chances of future wing commander game(s)

[Nickeninja]

Hi folks!

Maybe this has been discussed several times in the past, but let's do it again anyway ... in the light of mods as wing commander standoff being finished and wing commander saga coming out I guess either this or the next year, do you think we will se another wing commander game any time soon?

Do you think kick ass fan projects as wc saga and standoff affect the chances of EA picking up the franchise again?

regards!
Niclas

[Highball]

I would not call the franchise "dead in space," as Scotty from Star Trek once said, but the likelihood of another game coming out is rather slim. The story has pretty much been completed, and besides, the genre is simply not as popular now as it was 15 years ago. The popular genre now seems to be first person shooters, but there are several RPGs doing very well (Mass Effect 2, Fallout 3), which is what gives me a glimmer of hope for another WC at some point.

[Nickeninja]

You are right that the story of the kilrathi war has been completed. However IMO a new interesting story fighting the bugs alongside with the kilrathi could work, I always liked the cats, they would have to be a major part of the story. Maybe they could try to make the bugs a bit more interesting too.

I think as long as there is a good story a new wing commander game could be compelling to a lot of gamers and it could be released multi platform. And the multiplayer would of course have to be a big part of the game. Being able to play co-op online would kick ass.

Again, a great and intruiging story is the key.

[AD]

Given the time, since Secret Ops I think you can guarantee that any new game with involve the Kilrathi in some respect. Like Arena, it could potentially be a Kilrathi/Terran conflict of sorts but most likely they'll find some reason to go back to the Kilrathi War. Either it will be early in the timeline or a reboot of sorts... But I would say that the chances are as high as ever. I don't think the fan projects have much influence on that but they do give some indication of fan interest in the series, as does posting here at the CZ.

[Mace]

WC4 on the PS/3, if downloaded often enough, might also spark there is still money in the license. EA replay featured classics, including 2 wing commander games. A new game would have to live up to it's reputation; It should have cutting-edge graphics, and epic storyline and I do not think anyone would settle for less then FMV cutscenes, so that would be a big budget and a big risk to fund.

[ChrisReid]

EA's commitment to fmv cutscenes for the C&C series means it's definitely possible for WC, but "nobody would settle for less" is an exaggeration. There's a core of a few thousand people who might be outraged at the change, but the game's real success depends on more than a million other gamers who would be perfectly happy with cgi cutscenes like they see in every other game today.

We definitely wouldn't see branching plot choices in an fmv game today. If that's something you'd like, then your preference should be for a cgi story like mass effect.

We also don't necessarily need another "save earth from a huge Kilrathi fleet" story. WC1 had a great story that made you feel like you were a little part in the middle of a huge galaxy spanning multi decade war. You saw the war from your perspective on your carrier and its success campaigning across the Vega Sector. You could make a game with an amazing story that was all about a destroyer and its half squadron of fighters routing the Kilrathi from the Lesnick System.

[Tigerhawk]

Originally Posted by Mace

WC4 on the PS/3, if downloaded often enough, might also spark there is still money in the license. EA replay featured classics, including 2 wing commander games. A new game would have to live up to it's reputation; It should have cutting-edge graphics, and epic storyline and I do not think anyone would settle for less then FMV cutscenes, so that would be a big budget and a big risk to fund.

I've been out of it for a while...the WC4 you mention downloading on the PS3, is that the branching-watered-down PS1 version (i.e., having to defect to the Border Worlds, no choice but to do the Speradon missions, etc) or the fully-branching, PC-type version?

[frostytheplebe]

Originally Posted by Tigerhawk

I've been out of it for a while...the WC4 you mention downloading on the PS3, is that the branching-watered-down PS1 version (i.e., having to defect to the Border Worlds, no choice but to do the Speradon missions, etc) or the fully-branching, PC-type version?

Its the PS1 version. Wait... are you saying in the PC version you don't have to defect? What happens if you dont?

[AD]

Originally Posted by frostytheplebe

Its the PS1 version. Wait... are you saying in the PC version you don't have to defect? What happens if you dont?

