BREAKING NEWS: Official Site Launched (April 3, 2007)

Bandit LOAF

Bandit LOAF

Long Live the Confederation!
The official EA Arcade website has been launched -- and it's very promising! It includes a major section for Wing Commander Arena as well as a front page that includes some awesome WC-specific information. The current FAQ is focused on Boom Boom Rocket, but is promising anyway... including a mention of possible future downloadable content. The main page is here and the Wing Commander section is here. And just in case you were worried about continuity...
The F-44 Rapier II Blade, developed by human company Origin Aerospace, has scored more space-to-space kills than any other Confederation fighter. Even though this ship is an Earth leftover don’t underestimate it’s capacity for destructive skirmishes.
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Original update published on April 3, 2007
 
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"Origin Aerospace"

Way to keep the legacy alive! The more I hear about WC: Arena the more I like it.

(I bet a lot of ships were developed by Origin Aerospace)
 
Another great step, although EA is going to drive me crazy! It says I already have an EA account, but don't know the password and when I say I forgot it, it says my account doesn't exist! Gonna lose it real soon.
 
Yeah, a lot of people seem to have trouble. It cross-pollinates with a number of databases, including UO accounts (old and new) and AOL IM... I think I got it to work by registering my AIM name.
 
OK but...

It is nice to see the name Wing Commander again in a new game but so far I'm not convinced about WC Arena. So far from what I have seen it is not a real "Wing Commander" ... they just use the name and a some WC-like style (which looks ugly in my opinion) for a simple shoot em up action game.

Sure everybody is happy to see a new Wing Commander but I really must say that even Feelancer was more like a real Wing Commander than this game.

So my personal opinion... it's like Quake 3 only with ships and that's something you could have with UT2004 I think there are space missions as well.
So this game is not really interesting for me :D
 
While you are welcome to your opinion, that doesn't mean it's a correct one.

Instead of rehashing long posts about it, though, may I suggest you read through the older posts in the Arena forum?
 
Yeah, because freelancer has the kilrathi, and all our favorite ships.. and neat defend the midway missions....


oh, wait.. no it doesn't.
 
It is nice to see the name Wing Commander again in a new game but so far I'm not convinced about WC Arena. So far from what I have seen it is not a real "Wing Commander" ... they just use the name and a some WC-like style (which looks ugly in my opinion) for a simple shoot em up action game.
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You should certainly read through some old CZ and news posts. EA has worked above and beyond the norm to get both Wing Commander continuity (ships, locations, history, etc.) and the feel of gameplay correct. It's only an "arcade shooter" in the same sense as the original Wing Commander (which was, afterall, an immersive arcade game) -- in practice, dogfights behave like they always have... complete with maneuvering, shields, armor, gun and missile selection, device usage, radar tracking, etc.

Sure everybody is happy to see a new Wing Commander but I really must say that even Feelancer was more like a real Wing Commander than this game.
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To be clear, Chris Roberts had absolutely nothing to do with FreeLancer as released. There's no divided loyalties here (and, in fact, he was apparently consulted on Arena...). FreeLancer is a good example of exactly why Arena works -- it's the essential WC formula done in a way that appeals to current video game players... this game does exactly the same thing as FL in trading cockpits for 3D views of the ships. The only difference is that Arena actually gets to use the WC background, with all the classic ships and weapons we've always loved.
 
Thanks - I immediately rushed to the WC section.

Hmm, "has scored more space-to-space kills than any other Confederation fighter" - that sounds familiar. Where have I read such claims as well? The Academy manual says something about the Rapier...and the Armada guide says something like that about the Reaper.
 
I did, too, and almost missed the cool rendering. :)

The original Claw Marks claimed that the laser cannon had "probably" scored more kills than any other weapon. Voices of War says later that the Reaper Cannon has shot down more enemy ships than all other weapons combined (which is strange, since it's a very new gun...).
 
The rendering really is beautiful. The Rapier II from WC 2 has always been my favourite WC ship but this version, while less sleek, looks very cool. The screenshots are nice too - first time I saw the Darket.

Totally forgot about the Claw Marks entry. I re-read the Academy entry but it only says that the Rapier was widely used and instrumental in the Vega campaign.
And yes, the claim about the Reaper is very impressive indeed.
 
The rendering really is beautiful. The Rapier II from WC 2 has always been my favourite WC ship but this version, while less sleek, looks very cool.
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Well, then, perhaps you'll enjoy today's top update... :)
 
Bandit LOAF said:
To be clear, Chris Roberts had absolutely nothing to do with FreeLancer as released. There's no divided loyalties here (and, in fact, he was apparently consulted on Arena...). FreeLancer is a good example of exactly why Arena works -- it's the essential WC formula done in a way that appeals to current video game players... this game does exactly the same thing as FL in trading cockpits for 3D views of the ships. The only difference is that Arena actually gets to use the WC background, with all the classic ships and weapons we've always loved.
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I know that Chris Roberts had nothing to do with Feelancer but still however I love Freelancer :D ... concerning cockpit view... that is a MUST for Wing Commander styled games. So I'm happy that Freelancer has the classic cockpit view when pressing Ctrl-V ... a 3D-view of the ship from top of behind is something (my personal opinion) that is not really WC-like.

But like I said this is my personal opinion. I still wonder what they did with the Arena Midway ... boy what have they done with the amazing Midway. The new Midway looks well... :D ... it sure looks like a hedgedog with all those antennas. ;)
 
I know that Chris Roberts had nothing to do with Feelancer but still however I love Freelancer ... concerning cockpit view... that is a MUST for Wing Commander styled games. So I'm happy that Freelancer has the classic cockpit view when pressing Ctrl-V ... a 3D-view of the ship from top of behind is something (my personal opinion) that is not really WC-like.
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I would argue that Wing Commander bit that apple in 1996 by... well, getting rid of the cockpit. The whole point of the cockpit was the immersion... and once you removed the art to let you 'see' more of the playing field, you started the ball rolling. It's a slippery slope that you can't really stand on *now*.

Arena, like FreeLancer and and even the original Wing Commander does have multiple camera views.

But like I said this is my personal opinion. I still wonder what they did with the Arena Midway ... boy what have they done with the amazing Midway. The new Midway looks well... ... it sure looks like a hedgedog with all those antennas.
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The ship is *a* Midway-class ship, not *the* TCS Midway. I think we're going to learn a bit about her background in the future...
 
Bandit LOAF said:
Arena, like FreeLancer and and even the original Wing Commander does have multiple camera views.

The ship is *a* Midway-class ship, not *the* TCS Midway. I think we're going to learn a bit about her background in the future...
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OK I see have much too learn... :D ... that's when you're for a long time in hospital and come back and read the stuff...

Well concerning WC4 it had the worst cockpit layout of all WC games... means: It had no real cockpit. But the game itself was really good :)
 
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