Page 2 Archives – CNCNZ.com

Page 2 is a discontinued feature of CNCNZ.com that had two purposes in its time:

2002: a separate news section showing more “interesting” pieces of news
2006-2007: a place for administrators’ opinion pieces and ramblings.

Below you will find the archives of the latter that we were able to gather from Archive.org, in order from newest to oldest, and with links to the forum threads that contained comments. The opinions held in these posts belong (or belonged) only to the persons who wrote them.

The Art of Nerfing and Buffing | 18 May 2007 | Sonic
A short blog update from me. Could someone please explain just what the hell “Nerf” and “Buff” actually mean. I’ve read these words countless times on the Official C&C 3 Forums, the EALA Devs use it all the time in APOC’s C&C podcasts. Where did these words come from? How long have they been around?

OK, so Wikipedia have entries for Nerf and Buff, but up till the most recent C&C podcasts I’d never even heard of these terms. When I think of “Nerf” the soft foam darts, toys and balls come to mind.
Personal Status Update | 3 May 2007 | Zee Hypnotist
Many of you haven’t seen me around posting very much, due to the earlier problem I explained in this thread. However, I want you all to know that in the off time I’ve had, I’ve been working on several other projects.

First off, I’m working on a continuance of a video I created several months ago. Remember Lego C&C? Well, it’s back in action. Taking place in a Tiberium Era instead of a Red Alert timeline, the lego videos will feature actual Tiberium-based themes, almost identical to the themes we see in Command and Conquer, Tiberian Sun, Renegade, and even some small inside jokes related to the fun that was had when we were still waiting for Command and Conquer 3 to be released.Secondly, there’s a hidden forum, for a feature that will be released at most within two weeks. It’s a bit of a “musical” feature, similar to podcasts we release, only a bit more festive. And I’ll tell ya, this will be something that’s never been done in the C&C Community in the 10 years the game has been around.

As the end of April, some of you are probably wondering what B3 was, and, well, I suppose our release was kind of faltered with the resignation of C&C King as staff, however, we’re going to get back on track with the release of this new content. CNCNZ will indeed be Bigger, Better, and Breaking out the new C&C content paralelled with the recent release of C&C 3.

Now, as you realize I’m having internet troubles, with some family issues and past health issues, obviously I have had limited time on the internet, but worry not! I’ll be back in action soon!Until then, I must go into hiding, so, into the underground I go, but don’t worry, my APC will be breaking through soon enough, just as long as I don’t get caught under any cement.
What the Hell Happened? | 1 April 2007 | Zee Hypnotist
Man, it’s been 7 years since the last game, and, upon talking to King, and a few of you around the community, I must say, jeez, things aren’t as very many of us expected.7 years of anticipation… 7 years of hoping for a new game, a new toy to entertain us, but, when I think about it, was it really the game that is supposed to be fun, or was it all that anticipation?I’ve started to notice that, although this new game has come out, things have been incoherently quiet in the community. Everyone out to play the game? Or just nothing to say anymore? Sure, everyone’s talking about the game, everyone’s talking about bugs, or heck, talking about how much they now love / hate EA, but, I guess the question to ask is… now what? I’ve got my game, now there’s really nothing to say. Sure, I like it and all, but where’s the pizazz around the community anymore?

The storyline wasn’t really nearly as I expected it, unfortunately, but, it’s still playable, I’m happy about that, but, I dunno, it just seems like everything is blank. Usually the game would cause some form of discussion, but so far, few people have started any threads with “What do you think this means?” or “Hey! Look what I found!” This feeling as a whole is just… empty. I’ve started posting less (at least I think so), and so have others, because, well, hell, there’s really nothing to talk about

When we hit the ‘nine weeks until gameplay’ mark, we were all ecstatic. Everyone was like, “WHY CANT THE WEEKS GO BY FASTER?” EVERYONE wanted the game. But now, as the game is being released, there was no countdown, there was no thread saying “OMG I HAVE THE GAME!” It was all just a “heh, cool.” Nobody is going nuts over patches, nobody is really discussing what things could mean, where the game could be going… heck, nobody is even starting threads on how much they love the game, only how they’re actually playing through it slowly, but steadily. And already, hundreds of clans have formed, and ruined multiplayer, with the typical ‘mass and bash’ tactic.What has happened to C&C?

