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Back in February, GVMERS posted a video that looked at what happened to the cancelled Tiberium FPS. Today, they have new Command & Conquer video that dives into the entire franchise. The Command & Conquer franchise helped shape the identity of RTS games during the 1990's and would influence the designs of countless similar strategy titles in later years. Even though the franchise ended with a whimper instead of a bang, it managed to create an indelible impact on the history of videogames. Join the team from GVMERS as they take a look at the rise and fall of Command & Conquer.

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The video is wrong in many things. I posted this list in its YouTube comments but it isn't showing up for some reason.

1) 5:28 - EA didn't buy Westwood out of pure evil as [they] appear to hint (they weren't even as evil back in the day). They bought them because Westwood's Virgin Interactive masters were facing bankruptcy. Don't present that acquisition as a tragedy - EA saved Westwood. And where did [they] get the "devs leaving Westwood because of it" thing from?

2) 6:48 - TOTAL AND COMPLETE BULL****!!!!!!! EA let them make 13904751570672 and 1/2 delays for Tiberian Sun. The game was slated for 1998, then for spring 1999, then summer 1999. When did EA buy Westwood, again? Oh yeah, August 1998. And let's not forget how poorly Westwood coded the game and the engine. The separate Irvine studio fixed most of it in RA2, which kinda makes the main Vegas guys look bad. EA didn't do squat with Tiberian Sun. And BTW, the Dropship loadout system was apparently dropped mid-development, as the Dropship Bay structure was recycled as the GDI Upgrade Center, which also took the "plug" system from the original concept of the GDI Comm. Center (later simply the GDI Radar).

3) 9:14 - Untrue. Westwood Pacific, who made RA2 and YR, was working on Generals at the time, and was in 2002 renamed EA Pacific before becoming EA Los Angeles' RTS division. TL;DR - the RA2 and Generals dev teams were largely the same. (Yeah, [they] covered EA Pacific's inception wrong there).

4) 9:20 - Partly true. Earth & Beyond was only the last straw. Westwood took several subpar projects at once (Renegade 2, C&C 3 (not the one from 2007), Continuum), some of which were released (Pirates: Legend of the Black Kat, Earth & Beyond, overseeing Intelligent Games' development of Emperor: Battle for Dune...). While they had great vision, their programming skills and organization left much to be desired.

5) 16:17 - SecuROM was introduced in Tiberium Wars, but the 5-installation limit was only featured in Red Alert 3 and Uprising. Two different concepts.

6) 16:25 - SecuROM stayed in the disc version, though Steam/Origin versions obviously don't have it. The 5-installation limit was never removed, it only got the ability to deauthorize individual computers in patch 1.05 (latest is 1.12).

7) 22:10 - what the ****? Generals 2 content was never dropped, it was to be the first of several "sub-games" (for the lack of a better word) on the live service that was called simply "Command & Conquer". Even Jon Van Caneghem announced returning to Tiberium and Red Alert at gamescom 2013. The campaign wasn't to be in a separate game - it was originally dropped as such, but after the fans got angry, they announced the campaign to come out, but after the main game was released.

8) 22:39 - while the official company standpoint is that the game was cancelled due to poor reception from the fans, a Victory Games employee (EA_Baelor) on the same day stated that the news piece about the closure and reasoning thereof were pre-written by EA higher-ups, because of course they were. The real reason he named was "corporate politics and shenanigans" [sic]. The "EA making a new C&C with a new studio" is also part of this lie.

[They must not] base your research on mangled hearsay of retarded Internet fanboys.

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5 hours ago, Plokite_Wolf said:

The video is wrong in many things. I posted this list in its YouTube comments but it isn't showing up for some reason.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

1) 5:28 - EA didn't buy Westwood out of pure evil as [they] appear to hint (they weren't even as evil back in the day). They bought them because Westwood's Virgin Interactive masters were facing bankruptcy. Don't present that acquisition as a tragedy - EA saved Westwood. And where did [they] get the "devs leaving Westwood because of it" thing from?

2) 6:48 - TOTAL AND COMPLETE BULL****!!!!!!! EA let them make 13904751570672 and 1/2 delays for Tiberian Sun. The game was slated for 1998, then for spring 1999, then summer 1999. When did EA buy Westwood, again? Oh yeah, August 1998. And let's not forget how poorly Westwood coded the game and the engine. The separate Irvine studio fixed most of it in RA2, which kinda makes the main Vegas guys look bad. EA didn't do squat with Tiberian Sun. And BTW, the Dropship loadout system was apparently dropped mid-development, as the Dropship Bay structure was recycled as the GDI Upgrade Center, which also took the "plug" system from the original concept of the GDI Comm. Center (later simply the GDI Radar).

