RADEN News

Comment Test

Mon, 12 May 2008 13:48:04 -0700

Testing news comments...

Had some problems with the comments section for the news. All of the comments were erased. I assume it had something to do with those crazy bots that infiltrate comment sections, so I have installed a protection against that. Hopefully things have been corrected.

Sorry for the mess.

Tacitus Thursday Blog

Fri, 09 May 2008 16:02:00 -0700

This weeks Tacitus Thursday focuses on Red Alert3, and features a blog by Exec. Producer of Red Alert 3, Chris Corry. Here's a snip:

Hi, guys. Chris here.

It's been about three months since we announced Red Alert 3, and as the game’s Executive Producer I want to take a moment to thank the community for such a warm and enthusiastic reception. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many of you in our forums (I go by the name EASmudge) or during our community summits, and am constantly inspired by your boundless enthusiasm and passion for all things Command & Conquer. I know that many of you have been waiting a long time for a new Red Alert game, and we have no intention of letting you down. I can’t wait to show you all the great things that we’ve been working on over the last year or so � we have a lot to talk about over the next six months.

As I write this, I'm sitting at a makeshift desk on the first Red Alert 3 live-action cinematics shoot. It’s day two of our eight day shoot and I'm sitting on one of our cavernous Hollywood soundstages, dwarfed by a 20 foot-tall green screen. I'm surrounded by a half-dozen or so of our sets, ranging from a vintage elevator car � awaiting its special-effects aided decent into our time machine laboratory � to a palatial… but wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. We’ll talk a lot about the cinematics soon enough, and especially our top-notch cast. If you liked the C&C3 cinematics, you ain’t seen nothin yet; and if you didn’t… well then, you’ll be really surprised.

You can read the entire blog right HERE.

Tacitus Thursday For RA3

Fri, 02 May 2008 20:08:26 -0700

Tacitus Thursday is normally reserved for Kane's Wrath stuff, but due to fans asking for more Red Alert3 goodies, APOC caved in and dedicated this Tacitus Thursday for RA3. Included are two new wallpapers for the Sickle and the Bullfrog. You'll also find some concept art, and an interview with the Lead Art Director for Red Alert 3, Matt Britton. Head HERE for the goodies!

New BattleCast Primetime This Friday

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 08:06:52 -0700

Heads Up! This coming Friday the latest BattleCast Primetime will be revealing a new Red Alert 3 unit, Louis Castle will reminisce about Red Alert 2, and Adam McCarthy, lead animator on Red Alert 3, will show how he animated his favorite new Red Alert 3 unit. APOC will be back in his corner, and David accepts Raj’s challenge in The Main Event. Black's Big Battle � 2 MCVs enter, 1 MCV leaves! Who will win in the match Jason Bender is calling "A Noob Apocalypse"?

Check right HERE on Friday for BattleCast Primetime!

New Red Alert3 Q&A

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 10:58:47 -0700

On APOC's Red Alert 3 updates section on the official forums he has posted the following new Q&A. Just to note that currently 'WALLS' are in the game, and if things work out ok, they will remain. Good news for all ya wall building luvers!

Now that bases can be built on water, resources are found at sea and many units can go in water, how is Naval Combat any different from land combat? How do you plan to retain the uniqueness of Naval Combat?

One of the ways we maintain unique styles of play on land and on the water is by contextually varying a unit’s role. For example, the Allies have a hovercraft that functions as an effective anti-structure and anti-vehicle unit while it’s in the water, but is then only effective against infantry when it’s on land.

Why in every game so far do the Allies and GDI have solely American accents? Will you consider fixing this in RA3?

Actually, Red Alert 2 had plenty of Allied units that had European accents, like the Spy and the British Sniper, and Red Alert 3 will be no different. In fact, some of our best Allied unit responses in RA3 are by non-Americans, like the Guardian Tank.

What type of terrains will RA3 have?

One of the nice things about the Red Alert 3 campaign is that it spans across many different parts of the globe, and that really lets us add a lot of unique environments that look different from each other. I don’t think we want to give away all the different terrain types, but you can expect to fight in the snowy environs of Russia, urban sprawls of Japan, and picturesque villages in Europe, among many others. We’re also focusing heavily on naval gameplay, so that means many of our campaign maps and all of our skirmish/MP maps will have ocean or lake coastlines, each of which will also contribute to that map’ s unique look.

