This is exactly what I was saying.
http://www.totalvideogames.com/Halo-Wars/feature-13647.html
TVG: Halo Wars currently relies on using the gamepad for its control system; what is it about the scheme developed by Ensemble that succeeds where the likes of EA's Battle for Middle-Earth or Command & Conquer 3 on Xbox 360 perhaps doesn't?
I don't think it's just the controls; it's the controls coupled with a brand-new game mechanic that has many of the core elements of great strategy games, but has changed and evolved in a way that makes it feel native for the console. I would say that games that have their roots in the PC, have their roots in a mouse and keyboard metaphor, and a mechanic that supports that.
Our game doesn't have that baggage. It's not just that we developed a unique control system that you can overlay onto a game that's fundamentally 'mouse and keyboard'; we developed a unique control scheme over a brand new game mechanic that's fundamentally console.
TVG: So it's more the fact that Halo Wars has been build solely up as a console IP?
Absolutely. One thing to say is that part of the way we've changed the mechanic is to give you fixed bases. When you no longer have to be jumping over the map to manage your oil production over there, or your wood production over there, that takes away a whole series of problems right there. Then the question becomes [whether] it's going to a deep enough experience for strategy players. The way we've addressed that is to introduce the notion of multiple bases, and so what represented the early development was really just evolving the mechanic from the get go to be very console friendly.
TVG: But the PC as a platform is still THE platform for strategy games, isn't it?
It is until we release...
TVG: ...so you really do believe that Halo Wars can change the future of the genre on the console?
What I would say is that there's room for everybody. I think that there are things you can do on the PC that you can't do on the console, and that's great. There are things that you can do on console that you can't do on the PC, and I that I think is something people will see when they play Halo Wars. They're going to say, “Wow, there's an entire strategy experience that I probably wouldn't be able to have to such an extent on the PC, I can have it on the console and it's awesome.” I think we can have both.
I think we'll fundamentally alter the conversation so that it's no longer appropriate to say 'PC is the only place you can do strategy.”
