BREAKING NEWS: New Arena Interview (May 8, 2007)

[Bandit LOAF]

Game Informer has conducted an interview with Sean Penney, Producer of Wing Commander Arena. This article goes into depth about issues like fan response and the importance of staying true to the Wing Commander continuity. This all sounds pretty great...

GI: Storyline-wise, how is the game going to unfold for gamers?

Penney: We sort of ignore the Privateer stuff and we take off where the Nephilim have been pushed back. But before that the Kilrathi sort of had their asses handed to them by the Confederation. The situation that we see it as is the Kilrathi empire is in shambles, the Confederation has been drained by their battles with the Nephilim. So right now the confederation is concentrating on the rebuilding the core worlds. The frontier, or what was the frontier has been pretty much forgotten – or it’s a very distant frontier now. This is where we decided to place this because it gives us a lot of flexibility in the fact that we don’t have to deal with the core storyline because this is a very near and dear franchise to a lot of people. A little arcade title I don’t think warrants any major plot deviations from expected history. By putting it out in the frontier we’re giving ourselves the opportunity to really play with some of the classic ships, the classic human versus Kilrathi rivalry. But I almost see humans versus Kilrathi, you know, the last time we saw them versus the Nephilim they were allied, so we sort of see the relationship where they’re certainly not allies and there’s lots of conflict between them. But it’s not all out war any more.

GI: The levels that you’re battling in, are any of them inspired by the original game?

Penney: We’ve actually put all of the levels in places on the Wing Commander map. They’re definitely in systems that fans would be familiar with. The exact look and feel of some of the levels may not be specific to an area. It’s deep space, right? So we’ve put artifacts in the areas that people may recognize, like a Midway class carrier.

You can read the whole thing here.

--
Original update published on May 8, 2007

 

[Dundradal]

I'm sure glad we have someone like Sean Penney at the head of Arena, his devotion to the people here is really strong and I have to say that I have a lot of respect for a person who is so willing to be faithful to our favorite franchise.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

Sean has been amazing. I sincerely hope that -when- there's a large scale Wing Commander sequel that he's the man behind it.

I know the era of EA advertising their developers as being rock stars is two decades past... but the man deserves all the praise we can give him.

 

[Dundradal]

Anybody willing to go to the lengths he has to make sure that the hardcore CIC community is happy, even if we do give him some grief it's only because we care about WC so much that we do.

I wish he'd stop by here more often though, granted you can get his attention on the EA forums, I feel like a lot of fans have yet to migrate over there. I know it took me a while to get around to doing it.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

He's not the guy who posts to the EA forums - that's their community rep, JamesPond. He stops by #WingNut with some frequency.

 

[Dundradal]

Ahhh. Thought JamesPond was just a nick or something, heh, glad you're here too LOAF...

 

[Delance]

Sean is doing a great job with Arena, I'm really impressed.

 

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

It's a really interesting read and it's amazing how Sean Penney is aware of the fans desires and reactions.

Though some question came up when I read the interview:

We sort of ignore the Privateer stuff and we take off where the Nephilim have been pushed back. But before that the Kilrathi sort of had their asses handed to them by the Confederation. The situation that we see it as is the Kilrathi empire is in shambles, the Confederation has been drained by their battles with the Nephilim. (...) But I almost see humans versus Kilrathi, you know, the last time we saw them versus the Nephilim they were allied, so we sort of see the relationship where they’re certainly not allies and there’s lots of conflict between them. But it’s not all out war any more.

They ignored the Privateer stuff? Does it simply mean they didn't go into that direction concept-wise or is it a reference to the planned but cancelled Priv-games?
And is the "Kilrathi sort of had their asses handed to them by the Confederation" a reference to the Kilrah bombing run or an implication that there was another major confrontation between those two species?
And it puts the relations between the two species in a certainly unromantic perspective.

The bombers have practically a 360 degree offensive capability, so it’s nice to be able to see all around your bomber.

The Broadsword sure has turrets all around but it almost sounds to me as if you had to fire them manually.

I have to say, I get more and more excited about the game. It just sounds pure fun and revisiting some old systems, great!

 

[Vinman]

They ignored the Privateer stuff? Does it simply mean they didn't go into that direction concept-wise or is it a reference to the planned but cancelled Priv-games?

My guess is that he either means the background material that was created for one of the cancelled Privateer games, or the big jump ahead that would be needed to have Privateer 2 click with the rest of the Wing Commander universe.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

They ignored the Privateer stuff? Does it simply mean they didn't go into that direction concept-wise or is it a reference to the planned but cancelled Priv-games?

He's referring to Privateer 2, in terms of the timeline - he's explaining that they're advancing the timeline twenty years from Prophecy instead of from The Darkening. You'll see plenty of references to both Privateer *and* some of the aborted Privateer followup stories (and maybe one or two to P2).

