Command And Conquer First Decade Code

[Lucrecio Poinson]

okaymy question is simple:

i tried activated my old Command & Conquer the First Decade game on origin which i bought around release in 2006

after reading some forum posts which suggested i should contact the support live chat.

during the support told me my key wasn't valid after providing it and because i got no proof of purchase[who keeps a proof of purchase for 9 years].

i couldn't be helped.

is there any other way i can be helped getting it activated on origin or should i just give up trying to get it activated on origin

similar cases:

-codes-for-Command-amp-Conquer-the-First-Decade-don-t/m-p/...

-codes-rejected-for-Command-amp-Conquer-the-First/m-p/3875...

Yep, I just got the same result when I tried an online chat. My support guy told me it was an older product that wasn't issued with a "stand-alone" code. He said only the Collector's Edition would work. I too would like to activate my copy of The First Decade if possible, and I also saw previous posts where that very thing was done for the poster.

The fact the multiplayer servers have been shut down has nothing to do with the fact the product doesn't exist on Origin. Multiplayer for Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars is similarly discontinued (since Gamespy was shut down), but that game is still sold on Origin, meaning a C&C3 registration key can perfectly be redeemed.

The fact that the ultimate collection is still on sale is indication that this is not correct. the ultimate collection is the same as first decade with 2 or 3 more games, i dont know why EA didnt release TFD on origin too. i am not going to buy it again just so it shows up on my origin account, so i will just have to play it without origin.

Every once in a while, a games publisher may release a compilation of past-released games, often this is a win-win situation: the gamer is able to buy a set of closely-related games[1] at a decent price and the publisher gets easy money, what could possibly go wrong?

Not much, one might assume. Glancing backwards through memory lane I am reminded of such compilation packs as Red Alert: The Domination Pack [2], Worldwide Warfare[3], more recently we have the Command & Conquer Collection[4], all of those packs sold well with little or no complaint about their content. But in the case of TFD, plenty of things have gone wrong, thus raising the "is it worth it?" question, which I hope this review will answer.

So it should come as no surprise to us here at PlanetCnC that Electronic Arts should release another C&C pack, this time comprised of every (well, almost) game with the string "Command & Conquer" affixed to the title. (I say "almost" because the omission of Sole Survivor warrants EA being sued for false-advertising if they ever said "every C&C game").

When I was writing this guide, I performed a little investigative journalism, it turns out that Electronic Arts did not develop The First Decade at all. EA outsourced development of the compilation to a little-known games industry "service" provider "Barking Lizards Technologies", we approached them for an interview (or at least a few questions being answered) and they responded in kind, however after posing some tame initial questions over two weeks ago we haven't yet received any response, if we get any response we will keep you informed.

I'm not going to deny that I have a bias against Electronic Arts (which is less of a "computer games company" than it is an "entertainment industry conglomerate"), but I hold companies accountable for their actions, EA and Barking Lizards have a lot to answer for over TFD, however pointing the finger is hard: the lack of testing on The First Decade could be the fault of either EA or Barking Lizards; the unmodified games could be because EA never gave Barking Lizards the source-code to the games or it could be because Barking Lizards didn't have the time nor the budget to root through the decade-old source-code and make the necessary changes to add TCP/IP support to Tiberian Dawn, or change the VQA renderer in Red Alert for example.

Moving on, one of the perks for writing for GameSpy and PlanetCnC is that we get free games, let that be an incentive for any person thinking of becoming news-poster-fodder here; naturally I elected that a copy of The First Decade be shipped over to my home address, which it did in a sturdy and over-packaged Amazon box.

Unlike other reviews out there, I will not be covering any of the C&C History or what each game is about, instead, I'll be gauging the worthiness factor. I will assume that you are either a C&C fan who is seeking to complete their collection or someone who already knows all the back-story, for those not in the know, I recommend you read PCnC's own Command & Conquer Canon that explains things very nicely.

I've been reading both our and the official forums with slight amusement, so I'm well aware of the issues a large number of you have been experiencing (such as, but not limited to RA2 not running properly, RA1's Soviet videos missing completely, and Tiberian Dawn crashing randomly, refer to Insecticide for a complete list) (link removed, site down). I'm also aware of EA's claims for TFD, such as "recoding" games to ensure maximum compatibility with modern systems[5], so I have included a critique of the claims made by EA as of 2006-03-13, read on for the details.

