BREAKING NEWS: EA Announces... Something? (February 21, 2008)

[Bandit LOAF]

This could be the big one: Electronic Arts today announced that the company is developing a game which "reinvent(s) one of EA's most acclaimed classic franchises." The mystery title (codename "RedLime") is being developed for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC - who could ask for anything more? Like Wing Commander Arena, RedLime is being developed by an outside studio (Starbreeze Studios) with leadership from an EA production team. There are several possibilities as to exactly what this title could be: Syndicate, Cybermage, System Shock... but given recent industry rumors, the nature of development and the inclusion of PC with the planned platforms the one which seems mostly likely is ours: Wing Commander. Lets hope we hear more soon! Here's the official release:

EA Partners to Publish Upcoming Title for PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360 and PC

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 21, 2008--EA Partners today announced that it has teamed up with Starbreeze Studios, the award-winning developers of The Darkness and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay to reinvent one of EA's most acclaimed classic franchises. The title, with the internal code name Project RedLime, is being developed for the PLAYSTATION(R)3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360(TM) system from Microsoft and PC.

"EA Partners is thrilled to hand over the keys to one of EA's most acclaimed franchises to Starbreeze Studios," said David DeMartini, vice president and general manager of EA Partners. "Starbreeze's pedigree is undisputed and we could not be happier to welcome them to the EA Partners family. The team is creating an incredibly innovative take on a classic property and EA Partners is poised to deliver a blockbuster launch on the global stage."

"EA Partners gives independent developers like Starbreeze access to EA's unrivaled global publishing infrastructure, letting us focus our energy on what we do best - making incredible games," said Johan Kristiansson, CEO of Starbreeze Studios. "We're already deep in development on Project RedLime and the team at EA is giving us the time we need to perfect our vision. We're excited to bring a new perspective and gameplay innovation to this beloved fiction."

Additional information about the Starbreeze project will follow in the coming months. For more information about other EA games, please visit http://info.ea.com.

Developers interested in working at Starbreeze can search available jobs at http://www.starbreeze.com

About Starbreeze Studios

Starbreeze is a videogame developer based in Uppsala, Sweden. The studio was founded in 1998 and currently employs a staff of about 75. The team has developed action/adventure games including 2004's "The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay" (Xbox and PC) which averaged a 90% Metacritic rating, and 2007's "The Darkness" (Xbox 360 and PS3) which averaged an 82% Metacritic rating.

--
Original update published on February 21, 2008

[ZFGokuSSJ1]

The guys who voted 2008 a "poor" year for Wing Commander are kicking themselves now.

[MajorCamKollent]

Wow, this really made my day. I can't wait to hear more about this.

[ELTEE]

SWEET - what a way to start my workday!

I hope this does not betray my ignorance, but what do we know about this independent studio? Do we know that they are good?

[Mekt-Hakkikt]

Great, really great. I mean, I am still only cautiously optimistic but it sounds very good.

I also would be very happy with a new Syndicate or Crusader but I am crossing my fingers for a new WC.

[Dundradal]

This is fantastic news!

Let's all hope it's a WC!

[Aginor]

fingers crossed. I want a WC!

(But even if it isn't a WC game, it could still be something great.)

[Conrad]

It will be interesting to see what happens with this one!

[Blaster]

Even if it’s not a new Wing Commander, it sounds like good news and probably increases the chances of a new game in the future.

Of course I really really hope that it is a new WC game.

100 posts! I feel special.

[GreyViper]

Well these are the same guys who made The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay & The Darkness (video game), so Id say their quality should be top notch. Interestingly enough they are working on The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. It would be great IF they made another WC game, but Im guessing its going to be some other title.

[Starman]

Great news - I really hope it is a new Wing Commander.

[JasonRocZ]

Hey isn't "Starbreeze Studios" the name for Howard Days new production company? teehee

[Howard Day]

In Sweden? I wish. Nope, I am officially in no way involved in this.

[Andrewas]

One problem with starbreeze doing a Wing Commander game - their site says that they do all their work in the Starbreeze engine, and they are not going anything resembling a classic WC game in that, it seems to be a BSP engine (Think quake, Unreal Tournament, Source, etcetera) best suited for indoor environments. Of course, theres no reason you couldn't do a wing commander FPS game, but that engine wold be better turned to Syndicate or System shock.

Of course, a new Syndicate or System Shock is just about as good news as a new Wing Commander would be, so its all good, whatever game they are working on.

[Bandit LOAF]

You have to think like a game developer -- from a technical standpoint Wing Commander is nothing more than an FPS without a 'floor'. There's been plenty of talking about doing a standard Wing game using the Unreal engine in the past...

