These images appeared on the Command & Conquer 4 website as a bonus to newsletter subscribers, teasing a new medium for the beloved real-time strategy franchise. Joystiq seems to think the images could be indicative of a comic book, and EA has been loving on the video game comic book business lately, but I agree with Joy that it could be too obvious. Perhaps an animated cartoon of some sort, with these images serving as storyboards? A really difficult coloring book? Decorator napkins?

See, this is where you guys should take over the speculation. It's not my strong suit.

Newsletter Subscribers Exclusive Sneak Peek [Command & Conquer via Blue's News]

Mytheon is an online strategy game in which players collect and trade power stones containing troops and spells to use in battle against their opponents. It sounds a lot like EA's BattleForge, only with rocks instead of cards and a strong focus on mythology. Want to try it early? Participating in next week's stress test could be your best bet.

"We want our players to stress our servers and push our technology to its limits so we can really evaluate things in preparation for our official closed beta in January," said Peter Cesario, Director of New Business and Product Development at True Games. "We invite you to tell your friends and family and really put our servers to the test. And, in return, you will get a first look at the game and a ton of cool exclusives."

What kind of cool exclusives? For starters, participating in the stress test will score you an exclusive forum avatar, which doesn't exactly fall into the category of cool. Once the game launches, however, they'll be passing out in-game items to players who participate, so this is your chance to get in on the ground floor. That, and True Games warns of limited space for the closed beta test, so any leg up you can get on the crowd should come in handy.

Visit the Mytheon website to sign up for an account. The stress test will take place on Monday, December 21st, so join up and give those servers hell for Christmas.

During Kotaku's interview this week with EA CEO John Riccitiello we turned to recent news that hallowed PC real-time-strategy series Command & Conquer would be moving toward a digital model rather than a disc-based one after its next release. The series would be overseen by Might and Magic creator John Van Caneghem, who recently joined EA.

News of the transition was sending fears of a Facebook-ized, watered-down C&C among some series fans. But while not detailing exactly what the digital edition of the franchise would be like, Riccitiello was happy to explain to Kotaku the reason for the seemingly dramatic shift.

"[Van Ceneghem] and I have a shared vision that the RTS category is due for fundamental innovation and not just cooler graphics," Riccitiello said. "We've gotten to the point where you can see the particles around individual grenade explosions inside rooms where windows fall apart. That was never what made RTS good. That was just sort of eye candy on top of a very traditional game mechanic. From when Red Alert and Starcraft sort of defined the genre, it hasn't moved."

Riccitiello said he didn't want to be seen as designing the game in front of Kotaku — he's not a game designer he acknowledged — but he did offer some hints, saying. "I'm a believer that the RTS sector is more open to fundamental innovation at a metagame level than almost any genre."

Referencing EA's newly-acquired Facebook games developer Playfish, he added: "I actually think that some of what Playfish does, in terms of iterating games on a weekly basis, Some of what Facebook does, in terms of letting you collectively experience things, have not been stitched together by the game industry in terms of lessons learned there. You start applying that thinking to a C&C franchise you get something pretty special."

Riccitiello is not the first — and won't be the last — Kotaku interviewee who brings up the old saw that graphics aren't everything. But you can sometimes judge the depth of such a comment by the context in which it's provided. In the midst of talking about C&C, here's what Riccitiello said about graphical improvements and their relevance to game development and the notion of what constitutes "fundamental innovation":

"I grew up in the industry at a time when eye candy was the fundamental innovation. 1999 saw the first mass-sale of 3D games. Suddenly, you can do 3D when everything else was splines and isometric and all that stuff. We had three or four years where, ok, it was about eye candy. If all you had [before then] was 2d and scrollers, it lit us all up. And then we learned how to make 3D environments that were fun and interesting and different.

"I think now we're all at a place where we have high-definition TVs. We have PCs with staggering monitors. Everyone's mastered 3D. By and large we're choosing between 30 and 60 frames a second depending on how good we want the environment to be vs. how fluid we want. Clearly in the next set of processors we're going to get to both.

"But I could ask the question, who cares? To be honest with you, yes I do like watching sports in high def but it's not really more fun. I just like it because I spent six grand on my TV and I want a return on my investment. But it doesn't make the experience any better. And so you have to innovate in different ways."

So graphics as "fundamental innovation" in the RTS genre? In Command & Conquer? Not anymore, according to Riccitiello.