You don't have to defect the first time... You get to fly a few missions, even one with seether. Then you are forced to either defect or fight an unwinnable mission where the Lex is destroyed. If you wait till then to defect Vagabond is already dead when you get to the Intrepid.

[Nickeninja]

EA's commitment to fmv cutscenes for the C&C series means it's definitely possible for WC, but "nobody would settle for less" is an exaggeration. There's a core of a few thousand people who might be outraged at the change, but the game's real success depends on more than a million other gamers who would be perfectly happy with cgi cutscenes like they see in every other game today.

I for one would be fine with CGI cutscenes, as long as it was well made.

[frostytheplebe]

Originally Posted by AD

You don't have to defect the first time... You get to fly a few missions, even one with seether. Then you are forced to either defect or fight an unwinnable mission where the Lex is destroyed. If you wait till then to defect Vagabond is already dead when you get to the Intrepid.

Well... yeah thats how it is on the PSX version too. You don't have to defect, you can stay on the Lex, but the second time you're offered a chance and you refused, the Lexington gets blasted.

[AKUMA1]

I reckon if there is enough "demand" for it, then the series may just come back, and why not? It's an expansive universe, you could have some rogue element within the Kilrathi race wanting to kick start a new war....or something along those lines, I always thought having the game based along the lines of Mass Effect in terms of non-flying sections and using the game Ace-Combat from Namco, as a template for the flying sections, and you've got y'self a quite decent combination there to go forward, I hope they do make another Wing Commander game! At the moment I am checking out the walkthrough of Special Operations 1 for Wing commander 2!

[JasonRocZ]

I agree with Chris I think it would definitely be much more interesting to have a smaller type of conflict and not some all out war.... I mean let's think about it....

Think of a game like Doom 3. It felt like it was an all out war...but you were only 1 marine on one base.... As long as there is a cool story line then you don't necessarily need some huge all out war type of engagements... (Although one here or there is pretty cool and brings some light to situations)....

What about Privateer.... There was no all out engagements... Granted you were only 1 pilot and you may face a squadron of Dralthi but....You weren't exactly downing Dreadnoughts. But there still was a war going on...

I guess my point is... You can have a pretty cool game when it's more focused on the main character and perhaps a few others, And there can still be a war going on.

[Mace]

Wing2 was already putting you in the seat of being the one person who could decide the outcome of the war, since both thrakhath and the emperor have a discussion about you.

A game I like is pacific strike, while you can influence the war, you are never "the main man"

[Szegedin]

Remastered versions of Wing 3 and/or 4 would be awesome, using the existing footage and voice assets for cinemas and mission events yet implanting an entirely new flight and graphics engine for gameplay...

mmm 3d cockpits in both WC3 and 4.....yes.

this would be (relatively) cheap and would help suss out how big the market is for space sims.....

[ChrisReid]

Originally Posted by Szegedin

Remastered versions of Wing 3 and/or 4 would be awesome, using the existing footage and voice assets for cinemas and mission events yet implanting an entirely new flight and graphics engine for gameplay...

mmm 3d cockpits in both WC3 and 4.....yes.

this would be (relatively) cheap and would help suss out how big the market is for space sims.....

If they were to invest in a new development team and engine, they might as well make a new game. A rerelease of the originals for modern systems would also give them valuable info on how popular the series is. Did you pick up Prophecy for the GBA or WC1/4 for the PSP?

[Jason_Ryock]

Originally Posted by ChrisReid

If they were to invest in a new development team and engine, they might as well make a new game. A rerelease of the originals for modern systems would also give them valuable info on how popular the series is. Did you pick up Prophecy for the GBA or WC1/4 for the PSP?

I'm assuming you mean a new Wing Commander game when you say 'make a new game' ...right?

[Szegedin]

Originally Posted by ChrisReid

If they were to invest in a new development team and engine, they might as well make a new game. A rerelease of the originals for modern systems would also give them valuable info on how popular the series is. Did you pick up Prophecy for the GBA or WC1/4 for the PSP?

Hmm I don't have a GBA or a PSP, so no.... - a new re-release does seem like it could be a good way to lay the technological foundation for a new game...

