So was there anything to the rumors, or...?

Hi everyone, am new here on this forum, although I been visiting wcnews for several years. Big fan of WC games (not the goddamn movie), wish there were more space games out on the market.

Anyways, I think it was last month or so, but I spotted some news on the website that there seemed to be strong hints Chris Roberts was returning back to the WC games series. It went on for a few days and then I got caught up with work and school and forgot to keep tracks here.

I have tried to go back and find the old articles, see if it wa confirmed or not wether if the rumors were true or not, but I cant find it.

So, could someone here please tell me the latest news on this? Is Roberts really going to go back in the WC games?

As far as I know nothing else has been said YET! however im sure most of us are hopefull for the future, im sure LOAF knows more than he is letting on (he knows everything lol) but saying that if he knows and we haven't been told it would be for a good reason and he will let us know asap.

Read: executed!

Hey, I think the real concern here is if there is going to be a new Wing Commander thing. That's what I'm excited to hear about. Even something set in the Wing Commander universe. Imagine a FPS where you play a Confed Marine and you have to survive boarding missions, planetary landings, et cetera. That would be a cool new look at the WC universe, and it might get more attention than a simple flight sim. Not that I wouldn't want to see a flight sim.

Heres the thing about this. As much as you and I would love a WC universe game of all sorts of crazy genres (think all those weirdo racer games Star Wars put out around 1999) - the fact of the matter is that playing a WC game that *isn't* a flight/space-sim would be like playing Call Of Duty game based on boats and submarines. Not that boats and submarines ain't cool but it has little to do with the established franchise. More over, COD could get away with it since its a very popular platform right now - meanwhile all those awful kids you hear screaming at you on Xbox Live haven't ever *heard* of Wing Commander.

The next game has to be a flight-sim. Maybe not like the PC ones, maybe a little more like the Star Trek Invasion game for the PS - but it has to be a flight sim, methinks.

I suppose I'm just saying that you could do a lot more then making it just a flight sim. Take Mass Effect as an example. That's a game where you could easily incorporate flight sim type game play between missions on foot. A hybrid of ME and Freelancer set it the Wing Commander universe would be really fun. You could be Confed, Kilrathi or freelance for either race. There's just so many options. I do agree with LeHah, there does have to be a pretty heavy emphasis on piloting star fighters in an intergalactic war. I think you would need to offer more than just a flight sim to appeal to a modern audience.

Is there any kind of left over content from this? Gameplay videos? Concept art? I'd love to check that out!

You're not joking! I was a relative latecomer to the Xbox multiplayer experience, and I have to say I'm repeatedly amazed at some of the comments you hear over the net...

I would love something like the Battlecruiser series set in WC and properly debugged. Let us fly fighters, command capships, and possibly fleets or squadrons in time, or fight ground battles.

Some years ago, there was a strange influx of table-top miniature games. Battlefleet Gothic - the ship-based miniature system from the Warhammer people - was rebooted (unsuccessfully) and those Wizkid Mechwarrior table-top things (which were great fun but had a much higher addiction / price than the old Star Trek CCG stuff) were two that I indulged in. With time, two friends and I fooled around with the rules, made new ones, threw out old ones, made it stricter in some and looser in others and made a fairly good, mostly working long-term, large scale campaign system that allowed entire fleet movements down to small troop advances.

The problem is that each turn took at least 15 minutes. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it is when you have to wait 10 minutes to exploit a move or protect your lines.

(Theres a point to this post, hang with me)

The biggest campaign we had involved me clearing out the furniture in the living room while my parents were gone for a week and using the whole room as a giant "sandbox". One mission, 5 hours a day for 5 days straight just to move his (Battlefleet Gothic) ships toward one planet and land his troops (Mechwarrior). And then you had to balance the space campaign versus the planet campaign and...

I eventually won because he rolled some shitty dice. It was really, really close though.

Whats the point to this post? There is such a thing as "too much".

A game can only hold so many details, so many mechanics, before its bogged down in details. Something that should've taken us one 5 minute round of playing took 15 and something that should've taken a day took the better part of a week. Do you really have that much time to devote to a *single level*?

Now, I'm not saying what we played was the be-all, end-all rule for this scenario. And maybe I'm thick skulled but I can't see there being an easy way of making the game you detailed in your quote. That should speak more of my inability to wrap my head around it than the actual possibility though.

I used to play BFG a lot as well though I don't think the playtime issues would be as bad in a PC game but it would be a very hard and long project. Maybe someday someone will try a Bridge Commander or BFG Style Wing Commander game though.

I completely agree with this, especially when the game is also trying to tell any kind of comprehensive story. Starshatter The Gathering Storm did a pretty good job of letting you advance from starfighter pilot to carrier captain, but there were few transitions or story pieces to help advance the overall action.

I think the concept is possible within reason but also not necessarily what a Wing Commander title should try to tackle. Especially if (and it will be) the title is developed first and foremost for consoles, I would imagine it would have the greatest chance of being successful if it focused on doing a core set of ideas really, really, really well. Say story and visual presentation, space combat mechanics and world interaction (flying through different environments) and that *something* extra that you know a Chris Roberts would want to include to push the genre forward.

Again, I'm not trying to say the game 'can't' tackle multiple ideas, just that I think at some point it's a diminishing return - quality starts to decrease as more and more *stuff* is offered.

Wow!
Okay, just...wow!

I had NO idea my topic would create such, well...talks/rants/flaming sums it up well, I think XD

I would have replied sooner, Young Blood and Bandit, only for the past few days I had some trouble logging on. Anyways, thanks for replying, I really do hope ol' Chrissy will step back into the WC boots and deliver us something we've all been waiting for a long time now.

I admit, I first tried to read all the posts that have been made here, but before I knew it I was just skimming over it, reading some, skipping the rest.

I will say this, though; the space genre could use something different if the next WC game will be focused on playing in a fighter. Not just flying missions, but a little bit like Freelancer. Where you can walk around in areas, talk to people, accept some tasks, decline others. I did like that about Freelancer.

All the WC games have been about playing as in the Navy, basicly just doing what mission comes next, a bit more open world would be awesome!

Anyways, thats my little input. Thanks again, guys, for the answers. Gives me hope to some day buy the next Wing Commander game

Hey. Have you played Privateer and Privateer 2 yet? They're both really fun games where you're in control and can fly the plot, just fly some missions or just go blow things up.

S

Sadly, no. My first WC game was WC4 and then WC3. Didnt get to play the first two until years later when I bought a used copy of Kilrathi Saga on eBay. Totally worth it, though.

I have heard a great deal about Privateer 1. And 2, although many consider that one not as 'open' as the first one. Wished I could have played them.