If Wishes Were X-Boxes (October 12, 2006)

[Bandit LOAF]

IGN has posted an interesting editorial: it's a wishlist of classic games that should be ported to X-Box Live Arcade, following the highly successful release of DooM. Sure enough, Wing Commander made the list. Origin games also took three other slots: Crusader: No Remorse (#6), Abuse (#8) and Autoduel (#9). So... where's Ultima?

5. Wing Commander
Origin Studios' ultimate space shooter franchise featured some phenomenal dog-fighting. This game would work both as a multiplayer and a single player game.

Microsoft has also recently licensed Mad Catz to produce a full-featured X-Box Live Arcade Stick. Even if they don't end up porting Wing Commander to Live Arcade, the X-Box 360 is still an excellent platform for Wing Commander fans to use for getting together. The CIC staff frequently runs games of Ghost Recon: Advance Warfighter, and we welcome any other WingNuts to join the fun. There are some other promising games on the horizon, including Rainbow Six Vegas and Star Trek: Legacy. We highly recommend any Wing Commander fan invest in an X-Box 360.

​

--
Original update published on October 12, 2006

 

[Starman]

I've got mine

*Roll on Wing Commander with XBL play*

 

[AD]

Considering the X-box 360 has usb ports, I wonder whether or not a developer would be able to build in support for *any* [or at least the most common] PC usb joysticks should there ever be Wing Commander on Xbox Live.

 

[Delance]

Can't the game controller of the X-Box 360 handle a Wing Commander game?

 

[AD]

Can't the game controller of the X-Box 360 handle a Wing Commander game?

I'm sure it could. THe WC4 PSX controls were pretty great, if not as comprehensive as on the PC. However, it added neat rumble effects (take that PC! )

 

[ChrisReid]

Considering the X-box 360 has usb ports, I wonder whether or not a developer would be able to build in support for *any* [or at least the most common] PC usb joysticks should there ever be Wing Commander on Xbox Live.

It'd be easily technically possible. There are some restrictions on accessory use however. Some generic stuff is fine. Keyboards, USB sticks, digital cameras, iPods and so on work great. Some things like generic controllers and webcams cannot be used. There's some access key that allows licensed products to function. I would bet that a specific XBox joystick will be developed at some point if a few more flight/space sims surface. The Mad Catz stick in the original post looks basic, but it'd probably work fine. A joystick probably wouldn't be necessary though. Flight sims like Crimson Skies were developed to specifically take advantage of the dual analog sticks. This enabled you to do some pretty neat things easily. Using a joystick was actually more difficult.