reasonable predictions for a new WC game

meisdavidp

All your belief cannot absolve your sin.
Let's talk about what's likely to be the case if those rumors we heard about are true.

These are all guesses, but I'm trying to keep them realistic.

1. The game will in all likelyhood not be numbered officially. Unless I'm mistaken, neither was prophesy. The point here is that numbering in this particular case would only limit some of the audience. Some would wonder if they needed to play the earlier games first. For this to sell well amongst the people it needs to, the game will need to be approachable.

2. Will not take place during previous events, in other words, probably no Kilrathi (I'd almost go as far as saying it will steer clear of the nephilim as well).

3. Will be released for the XBox360. This goes without saying. I don't have a clue whether it will be ported to PC, but look at how EA runs things. Wing Commander is not nor has ever been a tech demo in the tradition of Far Cry or Crysis (yes it sold hardware, but I see a difference)

3.a. Will have been designed to play well on a gamepad. Whether they play nice with Ace Combat hardware we'll have to see, but console games sell better.

4. Will likely not have Mark Hamill. (not sure on that one, but I'd be surprised). Will probably have the same types of character, however.

Guesses: These are not as reasonable, but worth considering.

1. May have multiplayer.

1.a. if it does, the single player campaign may end up being somewhat dissapointingly short (not that we're likely to mind given a new wing commander game)

Anyone else have any guesses that you consider reasonable?
 
Hope for the best....prepare for the worst. :)
You never know whats cooking. Any chance we can get a 'point of EA' thing going to see how the game is progressing?
We hope, we pray, we wait .:confused:
 
I don't know if any of us can make educated guesses without any special insight.

Edit: But I don't want to spoil the fun of guessing what could be.
 
1. The game will in all likelyhood not be numbered officially. Unless I'm mistaken, neither was prophesy. The point here is that numbering in this particular case would only limit some of the audience. Some would wonder if they needed to play the earlier games first. For this to sell well amongst the people it needs to, the game will need to be approachable.

I would say that the jury is out on this -- the idea of removing numbering from games (and movies) was a late-90s fad whose time has passed. It's all up to marketing (and the game's concept, of course)... but if they want to sell WCX as being a return to the Halo-style serial storyline of the classic games then it might well be Wing Commander 5, 6, 7 or 0. They kept the numbers for C&C!

2. Will not take place during previous events, in other words, probably no Kilrathi (I'd almost go as far as saying it will steer clear of the nephilim as well).

I would agree with the statement but not the conclusion. I would go so far as to say the opposite - because they're one of the most familiar parts of the IP, the game *will* feature the Kilrathi. The bad guys will be cats, whether it's a prequel, a remake, a sequel or a focused sidegame (Armada, Academy, Arena, Privateer Battlefield WC, etc.)

3. Will be released for the XBox360. This goes without saying. I don't have a clue whether it will be ported to PC, but look at how EA runs things. Wing Commander is not nor has ever been a tech demo in the tradition of Far Cry or Crysis (yes it sold hardware, but I see a difference)

Agree with the statement, disagree with the history -- classical Wing Commander was the most famous game ever for forcing users to buy new computers. The only difference between WC and Crysis was that people actually bought new PCs for Wing Commander. :)

I would say that we will absolutely see it for the Xbox 360, *probably* for the PS3 and the PC and *maybe* for all the others (GBA/DS/PSP/NGage/Wii/cell phones/iPods.)

[QUOET]3.a. Will have been designed to play well on a gamepad. Whether they play nice with Ace Combat hardware we'll have to see, but console games sell better.[/QUOTE]

That goes without saying for the console port - but look at C&C3, which had a significantly different interface developed for the PC version. I imagine that a theoretical PC Wing Commander would be built with keyboard and mouse-centered controls in mind.

4. Will likely not have Mark Hamill. (not sure on that one, but I'd be surprised). Will probably have the same types of character, however.

Disagree -- like the Kilrathi, Hamill is one of the IP's most familiar elements (they almost had him advertising Arena!) That doesn't mean we should expect an FMV shoot (though that's most possible than it was several years ago)... but Mr. Hamill is an experience voice actor...

1. May have multiplayer.

If it's a full scale game it absolutely will -- you don't ship a AAA shooter without multiplayer...
 
Let's talk about what's likely to be the case if those rumors we heard about are true.

I have been out of loop, but what are the sources of rumors for the new game if it even holds true?

And if they are going to make a new one I pray they dont go the way they did with Arena. Leaving out most of the fun content created for fans.
 
And if they are going to make a new one I pray they dont go the way they did with Arena. Leaving out most of the fun content created for fans.

What didn't you like about Arena? Have you tried the capital ship mode yet? We'll probably get a bunch of players together next weekend, if you want to play it the way it was meant to be played.
 
No LOAF it wasn't the MP side that I found lacking. And to be honest Arena functions well as a multiplayer platform. Guess I was looking bit more in SP area, but as I understand that part was left out due money or time constrains? Anyway thats just my opinion, but im curios if there is something else coming? WH40K DoW series was almost used up, yet it got a 3rd expansion! So part of me is hoping that there is another WC game coming with, enjoyable story and singelplayer.
 
Well, I guess the same question still applies -- what was wrong with the single player stuff? It's a fun little action game...
 
My guess... it would be a continuation of the Nephilim war, since Star*Soldier left that history mostly untouched, as far as I remember. I don't think we'll see Casey again.
 
