BREAKING NEWS: EA Announces... Something? (February 21, 2008)

It's also worth noting that the website's claims about the "Starbreeze engine" clearly haven't been updated in quite a while -- it describes a cross-platform engine that's being used on the *last* generation of consoles (Xbox/PS2/GameCube.)

It also certainly doesn't account for something like being involved with an EA project -- the fact that they used the "Starbreeze Engine" on all their projects in 2003 doesn't mean that they would be absolutely unwilling to use something a partnership agreement with EA gives them access to (... like Unreal?) It's an interesting thing to note, but it's definately not a crushing argument in either direction.

But let me stress again that there will probably be some first-person aspect in Wing Commander X -- this is something Oritin and Digital Anvil wanted to do time and time again... and it's something that seems necessary today. One of the issues with space sims is that space-repeat is boring... and static gameflow scenes for navigating character interaction aren't very exciting, either. Even one of the new StarCraft games has a walk-around-between-missions environment, IIRC.
 
This is taken from Videogamers web site

http://www.videogamer.com/news/21-02-2008-7578.html

EA Partners has announced it has teamed up with Starbreeze Studios, developer of The Darkness and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, to reinvent one of EA's most acclaimed classic franchises.

The game is currently being referred to as Project RedLime and is in development for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

"EA Partners gives independent developers like Starbreeze access to EA's unrivalled global publishing infrastructure, letting us focus our energy on what we do best - making incredible games," said Johan Kristiansson, CEO of Starbreeze Studios. "We're already deep in development on Project RedLime and the team at EA is giving us the time we need to perfect our vision. We're excited to bring a new perspective and gameplay innovation to this beloved fiction."

Look out for additional information on the secretive project in the coming months. We're having a guess that the classic EA franchise is Syndicate
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Yeah, the Starbreeze engine was pretty advanced for Riddick on the Xbox and then PC (in late 2004): IIRC it was one of first games to use soft shadows and could really bring a high-end rig of the day down to its knees. Whatever Starbreeze have been working on should be neat as Riddick was a great change to the monster closets of Doom 3 and the tight, linear cinematics of Half Life 2; well worth checking out if you haven't played it!
 
Syndicate is a possibility - if we take EA CEO (I can't spell his last name at 7 AM...)'s keynote literally then they're probably planning on reviving one Origin, one Westwood (C&C - and how!) and one Bullfrog property.

On the other hand, while it has its fans, Syndicate seems a heck of a lot more obscure than Wing Commander.
 
I bought Syndicate after a few friends told me it was a "great" game. Personally, I tried it a few times but could never really get into it. The game finally ended up in the bin :D
 
I guess they'll make a first person shooter with the syndicate flair in it.
(But I hope it is another WC anyway....)
 
The biggest strike against Syndicate is the fact that the article is about revising a *franchise* -- which Syndicate isn't (also, the fact that Syndicate was never as big as the internet makes it in retrospect -- the IP was ultimately dumped in favor of Origin's Crusader...) Wing Commander is one of the few EA IPs that you might consider a franchise in the media sense...
 
Bandit LOAF said:
The biggest strike against Syndicate is the fact that the article is about revising a *franchise* -- which Syndicate isn't (also, the fact that Syndicate was never as big as the internet makes it in retrospect -- the IP was ultimately dumped in favor of Origin's Crusader...)
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Sad but true. I knew no one aside from two close friends who played Syndicate, but they seemed to come out of the woodwork in later years (Most who played Syndicate Wars loathed it, but I thought it was a fun game).

To myself, Syndicate is as classic a PC game as you can get (though this may be etched into my brain since it came on a EA disc along with Wing Commander 2, Strike Commander and an Ultima game as well!)
 
I thought EA was going to announce a new Road Rash game!!! :) that'd be a hot item......but being the WC fan that I am....I can only hope for it to be WC :)
 
Howard Day said:
In Sweden? I wish. Nope, I am officially in no way involved in this.
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Since some of the work you've done on some of the awesome models.......they should. :) ....they'll just find a few crack crazy programmers to do a new flight engine of sorts and things will be just fine :)
 
Hmm... yet another classic game which I have not yet had the opportunity to play, but now know about thanks to the CIC. I guess after I beat this darn Commander Keen collection I now have something to do while waiting for additional news on the subject.
 
A walk around type environment between missions would be really cool. I'd love to be able to explore the carrier I'm on.

A true FPS element would be interesting for WC. I wonder what type of attribute would be created to try and differentiate the experience from other FPS games. Obviously the whole spaceflight component would be a differentiator for the game as a whole, but still - it is an interesting concept.
 
