Joystiq has a [url=http://www.joystiq.com/2007/02/22/off-the-grid-interviews-brian-reynolds-of-big-huge-games/]new Catan interview with Brian Reynolds of Big Huge Games[/url]. The interview goes over how the game came about, the development process, the AI, the HUD, and online matchmaking. Here's a bit of the interview having to do with how the game will be controlled.

Looking at the screenshots, one thing that jumps out almost immediately is the minimal presence of the HUD elements. Online Catan games have always been plagued with a ridiculous amount of overhead, based solely on the amount of information being presented in Settlers at any one time. How did Big Huge Games reconcile that to create such a subtle interface? It's the magic of the console controller, baby! Something which became very quickly apparent when we started creating our XBLA game is that this game is made to be played with a console controller. It's so much easier to snap a new settlement or road into the right position using the joystick and then press (A) to build it than it could ever be to find "the right pixel" to click on with a mouse. And likewise the triggers and bumpers on the controller perform great service in making the information you want available (but only when you need it). For example, pulling the right trigger always shows you the uncluttered map (even if you're on the trading screen for example) and shows you the players current score totals; pulling the left trigger shows you the prices of the things you can build (again, this is accessible from anywhere in the game). The bumpers bring up charts about how many resources are in play, scoring breakdowns, and so forth. And there are all sorts of fun "advanced player" charts available with combinations of bumpers and triggers – like if you want to see how the die rolls so far are mapping to the "bell curve" (I call this the "whining about the dice screen"), or if you'd like an overlay of where all the best settlement locations are! All of these can be pulled up at any point in the game, from any menu, but the beauty is you only see them when you actually want them.