Not one to be left out of the forthcoming Xbox 360 real-time-strategy wave, Sega is setting its sights on Las Vegas, where the developers at Petroglyph Studios are hard at work on Universe at War: Earth Assault, an Xbox 360 RTS that could shatter the conventions of RTS gaming as we know it.

As a brand-new IP set in 2012, Universe at War follows the brutal invasion of Earth by three playable alien factions: the Hierarchy, Novus, and Masari. Similar to the triad of factions seen in many RTS games, each group has different traits, strengths, and weaknesses. Expect over 20 single-player missions (at least seven for each faction), as well as online multiplayer skirmishes and a Conquer the World mode, the latter of which is a semi-persistent mapped globe that you’ll war over for territory.

The real boon in Universe at War, however, is the inclusion of cross-platform interplay. Yes, you read that right — 360 players will face off against PC players in head-to-head clashes, which is something that, in addition to perfecting excellent gamepad controls, Petroglyph is burning the midnight oil to get just right.

“We’re starting to see the first controller guys beating the PC producers in crossplay, which is really gratifying,” boasts Universe producer Michael Fetterman.

We spent some exclusive hands-on time with a pre-alpha build of the game to try out the interface and found it especially simple to use. Rather than hunting through text-heavy menus or having a cluttered HUD, a 3D carousel UI (think a weapon or skill wheel) serves as your abilities menu. Once you have a unit or building selected, you pull on the left trigger to bring up the wheel and spin through the carousel to choose everything from weapons to building commands. The A button is the catch-all select button, and grabbing units is as easy as “mousing” with your left stick or “snapping” to your closest unit by pressing Left on the D-pad. Pressing X selects your whole army, while pressing and holding A lets you “paint” a swath and select units with the left analog stick.

Movement is also easily accomplished, especially with the picture-in-picture radar map (pull the right trigger) that gives you an eagle’s-eye view of the entire map. Setting waypoints on the radar map keeps you from having to slowly left-stick your way across miles of territory.

Now, while these are fairly typical commands for an RTS, the layout on the controller and the ease and speed with which you can access them is key, which is something Fetterman says is coming along just fine. Maybe too fine.

“A lot of times we’re finding that the gamepad controls are faster than what the PC guys can do in cross-play,” he claims.

We hope he’s right; we’re going to need all the help we can get taking on PC players online, with gamepad in hand, when Universe at War: Earth Assault releases later this year.

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