[Flashpoint]

Originally Posted by Szegedin

Remastered versions of Wing 3 and/or 4 would be awesome, using the existing footage and voice assets for cinemas and mission events yet implanting an entirely new flight and graphics engine for gameplay...

mmm 3d cockpits in both WC3 and 4.....yes.

this would be (relatively) cheap and would help suss out how big the market is for space sims.....

I hope they leave all the previous work alone. I don't wish to curse EA with the same tongue reserved for George Lucas.

If they make a new game, it should be a new game, even if it is a technical reboot.
TBH I think they should just add to the universe.
Go back to the Vega war maybe but onboard a diferent carrier, like the Kipling or something. It would be an easy way to expand the universe whilst not trampling upon established 'history'

[Farlander]

Originally Posted by Flashpoint

I hope they leave all the previous work alone. I don't wish to curse EA with the same tongue reserved for George Lucas.

If they make a new game, it should be a new game, even if it is a technical reboot.
TBH I think they should just add to the universe.
Go back to the Vega war maybe but onboard a diferent carrier, like the Kipling or something. It would be an easy way to expand the universe whilst not trampling upon established 'history'

If you don't want it Lucas-ified then prequels are not the way to go. I already know what happens with the Kilrathi war, and I don't want to play any more games set then. I want to see what happens next. Frankly, I would have liked to see them continue the story with the bugs and make a proper trilogy, although the opportunity for that is basically passed now.

The best thing they could do is go forward with a new war. If they absolutely must have the Kilrathi again, then it should be a second war that happens for some reason. This way they can avoid alienating new potential players, because they won't have to know a bunch of prior backstory and they can satisfy big fans of the series by moving forward. Personally, I'd like to see an entirely new enemy, though, with the Kilrathi being your allies, much like the Vasudans in Freespace 2 or the Klingons in the later Star Trek shows.

[ChrisReid]

Originally Posted by Farlander

If you don't want it Lucas-ified then prequels are not the way to go. I already know what happens with the Kilrathi war, and I don't want to play any more games set then. I want to see what happens next. Frankly, I would have liked to see them continue the story with the bugs and make a proper trilogy, although the opportunity for that is basically passed now.

I think prequels could be very well done. The Kilrathi War is the most popular WC setting, and we haven't been exposed to the vast majority of it. This goes back to the definition of an epic setting though. Do we need to have any influence on the war at large? Does it matter what war we're in? A Kilrathi conflict is practically a given, but the most powerful stories can be small scale.

They could make an amazing game that's all about escorting a medical transport somewhere - your family is on the ship, you're flying off a destroyer with just a few fighters aboard, suddenly you all find themselves trapped behind enemy lines and need to make it to safety, so you raid a small Kilrathi outpost for supplies, stumble upon a high tech weapons cache, accidentally find yourself rescuing a Confed corvette that then joins your flotilla, etc, etc, etc. Individual games don't have to be about a galaxy-spanning four-decade war... that's just the backdrop.

[Mace]

I just restarted WC3 on a PS/1 emulator, and shivers ran down my spine when "i" walked on the victory.

[AKUMA1]

Look to Mass Effect 2 as an inspiration is what I say..

[Bandit LOAF]

I could see EA reviving the IP to compete with Mass Effect, a la Dante's Inferno/God of War...

... if they didn't already own Mass Effect.

[AKUMA1]

I'm suprised Chris Roberts doesn't want to come back to what made his name!If anyone can revive it, he surely can...

[ChrisReid]

Originally Posted by AKUMA1

I'm suprised Chris Roberts doesn't want to come back to what made his name!

He's never said that, but it's a lot more complicated than wanting. Working out the licensing logistics is one issue, and the overall viability and marketability of a space sim game is another. Neither of these obstacles is a show-stopper, but they require quite a lot of work to overcome.

http://www.wcnews.com/news/update/2708

GameSpot: Looking back, do you wish you could revisit the Wing Commander universe, or do you feel you've taken that series as far as it can go?

Chris Roberts: I still love Wing Commander. Given the right opportunity, I would definitely revisit it.

