ea-los-angeles posts

Command & Conquer has had quite the convoluted and bizarre history. With three separate timelines at this point, things can get a little confusing. After all, it's been 15 years since the original's release, and there has been 7 core games and 15 expansion packs. It's not exactly an easy canon to get into. Thankfully, we've got a handy guide to the twisting corridors of Command & Conquer's story just in time for the final entry in the long-running Tiberian series. Since the campaigns in most of the games are mutually contradictory, we will be describing the events of both campaigns while pointing out which is canon.

Games that are coming out soon have a lot of unknowns that the average person might not know. Who is this character inspired by? Is all the talk of volumetric fog or cel-shaded graphics really worthwhile? Do the game mechanics really seem solid, or are they lackluster? In All You Need To Know we provide information to help you fully appreciate what these upcoming games have to offer.

Feed your head after the jump.

Check out our collection of Tiberium Twilight related downloads here on Big Download!

In what has to be regarded as a very quick turnaround, Electronic Arts has come on out and admitted that Mercs Inc is indeed in development at its Los Angeles development studios. The game, also known as Mercenaries Inc, will be the third game in the action series that was originally developed by the now shuttered Pandemic Studios. The official word came just a few hours after a leaked trailer showing off gameplay hit the internet.

EA's press release on the game has little info on the title itself, nor any word on the game's platforms or release date. It did hint strongly that the Pandemic name would be used in the branding of the game when it is released even though the team of former Pandemic developers is working out of EALA now.

The shut down last week of Pandemic Studios' Santa Monica offices is not supposed to be the end of Pandemic itself or the original brands that the developer, through Electronic Arts, still owns. Which is why the above and supposedly leaked video might actually be made into a full game one day.

Web site Bitmob states that the above video, supposedly showing off a multiplayer-oriented entry in Pandemic's Mercenaries series called Mercenaries Inc, is real. Their anonymous sources says the trailer itself was made a few months ago at Pandemic. As for the game itself, the site claims that the title is still in pre-production at EA's Los Angeles studio and being made by the few ex-Pandemic staffers that made the transition to their new EALA offices. Even if all of the above is true it will likely be some time before the game itself is released.

Electronic Arts has released a 15 minute gameplay walkthrough video of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3. It displays a (very staged) conflict from the perspective of a Soviet commander. RA3 executive producer Chris Corry provides commentary.

Most of the video depicts a conflict between the Soviets and the Allies in land, air, and sea. There's a brief glimpse of the new third faction -- the Empire of the Rising Sun -- in the final moments. Corry's presentation emphasizes the new design philosophy in RA3: a focus on "force composition rather than sheer numbers." It looks like the rock, paper, scissors concept of combat is taken to a new extreme.

Several new units are featured, and the resource management and navy aspects are discussed. There's even a super weapon detonation. Check it out.

[Via Rock, Paper, Shotgun]