All Articles: Command & Conquer

Command & Conquer Remastered Collection will be released on June 5

Posted on March 10, 2020 by John Scalzo

Westwood Studios changed the course of video game history when they launched Command & Conquer in 1995, and after several years out of the spotlight, the franchise will return later this year with a remastered collection of the first two games.

The Command & Conquer Remastered Collection will include 1995’s Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn (and its Covert Ops expansion pack), along with 1996’s Command & Conquer: Red Alert (and both of its expansion packs, Counterstrike and The Aftermath). Both games have been rebuilt from the ground up with the assistance of a dedicated online community, and a graphics toggle for Remastered and Legacy visuals will be included, as well as a re-recorded soundtrack, UI improvements, and customizable controls:

Command & Conquer Remastered Collection is being created alongside the C&C community, where the project was publicly revealed in October 2018 to gather community insight before development began. An active Community Council has been involved since early pre-production with 24/7 access to the development team. The title features rebuilt graphics and textures with support up to 4K resolution, along with an over seven-hour soundtrack remastered by the renowned original composer Frank Klepacki. The community has helped shape the enhancements of the game through highly requested features like revamped UI, updated controls and a Map Editor for fans to showcase their creations. Multiplayer has been rebuilt from the ground up to support a modern online experience with custom games, 1v1 quick match, Elo-based matchmaking, leaderboards, replays, and much more.

A complete overview of the rest of the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection’s features can be found on the official website.

Fans interested in purchasing the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection will have several different packages to choose from, including two physical editions from Limited Run Games:

Command & Conquer Remastered Collection (Digital – $19.99) – Only available on Origin and Steam.
Special Edition (Physical – $59.99) – Only available on Limited Run Games, this edition comes in a 2-piece big box with embossing treatments and includes a Steam digital download code, Tiberium crystal 16GB USB drive with remastered original soundtrack (119 tracks, over 7 hours of music including the album, “Frank Klepecki and the Tiberian Sons: Celebrating 25 Years of Command & Conquer”); reversible 18” X 24” poster, four factional enamel pins, tech tree prints (one for each faction), and faction sticker sheet.
25th Anniversary Edition (Physical – $149.99) – Only available on Limited Run Games, this edition includes all items in the Special Edition plus a beautiful foil and embossed rigid box, six-disc remastered original soundtrack signed by Frank Klepacki, 100+ page art book, four faction patches, reversible beanie, metal mammoth tank replica, and painted PVC light and sound tesla coil and obelisk replicas.

The Command & Conquer Remastered Collection is currently in development at Petroglyph and Lemon Sky Studios, and it’ll be published for the PC by Electronic Arts on June 5. An Official Reveal Trailer has been embedded above.

Posted in News, PC | Tagged Command & Conquer, Command & Conquer: Red Alert

EA: Multiple unannounced games coming in 2020, next Battlefield scheduled for 2021, and Dragon Age 4 is in the works for 2022 (or later)

Posted on October 30, 2019 by John Scalzo

Executives from Electronic Arts had a lot to talk about yesterday during their latest quarterly financial report. So let’s dive right in…

CEO Andrew Wilson kicked things off by confirming that the next game in the Battlfield franchise is being prepped to launch sometime during the company’s 2022 Fiscal Year (which runs from April 1, 2021 – March 30, 2022) for the PS5 and Xbox Scarlett. In the meantime, developer DICE will spend 2020 creating updates and new content for Battlefield V:

Our Battlefield franchise and its community are also a major focus for us, and we’ll add new content and new ways to play Battlefield V in FY ’21. Targeting new innovation that will be enabled by next-gen platforms and a growing install base on the new consoles, our next Battlefield game is set for FY ’22.

With one of the company’s strongest developers taking an extra year to polish their next game, you might be wondering what EA has on tap for 2020. Thankfully, COO Blake Jorgensen used his portion of the presentation to fill in the gaps.

Jorgensen said that EA has multiple unannounced titles scheduled for release in 2020, including a pair of games from the publisher’s EA Partners program, and possibly at least one remaster (which would release alongside the already-announced Command & Conquer Remastered). He also talked quite a bit about Apex Legends, and confirmed that EA’s shooter will be coming to “new platforms and mobile” in the near future. While it’s possible he’s referencing the Switch in that quote, he’s more likely referring to the PS5 and Xbox Scarlett.

