IGNPC: RTS developers everywhere constantly look for new ways to create new gameplay mechanics in their games. What kinds of new and innovative gameplay will we be seeing in Tiberium Wars?

Mike Verdu: I'm actually very excited about the work we're doing on the single player campaigns. We will reward your style of play in each of the campaigns, letting you make choices before and during missions that fundamentally alter how subsequent missions play.

Each of the three campaigns in the game will consist of chapters that we're calling "Theatres of War". A Theatre of War is a specific geographic location - like Scandinavia - where you will fight a series of related missions. You can choose your missions based on your style of play and strategy. For example, one mission might be about capturing a very large airfield while another might be a battle over a huge port. You get to choose which mission you play. If you capture the airfield, then you deprive your enemy of his air support in future missions while gaining the ability to call in special air strikes. If you capture the port, you gain access to some special naval units. The choices you make affect later missions.

In addition to the cool new single player campaigns, we are updating C&C gameplay so that it feels fresh - adding mechanics that are standard to cutting edge RTS games and creating some new features and innovations to drive the genre forward. Some examples of the new features include mobile bases, units that gain capabilities based on how close they are to the center of an Ion Storm (which can be summoned and controlled by one of the three game factions), and units that can work together to grant the player new battlefield capabilities.

It's also worth mentioning the return of the side-bar interface: Our in-game UI for C&C3 is a side-bar that will feel familiar to C&C players but it has some added features that make it more useful - and make it feel interesting and new. We are combining the centralized production queues in the classic C&C side-bar with contextual space for selected units and structures. The new UI lets you quickly build units and structures, easily control grouped units, and access your build queues anywhere on the map - even in the middle of a battle. But you can still get lots of information about your selected units and activate their special abilities - which is pretty much expected in the latest generation RTS games. We think our interface for C&C3 is the best of both worlds.