I have a bad feeling about the future… I really do.
Where Were You 2 Years Ago? | 17 March 2007 | Zee Hypnotist
2 Years ago, I didn’t know any of you, anything about this site, hell, anything about command and conquer other than the fact that you could play it.I can truly say it’s amazing how things change over the years, as the time rolls by. I feel like I’ve been here for several years now, although it’s been very few. I remember just two years ago, I was a general n00b, and I put emphasis on the 0’s. It’s amazing to think about the beginning. My first post, being “I GOT TO TEST RA3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” somehow led to this most recent post, literally making fun of it. Meat Puppet Rebellion, sound familiar?

Well, I’m glad to express how thing have turned out since then. Luckily, I cleaned up my act, and, heck, the past two years have been a brilliant experience for me. Based on this site alone, I have learned literally 90% of what I know of the internet. I mean, jeez, I was such a noob when I first came here, I didn’t even know how to operate a simple image site such as photobucket. I didn’t know how to create screenshots, or photoshop… heck, I knew nothing of modding, to be honest, the initial reason I got linked to this site was cause I was looking for ways to cheat on Red Alert 2 (Yeah, ya didn’t know that now, did ya?).

Anyway, what I’m getting to, is, it’s amazing how things change in such a short period of time. First, I’m a basic n00b. I’m a random idiot, heck, you could even compare me to Louis Ex on certain levels when I first joined this place. I never would have expected to become a moderator, much less a friggin tertiary webmaster on this site. I mean, seriously, where the hell did that come from?

I am finding it difficult, yet very much of an honour to express the joy and happiness I feel for this site. I wouldn’t be where I am today without a select majority of you, because very many of you attributed to me staying here. Fenring helped me get over a depressional stage, Acerz helped me aspire for larger things, C&C King made a great friend, TSBO kept me down to earth, and Sonic flipped the switch to my opportunities on this site. Luk3us kept the laid back feeling, Tree, in a sense, helped keep the maturity, and BWare taught me who to stay away from on the internet….For that, I thank you all.Now, tell me, how have YOU changed in the past two years? 🙂

Yeah, I know, yet another emotion-filled post.
Commodore Returns as a Gaming PC | 16 March 2007 | Sonic
Anyone here young enough to remember Commodore? In fact for a lot of people the first computer they ever owned was the classic Commodore 64. I had one. Games on the old C64 were truly amazing to me all those years ago. There were so many classics.

Anyway, the Commodore brand is back as a gaming PC brand now.

Commodore specs up Cxx games machine

CeBIT Commodore’s eagerly anticipated Cxx gaming PC will sport an Intel Core 2 Extreme four-core processor, a pair of 768MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX graphics card and a Creative X-Fi soundcard, the company revealed today.

What it didn’t say up front was how much all this gaming hardware – fitted inside a casing covered with one of a half-dozen or so painted ‘skins’ applied to the interchangeable front and side panels – will cost.

The machine’s specification also inlcudes an Asus P5N32-E motherboard based on Nvidia’s nForce 680i SLI chipset. Each system has 4GB of Corsair Dominator DDR 2 memory clocked at 1066MHz. There’s a choice of hard drives: two 150GB 10,000rpm boys in RAID configuration, or a single 500GB 7200rpm job.

Running on top of all this: Windows Vista Ultimate. Keeping it supplied with power: a 1,000W ICE Cube PSU. Not a machine for folk concerned about their carbon footprint, then.

This is the top-of-the-line Cxx, of course – Commodore Gaming will also offer three lesser machines, right down to an entry-level model, the Cg. The in-betweeners are the Cgx and Cgs.

All four boxes can be given a personal touch, thanks to a choice of casing decorations. And users can control two multi-colour LEDs inside the case’s side-mouted fans to “enhance the mood with an ambient glow”, as Commodore put it.

The four systems all have a C64 emulator ready installed on their hard drives along with 50 “classic” games, the company said.

Commodore said the machines will come with a two-year service and parts warranty. The machines are due to go on sale later today.

