One of the big things about Universe at War is that PC players will be able to compete against Xbox 360 gamers across Live. Which, of course, begs the question of: How's the UI? We first got the "official line" which was: "We have validated not only our controller design, but the functionality and ease of use of our UI as well." Then in normal human speak Chris Ainsworth of the community team said, "Honestly, I think UaW is going to be the act to follow when it comes to RTS interface and control, and we're backing our words... we'll be the first 3rd party game with interoperability between console and PC players, so the console controls are going to HAVE to be good." Definitely a game RTS fans should keep on radar in this packed holiday season.
Universe at War media blowout and Xbox interface calming
by Alexander Sliwinski 
on Sep 14th 2007 11:27AM
10
One of the big things about Universe at War is that PC players will be able to compete against Xbox 360 gamers across Live. Which, of course, begs the question of: How's the UI? We first got the "official line" which was: "We have validated not only our controller design, but the functionality and ease of use of our UI as well." Then in normal human speak Chris Ainsworth of the community team said, "Honestly, I think UaW is going to be the act to follow when it comes to RTS interface and control, and we're backing our words... we'll be the first 3rd party game with interoperability between console and PC players, so the console controls are going to HAVE to be good." Definitely a game RTS fans should keep on radar in this packed holiday season.
Reader Comments (10)
Posted: Sep 14th 2007 11:42AM (Unverified) said
Looks pretty cool. I could use a good RTS on my PC.
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Posted: Sep 14th 2007 12:19PM (Unverified) said
If only Starcraft II weren't on the horizon =P
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Posted: Sep 14th 2007 2:25PM TwistedBishop said
The design philsophy is very much Starcraft. However I wouldn't say the graphics bear any similarity.
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Posted: Sep 14th 2007 1:22PM (Unverified) said
They would have to severely handicap the PC users for this to be fair. I'm all for the PC vs 360 idea but I just don't think that RTS and FPS games can be made fair between the two. Anyone play Shadowrun on a 360 against people on a PC? Is it that much of an advantage difference?
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Posted: Sep 14th 2007 1:39PM (Unverified) said
There is no advantage difference, it really does seem like a level playing field, and all the players I know who play it on Vista don't seem to complain either, quite the contrary, actually.
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Posted: Sep 14th 2007 8:48PM (Unverified) said
Unfortunately, they gimped the PC versions controls pretty bad, and admitted to it as well, hence why it did extremely poor on PC. If they would allow for precision aiming like in Counterstrike for instance, it would be fine, but they use the word "balancing" to make it sound ok. Some group will always be affected, and it's no doubt going to be us pc gamers everytime since were a niche group.
I have no problem with 360 vs. PC though, but in more of co-op type setting, which would be great. It shouldn't just be versus type games, what about co-op? For example, the PC guys run the satellites and control a game in an RTS fashion while the 360 brethren are the boots on the ground all working together. If they can make a good game like that, now that's something that I think people would really get behind....
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I have no problem with 360 vs. PC though, but in more of co-op type setting, which would be great. It shouldn't just be versus type games, what about co-op? For example, the PC guys run the satellites and control a game in an RTS fashion while the 360 brethren are the boots on the ground all working together. If they can make a good game like that, now that's something that I think people would really get behind....
Posted: Sep 14th 2007 2:35PM TwistedBishop said
As much as I'm looking foward to Universe at War, Halo Wars will probably be the better console RTS. It's got the brand identity to draw in new people, and it should be stripped down enough that it doesn't scare them away.
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Posted: Sep 17th 2007 6:41PM (Unverified) said
So, we have the Hierarchy, which are very war of the worlds. Then the Masari, very fantasy-esque, maybe WoW. And then the Novus, which are really cool storm troopers. Very cool.
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