Time for something different. Something, he admitted, build on a path blazed by massively-multiplayer online games, connecting more players and doing it outside a fantasy universe.

Sounds like Command & Conquer has its marching orders.

The full Joshi quote as pulled by Gamerzines reads: "RTS players are great people but some of them have very little balance in their life. So their enjoyment is entirely derived from smashing another human in a videogame."

On the one hand, I want to disagree because I like RTS games and consider myself a level-headed person who enjoys all kinds of balanced things like butterflies and nail polish, etc. But, yeah, I enjoy smashing another human player in a competitive video game — that's kind of the point, isn't it?

On the other hand, I do agree with Joshi because I once watched a friend fling his expensive keyboard across a room during a total rout in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3. "Unbalanced" just about sums him up.

And on a third hand that I don't physically have, couldn't you say that by Joshi's logic all gamers who get off on crushing other players in any genre are unbalanced? Why pick on his own audience when there are so many other worthy targets to choose from (*cough* first-person shooters *cough*)?

Oh, but here's another Joshi tidbit to sink your teeth into: "Now the gameplay is no longer tailored to beating the opponent's base and having that be the source of victory. It's now about capturing objectives. So there's less of that head-to-head 'I'm going to crush you' mentality going on."

I'll let you handle the arguments behind that one, commenters.

RTS players "have very little balance in their life" - C&C4 Producer [Gamerzines]

Square Enix will be publishing Supreme Commander 2 in North America on March 2nd of next year on the PC and March 16th for the Xbox 360. To celebrate the announcement, they've released a video of Chris Taylor, Founder and Creative Director of Gas Powered Games, walking us through a typical battle. It looks like exactly what I was shown at E3 2009, actually, only without Chris Taylor actually being in the room with you.

Set 25 years after the original Supreme Commander, Supreme Commander 2 features an extensive campaign mode and online multiplayer, all wrapped up in an engine that sacrifices polygons for performance but still manages to look spectacular.

The release marks one of the first times Square Enix is publishing a Western-developed game in Western regions, and Gas Powered Games Creative Director Chris Taylor couldn't be more pleased.

"The partnership with Square Enix has been a highlight of my career. I couldn't be more proud of what the team has accomplished, as the game has continually exceeded all of my expectations throughout its development."

Supreme Commander 2 will be released on the Xbox 360 and PC in Europe this spring. I'd expect the North American release either at the same time or slightly earlier.

I apologize wholeheartedly for that intro. I just can't seem to escape Christmas music these past few days, and I saw no reason why I shouldn't share my pain. Still, what better way to get into the mood for the holiday season than screenshots for a game that's not coming out until March? These shots have everything you need to ring in the holiday cheer: bright lights, snow, pine trees, and futuristic vehicles shooting at other futuristic vehicles. Ho ho ho!

Remember back when we used to fight over Tiberium? We were such dorks back then. Now that it is killing the planet, bringing the 15-year Tiberium saga to a close, it all seems so silly. Still, it wouldn't be a C&C game without fighting, and that fighting kicks off on March 16th. If you're looking to get an early taste of the action, preordering the game will not only get you access to the upcoming beta program, but an exclusive prequel bonus mission and the game's soundtrack as well.

"Finally, fans will learn what happens to Kane, Nod, GDI, Earth and Tiberium when Command & Conquer 4 Tiberian Twilight hits store shelves March 16th," said Mike Glosecki, Lead Producer of Command & Conquer 4 Tiberian Twilight at EA Los Angeles. "We can't wait for fans to experience the trademark C&C action with the new level of strategic depth we have added, especially with our new experience system."

Make sure you get a good seat for the end of the world. It should be rather spectacular.

We'll have our full review up for the real-time strategy game tomorrow, but until then take a look at this trailer, which shows off some of the more than 40 playable champions in the game.

I mostly-loved Mecho Wars when I reviewed it this summer. But one of the big things the game was missing was online multiplayer.

Earlier this week game developers Oyaji released an ad-supported free version of the game that allows players to battle one another over a WiFi connection.

The game, which uses OpenFeint for online support, allows you to select turn time limits ranging from 5 minutes to 24 hours. There are also four game modes: Conquer, gold differ, assassination and annihilation.

If you'd rather not deal with the ads, which are pretty low-key, and want access to the full game, including several single-player campaigns, you can buy the full version of Mecho Wars for $.99 which also includes the online play.

