The Sport of Command and Conquer 3: Difficulties Arise

[bapenguin]

Electronic Arts had a vision when it created the latest installment to the Command and Conquer franchise. They envisioned a competitive online multiplayer game, with the glitz and glamour of a sporting event. By utilizing their Battlecast technology, players could spectate matches online, as well as commentate and even draw right on the match for all spectators to see.

But as with any competitive product, cheating becomes a problem. 1UP (http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3159816) takes a look at the recent and upcoming changes EA is trying to make to make their RTS consistant and fair.What's the big problem? Many of the top players in the C&C3 community are (or perceived to be) cheaters and gamers who disconnect early to prevent losses. Beyond that, the popular belief is top players are exploiting imbalanced gameplay that will be drastically changed in the upcoming patch 1.05 -- a patch to be released after players are chosen for the World Cyber Games but before the competition.
After the patch, EA will be inviting players to compete on a national level.
EA would be sending out invites to some of the top C&C3 players for the World Cyber Games US Open. Specifically, the top 200 1v1 players were asked to PM Apoc -- the four top players in the US and able to make the trip to the US Open would get the chance to compete for an all expenses paid spot in the National Finals, taking place in Orlando, Florida.

I haven't tried much multiplayer C&C 3, but the Battlecast feature is VERY intriguing. Has anyone here viewed or played in an exciting online match of it?

[RainOfTerror]

What's disturbing is the fact that somebody could be watching the battlecast, which shows all sides and the entire battlefield, and pass on information to one of the players through phone, IM, or another form of communication.

How are they going to fix THAT?

[SPBTooL]

Any word on if the balance issues will be fixed in the 360 version?

[bone_matrix]

What I find funny is they didn't play it well enough to figure out if stuff is over or underpowered. I remember with Generals, it would take EA for-fucking-ever to fix anything with a patch. I guess I should be glad this is coming relatively soon.

[bapenguin]

What's disturbing is the fact that somebody could be watching the battlecast, which shows all sides and the entire battlefield, and pass on information to one of the players through phone, IM, or another form of communication.

How are they going to fix THAT?

That's a good point too. Though my guess is there is some sort of delay in the whole thing. How much...who knows.

[swiftdraw]

That's a good point too. Though my guess is there is some sort of delay in the whole thing. How much...who knows.

Unless its a minute delay or so, you'd still be able to effectively relay information on what they're building and locations of stationary emplacements. Sure you won't be able to say where an attack is coming from, but you could say player is building 'x' amount of tanks and you should concentrate on it's counter.

[Varsity]

So how about delaying it by half an hour? Doesn't make much difference how far behind it is so long as people connect and hear the commentary at the same time.

[Kefkataran]

As far as I know, Battlecast's main draw is rebroadcasting games. I'm not completely sure of this, but I think if/when they're broadcast live there's at least a 1-2 minute delay, maybe more?

Hope you guys dig the article.

[phantomhitman]

that much of a delay will not work for lan events, the broadcasters would need live feeds. Then again they never commentate an entire candc/starcraft game anyways. They just announce the winner.

It is pretty cool that EvAv is announcing more tournament related stuff now :)

[KarmaGhost]

Allowing people to disconnect and not having them penalized for it is an incredibly significant oversight by the developers. Maybe they didn't think it would be fair if someone had their connection dropped due to ISP reasons and got a loss on their record, but honestly, it's a small price to pay to avoid exploitation. Never assume, no matter what kind of game you're developing, that players will not exploit something.

[Kid Moxie]

That's a good point too. Though my guess is there is some sort of delay in the whole thing. How much...who knows.As I recall, there is a 10 minute delay to the broadcasts if you choose to broadcast it. Games are usually over by that point :p

I've never actually seen a Battlecast though, I'm not really even sure how to watch them. I always see the checkbox asking if I want to broadcast it, but nowhere have I seen the place to watch it!

[agentgray]

I have a problem with the multiplayer lobby in general. It's so...archaic. I tried to play a couple of online games with Spigot and we spent more time just trying to get going and finding each other in the system.

I was turned off.

[Adam Blue]

Wow. I screamed as loud as possible for someone to hear me. Kef, I'm glad you saw my issue and ran with it, only because it needs more exposure.

Of course C&C3 shouldn't be in the WCG. When the patch hits this month, it will be a different game...there's obviously money involved, because why would C&C3 be accepted into the WCG when the initial product is broken to the point of releasing a game-changing patch?

I think what we're seeing here is EA getting away with everything to the fullest. With money by their side they can afford to release unfinished games, enter tournaments with unproven products just to create more exposure, and have the consumer wait for the 'patch' that will make the game playable. There's no excuse, but EA has the power to do this. Yes, they are just trying to make money, but going down this path is sad for the gaming community.

And I won't blame Aaron. He's just a messenger doing his job. He can only say so much.

[Kefkataran]

I definitely saw what you were pointing at, Adam, and I thank you for bringing it to my attention. Took a long time, but I think it made a good story.

Personally, I wouldn't go so far as to say C&C3 as is is unfinished, but it obviously isn't quite ready for tournament play, so making it part of the WCG without the patch released is an issue. Let's hope the patch DOES really balance stuff much better.

[LilAbner]

The delay is about 10 minutes....forget where I read this but that's definitely the case to prevent phone cheaters and the like.

God I wish they'd bring BC to the 360 version but I won't hold my breath. :(

[Crabby]

The delay is an enforced 10 minutes on any rated games. For unrated games, you can select the amount of delay you wish to have, or have none at all...or just not broadcast the match.

Frankly, I haven't successfully used the battlecast option to view my own matches OR even any random matches so I consider the product to be quite buggy in that regard.