Hey, it's September 26th and we aren't playing Standoff! What gives? Don't worry - Quarto reports that the team is squashing some last minute bugs and that the game should still be available today... for certain definitions of today: "I hate to say it, but we're still tying up some last-minute odds and ends... it looks like we will indeed make the deadline, but the release may well be right before midnight... in Hawaii. Still, hopefully it won't be as bad as that... I desperately need sleep, you I assure you I'll be trying to get this thing out the door as fast as humanly possible." No rush, guys - we're eager, but we understand that software development can be complicated (and if there's one thing Wing Commander fans can do, it's wait). We'll update as soon as the episode is published! In the meantime, we have a special treat for you...
While we were visiting Gaia Industries in New York last month we were treated to an amazing slide show of concept art from Wing Commander Arena - everything from Wing Commander characters to familiar (and new!) ships to space stations. We were so impressed with this cache of previously unseen 'behind the screens' work that we insisted it had to be preserved for the future. Luckily EA Producer Sean Penney agreed and granted permission to release some of this spectacular art! Special thanks to Taino at Gaia, too, for providing it (and, of course, for creating it in the first place).
First up is a beautiful splash screen showing a Rapier II in hot pursuit of an Arrow set against an asteroid field. I'm surprised that this didn't make it i nto the finished game as one of the loading screens somewhere - it's at least as beautiful as the Arrows on a flight deck. It's just a stunning piece of artwork - and it makes a great widescreen Windows background!
Keep watching the news over the next few weeks - future Art of Wing Commander Arena posts will be interspersed with Point of Origin updates... along with a third 'Wing Commander History' series which will be revealed soon! If you would like to thank the guys at Gaia for making the effort get us this art then you should pick up Street Trace NYC on XBLA... it's a fast-paced racing/combat game - some of the guys from #WingNut put it through its paces last weekend and it's a lot of fun! There are plenty of game modes, beautiful graphics similar to those in Arena and a neat future setting that you can lose yourself in. I'll Street Trace with a WingNut any time!
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