they failed completely with C&C4, and even kicked out the fairly talented staff after the executives had forced them to rush out C&C4. And now they don't know how to monetize the series anymore. _________________ CnCNet Client | CnCNet TS patches | More Quality-of-Life Improvements for RA Remastered
There will never be a C&C like the old ones because it isnt the 90s. The C&C games are great because of pure chance circumstance which will never be repeated in the same way. There is no formula to making a good C&C so really expecting another that would live up to your expectations is foolish.
You can't really blame EA either. They did give us TS and RA2 at least (plus Generals, TW and RA3 if you like them, I do). Without the financing they would never have been made and without some pressure they would never have been released. WW was in a pickle with TS, likely if they had continued they'd have run the company into the ground and never released anything of any quality. Perhaps they could've made some more games, perhaps they couldn't. QUICK_EDIT
I think C&C will return strongly when humanity has advanced to a stage where it becomes technologically possible to have massively multiplayer RTSFPS games. QUICK_EDIT
Joined: 21 Nov 2013 Location: Quarantine-IV, Ural Mountains Re-gen prison
Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:34 am Post subject:
All I can say is to hope for the best, prepare for the worst. "Peace through power" probably won't get us anywhere now. _________________ All modding I do is now recreational, but Re-genesis is not forgotten. It's now a book based on a futuristic holocaust on humanity's next evolution. However, I'm pinning on my PPM hopes in voice acting. QUICK_EDIT
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The (null) future of Command & Conquer franchise
My first C&C game I owned was Sega Saturn Command & Conquer (1) and it still has a big place in my heart, so big that I ripped all the redbook CD Audio music from it to my Tiberian Sun mod and it is better then MSDOS C&C1 imo, also same goes for PS1 & N64 C&C1 & RA1 with PS1 Retaliation being superior to PC RA1:CS & RA1:AM in some ways. Man now I want to replay C&C1 on Sega Saturn (Saturn SSF Emulator for PC with legit Saturn disc in DVD drive FTW) gonna go and grab my mission password document and all the cheatcodes for the game 
