EA is hoping to solve the interface and control scheme problems for console-based
strategy titles -- and milk the Lord of the Rings franchise a little longer. The Battle for Middle-earth 2 is
due out on the Xbox 360 later this year, but this won't be a direct port of its PC counterpart. The publishing giant has enlisted the talents of Louis Castle, a former co-founder of Westwood Studios and veteran of the Command and Conquer series. Castle has always wanted to implement a usable control interface for a console strategy game, and TeamXbox is pleased with what he and his team have come up with so far. Both analog sticks on the 360 controller will be used for panning and zooming across maps, but the key is a context sensitive reticule in the middle of the screen that brings up specific commands for whatever is currently highlighted. BFME2 will also feature many of the same gameplay modes as the PC version, as well as 4-player Xbox Live support.
If the game is well received, it might not be long before we see Civilization or Age of Empires on next gen consoles, or maybe even a true Starcraft sequel.