I could go on about all the old retro C64 games that I remember but I’ve already filled this post up with images of the Commodore range so I’ll leave that discussion to another post.
Well, I’m Feeling Satisfied! Are You? | 20 January 2007 | C&C King
Ever since the 3rd faction has been officially announced, I have felt nothing but sheer excitement for C&C 3. It’s been quite a turn-around for EA in my opinion. Even though I didn’t go to EA this year to sample the game first hand I already have that clear confidence that we have on our hands here, the best C&C ever!

A year ago, we seemingly had nothing to shout about. No news, and no hope. But what a difference 12 months make. Loads of information, videos, Kane back, FMVs back, some great community feedback gone into the game as well. Plus with 9 weeks to go, plenty of more info, trailers, a demo, and whatever EA can throw at us will be coming in faster than the Alien invasion itself! Top Stuff!

I now can’t get around my head one last thing though. What else do EALA need to do, to convince some people about this game? It’s not the game play because that’s been there in abundance since Generals. It’s not the canon, since everything has a place within the game now. Or does it just not live up to how “Westwood” could have done it?Of course Westwood could have done it perfect couldn’t they? Well no, Westwood have never managed perfection in my opinion. And even if they had developed C&C 3 it wouldn’t have made a blind bit of difference.

C&C 3 has been 8 years in the making from concept to hitting the shelves. It’s been through numerous phases of the development process time and time again since before Red Alert 2. If anything the plans Westwood laid out for this game have been scanned over time and time again. So really without a doubt, despite all the community’s best efforts to stick our noses in, EA know how this game should be better than Westwood did.

In many respects putting our feedback down on certain canon elements have been justified. Such as Visceroids and mutants, partial elements of Tiberium and such. But I wonder if we as a community left EA to do the job how they wanted it, how much of a better or worse game could it have been?

I guess we’ll never know. All I do know though, is that the BfME franchise has had a great atmosphere and great game play. And it’s all down to EA sticking to their guns on many fronts, by using the information open to them from the movies and Tolkien’s great literature. Both have been games that I’ve played for many hours on end because the whole package fuses together so well. Add the magic of C&C to the current formula of the BfME franchise, and then some, and you have a game that’ll take on any RTS this year for that “Game of the Year” title.

This game has guts, and it’s clear to me it isn’t afraid to rip a few out from the likes of SupCom and World in Conflict. And even if Petroglyph get their game into 2007 with their brand new intellectual property. C&C 3 is gonna do it’s best to make sure that the monster defies it’s original creators in every respect possible.
Why is this Community so Negative | 26 November 2006 | Sonic
I haven’t posted a new blog for few weeks now, basically I haven’t anything to post about. Until now. In short I want to know why the Command & Conquer community is so damn negative these days. Every time some new information about Tiberium Wars gets released people seem to over analyze everything about it and become so critical they want EA’s blood or the developers heads on a stick.What happened to the old days? Back in 1998/1999, the build up before the release of Tiberian Sun, the community at the time was a heap of fun, yeah we suffered through some delays back then but people never bitched and moaned as much as they do today. In the old days we were more than happy when new screen shots were released, we read interviews with developers that revealed key bits of information about the game, and loved it. In the Red Alert 2 days the community would get so excited when Westwood released a preview track of the music to be featured in the game.That was then and this now. The modern day community routine appears to be this; new info comes along, appears on fan sites, then all the “hardcore” fans and so called experts subject this new information to a series of torture tests, it then falls short of their high and mighty standards which leads to the usual “this game is going to suck!”.

