Universe at War to cross-play

By Tom Bramwell Published 29 June, 2007

PC gamers, meet 360 gamers.

Petroglyph's upcoming real-time strategy title Universe at War: Earth Assault will join the growing number of dual PC/Xbox 360 releases to offer cross-platform multiplay through Microsoft's "Games for Windows - LIVE" initiative.

Publisher SEGA points out that this actually makes it the first third-party title announced to support the feature - Shadowrun, the other one, having been an internally produced effort from Microsoft partners FASA.

Universe at War is due out this winter on PC and on Xbox 360 in Q1 2008.

Given the differences in control schemes (you may remember that Petroglyph made a big deal of this when the Xbox 360 version was unveiled), the developer is working hard on the balance and promises multiple modes for cross-play.

"SEGA is delighted to be working with Microsoft and join them at the forefront of a new dawn for gaming," said SEGA's Gary Knight. Crikey. "The power of the Xbox 360 console means that games once exclusively the preserve of high-end PC gaming are now finding a new home on console also."

You can read more about Universe at War through our PC and Xbox 360 gamepages. One feature we're intrigued to hear more about is the "Conquer the World" mode, which promises to draw inspiration from massively-multiplayer and competitive online titles with its use of persistent elements.

Watch out for more around E3.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (12) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • ruckus #1 5 years ago

    "PC gamers, meet 360 gamers"
    This means I'll meet myself - doesn't that have huge implications regarding space and time...

  • gizmo #2 5 years ago

    I thought the games for windows thing had been cracked, therefore exposing Live to PC cheaters?

  • Avaloner #3 5 years ago

    The dawn of a new era in gaming will occur when the 360 gives us mouse and keyboard support

  • Whizzo #4 5 years ago

    Sega in "we've stupidly decided to go Vista only!" shocker.

  • gallow #5 5 years ago

    I can now cross-play while I cross dress.

  • Xerx3s #6 5 years ago

    "PC gamers, meet 360 gamers"

    I think that a large percentage of the xbox owners are or used to be pc gamers. The xbox brand is basically cheap mediumend pc + telly + pc games.

    "The dawn of a new era in gaming will occur when the 360 gives us mouse and keyboard support "

    I have always wondered why the console manufacturers have blocked this superior control method. There is no chance in hell that I would ever play something like an rts on a console but if they would slap something like Supreme commander on it and sell you a wireless mouse with it, I'm all for it.

  • Xerx3s #7 5 years ago

    Sega in "we've stupidly decided to go Vista only!" shocker.

    Ah yes. First it was '95 shocker. Then it became 2k shocker followed by the xp shocker. All now resulting in the vista shocker.

    Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

  • Whizzo #8 5 years ago

    Vista only games do not sell because there are not enough people who have upgraded and there really is very little reason to change.

    The number of games that would only run on XP within the first few years of it being released was zero.

    Win2K doesn't count either as it was never aimed at the home user market.

  • TheUnionFrag #9 5 years ago

    I might just buy it to asplode some 360 gamers' brains into a billion pieces.

  • deaner #10 5 years ago

    Just goes to reinforce that the X360 is just a scaled-down PC.

    Long live the real thing!

    Now where did I put my Six-Demon Bag...?

  • The_Programmer #11 5 years ago

    "The dawn of a new era in gaming will occur when the 360 gives us mouse and keyboard support"

    That's the day I pack in gaming. The whole thing with consoles is that everybody has the same equipment. If you start having some with keyboards & mouse against others with the standard controllers then the games become unfair. Leave the keyboard & mouse to the PC.

  • Jigglybean #12 5 years ago

    http://www.petroglyph games.com to find out more on the game, and chat with the original command and conquer developers