2007.301 (October 28, 2007)

27,999 Penny Arcade

Microsoft has announced a new, cheaper Xbox 360 package that's ideal for our purposes. The 'Xbox 360 Arcade' is designed for family gamers interested in taking advantage of Xbox Live Arcade - the service through which Wing Commander Arena is available! It costs only $279.99, a full $70 less than the 'full' system. The downside? It has a 256 megabyte memory card instead of a hard drive. It's more than enough to store Arena, but you won't be able to download videos or other large content without an upgrade. The package also includes full versions of five Live Arcade titles: Pac-Man Championship Edition, Uno, Luxor 2, Feeding Frenzy and EA's own Boom Boom Rocket. The hardware also includes a wireless controller, an HDMI output and the 'upgraded' chipset developed to prevent overheating. Xbox 360 Arcades are available now -- if you've been putting off picking up the system to play Arena, now is the time!

The Art of Wing Commander Arena - Part Sixteen

This is the third of three test 'clay' renderings, showing the basic 3D shape of ships designed for Wing Commander Arena. This one, however, didn't make it into the game - it's the Centurion heavy fighter, of Privateer fame! The rumors were true: the Centurion was one of two heavy fighters which were developed for the game and cut late in development... and you'll be seeing more of it in the near future!

This is part of a series of beautiful Wing Commander Arena concept images graciously provided by Gaia Industries. You can find the original article here. You can thank the guys at Gaia by picking up Street Trace NYC on Xbox Live Arcade!