It Sure Was Good While It Lasted (December 4, 2007)

Actually, we're an odd exemption from the usual internet-geek-rage regarding EA -- we *want* them to do the same thing over and over again. :)

EA is actually very good about experimental stuff, no matter what the slashdot-and-brie crowed insists... just because they capitalize on things like The Sims and Ultima Online doesn't mean that they didn't take a huge risk by developing those new concepts in the first place. Right now they're throwing an awful lot of money into Spore and Army or Two, which are both big untried 'concept' games.
 
It depends on what you call an "actual" Wing Commander. I don't like Arena's style very much, either, but it is as much an "actual Wing Commander" as every other WC game.

I mean a story-driven sequel, or even a re-invisioning of the first game on modern technology. That is, not a spin-off.

Also, LOAF - I agree. My gripe with EA isn't what games they choose to produce, but the games they don't. My anger at them was spurred by the discontinuation of my favorite game series - Ultima, Wing Commander, Crusader - despite their blatant viability and exemplary financial history. And then, of course, the downsizing and eventual closing of Origin, and the fallout that was hinted years prior.

I don't hate EA. There are games they publish that I play, and enjoy. However, they're more like an old friend that borrowed money a long time ago and never paid me back.
 
I mean a story-driven sequel, or even a re-invisioning of the first game on modern technology. That is, not a spin-off.

Also, LOAF - I agree. My gripe with EA isn't what games they choose to produce, but the games they don't. My anger at them was spurred by the discontinuation of my favorite game series - Ultima, Wing Commander, Crusader - despite their blatant viability and exemplary financial history. And then, of course, the downsizing and eventual closing of Origin, and the fallout that was hinted years prior.

I don't hate EA. There are games they publish that I play, and enjoy. However, they're more like an old friend that borrowed money a long time ago and never paid me back.

Are Ultima, Wing Commander and Crusader really blatantly viable franchises anymore? Ultima lost a huge amount of goodwill with the last few games, the greasy masses probably aren't willing to buy joysticks to play Wing Commander and I don't remember Crusader being a huge hit. I could be wrong about that last one.

I might be out there, but I think the best prospect would be a Strike Commander sequel, something along the lines of Ace Combat.
 
I was speaking of the time after the final release in any of those franchises. Sequels were in the works, but subsequentially shot down - for whatever respective reasons - by EA.

Crusader was actually a fairly successful franchise at the time, but hit a hiccup during that transitional era between 2D and 3D and seemingly never recovered (ala Fallout 3, prior to being picked up by Bethesda - albeit with horrible financial decisions by Interplay).

At any rate, the IPs themselves were plenty viable for years. I'd say at least WC and Ultima were in good standing 'til the early 2000's. Even Ultima X was shaping up to look good, if 9 hadn't been so hampered by all the crap going on with Origin/EA at that time.

I just happen to think dumping them was a faithless marketing decision.
 
I don't know how viable they were - in both cases, EA basically issued an ultimatum... sell a million copies to prove the series still has what it takes. Wing Commander Prophecy came a lot closer than Ultima IX did, as far as I understand, but neither one hit the mark.

Strike Commander is another story - the game *never* caught on and it wasted a boatload of money... to the point that a Strike spinoff that was to act as a quick followup using the same technology, Phoenix Force, died well into development immediately afterwards.
 
Yeah, Strike Commander didn't have much to distinguish it from bigger flight sims of the time. I still have nightmares about Falcon.

At any rate, my biggest point is that the IPs themselves were viable, not necessarily the gameplay genres. There were many a creative direction these could have been taken in - especially Wing Commander - that never got the chance.

If you're on this site, then you can't disagree that so much more could have been done with Wing Commander. ;) For crying out loud, how many Pac Men has Midway chucked at us already?
 
Oh, yeah, absolutely - heck, they should be Pac-Manning out the original Wing Commander... kids should get Wing Commander 1 on those cheap little plastic pretend consoles that you plug into your TV!

Strike Commander was a spectacular game in terms of the technology and the movie-making... but it was almost two years late and it disappointed both the hardcore sim fans who expected it to be a super-accurate flying game... and reviewers who were burned by constant promises that it would just be another month until it was ready. (It was also the biggest if-you-don't-have-an-unreasonably-expensive-PC-then-you-can't-play-it game Origin ever did... and that's saying something.)
 
Oh, yeah, absolutely - heck, they should be Pac-Manning out the original Wing Commander... kids should get Wing Commander 1 on those cheap little plastic pretend consoles that you plug into your TV!

You have no idea how much I want that. I've even been contemplating dishing out cash for a PSP just so I can plug it into my 42" and play Replay.
 
EA is actually very good about experimental stuff, no matter what the slashdot-and-brie crowed insists... just because they capitalize on things like The Sims and Ultima Online doesn't mean that they didn't take a huge risk by developing those new concepts in the first place. Right now they're throwing an awful lot of money into Spore and Army or Two, which are both big untried 'concept' games.

Spore kinda looks intimidating. But what is Army or Two? Never heard of it.
 
Spore kinda looks intimidating. But what is Army or Two? Never heard of it.

It's actually "Army of Two." It's a shooter built from the ground up to revolve around co-op play.
 
You have no idea how much I want that. I've even been contemplating dishing out cash for a PSP just so I can plug it into my 42" and play Replay.

Just noticed you are from Manchvegas. I'm from Hampstead, NH (although I've moved to Woburn, MA)
 
Just noticed you are from Manchvegas. I'm from Hampstead, NH (although I've moved to Woburn, MA)


Cool! We're in the same neighborhood. I lived in Londonderry prior to Manch, and I work in Chelmsford.
 
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