What Makes Red Alert 3 for PS3 the “Ultimate Edition?”

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Hi all, my name is David Seeholzer and I am the Senior Development Director for Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Ultimate Edition. You might be asking yourself why we are calling it the ‘Ultimate Edition’ of Red Alert 3. I wanted to share some insight into the cool extras and bonus content we are making exclusive for you guys, as well as shed a little light on the development process and our future plans for the title on PS3.

Red Alert 3 Ultimate Edition Screenshot - Soviets vs Empire 1

Red Alert found its humble beginnings over a decade ago on PC and has since seen 2 sequels, several expansion packs, and now, is making its debut on the PS3 console. Fortunately the power of the PS3 and the Blu-ray medium has afforded us some extra luxuries that weren’t available to us previously.

The most noticeable difference you’ll see in the Ultimate Edition on PS3 is an increase the visual quality of the game so that it truly stands up to HD Blu-ray definition. A perfect example of this is what you will see in the game’s water. One of the huge new features you’ll see in Red Alert 3 is an increase in naval warfare and amphibious units. Most strategy games in the past have never paid much attention to navy but we’re bringing it to the center. As such, we paid close attention to detail with it and ensured that we maximized its visual aspects, without penalizing game performance even under the most intense of battles.

Another great thing about the PS3 is its use of Blu-ray. We are taking as much advantage as we can of the extra storage space, cramming it full of exclusive features and in game content, including some exclusive new maps for you wage you and your buddies to skirmish battles on over PSN. There is also a ton of videos, giving you a behind the scenes look at the development of the game and the making of our live-action cinematics, a hallmark of the Command & Conquer series. Red Alert 3 features one of the biggest casts in the history of games, including legends like Tim Curry, George Takei, J.K. Simmons, MMA superstars Randy Couture and Gina Carano and a host of starlets including Jenny McCarthy, Kelly Hu, Autumn Reeser and Gemma Atkinson (speaking of which, my personal favorite extra is a look at the “Women of Red Alert 3” video we’ve included). Our Command & Conquer TV team also produced two episodes of the network’s favorite programs, BattleCast PrimeTime and Command School which are totally dedicated to the Ultimate Edition. And to top it all off, we’ve also included the entire Red Alert 3 soundtrack for your listening pleasure, including the theme song “Hellmarch.”


Red Alert 3 Ultimate Edition Screenshot - Girls of RA3

Red Alert 3 also brings another first to strategy games: a fully co-operative campaign. With the PlayStation Network, you and your friends will be able to play through the entire campaign together. There was a strong effort to make sure that each mission was designed for two commanders working together and in making sure that the experience was engaging and challenging. And with the extra time we were given,we were also able to fine tune and balance each mission specifically for the console to ensure that players have the best experience possible.

Of course all of this doesn’t matter if you don’t have a fun game and one of the most important aspects of a fun RTS is how you control your army. After all, you can’t conquer the battlefield, if you can’t get your tanks in first gear. The dev team here has been working on console RTS since Battle for Middle Earth II on through Tiberium Wars and Kane’s Wrath, all for the Xbox 360. Now we’re proud to be bringing what we think is the smoothest, easiest-to-grasp control set up we have ever designed to the PS3 with the CommandStick 2.0 interface. You’ll be able to easily group units, jump around the battlefield, stage attacks and defenses, and manage their bases, all with a couple flicks of the thumbsticks. Once you get your hands on it, you will be crushing noobs in no time.

Red Alert 3 Ultimate Edition Screenshot - Allies vs Soviets 4

We’re also planning on supporting Red Alert 3: Ultimate Edition through the PlayStation Store and with downloadable content. Even now as we are finishing the game, we have a team hard at work on content packages and live support for the PS3. We plan on releasing multiple map packs through the PS Store; in fact, the first one will be available for free right about the time the game comes out in March. Following that we should have some real cool content for you to download in the future, but for now check out the Red Alert 3 page on the PS Store for the Ultimate Edition Theme and our first sneak peak trailer of the PS3 version.

This is the first classic RTS for the PS3, and the first strategy game that the development team at EA Los Angeles has brought to this console. We are all proud of how it turned out and we can’t wait to hear what you, the fans, think of it. Please send us your comments and leave us feedback, we love hearing from you and your suggestions!

Check us out on the PS Store, or go to www.redalert3.com for more info.

Thanks again fellow Comrades, see you on the Battlefield!

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181 Comments

  • Er, you know how EA didn’t publish for Sega Dreamcast don’t you…?