One such I comment I spotted on Planet CNC’s forums about the latest C&C 3 newsletter. The poster, not liking the new C&C 3 logo simply lost faith in EA and proceed to say that EA should quit now hand C&C 3 over to Petroglyph. Another punk on the internet gets his 2 cents in, making himself look stupid in the process. Since when the did the logo make the game anyway? The new logo does need a bit of work though.I’m not saying you have to take everything about C&C 3 and like it, the fact is most people who are bashing the game are simply doing that because EA are the one’s making it. EA want your feedback but you must go about it in more mature way. Most of the negative reaction I’ve seen is nothing but half-assed EA bashing.I’ve seen lots of stuff in C&C 3 that I don’t like but I don’t go around discussing it all the time, basically because I just don’t care. Focusing on the new logo once again, I said in the news “I’m not sure I like the big number 3 in background though”. Thats about as critical I feel I should be because in the end its a just a logo for a video game.The fun has indeed been sucked out of this community….. is it time for me to bail out?
A Decade of CNCNZ.com – Well Almost | 1 November 2006 | Sonic
It kind slipped by unnoticed but on October 24th, CNCNZ.com officially turned 9 years old. Thats right 1 more year and this site has been around for a good decade, in one form or another. From the humble beginnings as a tiny site about Red Alert, then Tiberian Sun, later expanded to a site covering all C&C games. Many different names, layouts, staff members and of course the ever changing face of the C&C community, the one constant through it all has been CNCNZ.com. We have never differentiated away from the same system of running things around here, we stick to what we know. If you feel like a long reading session point your browser at this page.

With Tiberium Wars on the horizon we once again strap our selves in for the roller coaster ride of following the games development, the same way as we have done in the past for games like Red Alert 2, Renegade and Generals. In the words for Degeneration-X (for you WWE fans)…… Are You Ready?
Internet Explorer 7 Arrives – Is it any good? | 20 October 2006 | Sonic
After being in beta for a long time Microsoft has finally released Internet Explorer 7 officially now or should I call it Windows Internet Explorer, yes it’s been renamed. The big question is it any better that its previous version? Well the short answer of course it is, but is it any better than Firefox? The answer to that question is really up to you. IE7 offers all the modern features that we have already seen in the likes of Firefox and Opera, it has fresh new interface, tabbed browsing, aniti-phishing tools (to be added in Firefox 2.0 which is due for release very soon), IE7 even supports the cool little favicons, IE6 did but it never worked that good. However after one day of being available for download the first of probably many security vulnerabilities has been discovered already, as the security experts look to shoot down Microsoft latest browser offering.

I still prefer Firefox though, it feels faster and more simple to use, now before you start accusing me of being anti-Microsoft I can assure you I’m not, if I was I wouldn’t be using Microsoft Windows would I. But as I said before its your choice as to what browser you use and don’t let the anti-Microsoft brigade and Firefox/Opera fan-boys tell you any different.

