Directional Pad

EA announces Wing Commander Arena (but don’t get excited)

Earlier this week, there were reports that the ESRB had issued a rating for an unexpected title from EA: "Wing Commander Arena". It told us that it was from EA, it had fantasy violence, and it would be on the 360. The internet, of course, exploded with fanboy speculation. Is it going to be a full retail game or Marketplace? Is it a port or a full new game? And most importantly: should we really get excited? I mean, this is EA we're talking about.

As is usually the case, that last one really was the most important question, and a lot of people are going to be pissed.

GameVideos has the first footage of the game (this link might work better), and I have very mixed emotions about it.

On one hand, this is not Wing Commander. This does not deserve to have the Wing Commander name on it. It doesn't even have six degrees of freedom. It doesn't have an in-ship view. Hell, the only resemblance it has to Wing Commander is "It has space ships in space".

On the other hand, it looks a nice game, and it wouldn't have angered anyone if they would have just given it a new name. That's all they'd have to do. But they didn't, because they're EA, and they've got the rights to 8 billion classic game licenses, so they might as well use them. Why come up with new IP when you've got Wing Commander on the shelf, right?

The game seems to play a lot like I'd expect a 3D SubSpace to: you fly around a 2D plane in space and shoot things (Other people, asteroids, etc). EA's press release indicates that there'll be 8 maps and team deathmatch, free for all, and dueling modes. Release is slated for this summer.

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