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Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight will set upon retail on March 16 in North America and March 19 in Europe. The game will conclude the Tiberium storyline started many dusks and dawns ago in what was then Westwood's cherished RTS franchise. Pre-orders will grant access to the multiplayer beta, along with the game's soundtrack and a bonus mission.

Meanwhile, if the rumors are accurate, the Command & Conquer team can sadly expect to receive their dismissal papers from Electronic Arts around that time. It must be disturbing to live life like Rell the Cyclops (you know, from Krull!) and know the time of your own termination.

While the subtitle could use some work, Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight's look is coming along nicely. EA recently deployed some new media from the game, all showing off the ongoing war between the Brotherhood of Nod and the GDI forces. Their conflict is eternal -- kinda like Tom and Jerry, but with way less slapstick and lots moar lazorz.

Hit up the gallery below for the new screens, which are oddly devoid of all that XP we saw in the last batch.

Here at Joystiq, we endeavor to have something for everyone.

For example, we thought you real-time strategy fans would be interested to hear that the fourth installment of Command and Conquer had been subtitled "Tiberian Twilight," presumably because it supposedly brings the Tiberium story arc to a close. EA says more than 15,000 fans voted to select the name.

For you non-strategy fans, we've provided the following zingers on the subtitle.

• "Tiberium Twilight? That series should have been put to bed years ago."
• "Tiberium Twilight? Is that because it'll put us right to sleep?"
• "Tiberium Twilight? As if it wasn't bad enough, now they're adding vampires that sparkle in the sunlight?"
• "Tiberium Twilight? Wouldn't 'The Newest Command and Conquer Until Around Six Months From Now When We Release Another' have been more accurate?"

For you who can't be troubled to feel one way or the other, we put a video of a kid getting hit by a giant slingshot after the break. Don't ever let it be said we're not inclusive.

EA has released some new Command & Conquer 4 screens, which, while bearing a passing resemblance to previous titles in the venerable real-time strategy series, do offer a few glimpses at the gameplay changes EA has in store (like persistent player progression). Just try not to be bummed about the severe lack of Kane in today's Command & Conquer 4 post, okay?

The whole "Tiberium infestation" seems to have gotten a tad worse since we last left the Command and Conquer series. The recently released debut trailer for the fourth installment in the core franchise (posted after the break) features no gameplay, but includes a great deal of the chartreuse crystal that the world can't seem to live with (or without). It also features an appearance by bald-headed Nod leader Kane, a possible alliance between two old enemies, and a glowing, swirly ... ball ... thing.

Confused? We're right there with you. Check out the trailer after the break, but brace yourself -- we won't find out what the hell is going on until 2010.

Writing on the Command and Conquer Den, community manager Aaron "APOC" Kaufman said that those who play the single-player campaign of Command and Conquer 4 will need to constantly be connected to the internet, in much the same way as players of MMOs. "As of right now, you need to be online all the time to play C&C 4," he explains. "This is primarily due to our 'player progression' feature so everything can be tracked. C&C 4 is not an MMO in the sense of World of Warcraft, but conceptually it has similar principles for being online all the time. While some may be taken aback by this, we've been testing this feature internally with all of our world-wide markets."

OK, indulge us in a bit of conjecture. What strikes us as weird is that, just last week, What They Play editor John Davison said on 1UP's Listen Up that he wouldn't be surprised for games to adopt a streaming model (read: no physical media) by the time C&C 4 is released. It seemed sort of oddly specific at the time, but now we're wondering if there might be more reasons that your computer has to be connected to play. Just saying.

[Via Voodoo Extreme]

That press release EA linked to yesterday? It's up now, which makes Command & Conquer 4 that little bit more real. Not only that, but everything mentioned in that online survey was also real. This will be the final chapter of the Tiberium series and will feature "persistent player progression and [an] all-in-one mobile base" when it launches in 2010 for PC.

Command & Conquer 4 will also feature a co-op mode for the two campaigns, as well as a 5-vs-5 objective-based multiplayer mode, allowing for a new "social real time strategy experience." Aren't those called LAN parties? A new episode of Battlecast PrimeTime, which will be available on July 24, will give more information on the game, and the exclusive reveal of the first cinematic trailer will be shown on GameTrailers TV on July 23.

EA's UK PR team just tweeted an announcement that Command & Conquer 4 is now in development, though the linked press release doesn't seem to exist yet. This seems to us like the result of an itchy trigger (or tweeter) finger. With recent online surveys asking what people would like to see in the next Command & Conquer, we were expecting an announcement sooner rather than later. Still, this is a little earlier than we -- and EA, seemingly -- had expected the announcement to come. We'll update you with more information on the game once the press release becomes available.