With Universe at War set to ship for PC later this year and the Xbox 360 version not set to debut until the first quarter of 2008, PC gamers will have a leg up on their console counterparts in terms of experience with the game, but Sega is promising an equal playing field on the technical side--a tall order given the genre's traditional suitability to PC controls. Today's announcement noted that Petroglyph is working on various gameplay modes to make the system pairing appropriate, though no specifics were divulged.

"Cross-platform play between PC and consoles has been a dream of gamers for many years," said Sega marketing VP Scott A. Steinberg. "Now that dream has become reality. We are very excited that Universe at War: Earth Assault is at the fore front of supporting Microsoft's Games for Windows – Live initiative, bridging the PC and Xbox 360 gap."

Currently, cross-platform play is offered for FASA Studio's Shadowrun (PC, X360), published by Microsoft Game Studios. Past examples of the feature are few and far between, with id Software's Quake III Arena offering cross-platform play between its PC and Dreamcast versions.