I usually scream at the money-hungry gold-eaters at EA and how they’re killing creativity and good gameplay with every iteration of their sports and racing games, but then, there are some great gems to come out of their studios as well, like this year’s RTS extraordinaire, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars.

For those of you that missed the first episode of the Command & Conquer 3 TV’s Battlecast premiere last night, EA has announced that not only is a new patch for the game on its way, but so was an expansion. Now, with EA, milking franchises by making one expansion after another is usual, but in this case, I welcome it, since the game is by far one of the best RTSes I’ve had the privilege of playing. Titled Command & Conquer 3: Kane’s Wrath, the expansion details the story of the NOD leader Kane’s rise to power from the previous game, all the way through Tiberium Wars and beyond. Talking about the new global domination mode that will find its way into the upcoming expansion, producer Jim Vessella called it “Risk on steroids”, and added that new units will be introduced for each faction, (Yes, the Scrin are back in the expansion) and on top of that, each faction will also be getting two sub-factions with unique units for each.

The expansion is scheduled to hit both the Xbox 360 and the PC sometime early 2008, and to sort out the control issues that plagued the Xbox 360 version, making it literally impossible to win later Acts on the console version, the developers have promised that a new “radial interface” will be made available for the Xbox 360, to make console RTSers lives a lot more easier. Now if they would only throw in a couple of more super weapons, just so I can use the Ion Cannon and the Rift Generator some more.

Command & Conquer TV: BattleCast Primetime Episode 01:
Watch / Download (Flash Video, requires player / 165 MB)

What the…. is there some kind of release-date frenzy bug going around developers’ offices these days? The latest addition to the “I am about to be released soon. Pre-order me now” pimpmobile is Sierra and Massive Entertainment’s “not so RTSey” RTS, World in Conflict, which will be available in stores across North America on September 18, 2007. With the standard edition and collector’s editions of the game going for $50 and $60 respectively, World in Conflict should provide a great RTS experience for fans who got hooked on to the micromanagement-less sub-genre with last year’s blockbuster from Relic, Company of Heroes. With the multiplayer beta having just ended a couple of days ago (impressions here) it looks like players who want to try the game before plonking down a couple of dollars for a pre-order can get to try their hands on a demo sometime around the end of this month, when the game is showcased at the Leipzig Games Convention, beginning August 22, 2007. Hit the jump for the official press release from Sierra Entertainment.

“Mr. Frodo! Look! It’s an oliphant!” Well, no, not exactly. But we have elephants! After not having the awesome mammoth creatures to squish, gore and destroy enemies in Ensemble’s Age of Empires franchise for a long time now, the upcoming expansion to the third AoE game, The Asian Dynasties, is all set to bring the mighty elephants back in the Indian campaign. Being an Indian myself, I can’t put into words how awesome it is to see my 8th grade history lesson come alive on my PC and how, years after that forced-labor camp called school (I kid, I kid..) I am learning more history through a PC game made in the United States… hmmm.

With a new bunch of hi-def videos touching upon the Japanese and Indian civilizations in the game, Big Huge Games’ CEO Brian Reynolds talked about how players would get six different elephant units, two camel units and a number of other special units like the Gurkha, the double-sword wielding Rajput, the Mansabdars and the Sepoy musketeer to take the fight against the East India Company in India’s first struggle for independence. Talking about the elephant units, Brian detailed the mahouts, with their powerful “splash damage” melee attack, howdahs full of archers, flail elephants that take on buildings and siege units and the all powerful siege elephants, with cannons mounted on their sides.

The interview spills a number of details about the Indian campaign, including how it’s the last of the three campaigns in the expansion, (hence seeing some of the most dramatic and challenging chapters in the game) the unique Home City cards system for India and the Indian wonders including the Taj Mahal, the Agra Fort and the Charminar Gate. Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties is scheduled for an Autumn 2007 release date.

The Asian Dynasties Updated Q&A - Details on India [GameSpot]
The Asian Dynasties Updated Q&A - Details on the Japanese [GameSpot]
HD Video - The Indian Civilization [GameTrailers]
HD Video - The Japanese Civilization Featurette [GameTrailers]

After enjoying a tremendous run, the public beta for Massive Entertainment’s super-awesome RTS World in Conflict has come to an end. In an announcement sent to all beta players, Massive Entertainment has announced that the demo for the game would be released by the end of the movie, probably at the Games Convention at Leipzig at the end of the month:

August will be a busy month for World In Conflict! Our 1st singleplayer previews will hit online and in select gaming magazines. We then look forward to releasing our demo by the end of the month. In addition, we’ll be at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle, Games Convention in Leipzig, and i31 in the UK. Come see us if you are in the neighborhood!

Seeing how good this game was, from what little time we got to spend in the beta, World in Conflict should be one of the most enjoybale RTSes that 2007 has to offer, along with the other upcoming games and expansions such as Universe at War, Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties, Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance and of course, the grand daddy of ‘em all, Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts.