Oh yeah, I tested the new look CNCNZ.com in IE7, looks great!
That’s Enough, I’m Coming To Get Ya Apoc!! | 26 September 2006 | C&C King
If there’s one thing that ticks me off, it’s the speed of News. EA’s Marketing is like a problem underneath the bonnet of a car. The battery is flat, they’ve charged it numerous times, but it keeps running dry. Get rid of the old one, and bring in a new “Predator” battery, that should sort the problem. After a few runs, that battery runs dry. It is then you realise that the “Apoc” Alternator has been messing around with us all this time. It is the reason this engine just won’t keep going, cos this alternator problem has been hiding from us, and getting us all aggrevated. There’s no communication on the dashboard afterall. Now will the EA garage fix this problem soon, or like some of the community, are we gonna have to get a new car like the Relic, Gas Powered, or the Massive Entertainment high performance models in the industry? I’m personally gonna save Apoc from Nod now! Cos I can’t bare this much longer!
Response to C&C/MCV Doubters | 16 September 2006 | C&C King
Command & Conquer is and always will be recognised as a game franchise that defined a genre. What Doom did for First Person shooters, C&C has done for the RTS and more. But unfortunately, like Doom 3, C&C 3 will not find it easy being the game that’ll set the standards for games to come. All because of the competition out there nowadays. What made Doom 3 good though was the trip back to nostalgia. Doom was unique for its run and gun and nothing else gameplay. Many FPS Games followed a different route but Doom 3 stuck to basics, and was loved by many people. C&C has no reason for one second to follow the bandwagon mainstream. Back to basics roots and following what it does best is what C&C is all about. If you want a sci-fi SCV over MCV game, there are plenty of others out there to go and pick up. But C&C is staying MCV for the foreseeable future, and I for one, regardless of being a veteran, am proud that EA chose C&C to remain unique in this fashion.
9/11 – 5 Years On | 11 September 2006 | Sonic
Today (in NZ) marks the 5th anniversary of the tragic events that occurred on that fateful day of September 11th 2001. Its one of those days that you will never forget where you were, what your were doing, when you found out about the collapsing of the World Trade Center buildings, the attack on the Pentagon and of course United Flight 93, that crashed in Pennsylvania. Everything about that day is still fresh in my mind. Seeing the footage of the planes hitting the WTC almost seemed unreal. Our world is a very different place since 9/11 and affects can be seen in the media, the current situations in the Middle East and the ever constant threat of terrorism. 9/11 may have been an attack on the heart of America but it’s effects were felt the world over.
Let’s See What You’ve Got! | 3 September 2006 | C&C King
I’ve been taking a look at sites around the community, and I’m seeing alot of user created content flood in. Most are in the form of wallpapers, maps and fan-art. I look in my inbox and junk everyday and see spam, plus the occassional e-mail from APOC, Petroglyph, or a community member expressing some sort of gratitude, upset, or technical support problem. Now I don’t know about Sonic’s own inbox, but I’m not seeing alot of these wallpapers, maps and other user created content knocking at our door. So what I would ask is for our talented visitors to fire-up photoshop, WorldBuilder, Final Alert 2, or whatever takes your fancy. Then create some content, .zip it up and upload it here. Then send one of us webmasters an e-mail to say that it’s there. We’d like to see your talents, and we always appreciate some new community created content at CNCNZ.
11 And Upwards! | 29 August 2006 | C&C King
In New Zealand Time it’s the 30th August. Today therefore is the final day, the end of C&C’s greatful 10 years. I look back and realise how much time and effort went into the celebrations a year ago and I’m totally proud of the result. CNCNZ, kick starting the event could have been the sole inspiration for The First Decade compilation pack. But one thing is clear C&C 10 showed EA the true passion that the fans had for C&C, and that, I believe was the inspiration to start development of C&C 3 Tiberium Wars. So with August 31st almost upon us, Apoc, any chance of some mega C&C 3 info for C&C’s 11th Birthday?
Hold Your Horses! | 23 August 2006 | C&C King
Well, looks like I was a bit premature. Apoc, you’ve proved me wrong. New site, gameplay videos on IGN. All seems good. News is flooding in at such a fast pace. And the GDI Vs Nod conflict is causing much excitement, just like the Tiberian Sun news back in 1998 when the community was in its infancy. Kane is back, indeed he is. But there’s some conspiracy over at the CNC Den to whether or not it’s actually him! A bit of low lighting and several years added on to Mr Kucan, and people are somewhat confused to whether or not it’s Joe or his twin brother. Age and time has to grab a man at some point in his life. Although his physical appearence may not be to “C&C Canon”, Mike Verdu has definately confirmed it is Joe himself. So chill people and enjoy the ride! We have plenty more Nod and Kane to come, oh and don’t forget the Scrin very soon.
More Interest in World In Conflict/Supreme Commander | 17 August 2006 | C&C King
