SSG's soon to be released Warlord's: Battlecry also borrows heavily from a sister genre to innovate. Role-playing gamers have long battled through the next quest not because of cool spell effects, high polygon count or 3-D terrain, but because they care about the characters they control. It's tough to love a horde of nameless swordsman, but Battlecry sinks gamers into the soul of a hero -- a being they control throughout the campaign. A being that grows more powerful and develops unique abilities, one that will keep gamers playing mission after mission. I think that gamers will reward SSG by sinking their bucks into Warlords. 

Action games are the third genre that has a lot to offer real-time strategy. Battlezone, Battlezone II, and the Uprising series have all shown promise and solid sales. Unfortunately for gamers, the action-strategy vein has yet to produce that blockbuster hit that will unleash the forces of gaming (and the attendant developer's bucks) upon it. Talonsoft's Dogs of War, may make a stab at those big sales, but the company has a history of tripping on its shoe-laces when it steps outside the wargame arena.

So, if genre inspired innovation is the wave of the future, what won't work in the days to come? I think production-based RTS has reached its high-water mark. Folks are tired of building factories. They want to fight. Even games with production based systems -- such as the upcoming Age of Empires II: The Conquerors -- often downplay resource gathering. Nauseating detail and battlefields choked with hundreds of units are also passé. Both detail and tank hordes fall under the heading of what-use-is-it-if-the-game-moves-too- quickly-to-enjoy-it? Of course everything is going 3-D, but that's not innovation, merely the current price of admission into the gaming world.

Real time strategy is at a crossroads. Those developers who back away from the mirror and walk into the sunshine of genre-inspired innovation will become the bronzed-gaming gods of the future.  Their titles will not only be bought by strategy gamers, but by action, role-playing, and wargaming aficionados as well.   On the other hand, those churning out the games whose claim to fame is "stunning 3-D graphics" or "control thousands of uniquely animated units," are doomed to sink into the dusty depths of discount bins, only sought by the pasty-faced, gaming hard core.

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