So what is the truth?
The truth is that none of these 'AR3 in the making' news was released by the AR2 team. We have not yet released any info about an AR3 mod for now and none of those mods reported to be in development are related to the AR2 team. We do not support the production of any of these mods, but in the future we might allow fans based mods to develop under our site.

Is there a real AR3? Any info?
There is to be no AR3 released by the team. There is however another mod for Generals, only called Project R at this moment, in the planning stage, by the team. It is not the continuation to AR2, it is not a prequel nor a sequel. The mod however, if it is ever done, will take similar concepts to those used in the production of AR2.

As reported here on Neowin earlier today, Electronic Arts announced the results of the game publisher's third quarter 2003 fiscal year results, and as expected the largest third party console-PC game publisher had a record quarter with revenues of $1.23 billion for the period October-December 2002.

However, the biggest surprise in the EA financial statement was this: "In the fourth quarter, EA will begin the consolidation of our Los Angeles, Irvine and Las Vegas studios into a major game development studio in Los Angeles."

Based on this statement, this means the end of both Westwood Studios (Las Vegas) and EA Pacific (Irvine). EA's chief financial officer Warren Jenson was quoted in a report by the Reuters news service as saying saying that 50 jobs will be cut as a result of the consolidation.

-Allied Aviation
-Allied Advanced Weapons
-Allied Alloy
-Allied Prism
-Soviet Electrical
-Soviet Alloy
-Soviet Aviation
-Soviet Advanced Weapons
-Soviet Flammable Materials

Editing Source is looking for new hosted sites and forums. Info about forum hosting can be found here and site hosting info here.

-Added CSF interpreter companion. Users can now edit CSF file while they are within a BIG archive. Supports the adding, deletion and editing of CSF language strings. This version was mainly devised to implement support for this format.
-Improved Companion support. Companions can now be activated/deactivated for debugging purposes (at the moment).
-Improved Event Log. Now logs a number of events (mostly BIG file-related)
-Added basic 'New BIG file' code. Hope to have activated by next version.
-Added reversed long and byte saving in relation to CSF file support.
-Added right-click menu for BIG directory tree. Use this to edit files within the archive.
-Miscellaneous bug fixes and code tweaks.
-Fixed problem with installer not creating proper program and start menu groups.

- Major GUI changes and text tweaks. Added file information window, shows file size and name.
- Added file replacement feature! The icon for a replaced file changes to red to let you know the data it contains is foreign. This feature is still VERY MUCH BETA! Back up your files. Replaced files, at the moment, retain the filename stored within the internal BIG directory. Altered BIGs may now also be saved.
- Fixed bug that would cause the program to crash if you tried to extract (or replace) a file from an opened archive without actually selecting a file.
- Fixed a spelling mistake on the progress bar window (BIF changed to BIG).
- Added some more error-checking and handling.
- BigPOP now shows up in the taskbar.
- Basic implementation of 'Companions' feature. More on this next version.
- Basic implementation of 'Event log' window. Again, more next version.
- BIG directory tree now retains a grey highlight on the last selected file.
- Added some handling to stop file operations being performed before a BIG file was loaded.

Morphious: The mod you made for RA2 was excellent. Any plans for Generals modding?