[AKUMA1]

Interesting note there Chris with regards to chris roberts being interested in revisting the universe, but it's one thing saying it and another actually setting the wheels in motion so to speak! I personally think its well overdue, and I'm sure there would be viability for a space sim game, and as I've always mentioned if the likes of Star Trek can be successfully rebooted and brought back successfully into the "mainstream" than WC can definitly have a fighting chance in coming back to the fore!

[Glabro]

Sometimes I don't get the game industry. Why isn't there more room for retro-style gaming with a (late) 90s style budget for anything but arcade games? No RPGs, space sims...well, I've got to admit strategy is represented.

What I'm talking about is simply cutting down on the eye candy to develop engines that do not cater to the eye candy generation, but simply focus on making deep, complex games like Wing Commander for niche markets without the huge price tag developing games today carries.

I mean, 14 million for WC4 was huge at the time, but peanuts today. Of course you can't get professional actors or studios as "cheaply" as you used to, but then again you can offset that by publishing the game online as a download, and charging extra for print copies. And of course the prices of games have gone up as well, not just the dev. costs.

What I'm getting at is that developing a new WC2 or WC4 wouldn't really require mammoth budgets.

As for a new AAA grade Wing Commander release for the hundreds of millions games usually take up today, who knows, but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm sure we're all hoping that Arena was EA's way to test the waters...

[JasonRocZ]

I wouldn't mind a series of games similar to like Doom 3. But set in the WC Universe. First person shooter type stuff.

[Mace]

I'm sure this has been discussed, and a "AAA wing commander" would mean pushing everything cutting edge, and hey, you can work with relative unknown actors, but those are not the faces you'd want to see, nor would it be up to par with WC4. Sure you can do it low budget(like star wrecked, the pirkinning).

You need an audience to play it also. Arena's gameplay would be a lot more appealing to the average player because of the third person view vs. the cockpit views and preferred flightstick-based seat of the pants flying...

EA is a company and they want to make profit, to get everything I would want to see out of WC(6?), or a prequal based on the universe you would have to top the best parts of WC4 and WC:P, and that's even today a hell of a task. And then you would have to make profit from it. Probably include a HOTAS system(The Nintendo/sega/sony ports don't feel as "real" with the original controllers as they do with a flightstick). Though there have been very good combat sims on the xbox and the x360(Blazing Angels, Heroes of the pacific), back in the early 90's the idea of climbing in a space fighter, and actually "flying", was a kids dream, today it's ancient history. A "new" WC in my opinion defenitely should not be marked as "retro".

Unless they can sell at least a million copies upon release worldwide(I do not know if this is likely or not, since I do not know the market), and invest in a title that holds up to the original standards, I think EA will let the license rest.

Prequals would be the way to go, but a remake could get people more into the story. Unfortunately remakes are usually very, very bad. Just showing updated graphics as I have seen done a lot of times over the years mostly resolves in gameplay issues, and looks outdated in six months. Remaking WC1 with current tech would be one hell of a project, and there would be more QA staff then developers involved if they wanted to get it right.

[Glabro]

I'm sure this has been discussed, and a "AAA wing commander" would mean pushing everything cutting edge, and hey, you can work with relative unknown actors, but those are not the faces you'd want to see, nor would it be up to par with WC4. Sure you can do it low budget(like star wrecked, the pirkinning).

I'm confused by this. So...you agree with me? Or did you not fully understand what I said?

I was of the opinion that I wouldn't hold my breath for an AAA WC release, and thus suggested a low budget niche release online, but with all the story and drama and action, just with outdated flight engines. FMV is fine as well, it's a lot cheaper than CGI cutscenes of these days ala Mass Effect.

[Mace]

I agree with you. But you probably agree there would be no justice to the WC legacy by putting in a story made from cardboard with actors the equivalent of the "XF5700 MANTIS" space sim's FMV.