If you have played the beta and don’t mind spending a little time to make the final product better, take a short survey here. Or, alternatively, if you haven’t played the beta, take the survey anyway to mess with their data. For more information, check the Massgate Forums, or visit the World in Conflict website for the latest news.

For those of you who may not know, the World in Conflict open beta was recently released to the public, and has been active for the past few days. I’ve played through the beta for the entire day today, and the following are my thoughts on it – ranging everywhere from simple audio, to graphics and even matters of units balance.

It’s primary a multiplayer beta, but after starting it up for the first time, I could see just from the menu; the music and the news bites playing in the background that it’s single-player must be incredibly well detailed. Simply sitting for a moment through those little snippets of news gives a sense of awe and fear just because of how real they sound. The music doesn’t reduce this feeling any, and just adds to the whole thing. Accessing the multiplayer demo is easy enough – I had no troubles with the Massgate registration, nor with the code. Starting up the game and joining in was as simple as logging in and hitting ‘play’.

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E3 2007 University Video - Behind the Scenes

An in-depth look at the play-testing for Empire Earth III along with brand new gameplay footage.

Download HD Version - MOV (66.2 MB) / WMV (63.9 MB)

I don’t know why, but what seemed uninteresting yesterday seemed different when I woke up this morning. So without giving it a second thought, I went to the Youtube link and watched a video on the upcoming tactical Real Time Strategy (RTS) game from Massive entertainment and Sierra, called World In Conflict. It was extremely good! The detail, the game play, the plot, the new innovative multiplayer, everything looked and felt good. It seemed that Massive was set for really nice hit of a game!!

Link to video - http://youtube.com/watch?v=IromEM2CkBQ

Maybe it was indigestion or maybe it was the absence of my morning tea, but something kept on bothering me, an itch inside my head. I went back and watched the video again. A credit system where you can buy your units and jump into combat, calling air-strikes, tank busters, napalm showers, paratroopers and tactical nukes.

No, the itch was not just the video, as I watched buildings and humans disintegrate under the wave of destruction from the nuke, I actually felt a bit sad. Then my mind did a back flip and there it was, part of the itch, Manhunt2 banned in the UK.

Official manhunt website, containing video and teaser trailers - http://www.rockstargames.com/manhunt2/

What difference did this RTS game have from Manhunt2? The amount of gore or violence? But, isn’t the underlying point the same then, to kill? Manhunt2 gets banned? The plot for Manhunt2 seems saner to me than the first. But what kills more? Tactical nukes? Or a single man out on a rampage?

We have to agree that the whole of human society is based on dominance. The stratification of society, the unnatural bounds and rules that we believe to be given than created by our self, suppress and dominate the ones trying to get out or who go against it. There are those things we are blind to; the legal illegalities that are so common in life that we fail to notice. Have you asked yourself, ever, why we are blind to them? Our every move is measured with the moral yardstick that is embedded in everyone of us. Isn’t that evident when looking at Manhunt2 and World In Conflict?

In war, you have an enemy and it is legal to kill him. In real life, this fictional construct of the “enemy” and its killer is easily justified, because its socially acceptable, Whereas in a totally virtual world, killing the enemy is not? Oh! I get it! Its how you kill the enemy that matters!! So I can nuke them along with a thousand others and not to mention the after effects, but I can’t poison them eh!?

Manhunt is a minute still frame when compared to the portrait that is war. Ask any person who has been touched by this and you will know how horrible it is!

The whole society shuns topics and labels them evil and it becomes just that!! It is the nature of the collective. But when you legitimize something like war, and call it necessary, even when the whole of the nation becomes a James Earl Cash going against a gang member in a violent showdown in a snuff film, we cheer it on! Cheering the structure that protects us.

Art is a reflection of life, what you see here is a reflection of yourself. Your pain, your anguish, your frustrations..  It is not without plausible exits, this so called structure and these real exits from this virtual structure lead to a revolution and with a bit of irony into new structures, but made by you.

Nature is neither good nor bad. It is nature. whatever happens, happens as part of the cycle. The strong and adaptable dominate and the weak perish. Evey other order we know was put in place by us to adapt and dominate. Sadly to live in that structure, you need to adapt and dominate. where good or evil is what the structure has in place for us, not what is real. In nature, everything has an immanent desire to break free or escape from its suppression, no matter how hard it may be. This desire for escape in us is what leads to those creative outbreaks, where the so called “artist” in you escapes and reaches an ethical plane where nothing seems impossible. Living this escape leads to revolution, living this escape leads to change.

Games like manhunt should make you think, they go beyond what you see on the screen. If you look hard enough, you might find yourself somewhere inside! In a moralistic society that has its roots on cruelty, sadism and domination; banning a game and saying that it is for the grater good is simply wrong. When you cant curb your own perversions and hunger for power, which can be very hard when trapped inside the same system you are trying to break out of, then what can you do? Educate the masses, give them choices, show them the doors.