Command and Conquer: Generals 2 screenshot

Prior to the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards -- before we got our first real sneak peak at The Last of Us and when "Fortnite" was still the dilettante spelling of a two week time period -- BioWare saw fit to stir the "new IP" echos by teasing the explosive screenshot you see above, which gave off the initial appearance of a Borderlands/RAGE/Twisted Metal-inspired project.

As the actual awards show was brought to bear, however, we were treated to the reveal trailer for EA and BioWare's Command & Conquer Generals 2 -- thus proving that the IP wasn't exactly "new" in the purest sense of the word, but rather a C&C revival from 2003's Command & Conquer Generals. The best-selling game in the fabled RTS series was going back to the near future with the Mass Effect 3 developer's newly acquired studio, Victory Games.

Still, we'd always been wondering about the inconspicuous origins of that very first screenshot. Surely it wasn't just a public service advertisement for the Click It or Ticket campaign?

It turns out that before Command & Conquer Generals 2 was even glimpsed at ahead of the VGA's, a teaser video was being developed for EA by artist Eli Guerron. Entitled "Warzone," it's a short clip (10 seconds, to be exact), but it appears that Gurreon only recently posted it to Vimeo where it was subsequently spotted by Superannuation. Check it out below for the short preamble to that probably-not-so-poor flying soldier's fiery demise.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDNbSTzC32A

With the clip being a brief cinematic -- one developed independently from EA and Bioware, no less -- it doesn't add more to what we already know about Command & Conquer Generals 2. The game picks up 10 years after its PC predecessor, after a the new enemy, an omnipresent (but still unnamed) terrorist group, wipes out the free world's leaders at a peace treaty summit. Under the guise of the Frostbite 2 engine, the game plays out as three factions (the EU, GLA, and the terrorists) battle in an all-out war across both singleplayer and mutltiplayer modes.

For more on the RTS, be sure to catch up on our list of 8 things we want to see in Command & Conquer Generals 2. Also, in case you missed it, here's the frenetic VGA trailer one more time.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSQQwEFhQmQ

Command & Conquer Generals 2 is slated for a 2013 release exclusively on Origin.

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Source: Superannuation [via Joystiq]