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Win By Losing
Game Central has posted a review titled Wing Commander and the Awesomeness of the Epic Fail on the branching mission trees of classic WC games. There's a lot to be said for modern sandbox and open-ended games that were kicked off by Elite and Privateer, but mission-based games do seem to be quite a bit more linear these days. Either way, the author nails it at the end - Wing Commander is definitely a game everyone loves to come back to! Thanks to Jonathan Strawn.
Since the game isn’t dependent on victory, the goal of winning out the war is subverted to the goal of simply surviving long enough to see it through. This difference is the axis upon which the emotionality and depth of the game can turn in unexpected directions. As long as I come back alive, I have to face the consequences of my performance. Those consequences build up over time. Fail a few times and the missions turn more defensive. A few more, and I’m scrabbling to turn the tide of the war. String enough failures together, and now I’m covering a hasty retreat from the sector– alone, if my would-have-been wingman already bought it in a furball a few missions back.
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If failure adds to the quantity of gameplay, it also adds new qualities to the characters. In the ship’s lounge, my crew mates reflect on their experiences of the war. I see different aspects of the same characters emerge as victory nears or defeat looms. The lounge becomes a profoundly affecting place upon discovering an vacant seat where a wingman would have sat, had he or she not died in a prior mission. Since wingmen can usually die only when they fly with me, the emptiness becomes personally significant: I know the cost of my failure, but I am rewarded with a richer emotional experience.
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Origin got these lifelike qualities right with Wing Commander. It is a game I love to come back to, and I play as much to lose as to win.
[ChrisReid] [# 9851] [Show comments]  
Economic Slump Hits EA
Electronic Arts had a rougher holiday season than expected. The company announced this morning that it is updating its fiscal year outlook, and they've pared back their numbers for the business year ending in March by about 5%. EA has been in the process of cutting about 25% of its workforce over the last year, including one third of the staff at EA Mythic.
Revised fiscal year 2010 expectations are primarily the result of weakness for EA and the overall packaged goods sector in Europe in December, and a product mix shift to lower margin distribution products in the December quarter, primarily in North America.
[ChrisReid] [# 9937] [Show comments]
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