Now this, this is more like it! It may have taken a German community member to give us a heads up, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction. As you can see on the schedule, Nod’s unvailing, will hopefully put a smile on many of our faces. And might actually put some interest back into a game that’s been rehashed with the same old information for quite some time now. I should be excited. I should be wanting to post news because in theory EA should be pumping news out like Westwood did in the old days. In reality I’m finding myself becoming more and more distant from the franchise and the greatest Saga within it. I’m just not a fan of the EALA marketing machine. They give us no major incentive to be excited. I know Apoc is busy with everything coming up, but he really needs to prove me wrong. The news just isn’t flowing in smooth transitions like it did with BfME 2, and as a result C&C 3 for me is well behind World in Conflict and Supreme Commander as my most anticipated RTS games for 2007!
Returning to Renegade Online | 11 August 2006 | Sonic
A few days ago I made my return to playing Renegade online. I sort of disappeared from the Renegade scene for a few months but I can see in my time away nothing has changed. The Renegade community is still as strong as ever, there are plenty of servers to play on. Many of these servers offer mods that have changed a few things in Renegade making it better. Sure the game engine is dated and it doesn’t feature all of bangs and whistles of modern day FPS games but the its the addictive gameplay that keeps me coming back for more. So fire up your old copy of Renegade, patch it up and jump online. I’ll be sure to crush you with my Medium Tank.
AMD and ATI Join Forces | 26 July 2006 | Sonic
Planning to upgrade for C&C3; what hardware will be inside your next PC? In a merger of the acronyms, CPU giant AMD and graphics card maker ATI are set to join forces in one of the biggest hardware manufacturer deals ever made. In terms of worldwide sales, both companies are currently second in their respective primary fields behind leaders Intel and NVIDIA, but have been steadily closing the gap over recent years. Effects of the deal are not expected to be seen until 2007, but the ongoing hardware battle will be very interesting to follow over the next few years.
Time to Play the Game… Again | 16 July 2006 | Sonic
You might have seen the the new (or is it old) slogan for CNCNZ.com has changed from the “C&C Community Veteran” to “Time to Play the Game”. This used to be our small slogan back 2003/2004. And if you take a quick peek at our new site, Petro-Gamers.com, you will see it in use there as well. So what does it mean? Well nothing really I just like the sound of it. On a more serious note, I wanted a way of “branding” our 2 sites together. And I thought this was a good way of doing it…. until I think of something better I guess.
Happy Easter To All | 16 April 2006 | Sonic
A bit late in the game to post this I guess but Happy Easter to everyone. What does the Easter break mean to you? Eating chocolate eggs? Spending time with your family? Or perhaps some time off work? that’s what it means to me, basically a long weekend where I don’t have to do a damn thing. I could go into work today but I’d rather stay home and play PGR3 on the Xbox 360 because either way I get paid. Anyway there is still time to eat some more Easter eggs and hot cross buns.
Firefox Breaks 10% Barrier | 5 April 2006 | Sonic
Firefox, Mozilla’s free open-source Web browser, gained enough users in March to grab 10% of the web browser market. In other words more people took the time to make their computers more secure and safer by not using Internet Explorer. Here are CNCNZ.com we endorse Firefox and recommend people make the switch from Internet Explorer. It only takes a few minutes to download and install, and if you switch now you will wonder why you didn’t do it sooner. Our tracking stats says about 60% of visitors to CNCNZ.com still use Internet Explorer, that figure has changed over the past 2 years, it used to be up around 80%. So if your still stuck with that aging IE6 browser give the more modern Firefox browser a test run. Trust me you will like it!
The April Fools Tradition | 1 April 2006 | Sonic
It’s always been a long time tradition in the C&C Community for a few sites to pull a few pranks and fool people with false news. Never been into the practical joke making personally but I do enjoy getting a good laugh at seeing what people come with, then laughing harder at the people it tricks. Our friends at Planet CNC have been quite the pranksters in recent years, I recall one time they transformed their site and called it “Planet BFME”, it was very convincing complete with a new layout and images. Even though we are already past the whole April Fools thing down under in NZ, the other side of the world is not, so be careful about what you read and see on any site over the next 24 hours.
XBox 360 Set to Launch in NZ & Australia | 22 March 2006 | Sonic
After 4 long months and a 3 week delay the much talked about and hyped XBox 360 releases on March 23rd. In other words New Zealand and Australia are simply playing catch up with the rest of world. Naturally as an Xbox owner I have saved the necessary cash to purchase a taste of next generation gaming myself, finally I get to join the masses of people from the US and UK who have had their Xbox 360’s since November 2005. To us downunder the Xbox 360 is the coolest new toy in town, overseas I would say the novelty factor has worn off, as it will do here in NZ I guess. Does anyone think we well see a future C&C game on the next generation consoles?And hey look here is another thread for you Sony fanboys to post in and say just how much you hate the Xbox.
Hello From Sanford, Florida! | 11 March 2006 | C&C King
The King is on his way home. I come to you from Sanford International Airport in the VIP Lounge Posting this to say that I will be resuming normal duties in about 24 hours from this post (dependant on Jet Lag). But I’m glad I’m back. The withdrawal symptoms were too much to bare, I swear!I’m glad to see that the news is still ticking, but I’m also glad that EA didn’t announce a new C&C without me. Okay maybe I’m not that glad. But I’m refreshed and ready to face normality again, within reason.

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