Well yes, the end of Star*Soldier's timeline requests us to pick up the next issue to find out more about the Nephilim War, which strongly suggests that they intend (or at least at the time intended) to flesh out the Nephilim War more completely in the next game, whether it be retrospectively in a timeline or by putting us in the middle of it.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
I would say that we will absolutely see it for the Xbox 360, *probably* for the PS3 and the PC and *maybe* for all the others (GBA/DS/PSP/NGage/Wii/cell phones/iPods.)
Yeah, I think that's likely, but will be dependent on the scope of and how integrated the online multiplayer component is going to be -- if the MP is built primarily for Live (not Arcade), then a PC release is more likely (because of Games For Windows, XNA, etc), however capability differences with PSN, may make that transition more difficult.

I'm actually leaning more towards a multi-platform (Xbox 360/PS3/PC) release than I was a couple of days ago, rather than an Xbox 360 exclusive or 360/PC combo. The reason being that EA was really bullish on PS3 uptake for 2008 in its recent Q3 Financial Results; this supplement (pdf) shows its own projections for share on the 360 declining considerably in North America for 2008 with its PS3 share largely remaining flat, while 360 share declines in Europe as its PS3 share grows. Also note EA's respectable PC share. This makes sense when coupled with EA's significant anticipated PS3 growth for 2008 in North America, and especially in Europe. I now suspect it will be very unlikely that a 'AAA' WC game released later this year or next would not have a PS3 release, unless the MP features restricted it to Live/PC.

Launching on the two big console platforms should also mitigate any 'losses' on the PC, although I think publishers have underestimated the appetite for a high-quality space-sim for some time and would be surprised by PC sales.
 
I'm actually leaning more towards a multi-platform (Xbox 360/PS3/PC) release than I was a couple of days ago, rather than an Xbox 360 exclusive or 360/PC combo.

I agree with this thinking - Wing Commander has always been a big seller in Europe, where the PS3 is becoming the choice console.

I'm sure it depends on more than that -- it's possible Microsoft could offer money or other incentives to make the game an Xbox360/Vista exclusive...

(It's also possible that the increased difficulty of PS3 development might doom such a project... much as the original Playstation did to its Prophecy port. EA must also be taking note that their PS3 triple-ports haven't been especially well received thus far. The problems with Orange Box would hopefully mean that EA would realize that they need to make a PS3 Wing Commander extra special.)

I will admit, I'd love a reason to buy a PS3...

(The other thing to consider regarding the PC port is that it just isn't the type of game that anyone is selling to PC users right now. I know how angry everyone gets about FreeLancer, but you have to realize that they *would* need some way to get around the flightsticks-only perception that the user base has... that could be anything from embracing the concept and packing in a joystick as the Ace Combat games do to developing a mouse-flight space game.)
 
Well, it would be a great excuse to reinvent the joystick. There is certainly some evidence to support that users are willing to interact with games using devices that stray from the norm. I think the Wii is a great example of this.

Now, I realize that the business case for developing, designing, and then giving away a new joystick with copies of the game would be a challenge to create. However, I think that it could be a great way to partner with a third party company willing to do that groundwork and eat part of that cost in exchange for good name recognition. Package the new stick with select game versions, and make it easily obtainable and available for purchase for the others.

As for the hardware itself, I envision a smaller and more modern interpretation of what we envision as a classic joystick. Something along the lines of the original Atari controllers, but lighter, thinner, and with more buttons and an accurate resistance curve. Design similar to some of Mac's latest keybords and mice. The key here would be to market the joystick as a solution for controlling games with other genres too. Maybe RTS and FPS could utilize it, if it were designed correctly.

This doesn't completely address the problem. I do agree that the perception that a joystick is required in order to enjoy the game would still have to be addressed. Maybe there is no way of doing both - but I like to think we could try.
 
Well, it would be a great excuse to reinvent the joystick. There is certainly some evidence to support that users are willing to interact with games using devices that stray from the norm. I think the Wii is a great example of this.

It's not a great analogy, because the Wii controller is ubiquitous -- if you're developing a Wii game you know that your potential audience has one. Now, keep count and see how many future releases are designed to use the Wii Fit board or the Donkey Kong bongos or the Xbox quiz buzzers...

The problem with joysticks isn't that they're a strange and cool new kind of toyp... it's simply that the audience doesn't have them anymore. By releasing a game that is perceived as needing a flight stick then you're narrowing your audience down from 100% of people meeting the system requirements to something like 2% -- before anyone has even had a change to judge the quality of your game.

Now, a truly special, truly amazing game can force the widespread adoption of an 'necessary' option controller... Wing Commander did, back in 1990 -- Guitar Hero is doing it today. I can't see EA (or anyone else, really) banking on this happening.
 
Might the game be big enough to pull off an anthology of sorts, follow the history of Wing Commander from the Tiger's Claw to the Concordia to the Victory, the Boarder Worlds conflict and the Nephilim? Also, since we already know the story how about playing through these events from another perspective? Still have Blair, still have all the characters we know and love, but why not have a new character, or characters, you play as and fly different missions?
 
I'd like to point out that even now we get posters who play through space sims on keyboard- I did it that was just fine with StarLancer not even knowing what I was missing until this past week. The key is to not stress the joystick, I should hope.

Hey, we CICers are half crazy (in a good way, I _must_ stress)- you can get a decent stick for $20. Donations to the "Joysticks for all!" foundation, anyone? =)
 
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