But you dont have to call me an idiot for my opinion.
I am glad that the franchise is used, I acknowledge that I was unfair to the game Arena. But only because I am really upset about the publisher.
To be clear, though, opinions can be wrong (or idiotic). The idea that you decided - without evidence - that Electronic Arts was going out of its way to screw you over was... well, sad on some basic level. What the heck ever happened to enjoying things for their own sake? Look at what you did - you took a fun little game that oosts almost nothing and somehow twisted it into a self-serving way to be offended. I mean no offense when I say: that's idiotic. (Not only that, but you offended everyone who had anything to do with the game. We know for a fact how the release came about, and it had nothing to do with wanting to 'take advantage' of WC. It was a labor of love for a bunch of Wing Commander fans, who worked hard to make sure the game had all sorts of things from Wing Commander in it.)
Why do people always use The Sims as an example of how EA does things wrong anyway... It's one of the best selling computer games of all time, so they must be doing something right.
Not only that, but it's an incredibly fun game that everyone loves...
... and even more importantly, the success of The Sims didn't condemn Will Wright to a life of spinoffs. Instead, EA gave him the creative, budgetary (and apparently deadline) freedom to make one of the most ambitious and risky game projects ever (Spore).
(And even on some immediate level - although I don't care about buying an addon pack that adds clothes for dogs for my Sims... isn't it cool that people who love the game can do that? Was 'The Secret Missions' a horrible cash-in on the Wing Commander name? Sure, in exactly the same way - but it was also a fantastic game that I love. Try being happy that the next generation of gamers having fun rather than feigning offense to make a point. You'll live longer.)
This game is bollocks. I feel effin cheated. At any given time there is only 1 (!!!) game to pick from. Even though i've selected custom game with everything on "all" & "Any". And when I finally join the effin game I see everyone for 5 seconds before everyone just suddenly "left the game" leaving me flying alone. GREAT FUN!
So when I go back to the join game select screenagain, I again only see the game I was in just now with the same amount of people. Rejoining the damn game results in the same senario. My other options then? Singleplayer.
It sounds like you need to open your NAT.
After that, you should host games instead of trying to join them - they usually fill up pretty quickly. You can also add gamertags of various WC fans - we're always happy to dogfight. If I'm not on Arena at any given time (I pop in and out for a quick fix, usually), you can find me on #WingNut and ask me to play.