[floundericiousMI]

Right, get more abstract...

All the "engine" is there for is to create the "construct" (think back to "The Matrix"...remember the "construct" they used as a training program? It could simulate almost anything...all it did was provide the framework, some basic physical relationships, etc.) within which you build the game.

What's the difference between the player "running" across a "floor" and "flying" through "space"? Gravity (vs. zero-gee or modified "zero"-gee), physical constrants (the floor surface vs. open space), whatever graphics you use to represent the player (a "fighter" or a "marine"?)

What's the difference between the player shooting a pulse rifle vs. firing a tachyon cannon on a fighter? not much...there's a certain amount of "ammo"...the projectile travels at a certain relative velocity...there's a certain "reload time"...when it hits an object, it interacts with it depending on relatively simple rules....

What's the difference between watching two capital ships battle it out vs. watching groups of tanks slug one another to pieces? Again, really not much...

[AD]

Originally Posted by Andrewas

One problem with starbreeze doing a Wing Commander game - their site says that they do all their work in the Starbreeze engine, and they are not going anything resembling a classic WC game in that, it seems to be a BSP engine (Think quake, Unreal Tournament, Source, etcetera) best suited for indoor environments. Of course, theres no reason you couldn't do a wing commander FPS game, but that engine wold be better turned to Syndicate or System shock.

Of course, a new Syndicate or System Shock is just about as good news as a new Wing Commander would be, so its all good, whatever game they are working on.

Also, there's a source mod that specifically mixed FPS gameplay and space combat. The main thing that really kept it from working for me was the space combat controls. Other than that, the mod is a definite proof of concept. I can't say whether the two distinct sides of the game melded that well ( I don't think they did really) but it goes to show that FPS engines certainly can work for space combat.

[Andrewas]

Yes, they can be made to work for space combat, but none of the strengths of a BSP engine apply to that environment. Its not even worth generating a BSP tree, because the optimum tree is one huge leaf covering the entire play area. (Unless asteroids count as static terrain, but they are generally hideous shapes to carve with, when something like that turns up in an FPS level its normally explicitly subtracted from the world so that it doesn't effect the tree).

In short, its the wrong tool for the job. If its all you have, you can make it work. If you have the choice, you would find a better tool. And surely EA have a choice here. Which makes me suspect that, given the studio they chose and the tools used by that studio, they aren't making a classic wing commander game. Normally, Id be unhappy with that conclusion, but EA control a number of franchises, and there are many I would like to see brought back.

[Jason_Ryock]

Originally Posted by Andrewas

Normally, Id be unhappy with that conclusion, but EA control a number of franchises, and there are many I would like to see brought back.

I would stretch that to say that the revival of even one "Classic Gaming Series" is a step in the right direction for a new WC game. Whatever the game is, if it's successful, it would increase the chances of another WC Game being produced.

[Bandit LOAF]

In short, its the wrong tool for the job. If its all you have, you can make it work. If you have the choice, you would find a better tool. And surely EA have a choice here. Which makes me suspect that, given the studio they chose and the tools used by that studio, they aren't making a classic wing commander game. Normally, Id be unhappy with that conclusion, but EA control a number of franchises, and there are many I would like to see brought back.

You have to be pretty intentionally negative to decide that with the available information (that said, I would expect to see any new Wing Commander have some 'first person' element in addition to the space combat...).

[PredatorW]

If you look at the Arena announcement link on the front page (http://www.wcnews.com/news/2007/02/22), you'll notice that this new announcement comes one year after Arena has been announced.

[Sphynx]

The word that is most curious to me here is "reinvents." Notice it is not revives, or any other word that would mean to bring back the way it was, necessarily. This is quite curious if it is a WC title. It would suggest that there will be something about it unlike any previous WC title (although one would hope that it contains enough of the elements of what WC games have been to this point).

I agree that it is likely there could be some FPS aspect. In my imagination, the first thing that appeared upon hearing this looked like a sort of "Battlefield: Wing Commander." Although I would certainly hope that if they took this route, they would still include a single-player story (more than just the outline of a story used in the Battlefield series).

I guess another option would be to through in an RTS element as well (if you are the CAG, this could make sense, although I would still want the ability to climb in a cockpit).

Another possiblity is that it may be an actual revisioning of the Wing Commander Universe: going back to its start and doing things somehow differently.

But I think I am putting the cart way ahead of the horse with these wonderings.

Oh well. I think I can rest assured that reinvents does NOT mean that the new elements will have anything even vaguely Pokemon-esque about them (famous last words).