Simple gameplay, quaint graphics, and catchy music are the key features of Creat's Mushroom Wars, a fast-paced real-time strategy game coming to PSN tomorrow. Players of all ages can participate in battles between two rival mushroom tribes through 18 levels in Skirmish mode and 25 levels worth of Campaign mode, building up their bases, bolstering defenses, and improving weapons as the strive for total fungal domination. Featuring both short Domination matches and long Conquest battles, Mushroom Wars should have something for every sort of RTS fan.

"Creat Studios is excited to introduce Mushroom Wars as our seventh title on PlayStation® Network in 2009," said Anton Petrov, President of Creat Studios. "Gamers of all ages will quickly become addicted to Mushroom Wars, with its strategic and engaging gameplay."

There you have it. Creat Studios wants you addicted to mushrooms, starting tomorrow.

Why do you suppose they call it Junktown? I tried looking through the screenshots for some sort of clue, but there was too much junk in the way for me to see anything. I guess some things will just have to remain a mystery.

InspiredMedia d/b/a Left Behind Games Inc., worked out the pilot release of its titles in 100 Walmarts in the Houston and Dallas areas. The sales will test the games' viability in additional Walmart locations.

In a news release, Inspired Media sees Texas as fertile ground for its products, noting that the Lone Star State is home to more than 23,000 churches and an evangelical Protestant population of 5 million.

Inspired Media produced 2006's Left Behind: Eternal Forces, a real-time strategy game in which the player attempts to pray opposing forces into submission after all faithful souls leave the Earth during the Rapture, and the world reforms under a secularist order that loves, among other things, rock n' roll. It was followed by Left Behind: Tribulation Forces for PC in 2007. Eternal Forces racked up a Metacritic score of 38.

Christian Games Hit Texas Wal-Marts [Game Politics]

Due out later this month, Command & Conquer Red Alert for the iPhone and iPod Touch puts you in the boots of either to Soviets or the Allies as you fight touch-screen battles across 12 different combat levels. Many of the features of the series' PC versions are present in the portable versions. You still build your base, research new technologies, and command your troops - it's just now you do it with a tap of your finger rather than a click of your mouse.

Further utilizing the iPhone's capabilities, C&C Red Alert will allow you to zoom in and out of the battlefield using multi-touch controls, making it feel a bit more like you're playing with the future of the RTS genre rather than a port of something ages old.

Definitely an interesting proposition, but personality has always been a major factor in the success of the Red Alert series. If EA mobile can pull it off, I'll be very impressed.

EA Mobile: Command & Conquer Red Alert for iPhone and iPod touch [Facebook]

Chaos Rises next spring, when THQ releases the next chapter in the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War saga, Chaos Rising. The Chaos Space Marines, a dark mirror to the regular, non-chaotic but sometimes a bit untidy Space Marines, are a new playable army for Dawn of War. Battling the traitorous he traitorous Space Marines of the Black Legion is only the beginning, as THQ's vice president of global brand management Kevin Kraff explains.

"Chaos Rising delivers a tremendous amount of new content, including the powerful Chaos Space Marines, new multiplayer maps and units, a new level cap and a continuation of the Blood Ravens single player campaign. Relic's passion for the Warhammer 40,000 universe and talent in crafting innovative RTS games will ensure Chaos Rising is an engaging experience that will advance the franchise and genre."

Yes, there will be new units across all armies, and the level cap is being upped from 20 to 30. With that much more power on the battlefield, Chaos Rising couldn't be a more appropriate name. THQ is aiming for a spring 2010. Those of you interested in a sneak peek can check out the December issue of PC Gamer, due out in the middle of next month.

Champions are the characters that your Summoner summons to represent them on the field of battle, and Riot is going out of its way to make sure there's a large selection available at launch. Of these latest five, four are already available in the closed beta, while the fifth will be added later on this week.

Click on the photos for short bios of each of the five new champions.


Corki, the Daring Bombardier

Corki brings his talents as a fighter pilot to bear on the Fields of Justice. Up high, he sees much further than most of his foes. His advanced weaponry allows him to lock onto a target, viciously hounding it while also painting it for the rest of his team. The automatic guns of Corki's gyrocopter can fire at nearby enemies nearly continuously, filling the air with whizzing leaden bullets. However, his bombing runs are what give him his appellation. He is capable of cluster bombing an area, unleashing a furious firestorm, as well as piloting his dreaded bombing runs, where all within his path must face his wrath.

