BREAKING NEWS: First Arena Screenshots! (February 22, 2007)

Bandit LOAF

Long Live the Confederation!
GameSpot has published the first six screenshots from Wing Commander Arena! The first screenshot shows multiplayer combat in open space, the second is a single player asteroid-style game, the third is a multiplayer space station map, the fourth is a single player melee map (centering around a Midway-class carrier) and then the fifth and six display the game's spectacular capital ship combat multiplayer mode. Sharp eyed WingNuts will notice some very familiar ships... amazing!









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Original update published on February 22, 2007
 
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Hmm.. looks like I was right about the play style.. maybe more of a 3/4 view than the top down I was suspecting..

I'm not sold on the ships yet.. reminds me of the movie a bit too much..

But I will reserve judgement until I see alot more..

-Capn J
 
The ships are all from earlier games (other than the two capship mode battleships) -- it's hard to tell from these combat shots, but you'll be impressed when we see the selection screen...
 
"Give them a broadside, Mr Gerald!"

Man, those are some great pictures. You better believe Im calling out sick the day this comes out.
 
This is by far one of the most impressive looking XBLA titles I have ever seen, that alone will see it selling copies (lets hope EA does atleast some marketting as arcade titles often slip past even my radar).

The art style IMHO is... great for what it is, but were it a retail title I'd be saying its not good. Its too much like an early design concept.
 
I'm thrilled to be reading announcements of a new WC game for the first time in a long time. And I certainly can't wait for some multiplayer action with WC fans.

But I can't be the only one here who's worried as hell that it might turn out to be Wing Commander in name only. This first release is not a simulation, it's not first person. You are not apparently on a campaign, and as far as depth of story...we'll see. It's definitely not Privateer or Wing Commander Online as Origin once envisioned. The reality is that those are the titles we'd all probably REALLY like to see. Wouldn't you rather add some of the designs coming out of the Pioneer project to the canon rather than an XBLA version of a dralthi just because it's from EA?

My hope is that this is EA testing the waters as to the profitability of resurrecting the franchise. After all, they've brought back an FMV command and conquer sequel... Could another FMV Wing Commander be in the pipeline secretly??
 
Would it be nice to wake up and find that EA spent millions of dollars developing a FMV game again? Yes... but that won't happen unless they can be convinced that it's worth the money -- and a product like this is *exactly* the right stepping stone in that direction. Just saying that, though, demeans what we have here -- which is amazing on its own.

The developers involved in this game are absolutely dedicated to making it a Wing Commander experience that will appeal to fans of the original games -- they even go so far as to say that in the press release. Just one look shows that it isn't some random space game with 'Wing Commander' thrown as the title -- there are Broadswords, Rapiers, Dralthi, Darkets and a Midway in the screenshots alone... you cans ee the classic Kilrathi and Confed logos. This is *big*! It's not some giant cinematic story game -- but neither were Armada or Academy... and it is going to advance the background we love -- and show us some pretty neat new toys at the same time.
 
all I can still say is OMG :)

Still these screenshots look great - I really hope this leads to being a killer XBLA title.
 
While this is definitely good news, I'm still cautiously optimistic. The game looks far too arcade-like for my tastes, and something looks off about the art direction as well.

However, this is definitely definitely the best news in a long time for us Wingnuts... as long as it sells well. If this game flops it could be the final nail in the coffin. I might need to see if I can scrape up enough for a 360 so I can buy this game.
 
Its great!But I need to see more to get overly happy. Looks like its gonna be fun but Its not quite what I expected.
 
That was my key worry, too -- but the ships fly and fight just like they did in the original game... shields, armor, multiple weapons and all -- no instant arcade kills.
 
Personally I was hoping for first person cockpit flying, but I'm still gonna give it a try. I'm sure once I get used to it it will be awesome.

Edit: Looking at the screenshots again, now I'm confused, is it first person or overhead?
 
54 dumbfire on a rapier :D ? The ships from WC5 were made for fun and multiplayer. It will be disappointing to fly a broadsword at 600 KPS with 80 missiles. It probably will be a game for a new public.
 
There may be call for cockpit view replica of a 10 year old franchise here, but personally I'm very glad they seem to be tailoring it towards consoles, as it in consoles that the success of any franchise lies, PC games just don't make money any more.

Very glad to hear it sounds like you're in touch with the development team LOAF, it really implies they're going to taking their fans seriously. Do you know if there is a large collection of wingnuts on the team or if its proffesional pride?
 
Well, all skepticism aside, I'll be hopping online and buying it the moment it shows up. Btw, if it came with a Wing Commander theme...especially of the more traditional variety...I'd be hard pressed not to spend some cash on that too....
 
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