John Tousser, a spokesperon at Electronic Arts announced today that EA will be picking up Battlezone II as part of its 'Classics Library'. The aim of the classics library he states is to revive old games which have provided innovation but may have been ahead of their time, as well as to 'test the waters' for potential franchise reboots.
In light of 'cloaking' behaviors in the previous release of Battlezone II, Tousser has stated that the new Battlezone II re-release will feature 'always on DRM', which he explains is not as bad as people have made it out to be. "We expect that people will spend most of their time playing online", Tousser replied when asked by reporters.
"We have realized that releasing sequel after sequel of popular franchises" is not the way to go, he elaborated, citing lower sales numbers for each successive Call of Duty release, and re-iterated his desire to bring back innovation to the industry.
When asked about potential DLC, Tousser stated that DLC is in development. The first DLC release will be an expansion pack called 'Forgotten Enemies'. Tousser describes the DLC as being based on a storyline after the first campaign that follows the story of what happens when the ISDF collapses and the remnants of the force must deal with an imminent alien threat. The Forgotten Enemies DLC introduces two new races, and improves on the existing game modes. The DLC pack will retail for an additional $19.99 and will be available on launch day.
A collectors edition will also retail for $69.99 and will feature both the original campaign and the DLC. It will also include the 'Burns Fighter II' as well as 'Heavy Sabre III, Slug Edition' as selectable starting units, and come with a physical poster of Yalena Shabayev, one of the characters in the Combat Commander franchise.