WC had always set the standards high(especially for me as a poor kid and a student), these days with consoles it should be easier and more affordable, but the game needs to giva a certain level of being involved, bonding with the characters, etc. (I could not care less if Alpha 1 died in x-wing, but I would for Knight, Sparrow, Vagabond, or Dallas, or care about the betrayal of Ralgha)

[Glabro]

Of course, and I don't think any of those elements require a huge budget.
That's my entire point. And....like I said, even a quality cast like in the previous games is cheap as heck compared to CGI.

[ChrisReid]

Originally Posted by Glabro

I mean, 14 million for WC4 was huge at the time, but peanuts today. Of course you can't get professional actors or studios as "cheaply" as you used to, but then again you can offset that by publishing the game online as a download, and charging extra for print copies. And of course the prices of games have gone up as well, not just the dev. costs.

$14 million is still $14 million, the price of games has gone down, and the market for PC games has shrunk. The retail price of Wing Commander 1 was $69.95 in 1990. If you were somewhere with a bunch of stores, you'd be lucky to find it on sale in the $50s. PC games today start at $50, and they're often quickly (and on launch day) discounted to $40-45. Games would need to be $85-115 dollars today just to have kept up with inflation.

Originally Posted by Glabro

I suggested a low budget niche release online, but with all the story and drama and action, just with outdated flight engines.

A flight engine is a flight engine, you don't save by making it "outdated." Art assets still need to be created, flight mechanics still need to be tested, it all still has to gel together and then it has to be supported. If you've followed our "making the game" series at all, you'd see that incredibly high quality models are made to start with, and then they are pared down to suit the technical limits of a game engine.

There's no "eye candy generation," or at least not any new one that didn't exist decades ago. Wing Commander 1, 2, 3, 4 & Prophecy were all dripping with eye candy in 1990, 1991, 1994, 1996 & 1997. The razzle dazzle flight engines sold the games back then just as much as any story and action. I don't see a savings in intentionally limiting your graphical ability, and I do see it hurting sales.

Originally Posted by Glabro

FMV is fine as well, it's a lot cheaper than CGI cutscenes of these days ala Mass Effect.

You can't talk about a low budget game and toss around FMV in the same sentence. Everything about Mass Effect is a big budget glistening pearl, but engine-rendered story is the cheap way to go (as in Secret Ops).

[Glabro]

With outdated I mean they could just use the Vision engine and modify it as time allows.

Nowhere did I state that the Wing Commander series wasn't pushing the envelope with graphics: I was around by WC1 and WC2 time and know that they were THE eye candy back then. I'm just saying that I expect the core WC players will settle for something that looks ten years old if the gameplay and story are pure WC.

Whether even that core market is enough to make a game for (naturally there'd be a bunch of new players as well), I don't know.
I do know that the market is probably too small for even something as "complex" as classic WC for an AAA release....but on the other hand, you only have to check out Ace Combat 6 on the Xbox 360 and imagine that as a WC game, just with the story and characters attached....Ace Combat still does well, and allows for both third and first person gameplay equally well.

So what's the main thing causing games to be so much more expensive these days? Inflation, of course, but it doesn't account for the 1000%+ budgets compared to the 90s. I assumed it's because of all the production values...
I'm 95% certain that doing Mass Effect-style conversations throughout the game isn't cheaper than FMV. Animating and lip synching the characters to act naturally takes a lot of time and money - we're talking about cinema quality stuff here, not stuff like Secret Ops where you only hear audio and see the ships, or stuff like Deus Ex (brilliant game, though).


Anyway, you could still have 2d art (Privateer style) characters as an alternative to FMV if that would be cheaper. I've always been of the opinion that 2d backgrounds were art at the end of the 90s.



So, I guess that leaves me (us) with two options. "Ace Commander" or Retro Commander. Which would you prefer, if you couldn't have a full-on WC "sim"?

[AD]

Originally Posted by Glabro

I'm confused by this. So...you agree with me? Or did you not fully understand what I said?

I was of the opinion that I wouldn't hold my breath for an AAA WC release, and thus suggested a low budget niche release online, but with all the story and drama and action, just with outdated flight engines. FMV is fine as well, it's a lot cheaper than CGI cutscenes of these days ala Mass Effect.

