In a novel twist on the use of achievements in-game, Universe at War is apparently to offer actual performance boosts as rewards for obtaining achievements.

Ars Technica had a chance to sit down with Petroglyph's Universe at War Producer, Designer, and Composer at E3 for a detailed run-through of the still under development game.

Where achievements, a Microsoft created gamerpoints system, simply provide bragging rights for gamers in most games, Universe takes a significantly different approach. In what is a first, they will actually have inherent worth in the game and obtaining them will actually give gamers real-world benefits. Unlocking different achievements will allow the gamer to wear "medals", each of which will provide various game bonuses including ability powerups in both single-player mode and multiplayer.

Explaining the concept, Petroglyph stated, "It could be plus five to armor, plus five to damage, or plus five to ability recharge." To keep multiplayer fair, player will also be able to disable medals prior to joining the game. Microsoft was apparently very interested and supportive of the concept, suggesting that this may eventually become the new model for achievements in most games.

Petroglyph also developed Star Wars: Empire at War, an above average RTS. Universe at War is to feature races apparently built from the ground up to be totally different and a different approach to in-game technology management, offering gamers the ability to change strategies on the fly by moving back down the technology tree to re-specialise their forces in a different area. Universe at War is being developed for Vista, XP, and Xbox 360, and is intended to use Live functionality on both 360 and PC, including cross-platform multiplayer