Actually "El" that would be a great idea to have it be more interactive. Walkin around the Carrier, at different world locations,etc.... that would make the experience that much more in depth ya know. You could do such things as watch the news perhaps or talk with the bartender, maybe even check an email type system, or watch instructional videos and such....lately I've been playing Doom 3 and if you've played it before there's something called a PDA, and it immerses you that much more into the story especially if there's "Need to know" information. Like one of the pilots your flying with is having some type of emotional problem or something and out on the next mission you lose him/her but it could have been prevented if you had gotten the "Need To Know" info :) ... Just a little bit that would make the story that much more. On top of a few different technologies etc.....etc.....
 
You know, I suppose the gameplay could be a mix of Mass Effect (I'm thinking recent XBOX 360 titles that are being ported to PC) and Wing Commander (minus the special powers from Mass Effect, I'd think). This would work well with a regular Wing Commander Story (imagine the dialogue options), and maybe even better with a Privateer kind of story.

Hmm... I guess I just keep imagining possibilities, and I actually really like this one. Ah, heck, I'm just getting more excited, I'll admit it. I just really hope it's a WC title.

I've also concluded that I used far too many parentheses in this post.
 
While we're imagining possibilities, here's one that I always thought was cool...and could be a reason why EA would want a company with FPS expertise to work on a WC game (not that I think this is a likely possiblity...it's just something that I think would be cool).

Imagine the Confederation discovers/is discovered by a new race, who builds massive, nearly unstoppable capital ships with complex and extensive internal structures. Torpedoes and externally fired antimatter cannons are useless against them...the only way to stop them is to fly fighters into their superstructure and find a critical element/reactor/power coupling/etc. And every one is different. But they have fighters, too, that will chase you into them, and internally mounted defensive cannons and shield generators blocking certain areas that have to be neutralized. So you have to explore the innards of these ships, WHILE dogfighting enemy fighters in a wing commander style, but instead of open space you're twisting and turning through tunnels, rooms, chambers, and hatches, looking for the target to destroy (or maybe for the tougher ones, only bomber-launced munitions can kill the critical component, so you're escorting people in this setting, or maybe some of these ships become allied or captured by Confed, so you're defending the critical components against invading aliens). There could be resuce missions, recon missions, escort missions, defense missions, attack missions, minelaying or mine-clearing missions. You could also include the old fashioned open dogfight in space element as well for some missions...

Basicall, combine a Wing Commander-style flight engine and physics (ships fly foreward and use afterburners, and don't strafe, and no on-the-fly upgrades) with a Descent-like setting (anyone remember how great playing Descent I was?)

It would lend itself well to multiplayer as well...working in teams to explore the innards of these ships, or defend key parts.

You could also do planetside missions, dodging through canyons and desert buttes, or forests of massive Redwood or Kaori-like trees, or Courascant-like cities of huge buildings and structures, instead of through capital ship innards, looking for something to destroy or someone to rescue.

Just wishful thinking by me. But wouldn't that make for a cool WC game?
 
Farbourne said:
the only way to stop them is to fly fighters into their superstructure and find a critical element/reactor/power coupling/etc. And every one is different. But they have fighters, too, that will chase you into them, and internally mounted defensive cannons and shield generators blocking certain areas that have to be neutralized. So you have to explore the innards of these ships, WHILE dogfighting enemy fighters in a wing commander style, but instead of open space you're twisting and turning through tunnels, rooms, chambers, and hatches, looking for the target to destroy (or maybe for the tougher ones, only bomber-launced munitions can kill the critical component, so you're escorting people in this setting, or maybe some of these ships become allied or captured by Confed, so you're defending the critical components against invading aliens). There could be resuce missions, recon missions, escort missions, defense missions, attack missions, minelaying or mine-clearing missions. You could also include the old fashioned open dogfight in space element as well for some missions...
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Sounds like the original Descent!
 
ELTEE said:
A walk around type environment between missions would be really cool. I'd love to be able to explore the carrier I'm on.
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However that needs to done in a manner that makes it fun to do. To be honest, I hated searching the Victory between every mission to find where the conversations were. The WC4 map was a bit better for locating but that system also has its own problems as well.
 
I think Eltee means actually walking around like an FPS type feel, maybe with a third person view or something... Instead of going room to room and standing in one spot type thing without being able to move unless you click on an event, like the killboard, or talkin to fellow pleebs or whatnot :D....I mean wouldn't it be awesome if the ship got boarded to help some Marines out? maybe combat some Nephilim or Kilrathi or whatever n what nots
 
The danger is making the carrier feel too small, the massive Midway always felt like 3 rooms and a launch tube to me, perhaps ballance could be found in restricting access to areas of the carrier, it is a military vessel afterall, BUT allowing you access to other parts on special occassions; the vast majority of interactions confined to the bar.
Personally I liked the map system in WCIV, it would be good to have a mini-map that could be expanded and allow you to quick jump to the location, this worked very well in Shenmue 2 as well, large journeys or long waits could be skipped and it massively improved the pacing.
 
Woah, the wealth of ideas. I am getting pretty pumped. Pretty much anything that is done within the WC universe would be cool...though a simple battlefield WC style game would be a bit dull if they left out some interesting single player story.
 
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