Why We Fight (May 25, 2007)

Bandit LOAF

Long Live the Confederation!
A reader named John Brown recently e-mailed us to ask: why are we so excited about Wing Commander Arena? Why are we so positive when there are fans who aren't happy about the release, and when other news sites insist that Wing Commander fans will be 'disgruntled' over the title? I wrote him back with an explanation... and he suggested that I convert it into an editorial so that everyone could understand our point of view on this issue. With some apprehension I've done just that - and you can read it here.
With regards to other news sites, remember that they do not know the Wing Commander community. They haven't spent a decade catering to its every whim, to making sure that it stays together, to putting it before anything else. Kotaku didn't race across the country tracking down Prophecy DVD and The Mercury Post didn't beg and plead with a dozen ex-Origin guys for rare documents to scan. If you have believed in us before, then do so now. General gaming news sites don't understand us, they simply want a negative story to help sell advertising.

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Original update published on May 25, 2007
 
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I feel very strongly that modern internet fandoms have become unacceptably negative. You can no longer be a Star Trek fan if you aren't complaining about Enterprise, you can't be a Star Wars fan if you loved Episode III, and so on.
Everyone needs to be mindful of this at all times, and actively battle it, because it is disgusting and destructive.
 
I hope this is not the wrong thread to ask some questions:
Does anyone around here know, whether there will be a PC version of WC:Arena or not?
and in the statement "why we fight" you say something about "...big budget Wing Commander sequels.." and the text also mentions three of theese sequels. I wonder which you meant? Privateer online or something like that?? this would be great! If arena could clear the path for games like that I would really apreciate it.
 
I hope this is not the wrong thread to ask some questions:
Does anyone around here know, whether there will be a PC version of WC:Arena or not?

I guess nobody knows and if the did they wouldn't be allowed to talk. However considering that there is some interest to generally port XBL Arcade games to Vista and considering that the XBOX is quite close to the PC which makes porting comparably easy I think there is a high chance that Arena will come to the PC if it is a success.
 
Oh hell yes! :D

The way I see it, it's no different to a game like Armada or Academy - in fact, it's sort of a cross between the two, isn't it? Just because it's not a story driven continuation of the Wing Commander saga, doesn't mean it's not worthy of being called Wing Commander.

The so-called fans who do nothing but moan about Arena need to wise up and keep their mouth's shut. Because if it becomes a success (and the less they moan, the more likely that will be) we're talking about a revival of the greatest game series ever made. That's when we can start looking forward to an actual sequel.

No one should be expecting Arena to fulfil that requirement and then bitch and whine if it doesn't. Personally, I will consider it the third installment of the Armada/Academy trilogy of games that support the main saga.

And I need to start saving up for an 360. :eek:
 
wow "arena for PC"...sounds great! I only have some computers, but no consoles. and I really would like to play arena, too, but to buy a XBOX just for one single game? er...no. but thanks for the information!
 
I think the point trying to be made is that XBox 360 games are supposed to be easy to port to Windows due to similar development architecture.

On a different, but related note to the topic mentioned in this thread, I think you can still dislike part of a series, but still love the series as a whole. For instance, I love Star Wars, even though I'm not a huge fan of the prequel trilogy, unnecessary excess of CGI use, or Ewoks. Just because I love a series, doesn't mean that I have to think every official installment or addition to the series is solid gold by merit of being attached to the series. I can understand being against bandwagoning in terms of things you don't like "You can't be a true Star Wars fan if you like Episode III!," but I think you can "legitimately" like a franchise even if you think some parts of the franchise do not share the qualities that drew you to the series in the first place.

I love the WC universe, even if part of me is irritated with the way the "canon" universe is played out (for instance, the *excessive* retconning that totally, (in my opinion) alters first impressions the games originally went to great lengths to set up (one minor example is the introduction of the Fralthi Cruiser). Do I have a choice in this? No. However, being unhappy with it doesn't make me any less of a WC fan than someone who accepts every retcon as a great idea. It also doesn't mean I'm against any new material that comes out that elaborates upon the "official" universe; so long as it doesn't require a huge jump in understanding or interpretation from the original material.

All that being said, I do look forward to trying Arena out, even if it's not a "traditional Wing Commander game." It looks like a sixteen player mariokart-style battle imagined in the Wing Commander universe, and that could be a lot of fun, even if it doesn't share some of the qualities that made WC endearing to me in the first place (intense, somewhat sophisticated space fighter simulator w/ arcade style physics, an involving storyline, and an intriguing fictional universe of technological development). I also greatly appreciate the fact that EA appears to be taking great lengths to ensure consistency with prior WC lore; if such steps had been taken with previous canon material, perhaps the original impressions/feel of the games could have been maintained while adding more background "canonical" material. I also agree that judgment should be suspended on something until one gets a chance to try it out.
 
On a different, but related note to the topic mentioned in this thread, I think you can still dislike part of a series, but still love the series as a whole. For instance, I love Star Wars, even though I'm not a huge fan of the prequel trilogy, unnecessary excess of CGI use, or Ewoks. Just because I love a series, doesn't mean that I have to think every official installment or addition to the series is solid gold by merit of being attached to the series. I can understand being against bandwagoning in terms of things you don't like "You can't be a true Star Wars fan if you like Episode III!," but I think you can "legitimately" like a franchise even if you think some parts of the franchise do not share the qualities that drew you to the series in the first place.

That isn't really what I'm talking about - there's a huge difference between informed, retrospective criticism and the prejudiced mob mentality that modern internet fandoms thrive on. We've now literally watched Star Trek fans personally run their show off the air, grinning all the while because they thought themselves intelligent in doing so - and they didn't learn a thing from the process. Not here, not ever.