...okay...another box? I wasn't expecting a single-player version of "pass the parcel". (But hey, considering the lack of originality and innovation coming from EA in recent months, perhaps the next EA Sports title would be "EA Sports & Party Games: Pass the Parcel 2007")

Nonetheless, don't let your eyes deceive you: the black "box" to the right isn't another DVD case, nor is it any kind of deluxe "limited edition" manual or booklet. It isn't even content, after finally finding a use for my long fingernails I was able to pry it out and see what it really is:

Since the only thing of any real interest in the outer box is the DVD case itself (and given that the outer-box contains the exact same print as the DVD case) there really isn't any point in including it in the set. As I go into more detail below, the outer-case is actually to the compilation's detriment.

...note the lack of the usual material found with the standalone game releases or compilations, like a big honkin' manual for each game or two CDs for "play with or against a friend" fun (which seems very un-EA and un-capitalist, so no surprises there). Of course, the lack of 12 50-page manuals can be explained by our DVD-case sized game boxes, I have a certain nostalgia for 1998-style game boxes, where box art counted for a lot of things, now whatever box-art there is, is now down at half the scale. How times change.

I must say that EA's choice of game box says a lot about how much they care about the game. The excuse that it is for "standardisation" can be thrown right out; the "outer box" is a good few millimetres larger than a standard double-DVD case, meaning it won't fit inside a DVD rack. I think of numerous compilation packs I've had the pleasure of playing (or merely observing), especially in what I consider the "Golden Year" of PC gaming: 1997, and to a lesser extent, 1998 and 1996. Consider "Worldwide Warfare", "Dungeon Keeper Collection", and the afore-mentioned "Domination Pack"; all of these compilations arrived in super-huge double-sized game boxes (think two standard 1998-era game boxes placed horizontally against each other), this way the boxes could hold all the manuals, CDs, and usually with extra bonus material.

Granted, The First Decade does come with a certain degree of bonus material (a poster and a "community" DVD) I doubt using a larger box would have changed this; but had they gone for a full-size box they could have easily fitted in the original manuals to all the games. (They didn't even put PDFs of the original manuals on the game disc[6]).

I'll begin with the manual: I have with me, in my hands, a 70-page booklet that doesn't describe the included games at all, nor does it include any back-story, not even any information about the compilation itself (let alone an ad-libbed "why we created this compilation" excuse).

The first few pages are the standard boilerplate, copy n' paste information about epilepsy and how to install and launch "the game" (rather than "games"), in the back is a single page with technical support and game-help numbers. Before the obligatory-but-never-used "notes" section are two pages that list troubleshooting information.

Judging by all the posts users have made on the forums about problems they've had with the compilation, I doubt EA or Barking Lizards have performed much Quality-Assurance testing, but they should have known that there would be more problems than typically affect the latest release of NFL Madden for the Playstation (where patching is impossible and games have to be perfect when they go RTM), so I feel it inappropriate of them to include the standard-issue troubleshooting steps that probably wouldn't help in this situation, for instance the guide recommends the user configure their LAN's router to unblock "the following TCP/IP ports" which is then followed by a blank paragraph, ignoring that half of the games in the box don't even use TCP/IP for networking.

The rest of the "manual" is 60+ pages of unit and structure descriptions, they appear to be straight, verbatim, copies from the original manuals (with the exception of Red Alert and Tiberian Dawn) with a few minor modifications, such as the "Structures/Units used by both factions" sections and the merging of expansion pack unit trees and descriptions with the originals (no-doubt employed to save precious inches inside the manual). The Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert unit descriptions are missing the statistics provided in the original manuals, and the Red Alert/Yuri's Revenge unit-tree makes no distinction between which units and structures are specific to Yuri's Revenge (in fact, they seem to be taken directly from the Yuri's Revenge manual), it also makes the mistake of including Attack Dogs in Yuri's arsenal (which is incorrect, Yuri uses Psychic Towers to stop spies getting into his base).

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