And is the "Kilrathi sort of had their asses handed to them by the Confederation" a reference to the Kilrah bombing run or an implication that there was another major confrontation between those two species?

This is the Kilrathi War (WC1-3).

And it puts the relations between the two species in a certainly unromantic perspective.

I'm not really sure what you mean.

The Broadsword sure has turrets all around but it almost sounds to me as if you had to fire them manually.

That's correct, you manually fire your bomber turrets (other than the turret mine, which is automatic).

 

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

Ok, that is clear now, thanks.

I'm not really sure what you mean.

I just commented on the part where Sean Penney says that the Kilrathi are not really allied with the humans. I just found it noteworthy because with the novels and games after WC3, you could have gained the impression that, except for some no-good pirates and warlords, the Kilrathi were now at ease with the Confederation and sort of admiring it.

That's correct, you manually fire your bomber turrets (other than the turret mine, which is automatic).

At first I thought that would render them less useful but now that I think of it: granted that you can fire your front guns and all your turrets at once (by pressing all keys at once) that would make for a 360° stream of gun fire (limited by gun energy) and that's probably a good thing in those intense dogfights.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

I just commented on the part where Sean Penney says that the Kilrathi are not really allied with the humans. I just found it noteworthy because with the novels and games after WC3, you could have gained the impression that, except for some no-good pirates and warlords, the Kilrathi were now at ease with the Confederation and sort of admiring it.

Are you sure you aren't thinking of some fan story? All of the post-war books talk about how the Empire in a bloody five-way civil war and that they'll eventually rebuild and fight the Confederation again. The "warlords" you mention aren't some exception - they're the people who have always run the Empire.

 

[LeHah]

Perhaps he's confused by Melek's appearance in WC4 where he is diplomatic with Blair - or when the Kilrathi assist the Midway in Prophecy?

 

[Dundradal]

or the events of False Colors?

I think all those events may be exceptions to the rule instead of the norm.

And the impression is no kilrathi respects or really cares for Melek and his supposed position.

 

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

You're all correct, I was thinking about the Melek in WC4, especially in the novel and how they describe that young prince in False Colors and the assistance given in Prophecy (though they do mention there that they raid human colonies).

Just a little correction on what I meant: you could get the impression that the Kilrathi and the Confederation are on a way to peaceful co-existence. I personally didn't think so and Sean Penney has set that right.

 

[Dundradal]

You're all correct, I was thinking about the Melek in WC4, especially in the novel and how they describe that young prince in False Colors and the assistance given in Prophecy (though they do mention there that they raid human colonies).

Just a little correction on what I meant: you could get the impression that the Kilrathi and the Confederation are on a way to peaceful co-existence. I personally didn't think so and Sean Penney has set that right.

Melek is really ripped into in FC by multiple kilrathi. Murragh and his connection with humans is entirely because of the position they were put in and even in that one environment there were still kilrathi and humans that would not acknowledge each other.

There are more people like Hawk and Cobra than Graham and Hunter.

 

[ChrisReid]

If anyone missed this article with all the new previews, make sure you go back and read it. The Game Informer interview here is really good. A bunch of great questions and answers.

http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200705/N07.0508.1727.17945.htm

GI: Is this a one time download or are you planning on having downloadable content as well?

Penney: At the very least we’re going to start looking at themes and stuff like that. I can’t really comment on it because what we really need to do is get the product out there and see how well it does. If it does well, the company will want to see more.

GI: I grew up playing the Wing Commander series, and I guess you could call me an older guy, is this testing the waters to see how viable the Wing Commander series is? If the fanbase still wants to see a fully fledged next-generation Wing Commander?

Penney: I’d love to see a next-gen Wing Commander, wouldn’t you?

 

[Red Heartagram]

You're all correct, I was thinking about the Melek in WC4, especially in the novel and how they describe that young prince in False Colors and the assistance given in Prophecy (though they do mention there that they raid human colonies).

Just a little correction on what I meant: you could get the impression that the Kilrathi and the Confederation are on a way to peaceful co-existence. I personally didn't think so and Sean Penney has set that right.

I agree. Despite some impressions in a few places to the contrary, I don't really see Confed and the Kilrathi ever co-existing. At least no time soon. Think about all the bad blood between them. Decades of combat with incredible losses of life on both sides, various war crimes commited (the Sivar's attack on Goddard comes to mind), and the little matter of Confed destroying Kilrah has got to make both sides pretty much dispise each other.

Even if the governments of both sides are getting along I can definitely see that in backwater, frontier areas (such as where Arena is taking place) where the governments have little to no control, that both sides might decide to take matters into their own hands and take out some of their frustrations (both for the war and do to the losses to the Nephilim) on their old enemys.

That being said, it wouldn't suprise me if in the next WC game we find Confed and the Kilrathi joining forces to fight their mutual enemy (the Nephilim). But even then once their defeated I imagine the two would start ripping at each others throats again.