BREAKING NEWS: Wing Commander Arena Announced! (February 22, 2007)

[Quarto]

I have to agree with you on the Academy and Armada bit, that's the exact reason EA has got me ranting again now: This is yet another Wing Commander Academy but somehow I fear that instead of Wing Commander VI, only more WC Academys will follow it.

And why does that bother you? If you don't want to play such titles, don't play them - but don't get in the way of others who do.

..I mean, do you seriously think that a string of Academy-like titles makes the release of a full title less likely than no WC games at all being released does?

 

[Steltek]

That is the exact thing that I fear: Wing Commander being reborn as a series of multiplayer arcade games with no story and then dying out once and for all. At least before this there was hope that EA would sell off the rights to the series to somebody else.

 

[Quarto]

There's never been any such hope, though.

 

[Steltek]

And why does that bother you? If you don't want to play such titles, don't play them - but don't get in the way of others who do.

I'm not getting in your or anybody else's way (How could I? I'd have to shut down XBL for that and trust me when I say that I'm definitely in no position to ever be able do so. ). I'm merely voicing my personal opinion, which seems to collide with yours. That's fine, you're just as free to ignore me as I am not to play Arena. We can agree to disagree.

 

[Pedro]

There's never been any such hope, though.

Indeed, and even if there were, what other company could afford to make a true WC sequel, or would take the risk given the lack of any high budget and profile space combat titles against which to compare sales.

 

[Steltek]

I'm not saying the next WC should be a 20 mil monster with movie footage. That would be too good to be true. If it was to be a 'Darkstar One in the WC Universe', that would already be sufficient. But a multiplayer focussed arcade game just reads as too far away from the originals to me. Hopefully I'll be very very wrong.

 

[Pedro]

I'm not saying the next WC should be a 20 mil monster with movie footage.

I actually hope for the reverse, all these games like Gears of War with beautiful engines, superb animation, and then not putting it to use with anything resembling character or a plotline (don't get me wrong I love GoW, just think they wasted the storytelling opportunity). Maybe Wing Commander could shine the light, lead the way, as it did all those years ago.

 

[LeHah]

I actually hope for the reverse, all these games like Gears of War with beautiful engines, superb animation, and then not putting it to use with anything resembling character or a plotline.

Gears Of War doesn't require a plotline though. It's the cast of Predator on steroids shooting aliens. What they did with the plot is exactly what it needed.

 

[Pedro]

My point is more that the technology is out there but not being utilised as it could be, I'm not taking a crack at one of my favourite games in years.
However, GoW cutscenes bored me. They didn't need to be a focus of the package but for me when it was clear they weren't even trying I found they lowered the overall presentation, your player avatar had less personallity than master cheif in his green suit.

 

[Mav23]

Dom was cool though.

 

[LeHah]

And how can you go wrong with "The Cole Train"? "You suckas need glasses! Lemme help you out wit that!"

 

[Mav23]

Haha yeah. The only character I hated was Baird. Cole was awesome (especially loved his song in the credits), but I always confuse him with a locust 'cause he's so big and black. (An even larger problem on Live )

 

[ChrisReid]

(of course, people will always find some crazy reason to worry - I'm sure back when Wing Commander Academy and Armada were released, some people said the exact same thing you're telling us now, and they would've kept on saying it... right up until Wing Commander III was announced)

Yeah, and I think some people are having some difficulty grasping the scope of this game or the environment that it's being made for. EA wanted to make a Wing Commander game for XBox Live Arcade. With all that's happened in the past decade, Arcade games are less of a gamble and more appealing to a broad audience. After ten years, they need to make sure that people even remember what the Wing Commander brand is, and an Arcade game is an excellent way to gauge something like that. So Arena is that game. If Arena is a huge hit, I hope they will follow up on it with a sequel or addons at least. However, if that happens, they won't just keep making XBox Live Arcade Wing Commander games forever. Independent of that however, Arena is an amazing Arcade game. I've seen people see the "Meteors" mode and think that all they're getting is "Asteroids" with Wing Commander ships. That just scratches the surface though. The developers behind Arena have gone to great lengths to ensure that their game is consistent with the existing Wing Commander universe, is a ton of fun, and pushes all kinds of boundaries in terms of what people can expect in downloadable console games like this. In a couple months, I'll actually be gunning for some Kilrathi carrier in my Broadsword with ace escorting me in his Arrow. Meanwhile, LOAF'll be fighting off Paktahn bombers with their Dralthi escorts in his Rapier back at our carrier. It's all very exciting.

 

[Quarto]

And indeed, as far as getting attention for the franchise is concerned, Arena is already a huge hit - just compare the attention it's getting with EA's other Live Arcade game, Boom Boom Rocket.

 

[BrynS]

Very exciting news and a most welcome surprise, which will hopefully augur well for the future of Wing Commander.

Having had no internet access for the past week, I nearly spat my coffee all over the keyboard in happy disbelief when I checked the site yesterday. I really hope Arena attracts many new gamers to the universe we all cherish and enjoy so much while staying true to the spirit of WC.

I'm a bit behind the times on the console front, but by golly I'll have to requisition an Xbox 360 over the summer: the future of the Confederation depends on it!

Cheers,

Bryn

 

[Showtime]

Yeah hopefully the price of a 360 goes down by the Summertime. I'm still at school and poor and my sister just got a Wii so I'm jealous. I'm dieing to play a 360 on my new 52 inch plasma back home. :-/