command-and-conquer-red-alert-3 posts

A little earlier than expected, Electronic Arts has now released Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 Uprising via its EA Store for download and purchase. The $19.95 title is only available (for now anyway) as a downloadable stand alone expansion pack to the 2008 alternate history RTS game. You can also download the game via Direct2Drive and on Gamestop's download site.

Just a reminder: The game features four small single player campaigns. Three of them have normal RTS missions (one for each of the game's factions) while the fourth is a unique mix of RTS and action-RPG featuring you playing the super-powered Yuriko Omega character. The game also features 50 Commander's Challenge missions, each with different objectives. Of course a C&C game wouldn't be complete without goofy live action cut-scenes and Uprising has them as well with "actors" like Ric Flair to entertain you.

When we first launched Big Download about 10 months or so ago, we knew we could be covering all sorts of titles, from large publishers and developers to small one man indie games. However we also knew there would be games that we, and we hope our readers, would spend more time in covering and playing over the next several months. These games came to be known to us as the BigAss 25.

This list has remained something that's only been known to the Big Download team . . . until now. Today in a special two part article we reveal what games are included in our BigAss 25 list is for the current time period. Our aim is to revise this list every few months, taking some out and putting new ones back in, so that it remains a fresh and relevant look at where the PC game industry is headed.

While we will still cover the entire PC game industry, this list of games represents what we think will be of special interest to us and our readers. You may notice that this list contains games that have already been released. Why? Because those titles continue to generate interest, especially if they have had or will have new downloadable content and expansions that will keep their games fresh in our heads.

Today we are revealing the first 13 games on the BigAss 25 list in alphabetical order. Stay tuned tomorrow as we reveal the other 12 games on our current list.

Click on the image above to continue reading Big Download's BigAss 25 - Part 1

GamersGate continues to add new titles and publishers to its lineup and today the company announced that it will be providing a number of Electronic Arts titles to its library of titles. Games like Spore, Command and Conquer: Red Alerrt 3, Warhammer Online and Lord of the Rings Conquest are now available to download.

In fact, Gamersgate currently has a special deal on Lord of the Rings Conquest, The fantasy action game from developer Pandemic can be downloaded and purchased from GamersGate for just $31.99 for this weekend only. Also on sale this weekend is the historical strategy-sim game Anno 1701 which has a 50 percent price cut this weekend to just $14.99.

Electronic Arts' somewhat nortorious use of SecuROM as their DRM "protection" of many of their PC games is apparently becoming less of a factor if you download and purchase an EA game via Steam. This week a new patch for Steam owners of Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 aims to remove that SecuROM system from those copies of the game.

This is of course good news for people who bought the game via Steam. It basically means the only DRM set up for those copies of Red Alert 3 is Steam itself which can be installed and signed onto from any computer rather than the five PC limit that the retail version of the game currently has. One wonders if that will extend to the upcoming Uprising stand alone expansion.

Valve's zombie co-op themed shooter Left 4 Dead continues to bring in the awards. Last night at the DICE Summit it was named as the Best Computer Game of 2008 during the 12th annual Interactive Achievement Awards. The game also won for Outstanding Achievement in Online Game Play.

Some of the other PC games that won their categories this year include Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 (Strategy/Simulation Game of of the Year), World of Goo (Outstanding Achievement in Game Design), Fallout 3 (Role-Playing Game of the Year) and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year). You can check out the press release for the full list of winners.

While most games use either CGI or their own game engine for their cut scenes, Electronic Arts still used real live actors for the cut-scenes in their Command & Conquer RTS game franchise. Even though it will be a downloadable only game, that tradition continues in the latest entry, C&C Red Alert 3 Uprising.

There's a couple of returning favorites in the new Uprising cast, along with some new faces. Those additions include a classically trained actor who has prior experience in a EA game with cut-scenes, two actresses who had roles in the TV show Prison Break and an actor who makes his true action debut after a long career in pro wrestling

Click on the image above to continue reading The Actors of Red Alert 3 Uprising

It looks like the folks at Electronic Arts know their audience when it comes to casting Ric Flair in one of the live-action roles for Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 Uprising. The official C&C web site has a quick teaser of an on-camera interview with "The Nature Boy" that will be released in full on Friday.

The legendary pro wrestler, who was named today as playing Commander Hill in EA's upcoming stand alone RTS expansion RTS, will apparently have to deal with a Red Alert 3 Soviet Bear during the video interview. Head over to the site for the shocking blindside on Flair. Personally we think "The Nature Boy" will make quick work of this stupid bear because he will be "Stylin' and Profilin'"

Electronic Arts has already given us some info about the live action cast members for Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 Uprising but this morning the publisher revealed the full cast list for the downloadable stand alone RTS expansion game. The cast members include some very familiar performers and one which may be a big surprise.

In addition to the previously announced cast members of Gemma Atkinson, Ivana Milicevic, Holly Valance and Malcolm McDowell, the cast also features Jamie Chung, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe and none other than Ric Flair. Yep, the "Nature Boy" who only recently retired from pro wrestling after a 36-year career, will portray Commander Hill, one of the commanders players must take on in the Commander's Challenge feature. Uprising is currently scheduled for release this March for s $19.99 price tag

Last week the Writers Guild of America nominated several games, mostly PC titles, for the game writing category in their annual awards. This week its the members of the Visual Effects Society who are handing out nominations for two game related categories in their annual awards.

The categories are for best real time effects and also for best pre-rendered effects. Five out of the six spots in the categories went to games published by Electronic Arts although we have to think Blizzard is the front runner for the pre-rendered cinematic award for World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King. The awards ceremony will be held on Feb. 21.

Outstanding Real Time Visuals in a Video Game
Crysis Warhead
Zoltan Pocza, Gabor Mogyorosi, Tamas Schlagl
Dead Space
Ian Milham, Ben Wanat, Christopher Stone
Need For Speed Undercover
Henry LaBounta, Steve Barcia, Dave Taylor, Carl Jarrett

Outstanding Pre-Rendered Visuals in a Video Game
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Chrono-Lab, Empire and Allied Scenes
Richard Taylor, Benjamin Hopkins, KaTai Tang, Mical Pedriana
Need For Speed Undercover - Cinematics
Henry LaBounta, Steve Barcia, Dave Taylor, Mark Raham
World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Intro Cinematic
Jeff Chamberlain, Phillip Hillenbrand

Electronic Arts announced last week their plans to release the downloadable stand alone RTS game Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 Uprising. Since the announcement there have been a few clarifications that have been made about the game which EA's community manager Apoc has made clear in a recent forum post on the C&C message boards.

Apoc states that the game will contain a full AI skirmish mode along with new multiplayer maps and units (those maps will also be made available at some point for people who own Red Alert 3). Co-op multiplayer won't be in Uprising (unlike the main Red Alert 3 game) but Apoc states the four new single player campaigns are what they determined players really wanted in their research. He states, "We think you guys will really enjoy the Yuriko campaign and agree that it plays out like nothing you've seen before in a Command & Conquer game."

Pricing for Uprising has yet to be officially set with Apoc saying, "...part of the reason why we decided to become a digital download was so that we could pass some of the savings onto all of you out there. We realize that times are tough, so we are making sure that Uprising will be a great value and something that any Command & Conquer fan can afford." He also states that a retail release for Uprising is something they are looking into as well. The digital download will be made available sometime in March.

[Via Blue's News]