World in Conflict: Soviet Assault – no cross platform play, 360 voice control details, PC add-on pack

Coming straight from the Sierra Spring Break 08 in Mallorca last week, news that Massive Entertainment‘s World in Conflict: Soviet Assault is in pre-Alpha stages sought our attentions, and it may be that the next adventure for strategists on the PC, PlayStation 3, and the Xbox 360 is on track for its release later this year. But the developers have lifted the curtains on some new details about Soviet Assault. You can clear the air on those when you read the full story.

Peter Sydow of Massive Entertainment said at the Sierra Spring Break 08 that two new levels for World in Conflict: Soviet Assault would be gracing the PC, PlayStation 3, and the Xbox 360 platforms real soon. But unlike most DLC offerings, the PC version isn’t free – in fact, Sydow claims that it’s going to cost strategists a small sum.

“The Russian levels will be as add-ons sold separately to PC users,” said Sydow. He couldn’t confirm the cost of the add-on, but he did claim that it would be cheaper than an expansion. Sydow explains:

In fact, weÂ’re not allowed to call it an expansion pack. Marketing wonÂ’t even allow us to call it a mission pack, so add-on is the correct word at the moment.

Soviet Assault will take players into the post-Cold War conflict ravaging the world, only this time from the invaders’ perspective. Sydow promises that the Russian characters will not be the “Americanized Russian” types.

“How would Russians feel? How would the Soviet Union feel in a war? And how would it feel to be a soldier there?” the project manager continued.

World in Conflict: Soviet Assault – at least for the Xbox 360 – will sport voice command support for ordering squads around. But unlike most mishaps with voice command features, Soviet Assault won’t be as discriminating against accents.

He explained, “The software is phonetically-based, so 90 percent of accents should be recognised.” He did offer that he experienced difficulties with some commands, however.

Soviet Assault will not include cross-platform play, though, he says. That is because the console versions are designed to be easier than the PC versions.

Because the PC version had loads of options for budding strategists, he added, “The PC game is more geeky than the console version. In fact, most PC games and gamers are geekier than console games and gamers.”

Expect World in Conflict: Soviet Assault to arrive on your platform by fall of 2008, if not real late this year. More updates as we get them.

Buy: [ World in Conflict (PC) ]
Buy: [ World in Conflict (Xbox 360) ]
Buy: [ World in Conflict (PlayStation 3) ]