DeeZire: Thanx :D The RA2 mod had as many fans as it had critics - with that and the number of crashes I guess it was the Win98 of the mod world ;) What a lot of people didnt realize was that the whole idea of it was intentional - what I set out to do with it was - (i) make a mod that was as 'comical' in sense as the game itself, (ii) a mod that was true to the game itself (believable), (iii) make a mod I liked, and finally but most importantly (iv) have something that would inspire people to have a go themselves and that people could learn from. Despite its criticism for attracting newbies, I think its been a great success and without new people where would the editing community go and how would it grow? Growth is painful, but is a sign of progression, development and learning, and with RA2 I felt it was time that our beloved C&C series and its editing community 'grew' and caught up with the likes of the Unreal and Quake ones. I draw satisfaction from knowing that in some small way, that mod did something to bring the editing of C&C games to the fore, out of the underground and into the light. Love it or hate it, it was a pioneer :D Plans for Generals - hey, do Bears crap in the woods?! Again, anything I do will remain true to the game, within the bounds of the C&C universe and will be consistent with the storyline. This time round, it will be serious and certainly a lot better and higher in quality than previous stuff - thats got to be a pre-requisite and is a testament to the quality of the game, since anything less would ruin it rather than enhance it. More like the Tiberian Sun and AvP mods I did - extend and enhance the game, uplift the experience for players, stay true to the game, higher quality. I think the quality of Generals will more than likely mean the end of 'go it alone' mod work, and although I had a lot of help from a couple of friends with previous mods, this time round Im sounding out one or two long standing and respected community members so it will be a joint effort. Its important to me that anything I do doesnt get classed as 'mine' this time because it more than likely wont be the case - I'll play an equal part to others. The other reason for that is that if a Generals project gets associated with the RA2 DeeZire name people will develop pre-conceptions about it and that could be detrimental to its success as it will be totally different both in concept and production. Saying that, you can look forward to some traditional DeeZire stuff (muhahah) - although perhaps not quite as crazy this time round ;) The ideas I have for Generals have been buzzing around for a loooong time now, its gonna be great to get the chance to put them into reality. On a personal note, now that C&C editing is officially supported, Id like to 'step back' a little and support that growth. Without giving anything away, the time I spent with EAP gave me an amazing insight into how the game has developed from early stages - as a community member, thats got to be an advanatge to the rest of the editing community, so I see my role in that community now as being advisory and supportive.

In the mission Nemesis started their plan of vengeance and was destroying small Genesis cities everywhere while surrounding large, shielded metropolis. Units were sent for the destruction as well as the termination of Genesis mining activities. However the Scrin attacked at the same time and the plan was forced to take a change. In the missions later on Nemesis will need to move carefully and capture vital technologies from Genesis in order to survive.

EA announces that the upcoming Command & Conquer game is complete and will ship on schedule.

Electronic Arts has confirmed for us that Command & Conquer: Generals has gone GOLD and will ship on February 11. The development team at the Irvine, California-based EA Pacific studio submitted a final candidate version to EA last week, and the game is now officially complete and ready for manufacturing. Generals is the first game in an original Command & Conquer setting that borrows from modern-day conflicts.

"From the beginning of the development of Generals, we wanted to offer players a Hollywood version of the war you're seeing on CNN with the much-loved C&C feel," said Mark Skaggs, general manager of EA Pacific. "The team is incredibly proud of the outcome and we can't wait to get the game in players' hands."

I would like to take this time to announce the existence of Blitzkrieg II. As the news title suggests, this is a mod for the upcoming Command and Conquer: Generals. We have been secretly working on the mod for the past month or so, since the entire team received beta disks. During that time we have planned the mod and have started production on it even. The team rooster has changed slightly from the Blitzkrieg I(the mod for RA2/YR), [DK]Phil is stepping down as head of the mod due to personal reasons, he will still be on as an advisor and beta tester. Thus I will be taking over the position of team leader. The other member’s jobs’ will be slightly different, but the most exciting news about the new team is our latest additions. Some of you might remember Proclone from the early Ra2 days…he made some very nice models of some of the units, and posted them up on sites. He is our head modeler now…we are very lucky to have him. The other great new addition is Chrono from AR2 fame. He will be leading up the INI editing section of the team. We are also testing out a skinner/texture artist, but I won’t announce that until its for sure.

-Chrono-tank now costs 1650, armor increased

-Chrono-tank weapon modified - stronger and slightly longer range

-The allies will no longer start with mammoths (woops!)

-ADF-10 speed and rate of turn slightly modified so hopefully it doesn't get stuck circling around areas.

-Aviation research image changed, no longer has landing pads as well

-Mobile scud launcher maximum range reduced, minimum range increased, no longer deploys to fire, explodes violently when destroyed.

-Tiger grand helicopter image added, no roter animation yet

-Napalm helicopter image added, no roter animation yet.

v1.54 1/18/03

-Added Iraqi Rad Artillery, a "theoretical" country-specific unit that is a possible Secret Lab build option. Unit behavior and weapon coding is also complete.

-Replaced Yuri Base Expansion vehicle voxel with a totally new one created by spider-man, using an early Yuri MCV concept sketch as inspiration. Some appearance tweaking is still being done on this voxel, but I consider it 99% complete.

-Spider-man has recolored his Gattling Boat and Transport Disc voxels for better appearance and for better integration into Yuri's army.

