New Game Announcement: G.I. Combat Squad

[Mudfrost]

Found this while browsing the Gone Gold site. It's a new game coming from Talonsoft & Take-Two Interactive. Hmm.. looks a little familiar.

http://www.gicombat.com/

Mudfrost

[Gremlin]

I knew it was only a matter of time.

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[Guest MantaRay]

Graphics are ok, looks like BTS has infected the gaming world, and CM will now be cloned forever more. I guess we shall see if it has an merits.

Ray

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[aka_tom_w]

yeah OK....

BUT

Will it run on a MAC????

VERY interesting developement.

-tom w

[aka_tom_w]

from Gone Gold:

"Press Release

BALTIMORE - February 1, 2001—TalonSoft Inc, a Take-Two Interactive Software,Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO) subsidiary today announced today it will develop and publish GI Combat. The title is expected to ship in Fall 2001. GI Combat, available initially in PC CD ROM format, is a continuous real-time strategy game, engulfing the player in the dynamic conflicts of the Second World War. The full three-dimensional environment provides unsurpassed detail for terrain, armor penetration, vehicle movement, and weapon-fire.

"Immerse yourself in an exciting struggle to hold back blistering offensives, lead elite squads to capture key strategic targets, or desperately assault a vital crossroad leading to victory!" said TalonSoft President Jim Rose. "The player has the chance to live in that moment, and rewrite history." GI Combat and our new Proprietary 3D World Builder, ASCENSION, will help Talonsoft redefine mainstream wargaming again! Technology has finally allowed us to implement our vision of wargaming in the 21st Century.

Players campaign American or German troops through tactical excursions of enemy artillery barrages, beach landings, snipers, bridge crossings, and loads of heavy tank fire! Whether it is commanding a group of squads to infiltrate an enemy outpost, or jumping into the trenches with a single steadfast dogface, GI Combat excels at delivering the complete combat experience. GI Combat will feature campaigns with dozen of historical and hypothetical scenarios beginning at D-Day, and carrying through Patton's lightening breakout

from the Normandy Beachead. In addition, multiplayer mode is planned for up to 32 players via LAN or over the Internet allowing players to choose sides and fight together.

Vivid 3D landscaping provides the backdrop for beautifully rendered armored vehicles such as the German Panther or swift U.S Sherman. Full 3D Sound support will complete the ultra realistic environment and make you swear those

bullets sound like they are flying over your head! In related news, Talonsoft also announces the official website for GI Combat has gone live. For more information, visit this website at http://www.gicombat.com/

well still no Mac version so SCREW 'em!

However they are claiming REAL life historically accurate armour penetration AND they can do in Real time yes it is an RTS 3D WWII combat sim.

It will be interesting to see the demo, but it won't run on a Mac.

-tom w

[This message has been edited by aka_tom_w (edited 02-02-2001).]

[Wesreidau]

Thats funny..I thought Jim Rose from TS was only interested Lemmings and appeasing the more numerous teenage hordes.

I salute John Tiller, one of the guys who helped make TS what it is today and who has since been crapped on from a very great height...

TS ain`t getting any of my money.

[Quenaelin]

Yes, cloning was only a matter of time, I knew isntantly when CM was released that it will be cloned somehow. By the way, do anybody know how many times Doom or Quake is cloned? It is called competition, wargamers get more options but maybe BTS gets less money. I don't hope that happens, but I hope there will be more wargamers that way.

[Gremlin]

Competition can only be good in the long run. Some will fade, some will rise, but so it goes.

Interesting that G.I. Combat also models (basically) the same theater and time period as CM. Then again, thanks to SPR, a new generation of young 'uns is somewhat familiar with Overlord.

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Visit CM Boot Camp at Combat Missions for tips.

[The_Capt]

Looks more like a 3-D Close Combat game than CM.

[Guest Space Thing]

Originally posted by The_Capt:

Looks more like a 3-D Close Combat game than CM.

Its a cheap attempt with flash to steal more of the wargaming community's money. Don't fall for it friends. This is NOT the talonsoft of old. Ever since they were bought out by Take Two, the driving concern at talonsoft has be money, money, & money. I originally bought 10 of their products. I won't anymore.

I hope BTS never gets bought out. Quality ALWAYS drops in a company when that happens. Cost becomes the over-riding concern and great wargaming only becomes a memory. Oh, you can justify the cost thing with fancy business talk, but you can't hide the product. It either shines like COMBAT MISSION: BEYOND OVERLORD, or it doesn't.

This attempt by talonsoft won't shine after the first twenty minutes at best, IMO.

