If you talk to some of the older, more curmudgeonly PC gamers, they will speak of an RTS classic that doesn't start with Command or end in Craft. They will speak of 3D units and terrain long before it became standard and a resource system unlike any other. They will speak of unit balance, intelligent command queues and genuinely deep strategy. They will speak of Total Annihilation.

It's been nearly a decade since its release, and discounting the less successful Total Annihilation: Kingdoms, the game has never received a true sequel. Now however, after two successful incarnations of Dungeon Siege and some related expansion packs later, Total Annihilation creator Chris Taylor has returned to the RTS genre upon which he left an indelible mark. While not an official sequel, Supreme Commander is as much a spiritual successor to the Total Annihilation legacy as fans are ever likely to get.

We talked with Kevin Kraff, THQ's Global Brand Director, about what makes this Commander so Supreme.

When Supreme Commander came out in late February, it debuted at number two on NPD's PC charts, placing behind only the red hot Burning Crusade expansion. Since then, the game has placed solidly in the top 10 selling PC games every week, coming in sixth during the most recent report. Supreme Commander was the fourth best selling PC game in the month of February, despite the fact that it was only available at retail for a week.

"Supreme Commander had a very strong launch, and was a top seller in February even though it was released at the end of the month," said Kraff simply. "We're very pleased with the game's sales performance."

While THQ has long been known as a publisher of popular licensed titles (generally kid oriented) and WWE games, the company has slowly cultivated a stable of popular PC RTS titles over the past couple years. This includes Company of Heroes, which rethought how to do a WWII RTS, and Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War, which was popular enough to warrant two expansion packs. Supreme Commander is the latest demonstration of THQ's commitment to publishing quality, popular brands in the RTS genre.

"THQ had a very strong 2006 and Supreme Commander was a great start for 2007," commented Kraff. "All three of our AAA RTS titles have sold consistently well worldwide, and each one provides a highly entertaining and addictive strategy experience totally unique to gamers."

Chris Taylor's impact on making Supreme Commander cannot be understated. He helped shape the original Total Annihilation while at Cavedog, and when he announced that he was working on a new RTS, ears immediately perked up. There's still a genuine interest in Total Annihilation from die-hard fans, not to mention many of those who applauded his work on the Dungeon Siege series from Gas Powered Games.

"Chris Taylor has been an invaluable asset with his strong history in RTS development and his personality that's loved by press, retail and consumers," acknowledged Kraff. "That said, THQ and Gas Powered Games set out to create a groundbreaking, next-generation RTS with full theater-of-war zoom function, massive battlefields and armies and a community-friendly online matchmaking system. We've succeeded in launching a totally new franchise and look forward to building on its vast potential."

"Gas Powered Games continues to push the boundaries of user connectivity and online community with GPGNet," he continued. "They recently released a patch unveiling the all new World Map, letting players zoom in and out of a geographically-accurate image of Earth to see who's playing worldwide. In the coming months, GPG will continue to add new features to GPGNet, building upon the dedicated online community."

What is quickly noticeable to any player of Supreme Commander is the sheer size and scope of the game. This comes from the fact that the maps themselves are huge, covering dozens of miles worth of space, dwarfing most RTS titles. It also comes from how the units behave, which is with relatively high intelligence. Players can send units out on patrol, ferry units across water or protect that ferry, or group them together and have the units strategically place themselves and not get spread out. This sort of unit AI frees players to concentrate on the larger conflict, letting them worry about genuine strategy instead of logistical tweaking and unit micromanagement.

"Supreme Commander is doing things that no other RTS has done before, providing a completely unique experience that goes beyond RTS games," commented Kraff. "Anyone who's dreamed of commanding legions of tanks, jets, battleships and massive experimental units across enormous battlefields will want to get their hands-on this game."

The push for Supreme Commander has been steady since it was first announced in PC Gamer of August 2005. Since then, the game had a very successful E3 2006, where it won accolades and awards, and followed that up with a steady stream of previews of the game's systems, units and factions. By the time the demo came out in early February 2007, fans were already chomping at the bit for the full game.

"The online initiatives really set the game apart from the competition," explained Kraff. "A successful multiplayer beta closely followed by the launch of the consumer demo allowed players to experience the game first hand. Visually stunning online creative across all major sites provided unique insight into the diverse gameplay and uniqueness of the game's three factions."

While such a thing would be unheard of only a couple years ago, RTS titles are becoming more common on consoles. EA is certainly leading that charge by bringing The Lord of the Rings, Battle for Middle-earth II and Command & Conquer 3 to the Xbox 360. GameDaily BIZ certainly wouldn't write off the possibility of Supreme Commander for either Xbox 360 or PS3. When queried about such a move, Kraff responded, "We've yet to announce anything of that nature. THQ is always looking to expand our top franchises to new gaming platforms, as long as it makes sense from a product perspective."