I love the WC universe, even if part of me is irritated with the way the "canon" universe is played out (for instance, the *excessive* retconning that totally, (in my opinion) alters first impressions the games originally went to great lengths to set up (one minor example is the introduction of the Fralthi Cruiser).

This is two things. One is the concept and one is your specific example which is separate. You *can't* quantify impressions. Everyone has decided, for instance, that the Victory is a 'Ranger class carrier'. Is it? Who knows. Did anyone at Origin or Baen or anywhere ever intend for it to be? No, a thousand times no. Fandom deciding something doesn't make it part of the continuity. If they decide that it's Yorktown class, then it isn't a retcon - it's filling in a blank.

The Fralthi is an actual continuity error - we actually see when it's first discovered in WC1... but then a number of things, including its appearance in the original Claw Marks, its story in the Confed Handbook, its appearance on Academy, its appearance in the movie, its reference in the SWC intro and Ralgha's backstory in SM2/Freedom Flight, directly contradict that story.
 
well I guess I have some kind of similar opinion to arena like Supertalica.
one the one hand I was a bit sad when I heared that there will be no epic story and huge background like WC3 or WC4 for arena. Instead of the "old school Wing Commander" it is supposed to be action orientated shoot em up game.
Well perhaps an "oldschool Wing Commander" game would be better in my opinion, but I guess that there have been some changes in the way, games look like. For example in my home country, germany, nearly everyone loves RPG-games, shooters or RTS-games like starcraft, but perhaps there is no place for a story orientated, long game? Thats just an example but perhaps in other countries it is similar? I don't know, but I guess. If it's wrong, correct me :)
Ok but on the other hand, I really hope that arena would came for PC. I alsways hated, when some greast games are only availible for one platform. If Arena would came to the PC, I would sleep in a tent in front of the next game shop :)
 
one the one hand I was a bit sad when I heared that there will be no epic story and huge background like WC3 or WC4 for arena.

Well, where did you hear that? There's no 'Blair saves the universe' story, but there's going to be a background that's just as complex as any other Wing Commander game.
 
(...) If Arena would came to the PC, I would sleep in a tent in front of the next game shop :)

I'd guess that, if Arena comes out for the PC, it will be a download-only game via Games for Windows Live, so I fear that valiant display of fidelity won't accomplish much. But it's the thought that counts. :)

I readily admit that my second thought (the first was "Yeah, new WC!") was also something like "Crap, only for the XBox 360, mostly MP and not a real WC.", because I don't have a XBox 360 yet. The "not real WC" passed away rather quickly because the game looks like a load of fun to me but I am still a bit worried about the XBox 360 and MP part.
Even though I will get myself a XBox 360 to play Arena, I don't want that WC for the PC becomes some sort of bonus, an afterthought. I want to play my WC mainly on a PC, that's how I am used to it. Also, I don't like the online distribution thing - I want to have a package sitting on my shelf and a manual I can skim through at nights before going to sleep. And I am no big fan of online-MP games. On a LAN with friends, I love MP but over the internet, no thanks. There's no real rational reasoning behind it. Still I hope that WC will, with some exceptions like Arena, concentrate again on single player games like WC1,2,3,4,P. And I am fairly certain that people will always appreciate a good story-driven game, even in times of online-multiplayer games.

So, what do I want to say? It's just that even though I have high hopes for Arena, I hope that it will remain something like a speciality (like Academy and Armada, which I both love dearly) and not become the normal form of gameplay and distribution for the next generation of WC games.

And for being able to be a fan even when disliking some parts of a series, I do second that. For instance I am not a big fan of the movie and (maybe more interesting) think that WC3 is the worst Wing Commander game. While it was technological incredibily impressive at its time, I didn't hook with the characters, it wasn't pretty to look at and the story wasn't to my liking as well. So, even though it's a main line WC game, story driven singleplayer, I do like the spin-offs Aramda and Academy much better. And I think that I'll like Arena better than WC3, even if I limit myself to the single player experience mostly.
 
Well, where did you hear that? There's no 'Blair saves the universe' story, but there's going to be a background that's just as complex as any other Wing Commander game.
Oh really? sorry, I read all your news about arena, but for the moment I can't remember something about a complex background, so I guess I have read too fast and missed the point; my fault, sorry dude :D

one other point is, that I really liked the "blair saves the galaxy" story when I enjoyed the old WCs, so call me a hardcore oldschool WC freak when I still cry after that "good old stories" ;)

Well then there is just my intensive hope that arena will come to PC one day, no matter if we have to dl it or buy it etc. But I guess when that will be, I can still read all about on wcnews.com :D :D
 
Oh really? sorry, I read all your news about arena, but for the moment I can't remember something about a complex background, so I guess I have read too fast and missed the point; my fault, sorry dude :D

Any time now we will be bombarded with what should be an amazing addition to the universe fiction. From what the guys at Gaia have said it should be exactly what you are looking for and it also sounds like you won't have to buy Arena to access it!
 
A great editorial LOAF. I sincerly hope that you managed to get it published on some other news sites too.

Like Black-Wulf I think it is sad that WC:Arena is "just" an action based shoot em up game. But that has perhaps more to do with the fact that I am sick of those kind of games :).

But since they are still popular then I think that EA did the right thing to make a shoot em up game out of it. After all, I think we all want to get new fans of the WC-universe and Arena will hopefully bring them.

As for me, I don't have a Xbox 360 and I won't buy one either just because of WC Arena. As I said, I am sick of shoot em ups, regardless if they are WC-games or not.

But just the fact that we finally have a new WC game out in the stores again makes me thrilled. :)
 
I miss the more sophisticated PC simulation games too (thinking USNF, Mechwarrior, WC, and Freespace) but give the 360 a chance- some of the games for it are surprisingly good (gears of war and the need for speed games come to mind).
 
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