The History of Command & Conquer

Amidst a futuristic landscape blessed -- and cursed -- with the mysterious greenglowing element Tiberium, two forces match wits and war machines in a battle for the
Earth's future. Throw in some unpredictable mutants, twisted technologies and a harsh
environment scoured by ion storms and overgrown with Tiberium crystals, and you have
a snapshot of the Command & Conquer universe.
That universe has proven to be a favorite playground for gamers -- hardcore and
casual alike -- whose enthusiasm has made Westwood Studios' line of Command &
Conquer games one of the most popular franchises in gaming history. To date, the
Command & Conquer franchise has sold over 12 million units worldwide, and the series
has landed in the 2000 Guinness Book of World Records as the best-selling computer
strategy game series of all time.
And yet Brett Sperry is itching for more. Founder and Vice-President of
Westwood Studios as well as mastermind behind the Command & Conquer universe,
Sperry is forever scheming to enrich and complicate the Command & Conquer world, in
which the Global Defense Initiative and The Brotherhood of Nod square off in an epic,
global battle.
"The world is so rich, there's so much going on," Sperry says. "There's no
shortage of games to write, so long as we can keep coming up with cool, innovative battle
tactics in addition to the great story."
It started off so simply: Brett Sperry -- with Westwood firmly entrenched as a
quality producer of fantasy titles -- was bored stiff with strategy games.
"I pondered strategy games and why you had to work so hard to get to the fun,"
says Sperry. "At the time, it was blasphemy to even suggest making a accessible
wargame. But the idea gnawed at me. I saw that with the computer, you had the potential
to speed things up and obliterate the turn-based drudgery."
Indeed, the strategy was there -- but what about the adrenaline? Sperry wanted to
play a game that brought the two together: a tactical game where split-second decisions -as well as deep-thinking strategy -- could mean the difference between getting waxed and
winning the war.
There was no such game, and Sperry decided to make it himself. In 1992, Dune
II, set in the futuristic world of the celebrated novels, brought real-time to the longstagnant strategy genre. With Dune II, gamers finally had a strategy game with a pulse -a racing pulse. Sperry had minted what would become a classic gaming genre: the realtime strategy game.
It would be the perfect venue for a game Sperry had long been mulling over: an
epic wargame that pitted two military powerhouses against each other in a bid for world
peace -- or global domination. With the release of Command & Conquer in 1995, Sperry
made that game. Command & Conquer had all the elements of a real-time strategy
classic: intuitive and compelling gameplay, fascinating units, and all the strategy of chess.
In addition, it had that magic ingredient that many games lack: a good story, with the
forces of the UN-like Global Defense Initiative facing off against terrorist zealot Kane

and his military machine Brotherhood of Nod.

"In the end," Sperry says, "it was one of the few games I made where literally
everything I wanted in the game is in the game -- and we managed to sell a few copies in
the bargain." Enough to break multiple sales records, in fact, and make Westwood a
household word among gamers.
It was a franchise screaming for sequels. In the gaming world, all too often that
means a string of uninspired follow-ups with a few new gadgets thrown in. Not one to
rest on his laurels, though, Sperry has since taken the Command & Conquer line into
fresh and surprising directions: Westwood's Command & Conquer Red Alert is a prequel
that takes place in an alternate history in the last half of the 20th Century. Allied and
Soviet forces battle in a world complicated by time-travel and daunting Tesla technology.
The setting hooked gamers, but the personalities made it memorable: who can forget the
Allied forces' Tanya, the brassy riot grrl who leveled Soviet factories with a C-4 charge
and a sneer?
"We could have merely made a Command & Conquer with different art, but we
didn't go that route," says Sperry. "We created new units, new strategies and entirely new
game features."
A host of expansion packs, such as Command & Conquer: The Covert Operations,
Red Alert: Counterstrike and Red Alert: The Aftermath further developed the C&C line.
In the meantime, Westwood Online quickly became the definitive online battleground for
veteran commanders and conquerors -- and still is.
"We always felt that building a community for people to come together to play
our games would be fun and worthwhile," says Sperry, "but we had no idea that people
would still be playing games of C&C and Red Alert several years later! People continue
to use it, love it and it continues to deliver consistent quality game play."
With Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun, Sperry upped the ante yet again. New
units such as hunter-seeker droids, tunneling flame tanks and the Firestorm Defense add
new intensity and tactics, but other features such as deformable terrain and veterancy -i.e., units notching their belts with battlefield experience -- raise the bar on the game
genre. And, of course, the plot thickens: the appearance of Shiners -- a fierce band of
humans mutated by exposure to Tiberium -- brought a new force to the table. But old
villains die hard, as well: Kane, once presumed dead after his army was routed at the end
of the original Command & Conquer, returns with a terrifying new suite of Tiberiumenhanced technology. In Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun: Firestorm, Kane's secondin-command Anton Slavik heads the Brotherhood of Nod in a world ravaged by
Tiberium. "It's a much more dangerous, and therefore interesting, world to wage war in,"
Sperry says of Tiberian Sun.
Slated for release this year is Red Alert 2, in which the Soviets storm the U.S.
with formidable mind-control technologies. True to Sperry's vision, Red Alert 2 will push
the Command & Conquer franchise even farther, emphasizing powerful units that make
the battle ever-precarious: a crafty commander can quickly shift the battle in his favor
with a few well-deployed special units.
As with all Westwood releases, it's a risk-taking venture. But the riskiest yet has
to be the upcoming Command & Conquer Renegade. Making a foray into third-person,
3D gaming genre, Sperry promises gamers an up-close and personal plunge into the
Command & Conquer universe they've only seen from up high. Taking the role of the

Commando, the wisecracking, death-dealing GDI soldier of the original Command &
Conquer, gamers will engage Nod soldiers, infiltrate Nod bases, even commandeer Nod
vehicles.
The spin-off is a bold, even risky move. But if Sperry's admirable history in the
battlefield of real-time strategy gaming is any indication, you can be sure that Renegade
will be a great game.
"We have only just begun to dazzle people with new forms of gaming, and in turn,
new forms of entertainment," Sperry says. "I think it's safe to say that you ain't seen
nothing yet!"