-Soviet Base Expansion Vehicle cameo icon is slightly altered to better match the new voxel included in the last update.

mcgl0re1:. "Thank you RV! Just a few more, if I may?
Do you have a clue as to a max sides we can add?
Are you going to mod Generals? Or are you going to stick with maps for now?
What programs are we going to need to make units/buildings for Generals? (I know this has been answered but I have seen different answers)
How long, in your opinion, will it take to learn the Editor, and the tutorial to make a Good map?"

Hey guys,

As of today I will no longer be handling the message board moderation and community events for Generals.

What does that mean? The guys over at Electronic Arts Pacific will be taking over all the community activities based around C&C Generals. Many of you already know Shanahan-EAP; Amer-EAP will now be joining the message board team helping to field questions and run board events. They’ll be more than happy to help you out with your inquries and requests.

Now many of you may be asking yourselves “What’s next for Delphi?” Well, I have been given the opportunity to work for the development team on a next generation title being created by Westwood Studios. Sadly, I cannot talk about the project at this time, but I can guarantee you will be “VERY” surprised when it’s announced.

I just want to thank all for the vast amount of messages (heh) and creative posts I’ve had the chance to edit. I’d like to also thank those of you who had the chance to provide MP Test feedback over the past few months. It has helped the team greatly in creating a better game.

Even though I may not be posting as much I will be watching. Your feedback and concerns will be very important to us for the future.

Cya online!

-Bug Fixes: Including the one that randomly crashes the game with an Internal Error.

-All New Units: Including more buildable units for both sides and buildable MCVs!

-New Buildings: Genesis City structures, more buildable structures and improved structure images all thrown into the mix!

-Whole New Maps: What update would be complete without it?!

-Nemesis Campaign: w00t! This is what makes a Total Conversion complete! It is still under consideration whether or not it'll be released with V4.0 or not but we can hope!

Although the gameplay is fast, some would say it is too fast. Buildings and tanks seem to die too quickly for my tastes. In 3 way free for all games I noticed that a lot could be done with simple infantry rushes. Structural armor wasn’t nearly what it should have been to keep the game enjoyable. Another mysterious qualm about the gameplay is that while playing as the Nemesis, I could not figure out for the life of me why my funds kept on draining to zero. Even with nothing being built and nothing in the queue my money was disappearing before my very eyes. It left me several times with no cash, usually as the enemy made an assault on my base.

COMMAND & CONQUER GENERALS HITS BETA MILESTONE

First 3D C&C RTS ships to stores February 11

IRVINE, CA (Jan. 8, 2002) - Forget CNN! Take control of the war in the Middle East for yourself. Electronic Arts announced today that the highly-anticipated 3D real-time strategy game, Command & Conquer Generals(tm) has hit its beta milestone, and will ship to stores Feb. 11, 2003. Command & Conquer Generals will be published by EA (NASDAQ:ERTS) under the EA GAMES(tm) brand.

Achieving the beta milestone indicates that Command & Conquer Generals is now feature-complete and the development team is now finalizing the game to be sent to the manufacturing plant.

"The beta milestone is a tremendous achievement for the development team," said Mark Skaggs, general manager of EA Pacific and executive in charge of production for Command & Conquer Generals. "More than 50 of our industry's top talent have been working non-stop for the past several months to ensure that we have a solid, highly-polished, immensely-enjoyable game.

EA is currently conducting a public multiplay test of Command & Conquer Generals, involving more than 3,000 people around the world. The public test is giving participants a chance to play the game's multiplay mode via the Internet, includes five maps, and allows gamers to play as each of the three unique sides in the game.

"The community's feedback from the multiplay test was instrumental in helping us achieve this beta milestone," continued Mark Skaggs. "I do want to stress that we will continue to solicit their feedback to further balance and enhance the multiplay experience before shipping to stores."

Command & Conquer Generals puts players' trigger fingers on the pulse of modern warfare as they become a powerful general and control massive armies of bleeding-edge military weaponry across a globe teetering on the brink of Armageddon. Three unique sides will be available, each with customizable high-tech arsenals ready to deliver unprecedented firepower on land or in the skies. Players can annihilate the opposition in the 23-mission single-player campaign or dish out the damage in global multiplayer mayhem.