You might be excited about the upcoming release of the last in the Command & Conquer series, C&C: Tiberian Twilight, but things are about to get a whole lot better. As a promotion for the release, EA is offering up the original three Command & Conquer titles for free.

The free titles include Command & Conquer, Command & Conquer: Tiberiun Sun with the Firestorm xpac, and Red Alert. Did I mention they’re free? You’re just a download away from reliving your nostalgic RTS past. It’ll give you a chance to get caught up on that storyline (these games have a storyline, right?) before the final chapter releases on March 16th.

According to EA, C&C 4 will be the “epic conclusion to the Tiberium saga.”

Source: EA

EA’s John Riccitiello wants more from the RTS genre than just cooler graphics. That’s about the best news you could give me with regard to the genre. Sure, it’s cool to see every detail of every unit dying, but at some point I want a little more than the usual rush strats and gold hoarders.

“We’ve gotten to the point where you can see the particles around individual grenade explosions inside rooms where windows fall apart. That was never what made RTS good. That was just sort of eye candy on top of a very traditional game mechanic. From when Red Alert and Starcraft sort of defined the genre, it hasn’t moved,” Riccitiello told Kotaku.

Preach on, brother.

“I’m a believer that the RTS sector is more open to fundamental innovation at a metagame level than almost any genre. I actually think that some of what Playfish does, in terms of iterating games on a weekly basis, Some of what Facebook does, in terms of letting you collectively experience things, have not been stitched together by the game industry in terms of lessons learned there.

You start applying that thinking to a C&C franchise you get something pretty special.”

Mhmm. Mhmm. I like what he’s saying, but as with all developmental shifts for any genre, I’ll wait to see the success before I pass any judgement. Riccitiello head is in the right place. I just hope he can execute.

Read the full interview over at Kotaku.

If it weren’t for Red Alert 2 I probably would have done a lot better in high school calculus. As it was, I spent most of my time worrying about when my next paratrooper drop was coming in the computer lab. This week EA released an iPhone version of the classic strat game with an extra map pack and the promise of more DLC down the road.

The game’s a little pricey at $9.99, but it’s got a full campaign for the Soviets and the Allies, 12 skirmish maps, and a map pack with another six skirmish maps. EA’s also promised that a future update will bring multiplayer over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth along with additional content. That’s more features than just about any game in the App Store, so maybe the ten bucks is worth it this time around.

The next patch is for the Empire of the Rising Sun and will add a third faction.