PC Universe at War golden, Steam'd

Petroglyph's alien-invasion RTS ready for retail and digital distribution through Valve's download service in December; Sega subliming others.

Shortly before the PC version of Universe at War: Earth Assault was to begin bombarding North American retail shelves in October, Sega revealed that its invasion plans needed a bit more consideration. "We wanted to give the game a little more time for polish so that gamers get the best UAW has to offer," said a Sega rep on the state of the game. Sega noted that developer Petroglyph is on track to conclude its spit-shine sometime in early December.

True to word, a Petryoglyph community manager has posted on the game's official Web site that Universe at War has gone gold and will arrive in the coming weeks. "The game is at the manufacturer as I type this, and we'll be hitting store shelves soon!" read the announcement. A demo featuring a tutorial and the first two missions of one of the game's campaign modes is available for download through GameSpot.

While a release date has not yet been confirmed for the T-for-Teen-rated game, retailers expect to offer the latest alien-invasion real-time strategy game from the studio behind Star Wars: Empire at War on December 4. The latest real-time strategy game from the studio behind Star Wars: Empire at War, Universe at War will invade retail on December 10. An Xbox 360 version is slated for the first part of 2008, and Petroglyph plans to integrate Microsoft's Games for Windows - Live service to allow for cross-platform play.

For those fearful of leaving the safety of their own home in case of an actual alien invasion, Sega announced today that Universe at War would be among several of the publisher's recent and upcoming releases to be available for download through Valve's digital distribution service Steam. Other titles currently available or soon to be added include The Golden Compass, Sega Rally Revo, Sega Rally, Worldwide Soccer Manager, and Futbol Manager. The publisher has previously supported Valve's downloadable game service with installments from the Creative Assembly's epic-scale Total War strategy series.

35 Comments

  • kelectron

    Posted Jan 2, 2008 8:51 am PT

    very nice game. i bought the game along with my lan buddies and its a fun game to play. the races are very unique and allow for a variety of gameplay styles. many of the powers and combos are original. but it has issues - poorly designed UI, no scheme for queuing up structure and repair commands etc. also games for windows live is the worst multiplayer platform to date. it takes like a day to figure out how to login, even after that the updates wont work from the game and there are like 6 players online at any given time. i hope this game comes out on steam, where there are real players.

    also SEGA, please dont give a damn about 360 players and design RTSs for the PC. what doesnt need to be played on a 360 shouldnt be designed for a 360.

  • alcari

    Posted Dec 3, 2007 11:12 am PT

    Ugh, it's starting to look like a trend now. Cripple the PC interface to allow crossplatform play. The gameplay has quite a lot of potential, it's graphically mediocre, but the UI is just horrible.

    The engine can handle so much more, it's got potential dripping from the box, but the unitscount is low, the gameplay is slow and the controls are limited. That's either due to Petroglyph ineptitude (unlikely, they've made some great games) or due to the fact that you have to be able to play competitively with a 360 controller. While shadowrun was easy, just give the console players Halo-like (read: huge) autoaim and slow down characters, it's not that simple for an RTS. You can't just give console players more resources, so instead of improving it for them, you have to limit the PC players.

    Lets face it, some things, like crossplatform RTS, just weren't meant to be. Stick to racing, fps and the like for crossplatform play.

  • DaTa9192

    Posted Dec 2, 2007 10:46 pm PT

    I loved the game.......i mean..who wants a game with good graphics but runs badly on older pcs?[crysis]At least i could run this at high with a 7600GS.

