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EA Announces New Command & Conquer, New Studio Victory Games [Update: Official]

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Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Update 2:

cnc-brand-image-blogmu8p.jpg


miladesn said:
http://www.commandandconquer.com/en/blogs/blog/71

it's up
EA Starts New Strategy Studio: Victory Games

Eric, Global C&C Community Manager, interviews Jon Van Caneghem, Vice President Strategy Games. Jon joined Electronic Arts in 2009 after nearly three decades in the electronic entertainment industry. He is renowned for founding New World Computing and creating the best-selling franchises Heroes and Might & Magic.

Eric: I am here with Jon Van Caneghem, the GM of Victory Games. Today you announced the name of your new studio as Victory Games – can you talk about what that means?

JVC: Sure. Victory Games was created to be the focal point for the creation of strategy games for the Games Label at EA. Our current focus is making a AAA Command & Conquer game, which I am very excited to be working on. I’ve always been a big Command & Conquer fan.

Eric: A new Command & Conquer game? What can you tell me about it?

JVC: I can tell you it’s a Command & Conquer game for the PC, but we’re not yet at a stage where I can go into any details—we’ll be prepared to make a more formal announcement later in the year. We’re not just working on a game, though. Our general focus is on the future of Command & Conquer. That means updating a lot of the core technology to create a stable base for future development, and leveraging that work on this first game.

Eric: Sounds like you’re very busy, and I’m looking forward to that announcement. Back to the studio, why “Victory Games?”

JVC: The initial idea came from the obvious parallel of winning in a strategy game, where the word “Victory” often ends up on your screen. The reason I think it fits so well is when you look at how to be successful in strategy games: it’s the ability to anticipate, plan, and react. This is no different when it comes to the gaming industry – you must anticipate the direction of the genre and marketplace, plan for what the consumers are looking for, and stay nimble enough to react to environmental changes.

Eric: Where is Victory Games located?

JVC: We have offices in Los Angeles, CA; Austin, TX; and Shanghai, China. It almost feels like one location though, as we have video conferencing systems setup 24/7 which offers us a stronger and more personal level of communication between offices.

Eric: You re-launched the Command & Conquer website today – can you talk about that?

JVC: Yes, you will notice a few key upgrades on www.commandandconquer.com today. We’ve got a new look and feel, new and improved forums, and a much cleaner interface. Luckily we’ve hired a talented new community manager to help support all of these initiatives.

Eric: Why thank you! What else can you tell us about the people behind Victory Games?

JVC: We’ve put together a team made up of some of the best talent from previous Command & Conquer games along with a great mix of quality industry veterans. Everyone that we’ve brought on board is very passionate about making strategy games.

Eric: That sounds great. What strategy games do you play?

JVC: I play almost every strategy game that comes out, with the two most recent games being Civilization V and Starcraft 2. I still have all the Command & Conquer and Heroes of Might and Magic games on my machine and play them regularly as well.

Eric: What’s your favorite Command & Conquer memory?

JVC: The original Command & Conquer released the same month as the original Heroes of Might and Magic game that I created at New World Computing. Right after we shipped Heroes, we were hard at work getting a Win95 version ready. We were also starting work on Heroes II, but every day work stopped a little bit earlier and earlier and earlier as everyone was jumping into LAN games of Command & Conquer. After months of working on a game that featured classical music and fantasy sound effects, it was an experience to have the office filled with the sounds of combat, explosions, and “Got a present for ya!” That’s what makes this so exciting for me, to appreciate the franchise as both a game maker and a game player and to have the opportunity to bring back the magic that made the Command & Conquer games so great over the last fifteen years.

Eric: In closing, do you have anything you’d like to say to the fans?

JVC: Absolutely! I want the fans to know that Victory Games is committed to bringing Command & Conquer back to the forefront for the next ten years and beyond. We’ll be announcing our first new game later this year, check out www.commandandconquer.com for new updates and information!
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Update:

Apparently VE3D caught a bit more of the page before it went down.

victory-games7ulc.jpg


Mini Interview said:
Question: I am here with Jon Van Caneghem, the GM of Victory Games. Today you announced the name of your new studio as Victory Games – can you talk about what that means?

JVC: Sure. Victory Games was created to be the focal point for the creation of strategy games for the Games Label at EA. Our current focus is making a AAA Command & Conquer game, which I am very excited to be working on. I’ve always been a big Command & Conquer fan.

Question: A new Command & Conquer game? What can you tell me about it?

JVC: I can tell you it’s a Command & Conquer game for the PC, but we’re not yet at a stage where I can go into any details—we’ll be prepared to make a more formal announcement later in the year. We’re not just working on a game, though. Our general focus is on the future of Command & Conquer. That means updating a lot of the core technology to create a stable base for future development, and leveraging that work on this first game.
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Source: http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/59194/New-Command-Conquer-Game-Coming-Victory-Games-Announced

Original:

EA has accidentally announced a new Command & Conquer game by their newest studio, Victory Games.