3) 9:14 - Untrue. Westwood Pacific, who made RA2 and YR, was working on Generals at the time, and was in 2002 renamed EA Pacific before becoming EA Los Angeles' RTS division. TL;DR - the RA2 and Generals dev teams were largely the same. (Yeah, [they] covered EA Pacific's inception wrong there).

4) 9:20 - Partly true. Earth & Beyond was only the last straw. Westwood took several subpar projects at once (Renegade 2, C&C 3 (not the one from 2007), Continuum), some of which were released (Pirates: Legend of the Black Kat, Earth & Beyond, overseeing Intelligent Games' development of Emperor: Battle for Dune...). While they had great vision, their programming skills and organization left much to be desired.

5) 16:17 - SecuROM was introduced in Tiberium Wars, but the 5-installation limit was only featured in Red Alert 3 and Uprising. Two different concepts.

6) 16:25 - SecuROM stayed in the disc version, though Steam/Origin versions obviously don't have it. The 5-installation limit was never removed, it only got the ability to deauthorize individual computers in patch 1.05 (latest is 1.12).

7) 22:10 - what the ****? Generals 2 content was never dropped, it was to be the first of several "sub-games" (for the lack of a better word) on the live service that was called simply "Command & Conquer". Even Jon Van Caneghem announced returning to Tiberium and Red Alert at gamescom 2013. The campaign wasn't to be in a separate game - it was originally dropped as such, but after the fans got angry, they announced the campaign to come out, but after the main game was released.

8) 22:39 - while the official company standpoint is that the game was cancelled due to poor reception from the fans, a Victory Games employee (EA_Baelor) on the same day stated that the news piece about the closure and reasoning thereof were pre-written by EA higher-ups, because of course they were. The real reason he named was "corporate politics and shenanigans" [sic]. The "EA making a new C&C with a new studio" is also part of this lie.

[They must not] base your research on mangled hearsay of retarded Internet fanboys.

 

Hi @Plokite_Wolf , I just saw your comment on YouTube. I think their strange algorithm marked it as spam (probably due to its length), I've unflagged it and you should now be able to see it.

I'm the person who produced and edited the video, I'm also the owner of the channel. I wish I could say anything else other than that I agree with you. I feel this project hasn't reached its full potential. I wanted to make a franchise analysis that takes the viewer through the highs and lows of the franchise as well as tell the stories of the developers at EALA and Westwood in detail. As a fan of the series, making a documentary style video about Command & Conquer has been one of my long-time goals but now that the video is up, I don't feel that that goal was entirely achieved. 

The problem is that I'm not a writer, English isn't my native language and I'm simply not skilled at creating scripts.

To make up for this and create something the fans can be really proud of I'd like to make an alternative Redux of the video, with a complete new script. So we can tell the story right this time around. Though my dilemma of finding a writer still remains, which is why I'd like to make a request on this forum: if anyone would like to take on this project and has writing experience, please let me know. 

Edited by Ailert
  • Upvote 1

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3 hours ago, Plokite_Wolf said:

The video is wrong in many things. I posted this list in its YouTube comments but it isn't showing up for some reason.

  Hide contents

 

1) 5:28 - EA didn't buy Westwood out of pure evil as [they] appear to hint (they weren't even as evil back in the day). They bought them because Westwood's Virgin Interactive masters were facing bankruptcy. Don't present that acquisition as a tragedy - EA saved Westwood. And where did [they] get the "devs leaving Westwood because of it" thing from?

 

 

They saved it, only to kill it later, sadly.

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Well I enjoyed listening to your narrator Steve.

Although I was looking for more behind the scenes content, as much I loved re-watching the game content...

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6 hours ago, Gben said:

Well I enjoyed listening to your narrator Steve.

Although I was looking for more behind the scenes content, as much I loved re-watching the game content...

Thank you! And I enjoyed editing the video, though the feeling that this could've been more still nags.

I'll be looking for people who posses a deep knowledge of the series and who'd like to take on the alternative script in the following days. Would anyone here be able to point me in the right direction by any chance? I'd really appreciate it!

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18 hours ago, Ailert said:

Though my dilemma of finding a writer still remains, which is why I'd like to make a request on this forum: if anyone would like to take on this project and has writing experience, please let me know. 

I'd like to give you a hand, I can provide you with some extra videos as well.

17 hours ago, neojames82 said:

They saved it, only to kill it later, sadly.

It was Westwood's own fault, mostly. The team's integrity got lost around 2000, I mean who sane engages in nearly a dozen projects at once for no reason?

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Hi all.  The catalyst (missile?) that brought me onto these forums was seeing this discussion - I would very much like to get involved in any kind of filmmaking to do with the CnC Universe.  I have a pretty good face for radio, so I'd make a good VO artist, with access to a soundproof studio, too - anything I can do, count me in. :)

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