Hold on, that's Michael Ironside. And that's Billy Dee Williams. And THAT'S Sawyer from Lost. Ah, and Kane...
What are we on about? A new trailer from Command & Conquer 3 - viewable via our video player on the right - which is giving us our first real glimpse of the game's cinematic cut-scenes, which we have to say are looking fantastic.
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars Trailer
Official trailer
2:03Play spot the actor as cinematic cut-scenes are spliced with gameplay footage
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars Trailer
Official trailer
2:03Play spot the actor as cinematic cut-scenes are spliced with gameplay footage
Age Restricted Content Please enter your date of birth below in order to verify your age before watching this video
You must be at least 0 years of age.
Play Again? Missed something? Just watch it again..
Watch More Videos Browse related videos and see what's new & popular
Share This Video Email this video, or embed it into your own web page
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars Trailer
Official trailer
2:03Play spot the actor as cinematic cut-scenes are spliced with gameplay footage
Explosive gameplay footage is included too and together it's all enough to send a little tingle of excitement down our collective spines.
Could this kick-start the revival of the live-action cut-scenes abundant in our favourite PC classics? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.
Revival, hardly. It's a horrendous expense and effort to go to that doesn't always pay off - it worked in the first C&C because at the time not only were a lot of other games doing it but they managed to tow that fine line between pure unadultered cheese and serious melodramatics. Kane shooting Seth is still one of my favourite scenes of that game, it's suitably dramatic, you've had an inkling it was coming, it perfectly fits with the whole tone of the Nod organisation and Kane's dialogue as he pushes the corpse out of the way and sits down still makes me laugh. It's also a very effective way of advancing the plot and increasing a player's suspension of disbelief and emotional involvement - you care that little bit more about agent Tanya or Kane because you see them as people up on your screen and not just as pixellated grunts.
I think one of the main reasons such an effort has been put into the cutscenes of C&C 3 is because of fan demand - C&C has one of the largest, most vocal and passionate communities out there, and to them it wouldn't be true C&C without Joe Kucan smiling out at you from the screen. C&C Generals suffered for opting to build its cutscenes in-game (news report intros not withstanding) The second reason flows from the first - EA and co. care not just about making a good game, but being able to sell a good game. The FMV announcements have resulted in some of the best and most positive PR generation for C&C 3. Imagine if the decision had been made not to go with live-action scenes - the game would be no where near as hotly anticipated by the community as it is now. The decision to make the effort was pretty much a no-brainer - the fans demanded it, all previous 'true' C&C games contained FMV and Kane is probably the best loved character in the series, the talent they've brought on board is good PR in its own right, and the whole endeavour is highly bankable. C&C 3 was always going to sell by the bucket load on the brand alone, so it would be madness not to pour as many resources into it as is feasibly possible, including the use of FMV production.
I don't see why it would. It's not like there's a taboo attached to live-action cutscenes in games or that they're unpopular with the public. No one needs to be shown that 'it's OK' to use them, they simply fell out of favour (presumably) because it's more cost effective to do cutscenes by other means.
So, unless C&C is hideously successful and the live-action scenes are consistantly mentioned as being its main selling point (which is pretty ludicrous), nothing will change.
Frankly, I think after the disapointment ( for me personally ) of Generals ( no live fmv, and all the sense of fun drained out of the game), the re-launching of C&C how it was originally made ( with FMVs and I would imagine a fair amount of tongue in cheek humour) is the way to go.
Having been employed by EA as a games tester for the last 13 months, ( I left early this year )I have seen many companies (or games franchises)get bought up and dis-membered and the originality of the games go down the drain. When I saw a few years back that EA had bought Westwood, my heart sank...No more Eye of the Beholder, no more Lands of Lore and , I thought at the time, no more C&C...then Red Alert 2 came out and was fantastic. For once I thought EA had not destroyed a company it had acquired. How wrong was I, within a few months of the release of Yuri's revenge, Westwood as we knew it was closed down ( I think EA may have actually moved into their old offices- EA Redwood Shores ?). When I saw Generals I saw a poor game and a disaster for the C&C franchise, it had none of the fun, and had lost the "spirit" of the C&C series.
I would imagine that one of the money men somewhere in EA probably went and finally did a bit of research to find out what made C&C a great hit in the first place, saw that the FMV with actors etc was a major contributor, and made the right decsion.
I think this new version of C&C uses the same engine as the recent Lord of the Rings RTS games that EA has released, and both of these games were actually quite well done ( another surprise considering the publisher), and the games were well balanced ( Unlike Generals ) so lets hope the new C&C is just as well balanced from a gaming perspective to.
All in all I think Tib Wars looks promising, but I don't think it will launch a revival in game FMV in general as it's just too expensive for the smaller companies to produce. For once EA have thrown their money at the right project and it looks like it's going to pay off.
....on a slightly different note, EA are due to publish a game called " Crysis" later this year, and in January of this year, EA made a decision to start calling the shots about the content of the game rather than leaving it to the developers...lets see if Crysis still works after EA screw with it....I really hope it does, as it looks very promising. But as I mentioned earlier, EA do have the habit of buying companies up and then dis-membering them.
...and on a further different note...I think EA may still employ at least one fo the original Westwood team...I saw the surname of "Sperry" in the email list just before I left !
Anyway, having read back through that little rant, I realise now it's a bit dis-jointed....but hey, you get the meaning I'm sure...after all, you read PC zones webpage, so you must have some modicum of inteligence.
To sum up-FMV= Good thing, but it won't lauch a revolution, EA are ONLY out to make money, and that usually means originality and integrity get taken down a back alley, told to kneel down and then get executed gangland style.
Regards the Quality Assurance for this game:- I get the impression EA Quality Assurance in the USA is far superior to the Quality Assurance in the UK, so the game has a good chance of success and actually being good.
EA are a really bad employer from a QA - UK perspective...trust me on this....poor management, Lying managment and I think, corrupt management. Just be thankful EA-QA-UK aren't testing this project. But that's just my opinion. Maybe I should write an article about my experiences whilst at EA Quality Assurance in Chertsey....hmmmmm
I think this new version of C&C uses the same engine as the recent Lord of the Rings RTS games that EA has released, and both of these games were actually quite well done ( another surprise considering the publisher), and the games were well balanced ( Unlike Generals ) so lets hope the new C&C is just as well balanced from a gaming perspective to.
I don't know the name of the game engine that Lord of the Rings is based on. I do know that EA is using the same game engine (sage engine) that they did in Generals, but they have had 3 years to inprove on visual quality, depth and coding (assuming it's the same team). So with a bit of luck, this game will be retro yet modern, awesome yet nostalgic. I CAN'T WAIT!!
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