He is Corki – death from above!

Blitzcrank, the Great Steam Golem

Blitzcrank is techmaturgical marvel; he is a slow metal bruiser who is a challenge to bring down. When Blitzcrank is in mortal danger, he automatically converts his mana-enriched fuel into a protective barrier that keeps the mighty machine going. Rockets in his wrist propel his fist into enemies, grabbing them and dragging them back to the waiting machine. He is able to charge up his mechanical fists, inflicting increased damage on an unsuspecting target. Blitzcrank can also energize his inner circuits to randomly arc electricity into nearby enemies; he can further increase this power to trigger an electromagnetic shock wave, silencing his foes. Despite his normally plodding nature, he is capable of firing his systems into overdrive, rocketing himself around at amazing speeds.

The Great Steam Golem is quickly becoming the most feared magical automaton in all of Valoran.

Taric, the Gemknight

Taric is both a warrior and a healer, drawing on the mystical powers of the earth. Taric uses different kinds of gems for different kinds of effects, shattering his enemies' defenses while boosting his own and those of his team. When needed, he uses his father's arts to bring health back to his wounded allies; his persistence in combat allows him to heal more rapidly. Taric can also use the damaging energies of his gems to focus his anger into a dazzling ray of light, damaging opponents at a distance. If he truly concentrates, he can channel the powerful energy of the crystals in the earth, rallying and healing allies that surround him.

Kassadin, the Voidhunter

Kassadin has harnessed the power of the Void. His Nether Blade steals the magical energy of his opponents. This dark blade also allows him to fire ethereal bolts of Void energy, not only harming his enemies, but inhibiting their ability to utilize their mystical abilities. Kassadin draws energy from others' magical use, charging him until he unleashes a force pulse that both damages and slows foes. His connection with the Void also allows him to transform the damage he takes from other Champions, increasing the speed of his attacks. Kassadin can also step sideways through the world, teleporting where he pleases. He can utilize this rift-walking ability multiple times to deal more and more damage.

Veigar, the Malefic One

As one might expect, Veigar brings the power of dark magic to bear. He fires dark bolts of mystical energy that not only harm foes, but strips their protective armors right from their beings. Veigar has the power to snatch a meteor from the heavens and bring it down upon a terrestrial target. He may also channel his power into an intense single-target magical strike, one that increases in lethality based on how much mana the sorcerer has at his fingertips. Furthermore, Veigar can also permeate the ground with magic, constricting and stunning any foe that enters the area.

Who says evil needs to come in a fearsome-looking package?

Order of War is a World War II strategy game for PC with a slightly different angle than all the other WWII strategy games out there: it's not really for strategy gamers, it's for history buffs. There is strategy involved, of course, and nothing bar other types of gamer from getting in on Order of War's action (except maybe the ESRB rating). However, the real thrill of the game is supposed to come not from executing a classic pincer or sweeping the map's control points the fastest – but from knowing exactly which unit to send against the Panzerfausts and exactly when to select the cinema camera view.

What Is It?
Order of War is a PC strategy game that recreates the Operation Overlord period of World War II (everything after D-Day pretty much). Players can control either the American or the German forces for nine missions each in singleplayer or go online where the Soviet forces are also available.

What We Saw
I played as the US forces in one of the multiplayer maps that will be available in a GameSpy-sponsored demo that goes live September 15.

How Far Along Is It?
Final – the game ships September 22.

What Needs Improvement?
Is It Germans or Nazis? Order of War was handled by the London branch of developer Wargaming.net and one of their big markets is Germany. Understandably, attitudes toward Nazi history are more complex for them than they are for the US – where it's so vogue to hate on Nazis – and it looks like the developer made some sacrifices in the historical accuracy department (which they're trying to appeal to) so as not to upset a potential market. This is why I didn't see a single swastika in the game – not on insignia, not on loading screens and definitely not in flag form when you capture a base playing as German soldiers.

Maybe a Little Too Simple For Some: There's not much resource management in the game and no tech trees to build out. It's a very simple capture-the-flag setup where having more flags nets you more resources and allows you to call in reinforcements from better positions on the map. It's historically accurate, sure, but could be pretty boring for hardcore strategy gamers.