Will there be any sort of environmental hazards? ei. Radioactivity, biohazards, etc.

There certainly will be. Again, without giving too much away, you can expect at least one of the superweapons in the game to leave a residual effect on the ground for a short time after it has been activated.

Will walls and gates be making a marked return to Command & Conquer in Red Alert 3?

The simple answer is yes… and no. Walls will most certainly be making their return from earlier Command & Conquer games in Red Alert 3, but gates will not. We have walls up and running in the game now, actually, and we’re working on ways to make them much easier to build. However (there’s always a catch) if we can’ t get them to a state that we’re happy with, we may decide to remove them, just like we did with Command & Conquer 3. But as of now, the plan is to keep them in the game and make them as user-friendly as possible.

Will you be able to collect resources in the water? What are the basic aesthetics of how this works?

Yeah, our resource-collection mechanic definitely includes resources on water. I think we’re going to be talking about our resource model in detail in a few weeks, but suffice it to say that you’ll have resources to collect both on land and on water, and if you cede control of one or the other to your opponent, you’ll be putting yourself at a huge disadvantage.

Red Alert 2 was defined in part by the presence of real world locations in both map structure and specific landmarks. Will this be continued in RA3 and if so to will it be more or less abstract than what was done for RA2?

We’ll definitely continue the Red Alert 2 tradition of taking players to real-world locations across the globe. Some of the locations that Red Alert 3’s campaign take place in include Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Cannes, just to name a few.

Will there be any limit of how far of land you can build your naval base.

That depends on your faction, really. While theirs are a little different from each, the Allies and Soviets use a traditional build system that requires you to increase the area that you can build any given structure (including any naval structures) by constantly expanding your base. So for the Allies and the Soviets, the short answer is yes, there are limits that are tied to your base’s build radius. The Empire of the Rising Sun, on the other, utilizes a build system that’s markedly different than either the Soviets or the Allies… and that’s all we’ll say on that subject for now.

Good stuff...see all of APOC's Q&A HERE.

Red Alert 3 Q&A Archive

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:01:05 -0700

I missed this bit of news as it was posted last week on the Official RA3 Forums. APOC started a Q&A Archive section, and will update it with new Q&A periodically. If you have a question about RA3, you can post it in the "OFFICIAL RA3 Q&A - ask your questions here" thread HERE. Below are some of the Q&A already posted.

Question: Will squads be in RA3?
Answer: All units are individually controlled. There are no squads in RA3.

Question: Will the sidebar be making a return?
Answer: YES!

You can see more Q&A HERE.

Lion Checking In

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 07:58:41 -0700

There hasn't been much to report on the Red Alert 3 scene for the past week or so, hence the lack of updates. Obviously with the release of Kane's Wrath recently, the majority of attention is focused on that game. Once the dust settles more news for RA3 will be coming our way, and I'll cover it all on RADEN.

Red Alert 2 Tournament

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 08:30:47 -0700

Fire up your Red Alert 2 game folks...it's tournament time with some great prizes up for grabs! It all starts on April 1st. Here's a few details.

Comrades, Strike Team and Electronic Arts Los Angeles are teaming up for the next 3 months to host the first official EA sponsored Red Alert 2 Ladder Tournament in over 5 years! What better way to get pumped up and excited for Red Alert 3 than to kick it old school with the Soviets and Allies in some good old fashioned Red Alert 2 action! This ladder tournament will be officially hosted by Strike-Team using the XWIS servers (the official EA sponsored WOL servers for Red Alert 2), with all prizes sponsored by Electronic Arts Los Angeles and the Red Alert 3 development team!

Those interested can check HERE for full details.

New DEN Network Poll

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:49:18 -0700

The new poll question asks for YOUR first impressions of Kane's Wrath. Poll is in the right menu. Thanks in advance for voting.

And the results from the previous poll which asked: First thoughts when ya heard Red Alert 3 was being developed by EA?

[1182 votes total]

-Shock & Awe! (711) 60%
-Somewhat surprised (271) 23%
-No Biggie (200) 17%

Red Alert 3 Beta Registration

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:08:34 -0700

As most of ya are aware, Kane's Wrath has been released, and with that release comes the beta keys included with your purchase for your chance at participating in the Red Alert 3 Beta Program later this summer. There had been some problems with the RA3 beta registration page, but it seems to be working again.

If you have your beta key, you can sign up HERE.