  • HadrianII

    Posted Dec 2, 2007 12:46 pm PT

    I played the Beta and i can tell you , the factions are very different. let me break it down for you:
    Hierarchy: very powerful walker, best idea is to hit em hard and hit em fast, best faction if you like rushing and raw power, not as good in late game
    Masari: good turtling faction, best defenses, best to build up resources and go on the defense until you have enough resources for a decisive late game attack, good air units
    Novus: best specialized units, best to expand your base every direction and to use trickery like false bases, ambushes, etc., has stealthed unit, very quick moving force

  • evlkn1ght

    Posted Dec 2, 2007 2:18 am PT

    ill take an "ugly" game with fantastic gameplay and balance over a gorgeous looking game with no content, and to ppl hating on the demo u realize it was the 1st 2 missions right? since when are the 1st 2 missions as any faction for any rts any sort of challenge or an indication of the depth of a game? that demo gave us like a .1% look at what it can do. It honestly reminds me a lot of ra2 which is the best cnc of them all, westwood dosent jack up games this 1 has epic written all over it. id take grpahics from 1995 over todays any day if u give me awesome gameplay.

  • the_real_VIP

    Posted Dec 1, 2007 6:27 pm PT

    OMG, I just played the demo and it's the ugliest RTS I've played in years. Compared to other strategy games like Company of Heroes, C&C 3, or World in Conflict, the graphics of UaW is shameful. The GUI is just plain ugly and the gameplay is just not enjoyable. Another cross-platform flop like Shadowrun. I'm like almost all PC gamers: I hate Games for Windows - LIVE.

  • yeah_28

    Posted Nov 30, 2007 11:05 pm PT

    I dont know about this game,when i played the single player demo i was a little dissapointed cause the game looks and plays kind of dull,its definitely not serious and is focused on action,something like C&C Generals,with rock music,invented stilysh and cool units(exept for true existing units in C&C and even the fake ones that are based on possible future techs ).Overall looks good but as its mainly focused on action and fantasy I hope it has very different races and some innovative gameplay to keep the action fun.

  • welsoon

    Posted Nov 30, 2007 10:50 pm PT

    Steam support is always nice to hear.And I love Steam.And Steam support is always nice to hear. The game looks very promising. Interested to see how it turns out.

  • foxracing1313

    Posted Nov 30, 2007 11:54 am PT

    Yea so I just decided to not buy this game in protest....you need a windows live gold account just to play in the ladder. So basically you pay $50 for quick matches/custom games only. Great the gaming industry is going to **** hellgate: london becomes the first hack n slash to make you pay monthly....now UaW becomes the first RTS to make you pay just to play on the ladder....who knows maybe in Half Life 3 you will have to pay monthly to play on FPS servers?

    What a total joke they better change this.

  • Chief_Kuuni

    Posted Nov 30, 2007 10:24 am PT

    hmm cool

  • Mr_Unknown

    Posted Nov 30, 2007 10:23 am PT

    How come Gamespot is not reporting on Jeff Gerstmann's departure - Yahoo news has it for God's sake!!!

    Losers!

  • beckoflight

    Posted Nov 30, 2007 8:22 am PT

    Me 2i have played the demo 3-4 times .... it has mixed C&C red ALERT + some warcraft hero ideeas + some really innovative ideeas ... + the game is maked in fact by the real guys that created C&C !!!

  • MasterChief725

    Posted Nov 30, 2007 6:57 am PT

    yeah, this game looks 100% awesome. I cant wait. And Xbox live-Windows Live capability seals this game for me!

  • Squeets

    Posted Nov 30, 2007 5:49 am PT

    I agree with you fatality... this game looked awesome... I saw the first trailer and I was like 'WOW! WAR!, INVASION OF EARTH!, WOW!, WAR!, ALIENS!, WAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Then I downloaded the demo and it was kind of dull... I mean the most exciting part for me was the action music when the fighting started... it was basically, boom boom boom then then nothing... more moving... boom boom, move more, boom, move... there was almost no action at all apart from the music...

  • Fatality4u

    Posted Nov 30, 2007 3:57 am PT

    I was excited for this game until I played the demo on the PC. It just seems out of balance.

  • mashom

    Posted Nov 30, 2007 1:51 am PT

    complete game, well steam u got it.

  • Alunanite

    Posted Nov 30, 2007 1:31 am PT

    With reviews in question, can we trust any news this site gives us? For all we know they are just spewing propeganda for the company their 'reporting' on. They could be trying to make us think its Gold just so we get all excited before it gets delayed again. Probably not, but now you never know.