Looking further out, Jorgensen even mused about the status of Dragon Age 4. According to the executive, fans shouldn’t expect the next entry in BioWare’s acclaimed RPG franchise to arrive before EA’s 2023 Fiscal Year (which begins on April 1, 2022).

Finally, Andrew Wilson came back around to comment on the recent decision by the NCAA to allow college athletes to receive monetary compensation for their name or likeness. While many fans are hoping this means that EA will resume production on the NCAA Football franchise, Wilson would only say that the company is watching the situation closely:

With respect to NCAA Sports in general, yes, we have been in that business before as well. We saw the news today as did you, said by the NCAA Working Group. That news today was new to us. We’re still digesting it. We would anticipate that there is still a number of things that would have to happen over the coming years before we will be able to get back into that business, but certainly we’re watching closely.

EA’s next major releases, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Need For Speed Heat, will both be released in November.

Posted in Mobile, News, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X | Tagged Apex Legends, Battlefield V, Command & Conquer, Dragon Age 4

EA unveils first gameplay footage from Command & Conquer Remastered

Posted on October 26, 2019 by John Scalzo

While Blizzard’s Warcraft franchise gets all the press nowadays, Westwood’s Command & Conquer also helped usher in the dawn of the real-time strategy genre back in 1995, and fans will get another chance to relive the GDI-Nod conflict in the upcoming Command & Conquer Remastered.

Currently in development at Petroglyph Games and Lemon Sky Studios, publisher Electronic Arts released the first Gameplay Trailer for Command & Conquer Remastered earlier this week, and confirmed the re-release will retain the original 2D visual style. More details about this decision can be found at EA’s official website for Command & Conquer:

We’re ready to share the Remaster has been developed in the classic 2D visual style, unlocking our ability to stay as authentic as possible to the original games. Below we’d like to provide more details on how we’re approaching these visuals, and why we felt the 2D style was the best fit for the project.

As you may remember from one of the first posts, our plan is to remaster (not remake) the classic games. 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 gameplay, feel, and signature look of the legacy 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.

Command & Conquer Remastered will also feature a graphical toggle that allows players to switch between the new remastered high definition visuals and the original game’s mid-90s aesthetic.

EA isn’t ready to announce a release date for Command & Conquer Remastered, but you can discuss the game’s progress with the developers at the Command & Conquer subreddit.

Posted in News, PC | Tagged Command & Conquer

EA and Petroglyph will team up to remaster Command & Conquer and C&C: Red Alert

Posted on November 15, 2018 by John Scalzo

Electronic Arts is bringing back the Command & Conquer franchise next month with the mobile launch of Command & Conquer: Rivals. But fans looking for a full-sized RTS experience have something to look forward to as well, as the publisher announced today (on their official website) that they’ve teamed up with Petroglyph to remaster Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn and Command & Conquer: Red Alert for the PC:

We have decided to remaster Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn. And while this is incredibly exciting on its own, we’re also aware of how passionate the community is about the Red Alert universe. So, we will also remaster the original Command & Conquer: Red Alert.

In addition to the excitement and support of this remaster initiative over the past month, there has also been a healthy skepticism that we can pull this off. How are we possibly going to remaster these titles while maintaining the authenticity of the original experiences? Bottom line, there is no better way to achieve this than to partner with some of the talented developers who brought these original games to life.

So, after years of the fans asking for their involvement, I am humbled to announce that EA is going to partner with Petroglyph Games to develop the C&C remastered collection.

The remasters will be playable in 4K resolution, and fans can also expect to revisit the original expansions for both titles. Tiberian Dawn will come bundled with The Covert Operations, while the Red Alert package will also include Counterstrike and The Aftermath.

However, it might be quite a while before we get the chance to play them. According to EA’s Jim Vessella, “The exciting part is that we haven’t started development yet.” But he added, “The community is literally getting in on the ground floor of this project and have every opportunity to help influence how we build this remastered experience.”