Lip Synching in-engine stuff like in Mass Effect is peanuts comparet to actually pre-rendering the same stuff. Paying someone to do that part doesn't compare to what render time costs for feature film quality effects. Not only that, FMV would need to render *every * single * possible * variation.

There's a number of reasons why you go the in-engine route though. For the most part it eliminates the break in immersion that happens when you have fancier looking stuff in the videos than the actual gameplay is just one reason.

The "Cheap" FMV isn't quite as cheap as you imagine it either. Partly they are also relying on set extension via... wait for it... CGI. And in these days of HD video in games, who actually won't laugh at cardboard sets or badly rendered ships?

It's been said already and I agree: Wing Commander's comeback will be all out. While a Niche market may pay for a half-way release, that will do nothing to earn the respect of the gaming masses in general, which - we must face it - is needed if Wing Commander is going to have any longevity in it's return.

[Glabro]

Very well, so essentially everyone's agreeing that games are "forced" into being projects worth tens of millions with expectations to sell a million or more.

It also seems that even here, people wouldn't want to see another WC2 or Privateer with, say, the Vision engine. The downloadable game / indie gaming is picking up speed fast, it's a shame if the games must be limited to arcade titles only.

An example of what I mean is the new Sam & Max by Telltale Games. I bet their budget wasn't gargantuan and I bet they made a profit - and the adventure genre is plenty retro.

[AD]

Originally Posted by Glabro

Very well, so essentially everyone's agreeing that games are "forced" into being projects worth tens of millions with expectations to sell a million or more.

It also seems that even here, people wouldn't want to see another WC2 or Privateer with, say, the Vision engine. The downloadable game / indie gaming is picking up speed fast, it's a shame if the games must be limited to arcade titles only.

An example of what I mean is the new Sam & Max by Telltale Games. I bet their budget wasn't gargantuan and I bet they made a profit - and the adventure genre is plenty retro.

I'm sure there is a market for that kind of space sim. You just won't see it set in the WC universe. That's why most of the "experiments" in the WC series are smaller titles with little story (Academy, Armada, Arena).

[ChrisReid]

Originally Posted by Glabro

With outdated I mean they could just use the Vision engine and modify it as time allows.

That's a really bad idea. I mean, I see where your heart is, and Standoff & HCl have done crazy incredible things with the Vision engine, but it is absolutely unsuitable for a company to use for making a game today.

There's no "just use the Vision engine" like it's some modern licensable Unreal software suite ready to go. It's a proprietary engine developed by a few guys back in 1996-7, and the people who used it and understand it have been gone from the company for a decade. Its graphical prowess was built around 3dfx, a video standard that died when the company basically went out of business almost ten years ago. Its other graphical/sound/input/etc implementation is built around an ancient version of DirectX, and it has some level of incompatibility with everything since Windows XP. The Standoff experts can speak to this further, but limitations on resolution (my cell phone today is higher res), textures, number of objects, etc are deal breakers for a professional release. It doesn't have multiplayer, which is also pretty much a requirement in 2010. And last but not least, all of its remnants are probably sitting on some type of unreadable tape drive in a lost cardboard box stacked under a hundred other cardboard boxes somewhere.

Yeah, you, me and a few hundred people who post here daily would love another Vision Engine game, but it's not marketable, practical or feasible. The next Wing Commander game will probably be a big budget AAA title, but it could be a game on a smaller budget too. If it is, then it could be something on the scale of Wing Commander Arena, which is awesome.

[Glabro]

Yeah, Standoff stands as a good example of the type of game I was thinking about. Just add spit and polish (professional quality 2d textures and voiceovers along with fixes and tweaks)...

But I guess see the main reason why it can't be done: licensing. Publishers like EA prefer to keep the license at rest rather than release something that looks outdated and not hip, because of the fear of devaluing the property. That's why it's full on or nothing.

Then again, there's WC Arena...and I know for a fact that in the eyes of Internet nerds everywhere, it devalues the property to the point of people calling it dead. (Of course, I have no problems seeing little 2d arcade multiplayer shootouts coexisting with proper installations of WC).