Victory Games is lead by Jon Van Caneghem, the creator of Might & Magic, Heroes of Might & Magic, and King's Bounty.

The announcement has been taken down as it went up too early, but Rock Paper Shotgun caught it before it went down.

Rock Paper Shotgun said:
Reddest Alert: C&C To Return
Posted by Alec Meer

This happened all of sudden, and quietly. EA stealth-rebooted its Command & Conquer website, announcing in quick sucession a new community manager, a whole new studio and a brand new, mystery C&C game.

We thought it was all over. (C’mon, we didn’t think it was all over for even a second). It isn’t now. Sounds like they’re really going for it this time. Commandingly, they sound like they want to conquer strategy again.

Very, very few details to go on as yet, but the new studio is based in three locations (LA, Texas, Shanghai), is called Victory Games and will head up EA’s entire strategy portfolio (somewhat hobbled by the closure of EA LA last year). [Nirolak's Note: EA LA was not closed last year. I think they're confusing it with Pandemic.] Was there really not a Victory Games before? It is a fine name. They should be proud of it.

The telltale line, so far, comes from the aforementioned new studio’s boss Jon Van Caneghem, who says in an interview with his own site that “Our current focus is making a AAA Command & Conquer game, which I am very excited to be working on…”

Thankfully, AAA for once doesn’t mean ‘console.’ He continues, “I can tell you it’s a Command & Conquer game for the PC, but we’re not yet at a stage where I can go into any details— we’ll be prepared to make a more formal announcement later in the year. We’re not just working on a game, though. Our general focus is on the future of Command & Conquer. That means updating a lot of the core technology to create a stable base for future development, and leveraging that work on this first game.”

I’m guessing that’s going to mean something more persistently online, to be the CoD of RTS, or perhaps even the WoW of RTS. That is a complete guess, but as it’s an avenue more people are exploring and that StarCraft II perhaps didn’t go quite as far with as it could have done (preferring instead to stick to very swish ultra-competitive play) there remains a gap for it..

There’s also this line, hidden in the About page:

“With over 30 million sold, Command & Conquer now looks to the future, with plans to combine classic RTS gameplay with bold new technology, innovative new concepts and, as always, tanks by the dozen.”

I’m quite excited, to be honest. C&C4, despite trying very hard to be different and a bold break with the past, also seemed to me to hint that EA as a business had lost no small amount of interest in PC strategy. All this rather sounds like they’ve changed their mind. I’m going to wildly guess they’ll call the new game simply “Command & Conquer”. COLONS AND SUBTITLES ARE THE PAST.
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Source: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/02/21/reddest-alert-cc-to-return/

Here's an image from the site:

newcandcwoyh.jpg


Edit:

This was apparently on the site as well.

afbeelding1vmyh.png
 
This sounds like it's going to be terrible but maybe I just read too deeply into PR. Haven't ever played C&C ever either so news isn't that big to me.
 
Jon Van Caneghem isn't a minor name. Series needs a reboot after the doldrums that a well intentioned, but largely hamstrung, EA LA brought the franchise into.
 
ItWasMeantToBe19 said:
This sounds like it's going to be terrible but maybe I just read too deeply into PR. Haven't ever played C&C ever either so news isn't that big to me.
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You've never played a C&C game and you haven't seen anything of the new game but it sounds like it's going to be terrible? What are you basing this on?
 
I'm looking forward to whatever the next C&C ends up being. C&C4 was tripped up by some poor design choices - namely multiplayer being tethered to an MMO-esque tier system that severely dampened the experiences of new players and a paradoxically sluggish feeling to a flow intended to be faster - but for some strange reason, it's an endearing yet tragic curiosity.
 
Man I haven't heard Van Canegham's name in a long time. Dude has massive points with me for the Might and Magic series so I'll definitely watch this.
 
Big-E said:
Need to shelve Command and Conqueror and bring back more of their awesome PC ip's.
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Well, they're apparently handling all of EA's strategy games, so I hope they get them to bring back Alpha Centauri, as I always preferred it to Civ.
 
JVC is one of my all time favorite designers. I wish he was working on a new RPG or TBS rather than C&C though.
 
I can accept all sorts of armoured machismo in both the RTS and FPS/TPS genres. Some great suit designs out there, even if there's a lot of cribbing/borrowing going on.

Let's not read too much into early concept art, though.
 
