There are bargains. And then there are bargains. This surely falls into the latter category.
Sega and Petroglyph’s real time strategy sci-fi game Universe At War: Earth Assault was all patched up today, bringing with it an exhaustive list of changes, tweaks and fixes. The most notable? The saucer’s build time was reduced from 30 to 28 seconds. Almost as exciting was the addition of Xbox 360 versus PC cross-play in Ranked, Quickmatch and Conquer the World game modes, something that should make it much, much easier to find a game for Universe At War players.
For the full list of changes implemented in patch 3, hit the jump for details.
Back in Leipzig, McWhertor and I hung out at Sega’s booth while Crecente played Universe at War on PC for hours. After a while, he let me take his game for a spin. I immediately blew up a non-replaceable ship. As I may have mentioned before, he was not happy.
Petroglyph’s Creative Director Adam Isgreen is an RTS veteran, having worked on loads of Command & Conquers and, more recently, Universe at War. But he isn’t worried that RTS titles making their way to consoles will in some way dilute the experience. In fact, he believes just the opposite: …you could look at the transition of RTS from PC to console as “dumbing down” of the genre, but really that’s completely inaccurate. The evolution of RTS from PC to console is all about re-discovering the core fun of the genre while stripping away the redundancy, over-complication, and bloat that has been attaching itself to RTS games over the years.
He continues:
For stat junkies, a new site is launching that will track your every move during online gaming sessions. Called GameStrata, the free site will follow your progress in console and PC games by the currently partnered companies Capcom, EA and Sega. What seems so promising is that the service doesn’t just track simple kills or wins and losses. Instead, the site aggregates tons of detailed information, like shots fired per match, total amount of damage dealt or frags per minute.
The downside is that GameStrata registration is currently using a token system, requiring you to sign up in hopes of receiving an invite (similar to the moderate pain it was to first join Gmail). But we tested the service and received an invite with no problem after our registration. Here’s the full list of games that GameStrata will be supporting at launch:
Looking for a last minute stocking stuffer that won’t set you back more than three CD-Rs? Give your loved ones (who are apparently just an afterthought) the Universe At War official soundtrack, which has been released by Petroglyph today for free. Three discs worth of music from the game’s three distinct factions is sure to be the perfect soundtrack to your holiday. The OST was composed by Frank Klepacki of Dune II and Command & Conquer fame, so you know it’s worth the download.
Introducing the Universe at War Soundtrack, Merry Christmas, Petroglyph Community! [Petroglyph]
Interested in Universe At War? To be honest, we’d forgotten what it’s even about, the name’s so nondescript. So coated in generic-brand sauce. A good way to find out, we guess, would be to download the PC demo which has just turned up on FileShack. For 1.15GB you’ll get not just a tutorial, but the first two missions from one of the side’s campaigns as well. Awful generous of them. Universe at War: Earth Assault Demo [FileShack]
The PC version of PC versus Xbox 360 real-time strategy game, and love of my life, Universe at War won’t be hitting their Nov. 2 launch date after all, instead landing in the post-holiday dead zone of January.
Sega doesn’t really explain the delay, telling Computer and Video Games that it will allow the PC version and 360 versions of the game to launch closer together. I suspect Sega made the wise choice of pulling out of the holiday bedlam that will see too many games to buy or play hitting stores at the same time, and have instead decided to release the game when it will get more face time.
I saw it’s a wise decision because, as with all rock solid games, Universe at War can stand on its own merits and doesn’t need a Thanksgiving-to-Christmas buying binge to jump start its sales. I know it’s almost blasphemy to say, but let’s hope that more triple-A titles follow suit and that next year maybe publishers won’t feel the need to release all of their top tier titles in the same three months.
Universe at War delayed till 2008 [Computer and Video Games]
I’m a huge fan of asymmetric game play, and an even bigger fan of the upcoming PC real-time strategy Universe at War: Earth Assault. These two trailers give you a very brief taste of two of the game’s fractions. Above you see the Masari faction, on the jump you get a look at the Novus faction.
