Can anyone answer me an RTS question?

[Ken Korda]

I haven't played a stategy game on a console since the original C&C: Red Alert on the PS One. Personally, I thought it plaed fine and enjoyed and didn't see that it lost anything from the transfer to a console.

However, I recently played C&C 3 on the Xbox 360 and for some bizarre reason the designers decided to fix the cursor to the centre of the screen and removed the function whereby you drag a box over the units you wish to select. I found it completely ruined the gaming experience for me and it was too awkward to play.

My question is why does this happen? Who thinks it's a good idea to fix the cursor to the screen's centre? Or is this some bizarre requirement for RTS's to run on consoles?

 

[SmilingKitsune]

I'm guessing it has to do with the console port, I think Halo wars does this aswell but in that you can bring up a little circle to select groups of units.

 

[Jarc42]

In Halo Wars you drag circles to select units and the cursor is stuck.

Well, RTS design for a console is hard. How do you distinguish the movement of the cursor and the movement of the camera? I don't know the technical stuff but the developers clearly can't separate the two.