  • botanisk

    Posted Nov 30, 2007 1:08 am PT

    Thats why it is called a beta

  • foxracing1313

    Posted Nov 29, 2007 8:52 pm PT

    Ive only played the beta...the game itself was awesome but Windows Live was horrible...not only interface-wise (looked like it was made for consoles) but it also crashed numerous times.

    Gameplay is addicting and the races are actually unique (and I mean unique not like other games that just claim they are unique *COUGH CNC3 COUGH*) , making it very fun to play. It just needs some balance reworking and windows live fixes.

  • KorJax

    Posted Nov 29, 2007 6:43 pm PT

    Excellent RTS. It's got the depth of Supreme Commander, but shruken down small scale. The Novus are my favorite faction, they are very oringal.

    The only bad thing about the game that worries me is that the first Beta Patch with over 600+ changes still hasn't been "certified" by the new Windows Live service. This tells me that the patches for the full game might be few and far between... despite the developers best efforts to release them.

  • DonutTrooper

    Posted Nov 29, 2007 5:53 pm PT

    Retail at a store would fare better for me because I'm still boycotting Steam for letting that Aussie COD 4 **** to go down. I don't live in Australia but no matter where you live that's bull all around.

  • musicaz70

    Posted Nov 29, 2007 5:36 pm PT

    Hmm... Still waiting on StarCraft2 and if that doesn't come anytime soon I may settle for a different RTS game, this one looks promising but like it's been said before, if this has that Windows Live junk then no thanks.

  • RTSFanatic

    Posted Nov 29, 2007 5:16 pm PT

    Can't wait for the final version of this game. I loved the Beta and single-player demo.

  • Cobra5

    Posted Nov 29, 2007 4:24 pm PT

    If the steam version doesn't have that Windows Live crap, I'll get it...

    When I tried to play the game, I needed like three different login names, I had to keep alt-tabbing or quiting the game to set up stupid accounts, and even when I was all logged in it blocked the menu from me saying that I still needed to log into Windows Live. not to mention every time the Windows Live window came up, it shut off my mouse, so I had to navigate with my keyboard.

    XBox=/=PC. You can't just port XBox Live over and expect people to "deal with it". Not to mention, they want you to have a paid account to get things like automatch and stat tracking, the last I heard...? Things that are free in every other RTS...?

  • ReckHavoc

    Posted Nov 29, 2007 4:24 pm PT

    Wow, Steam is coming along very nicely.

  • smghottie

    Posted Nov 29, 2007 4:22 pm PT

    I really wasn't impressed with the demo. I live the fact that you can add specific parts to your big walkers, but it's not enough. The graphics are a year out of date (to me at least), and are less impressive than CnC3. I'd stick with Supreme Commander, CnC3, Company of Heroes, or one of those other amazing RTS. I love steam, and can't wait to see what else Valve has in store for us, but I won't be purchasing this one.

  • Rob_101

    Posted Nov 29, 2007 3:44 pm PT

    Soon steam will take over the world. I wasn't particularly impressed with the demo, I think I'll pass on this one.

  • ukillwegrill

    Posted Nov 29, 2007 3:42 pm PT

    FOOTBALL MANAGER? IS THE BEST
    woo more rts for XBOX

  • Elfin

    Posted Nov 29, 2007 3:17 pm PT

    Might have to check this game out. I also am glad it's coming to Steam.

  • SkarpHedin

    Posted Nov 29, 2007 3:08 pm PT

    futbol manager?

  • anime-2k3

    Posted Nov 29, 2007 3:07 pm PT

    Cool. I love Steam.

  • PiNwOrM

    Posted Nov 29, 2007 2:52 pm PT

    Will the steam version have support for Windows Live?

  • nintendorocks

    Posted Nov 29, 2007 2:18 pm PT

    Steam support is always nice to hear. The game looks very promising. Interested to see how it turns out.

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