  • @Icmnick
    I didn’t know that, I guess now I know :) Thanks for informing me.

  • A must buy for me… love this series

  • Wow great to hear im very much looking forward to this.

    Thanks For posting David and keeping up to date.

  • Oh snap, I’ll be sure to keep my eye out on this. I enjoyed Red Alert 2 on the PC, but I won’t be able to run RA2 on my low end pc. Nice.

  • Is there a required install? If so how many gigs must I free up?

  • I don’t know…. when I heard the PS3 version was back on track and “Ultimate” to boot, I assumed it would be totally optimized for the PS3. But like every other comment here points out, no mouse/keyboard support is a huge let down. And stuffing extra maps and videos onto a larger capacity disc isn’t really “taking advantage” of the PS3’s capabilities so much as filling up available space.

    I think it’s great that the extra dev time was spent making the graphics really shine and from what I can see the game does look really pretty. Then again if you’re going to develop games for the PS3 it should go without saying that you make your game shine no matter what the platform.

    I guess I stand with the other PS3 owners here who feel kind of jilted that 5 months ago we weren’t worth developing a game for and now we’re supposed to forget that attitude because of a few maps and a couple videos? Then again perhaps that’s unfair of us. After all you’re just one team among many that comprises the corporate giant that is EA.

    I don’t know… if you could explain to us why you didn’t include KB/M support and if it’s possible in a future patch that would be great.

  • FINALLY!!! i saw this game and was pissed it wasnt for ps3. i cannot wait im gonna pick it up the first day!

  • i’m a HUGE fan of Red Alert 2. My PC (nor the new laptop i’m getting can run this on max) can run it so when you said it’s coming to PS3 you made my month ;)

    This is a definate buy for me

  • I tried this game on PC, but it felt really different from the other RTS games I used to play (IE WC2) I think it was the camera angle. Might have to try it again on the ps3 to see how it goes.

  • I remember playing Command and Conquer on my original Playstation over ten years ago so this will be very nostalgic for me.

    I am glad that EA has made the controls really good, but it still would be nice to have keyboard/mouse support since the PS3 supports this feature. Developers should take advantage of every strength of the PS3.

  • I’m preordering this one XD

  • Been a fan for a long time. I stil play Command & Conquer and Red Alert from the PS1 on my 60 gig PS3. Great games! I didn’t know if use were ever gonna make a game again for playstation products. It’s been too long, please don’t dissappear again. I like having quality RTS’s not the stuff that passes for an RTS anymore.

    I’m pre-ordering this one for sure!!! Oh and DLC is going to be worth it. Just make sure a skirmish mode is in there(though I’m sure it’s there).

  • Ultimate edition = keyboard and mouse support.

    -Hoping for this one…

  • M+K please
    apart from that a definate buy :D

  • this is awesome!

  • who is that chick in the blue uniform in the trailer? she is SO hot! lol

  • Been a fan since since 95, can’t wait for this to come out!

  • this game is going to be sweet! i can’t wait

  • This is going to be a very nice game. I`m glad it is coming to the ps3

  • I Once thought that EA was more into the 360.
    Starting with Left 4 Dead not being ported into the PS3, Then came RA3. I was in the beta, but i didn’t had time to get into it as much but i did play it a couple of matches, I loved it. I had word that it was already released and saw the pc version, I picked it up and continued to look, I saw a 360 Version, I thought “maybe they have a ps3 version” I looked and even asked if they had any, they didn’t. I was disappointed and somewhat lost hope. Until i learned that RA3 was delayed because it had an “Ultimate” Edition. I was really glad to hear that…

    But I wonder, M&KB support? And will you include the bonus Beta Map (I still have my code.)?

  • pre ordered already through eb

    are there going to be trophies

  • yea,the graphix look sweet but is it a strategy battle game like END WAR or os it more like battalion wars?

  • pretty nice looks badass

  • im pre ordering the game right now i cant wait

  • Will the PS3 version be able to support

    MOUSE + KEYBOARD???

    PS3 can support M+K so I don’t see why it should not be.

  • MOUSE AND KEYBOARD SUPPORT?

  • MOUSE + KEYBOARD SUPPORT?

  • MOUSE + KEYBOARD?

  • Pre-Ordered.

    Can’t wait :)

  • I was really psyched for this game until I found out that it doesn’t support keyboard and mouse controls. There was no reason to take it out. Patch the game and add it, and I’ll buy it. If not, you can go to hell, EA.

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