So basically, someone could make a game like I was describing as an indie release, but it would be Wing Commander in spirit only.

In any case, the future for space shooter sims is looking better than ever with the previews of several good physics-based games that are still shooters in spirit.

[AKUMA1]

It all depends have EA got the "bottle" ie are they brave enough to in some respects take that risk and re-launch Wing commander as if it was 1990 all over again? They've seen the success of Mass Effect and would be mad not to follow it's footsteps for the "non-combat" sections... As I have mentioned and Galbro has as well, Ace Combat could be used as a "model" to provide a robust flight action sections then they could be onto a winner...with Chris roberts as executive producer, just like Hideo Kojima has been for Metal gear and although not in the same genre of the WC games, it also has a massive fanbase and has been going strong even now since 1987.....

But of all this is just pipe dreams, I would love to just ask an EA rep and say hey, there's a BIG BIG space franchise you've got waiting in the wings, ready for re-launch make it happen? Or will the fans have to generate enough "clamour" to get the EA Execs notice?....

[GamesFuhrer]

I prefer the Kilrathi saga, and I would enjoy playing a game taking place before the breakout of the Kilrathi war and leading into the war (like a prequel, maybe flying as a young Tolwyn).

A game based on a sector other than Blair's would be nice too, or a game on the Kilrathi side similar to TIE Fighter. I'd also like to learn more about other species like the Firekkans, or maybe something about the Landreich or Border Worlds during the time period. It might cause a lot of retconning though.

[Glabro]

More good examples of what I meant with retro-style WC: The relaunches of the Monkey Island games. If Ron Gilbert (for example) was helming those projects, there's techically or budget-wise no reason they could have been new games instead of remakes.

I think that if any site on the Internet has any influence on generating fan clamour and that way possibly increasing the chances of new games, it's this one. That's why I'm contributing to this thread at least.

[AKUMA1]

Come on everyone lets launch an online petition see how many people we can get to bolster the chances of Wing Commander re-launched!!! If Star Wars can do it, then why not Wing Commander! I'd certainly put my name forward straight-away for this project to take place! Anyone else?

[Glabro]

While an admirable thought, is there any indication of online petitions ever achieving anything? I'm skeptical.

[AKUMA1]

Maybe especially if EA are not checking this site out, or are aware of it...its a matter of bringing all the fans together in some sort of way to get the request heard!...but I reckon its gonna take the fans for it to happen, I don't think EA has the franchise on their "TO-DO" list do you?

[Wedge009]

Petitions have been done before. Also, you cannot realistically compare the enormous fan-base of Star Wars across all its various incarnations to Wing Commander's, as great as this little community is.

[Glabro]

Star Wars? When what where? Is there a new Star Wars space sim that I haven't heard of?

Oh right, you meant that if Lucasarts isn't going to exploit their X-Wing heritage with a new space sim, chances are slim for Wing Commander. Sadness.

[ChrisReid]

Originally Posted by AKUMA1

Come on everyone lets launch an online petition see how many people we can get to bolster the chances of Wing Commander re-launched!!! If Star Wars can do it, then why not Wing Commander! I'd certainly put my name forward straight-away for this project to take place! Anyone else?

Maybe especially if EA are not checking this site out, or are aware of it...its a matter of bringing all the fans together in some sort of way to get the request heard!

Originally Posted by Glabro

While an admirable thought, is there any indication of online petitions ever achieving anything? I'm skeptical.

Right, anyone can put their name down on an internet petition. That doesn't really say much. EA is well aware that this website exists, and the biggest indicator that there's a market for more Wing Commander games is the activity level here. They can see how many daily hits the front page gets or how many posts appear at Crius.net Those kinds of metrics are better indicators of what kind of response there would be to a new Wing Commander game.

[LeHah]

Originally Posted by Glabro

Oh right, you meant that if Lucasarts isn't going to exploit their X-Wing heritage with a new space sim, chances are slim for Wing Commander.

Thats like saying the success of the last Star Trek movie was based on people liking the Star Wars prequels. One has nothing to do with the other, they're totally different animals.