BTS stay independent. PLEASE!!!

[Jeff Heidman]

I doubt there is much chance of BTS being bought out.

However, this is just the first in a long series of games that will attempt to grab some of CMs market share.

*This* is why BTS cannot sit back and patch CM1 forver, and this is why they have to keep their technology moving forward.

Steve and Charles are not the only intelligent people out their designing wargames. They might have a bit more vision than some, but that only carries you so far.

I think this is great news. Not because I want CM to get beat, but because it is indicative that people out their are convcinced that their is money to be made in the wargaming market.

Jeff Heidman

[Jeff Heidman]

Originally posted by aka_tom_w:

well still no Mac version so SCREW 'em!

However they are claiming REAL life historically accurate armour penetration AND they can do in Real time yes it is an RTS 3D WWII combat sim.

It will be interesting to see the demo, but it won't run on a Mac.

-tom w

[This message has been edited by aka_tom_w (edited 02-02-2001).]

Well, that is why I don't own a Mac. No matter how good they might be, it is largely irrelevant to anyone who wants to play a wide variety of games. It's a nasty, circular system. I think CM is the ONLY game I play a lot that has a Mac counter-part.

I wish we used them at work just so I could play with one of the new ones. Maybe when I get around to buying a laptop...

Jeff Heidman

[Joe Shaw]

In addition, multiplayer mode is planned for up to 32 players via LAN or over the Internet allowing players to choose sides and fight together.

Uh huh, 32 players online in a real time 3D combat game on the internet ... I'll believe it when I see it ... can YOU say B-17 multiplayer?

Joe

[Jeff Heidman]

Originally posted by Joe Shaw:

Uh huh, 32 players online in a real time 3D combat game on the internet ... I'll believe it when I see it ... can YOU say B-17 multiplayer?

Joe

LOL. Good point.

Of course, technology continues its inevitable march. One of these days these claims are actually going to come true.

Whether or not this will be the one is debateable.

Jeff Heidman

[aka_tom_w]

Originally posted by Jeff Heidman:

However, this is just the first in a long series of games that will attempt to grab some of CMs market share.

*This* is why BTS cannot sit back and patch CM1 forver, and this is why they have to keep their technology moving forward.

I think this is great news. Not because I want CM to get beat, but because it is indicative that people out their are convcinced that their is money to be made in the wargaming market.

Jeff Heidman

I agree completely here

"I think this is great news. Not because I want CM to get beat, but because it is indicative that people out their are convcinced that their is money to be made in the wargaming market."

Competition should be a good thing, looks like CM2 and that new Combat Squad GI "game" should be released very close to each other, if not right on top of each other.

CM2 SHOULD (because BTS is about 2-3 years ahead of these guys and they learned ALOT in making CMBO) , should BLOW the doors off Combat Squad!

And yes it does look like a rip off.

With respect to theri choice of name ...

Combat Mission + Squad Leader = Combat Squad GI ?

Looks and smells like a rip off clone to me, BUT I bet it will be pretty and look flashy with lots of EYE candy. It is my hope and dream that all the hard core grogs here will give them EVERY bit as much of a hard time for all their ommisions and inaccuracies that BTS received over really little trivial details.

I wonder if Fionn has begun to post on their forum.

In fact I would LOVE to See Fionn evaluate and criticique their game once it is available in as a demo. I figure all the Grogs will rip some RTS Combat Mission wanna -be game to shreads for inaccuracy. I can't wait to see it really.

I'll NEVER buy if it it does not run on a Mac, I'm VERY happy with Combat Mission it is the ONLY game I spend any of me "spare" time playing.

(Ok a few games of Age of Empires here and there, sorry for the infidelity)

any way.... I say with reagard to the news about Combat Squad, BRING on the GROGS! and let them eat talon soft ALIVE....

how the HELL are they going to have an RTS look good in Real Time AND in 3D and calculate historically accurate armour penetration and combat results from all the shooting going on?

I can't wait to see how they can pull that off?

sure 32 player internet co-opertaive and head to head play?

RIGHT!

-tom w

[This message has been edited by aka_tom_w (edited 02-02-2001).]

[This message has been edited by aka_tom_w (edited 02-02-2001).]

[jfeagin]

Being that this is going to be a real time game, I think is it just going to be anthor click-fest type game. Basically Close Combat but on a 3 D level. (Don't get me wrong I loved CC until I got this game).

[Mr. Clark]

One of the reasons I was SO happy when I found CM was for the Turn-Based game design. I personally LOATH Real-Time "Wargames."