"behold the bringer of light"
The world needs a generals sequel badly
I don't care about the controversy, it was more fun than the three latest entries combined
 
MDSLKTR said:
"behold the bringer of light"
The world needs a generals sequel badly
I don't care about the controversy, it was more fun than the three latest entries combined
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i second that,generals was the only game i enjoyed online,played this shit for years
 
In a perfect world, EA would have bought the World in Conflict devs during Acti's fire sale instead of Ubi. Then they would be working on C&C instead of an MMO.
 
SapientWolf said:
In a perfect world, EA would have bought the World in Conflict devs during Acti's fire sale instead of Ubi. Then they would be working on C&C instead of an MMO.
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An MMO and an FPS you mean!
 
SapientWolf said:
In a perfect world, EA would have bought the World in Conflict devs during Acti's fire sale instead of Ubi. Then they would be working on C&C instead of an MMO.
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This I can get behind! Ah, to think...we'd have some semblance of a new Ground Control.
 
So, will they actually make a good game+storyline, or will they completely focus on competitive play like they did with RA3 and C&C4?
 
MDSLKTR said:
"behold the bringer of light"
The world needs a generals sequel badly
I don't care about the controversy, it was more fun than the three latest entries combined
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Best overall game in the series. Despite starting with Dune 2, I never had a attachment to the Construction Yard style. I like the better expansion that the workers/bulldozers allowed.

Pylon_Trooper said:
Just curiously, what were folks' favourite C&C games for either single player or multi?

I trust Sole Survivor isn't on anyone's list! :D
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Generals for multiplayer. Nearly losing as GLA and coming back to win because of a lone worker from a small outpost was an awesome feeling.

C&C 1 GDI campaign for single player. Its not too weird like most of the games in the series.
 
I found C&C3 to be great fun. Fast and fluid with a nice shimmering art style. RA3 had great unit variety, although I found its balance a little wonky.
 
Starcraft II last year, new Age of Empires this year, C&C will continue on... unfortunately the Company of Heroes franchise seems to have no direction right now, but it's still a good time for RTSes.
 
Finally they came to their senses. Making C&C too console friendly at the expense of the PC experience was foolhardy. RTS is a PC genre, it loses depth and intensity when slowed down and consolized.
 
newcandcwoyh.jpg


this looks like a 'Zone Trooper' from C&C3. they redesigned GDI logo again.

I'm interested to see what they are going to do with the story at this point after 4.
hopefully it's not a tacitcal game and they have base-building back; actually I think they should go with the blizzard-style like they did with Generals.
There are not many good RTS games on the horizon; SCII xps, Age and Relic's WH40k games and that's it, this is good news regardless of what they do.
 
Zzoram said:
Finally they came to their senses. Making C&C too console friendly at the expense of the PC experience was foolhardy. RTS is a PC genre, it loses depth and intensity when slowed down and consolized.
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4 was the worst one and it was PC only. Meanwhile, World in Conflict was the fastest paced RTS I've ever played and it was being ported to the consoles before Ubi shitcanned the whole thing.
 
I want Command and Conquer Generals 2. I didn't mind the original or red alert, red alert 2 was ace but generals, specifically generals : zero hour was fantastic fun.

C&C3 ... ehh, it felt like they were trying to do well but something just felt off with it and as I'm typically not so great at RTS games I found it way too difficult.

Red Alert 3 got 1 major thing wrong even with all the little things it did right. That major thing was forcing co-op into a single player game. I hate that shit with a passion. Wasn't as bad an idea as say resident evil 5 though.
 
I really hope they pretend C&C4 never happened. You do not take base building out of Command and Conquer.

Here's my wet dream:

Commanders and Conquerors

-A game that takes place in a non-canon scenario in which all the Tiberium explosions and abuse of time-travel in the various parallels have causes the walls of reality to collapse. A giant hybrid battleworld Earth is created with the following factions.

-GDI
-Allies
-USA
-NOD
-Soviets
-China
-Japan
-Scrin
-CABAL
-Yuri

-Single player story is minimal, and all the work goes into balacing the sides, while being influenced by Supreme Commander's sense of scale and masses of units.

It would be the ultimate skirmish game for me and my C&C loving friends, and I'd pay a high price. Please do something this awesome one day EA.
 
I'd love a new C&C Generals game with the GLA, China and US.

Generals was great and needs to be revisted now that the original C&C series has finished with the disappointing C&C4 (after the excellent C&C3).
 
ItWasMeantToBe19 said:
This sounds like it's going to be terrible but maybe I just read too deeply into PR. Haven't ever played C&C ever either so news isn't that big to me.
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Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you, the internet. :-/
 
Two things:

(1) Get rid of the hybrid game nonsense. Make a robust SP with 'quicker' MP. Blizzard didn't deviate from a winning formula and you don't need to either!

(2) Resurrect the serious Red Alert/Generals motif.
 
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