What Should Stay The Same?
Accessible: The game isn't too complex or too heavy-handed in its portrayals of the various armies to drive away a gamer who'd never heard of WWII. The user interface doesn't clutter up the screen, there isn't too much text to read and it's generally easy to comprehend the buttons that put infantry into trucks and deploy them back out when you're moving units around. The game even eliminates a common noob strategy gamer mistake: instead of requiring you to deploy reinforcements at the base camp and then send them out on the map with a rally point, you can just click where on the map you'd like reinforcements to go and the game will automatically deploy them from the nearest flag you've captured and send them toward that point — instead of leaving them standing around at the home base to get bombed.

Pretty: The main camera options for the battlefield are pretty typical: you can pull all the way back for a top-down view or zoom pretty far in for a third-person view (though not close enough to make out individual soldiers' faces). However, there's also a cinema camera option that will automatically go to where there's fighting on the map and do its own cutting to craft a very pretty movie of the fight as it unwinds. It's so captivating you might not even realize you're the one getting blown up.

There's As Much Strategy As You Bring To the Board: Order of War may be "accessible" (or "simplistic"), but it's not "easy." The game won't give you everything you need to beat the other player unless you work for it, and that other player will be working for it, too. Instead of relying on the setup where the guy with the most resource points or the highest-level base wins as so many real-time strategy games do, Order of War really comes down to who is smarter on the battlefield – or at least down to who still has units left on the field to capture a flag after everyone else got blown up.

The Music: The music swells to a dramatic crescendo at some points during the combat, but for the most part it adds to the experience instead of distracting from it. I'm told it's done by the guy who did Neverwinter Nights.

Final Thoughts
Order of War is for the history buffs, but it does appeal to a wider audience of gamer on an emotional level. I say that not because the game makes me want to beat the beejesus out of Nazis or Germans, or whatever they call them in the game. I say it because the music and the cinematic mode coupled with the simplicity of gameplay create an experience that's engaging, but not challenging to any preconceptions I have about WWII or strategy games. I'm not looking at swastikas and thinking "Hate! Kill!" and I'm not shopping for upgrades that will whore resource points faster. I'm just looking at a battle unfold that may well look like something that took place 65 years ago through a lens that makes everything look like a war movie – but just the exploding battle parts of it.

Things get a bit more personal in The Last Stand, as you and two other squad mates team up to battle waves of increasingly difficult enemies. Instead of commanding a squad, each player will choose one hero character - the Space Marine Captain, Eldar Farseer or Ork Mekboy - each fully customizable and able to level up from game to game.

Along with the new mode, The Last Stand also introduces two new multiplayer maps, and implements various bug fixes and balance updates to the game.

Check out these screens to see what Relic's RTS version of Gears of War 2's Horde mode looks like.

EA let the fans choose the name they felt best fit the game, and I'd say the fans made a very wise choice. Twilight fits quite nicely, both as a reference to this being the final chapter in Command & Conquer's Tiberium Saga and in regards to humanity's impending extinction at the onset of the game. Command & Conquer 4 producer Mike Glosecki agrees.

"Our sophisticated fans are a tremendous community with a great love for the series. We really wanted to involve them in Command &Conquer 4 – what better way than to have them create the title? "We were blown away by all the creative names they came up with but the most popular selection, Tiberian Twilight, seemed the best fit, embodying that the saga is coming to a powerful and epic conclusion."

And there you have it. The fans have chosen, and now they wait for Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight's 2010 release. Sure makes for some sexy box art, doesn't it?

The Commander's Challenge add-on provides the player with a series of 50 challenges against a set of nine different commanders, one of which is "Nature Boy" Ric Flair of wrestling fame. As players progress through the various challenges, they unlock new units, new technology, and even more challenges, until eventually they finish the final one and fall back on the couch, completely spent.

Basically it's a whole slew of new content, which is always good. I just hope they price it as an amazing value.

"Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 Commander's Challenge launches players into action-packed scenarios while going head-to-head against ruthless commanders who will stop at nothing to crush your army," said Wes Eckhart, Producer of Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 Commander's Challenge at EA Los Angeles. "Commander's Challenge delivers the ultimate RTS gameplay experience console players have been craving. Delivering over thirty hours of RTS entertainment, it is an incredible value at less than $10."

Oh thank goodness! I worried for nothing.

The Commander's Challenge will be released sometime this fall for 800 Microsoft points and $9.99 PlayStation real monies respectively.