In my opinion, anything above squad level real time combat falls apart quickly into a "click-fest."

I have nothing against GI Combat, but I will not purchase it simply because of the RTS design.

If, instead, they had gone with more of a FPS squad based game, like a WWII version of Rogue Spear, I would have been much more interested...

(I too hope the Grogs give the designers as much "helpful critique" as they have given BTS.)

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"Fear is for the enemy...

Fear and Bullets."

[A Arabian]

One of the most interesting things I saw on their BBS was that one of their programmers was "david miller", the genius in charge of CC IV.

I can hope its a good game, but I'm doubtful. Its pedigree just doesnt impress me.

A. Arabian

[Guest Napoleon1944]

The competition will be good for us gamers. BTS will have to start thinking outside of their box, since others have copied their box. BTS is the trailblazer though.

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The only enemy I fear is nature.

-Napoleon

[Sergei]

Wow, what negative waves! C'mon, guys. Some posts on this thread reach a religious height. If Talonsoft does clone CM, it's not gonna put BTS into bankcruptcy or anything. Neither is it a threat to players of CM: when GI Combat Squad comes out, it won't demolish anyone's CM cd's. The fact that it is real-time only, makes it more of the Close Combat genre.

And is it bad if there are companies that make WW2 tactical games??? I would have imagined that everybody would cheer that at least they'll try to offer something, although it might be more of the H&D/CC/SS/Lemmings-realism. But hey, there's people who like Hidden & Dangerous, Close Combat, Sudden Strike or Lemmings, and it is always possible that some casual Lemmings-players might suddenly get interested in historical wargames.

Be tolerant. They are only making a game, not doing something immoral or illegal like pimping or such. And who knows, maybe it will become an interesting game with some constructive criticism. Just think about it, 32 players? That could overcome the usual stupidness/hassle of realtime games. Don't take that negative attitude this early!

[This message has been edited by Sergei (edited 02-02-2001).]

[Slapdragon]

Big difference. I posted twice to the forum questioning why WW2 was used when it made them look like a ripoff, why not start with another era and send the wargamers forward, and I got my butt banned with no comment by Talonsoft. One thing you may not see is the designers answering questions about tank armor on that forum. (Although as a business I may have banned me also).

[Maximus]

Originally posted by aka_tom_w:

yeah OK....

BUT

Will it run on a MAC????

VERY interesting developement.

-tom w

What's a Mac again? A raincoat?

[BIG DD]

*cough*ripoff*cough*

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MAKE IT SHORT AND SWEET THEN GET THE F#$K OUT

[Guest sitzkrieg]

From some idiot named Visom on the GI Combat forum in response to Slapdragon's post:

Slapdragon:

1) Combat Mission does WW2 gaming well and has a big audience with a very loyal following, what is GiCombat bringing to the table. The game as currently presented has the same commands, nearly the same figures, similar looking maps, and can only use the same units -- possibly not as well researched (hard to beat BTS here).

Visom:

////// Hmm, think I read somewhere that CM is turnbased. And that is because BTS didn't have the competence to code a killer AI in realtime. And aren't the soldiers just symbols representing several soldiers? Regarding research, I'm sure it's at least as hard to beat Eric Young as BTS.

Slapdragon:

4) BTS makes special programming efforts that are unlikely to be followed by a larger company. For eample, BTS has a Macintosh version of their game that comes out at the same time as the PC version -- most PC game manufacturers are not multitalented, but program in a small range of areas so this is unlikely to happen with GI Combat. Part of the quality of the User Interface for the game and a large part of the most fanatic audience comes from this platform.

Visom:

////// Wonder if this is why CM costs twice as much as other games. I'd say that Close Combat, without Mac users, is a pretty fanatic crowd.

If you want a 3D wargame it will look like CM. What matters is what's behind the GUI and I'm pretty sure Talonsoft can do better than BTS.

(Not meaning to flame CM, but it looks like you think that no-one, ever, will make a better game. My guess is that the second release will be the last.)

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Talk about clueless. Just goes to show the kind of crowd the game is already attracting.

[Maximus]

Originally posted by Slapdragon:

Big difference. I posted twice to the forum questioning why WW2 was used when it made them look like a ripoff, why not start with another era and send the wargamers forward, and I got my butt banned with no comment by Talonsoft. One thing you may not see is the designers answering questions about tank armor on that forum. (Although as a business I may have banned me also).

LOL! I'm in the process of registering now. I'll back you up Slapdragon. Seems as though you still can't convince RTS players that their games are just click-fests.