[Manboy]

A Starbreeze Wing Commander title would be fantastic given their previous games. Though I do think they would be suited to the Crusader series looking back upon their old games, I have no doubt whatsoever that these guys can pull off a A+ Wing Commander title if they tried. Now we wait and see - My fingers are crossed!

[Bandit LOAF]

The word that is most curious to me here is "reinvents." Notice it is not revives, or any other word that would mean to bring back the way it was, necessarily.

I wouldn't worry about that too much at this point -- "reinvents" (along with "reimagines") is a current-generation favored PR buzzword which is used without the understanding that it angers sci fi geeks.

[Kevin Caccamo]

YYYYEESSSSS!!! If it's the new WC title and it's being released for the PC, W00TAGE!!1!

[Haliwali]

Please be WC .Please be WC. Please be WC. Please be WC. Please be WC.

[Ghost]

So when an official word about this release will be made?

[NinjaLA]

from the above article:

"Additional information about the Starbreeze project will follow in the coming months. For more information about other EA games, please visit http://info.ea.com."

how about then?

Originally Posted by Bandit LOAF

I wouldn't worry about that too much at this point -- "reinvents" (along with "reimagines") is a current-generation favored PR buzzword which is used without the understanding that it angers sci fi geeks.

I hope your right and they just mean a revival of the series. When I first read that word all I could think is that they were just going to "remake" whatever franchise they're doing from the beginning.
Throwing out everything already done and starting fresh. So if they did that to Wing Commander we'd all have to learn a whole new canon.

If they did mean "reinvents" in the bad way then I would doubt they wouldn't do it with Wing Commander. Only because of all the research they did for Arena and its manual (why would they go though so much trouble only to throw it all out?). From the codename "RedLime" I immediately thought of Crusader, and since that series has been dead for a while I think it could be "reinvented" without pissing too many people off. Also I think a series like Crusader would be more of Starbreeze's specialty.

Oh well, guess we're just going to have to wait and see...

[Pedro]

I really did enjoy Riddick and The Darkness was full of style, flair and passion from the developer, a few design mistakes hindered it but nothing that would translate to a space combat title.

As LOAF said the engine isn't a problem, a FPS requires more sophisticated culling, in space combat a few LODs and the most basic of frustum culling and you're golden; it might just give them extra flexibility than a developer starting from scatch wouldn't have (such as the ability to explore your carrier?). I really can't see the negative in a developer having more tools are their disposal.

I'll say to the death that the Wii would be an excellent new home for space combat (control wise if not audience wise), but even if this is THE announcement I won't give up hope for a port/ spin-off some time in the future.

[Bandit LOAF]

Wii/handheld/etc. ports do seem to be announced later these days -- and they'd probably be handled by a second group.

The Darkness is the closest I've come to wanting a PS3 game -- because of the absolutely genius idea of putting public domain movies on the disc to play on in-game screens..

[Sphynx]

Originally Posted by Bandit LOAF

I wouldn't worry about that too much at this point -- "reinvents" (along with "reimagines") is a current-generation favored PR buzzword which is used without the understanding that it angers sci fi geeks.

I will take some reassurance in this, then.

[ChrisReid]

Originally Posted by Sphynx

I will take some reassurance in this, then.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I hope your right and they just mean a revival of the series. When I first read that word all I could think is that they were just going to "remake" whatever franchise they're doing from the beginning.
Throwing out everything already done and starting fresh. So if they did that to Wing Commander we'd all have to learn a whole new canon.

If they did mean "reinvents" in the bad way then I would doubt they wouldn't do it with Wing Commander. Only because of all the research they did for Arena and its manual (why would they go though so much trouble only to throw it all out?).

The good thing is that nobody's out there trying to make bad games and screwy experiences. If there's any underlying meaning to the word at all, and there's not much reason to believe there is, then it's a neat opportunity to dream about all the exciting and innovative new ways of experiencing Wing Commander there could be.

[Sphynx]

True, and that is the attitude in which I am trying to approach this. Certainly, there is no one out there who wants to make a bomb, especially with the great care for detail that was shown in the latest WC release. I can say I am confident that whatever they do, they will do it very well. I'm just curious about how much they have decided to innovate and how they have chosen to do so.

Nonetheless, I will gladly welcome a new Wing Commander PC title, and say this: it's about time! There was a time when I thought it was really over, but I'm glad I always allowed myself to hope. This just feeds thathope. Certainly, I feel much more excitement than I do any sort of unease. I just hope my system is buff enough to run it, if it is a WC title.

[Max Gene]

All I have to say about this whole thing is that it's a dang good thing that it was announced for the PC because I just spent a good chunk of cash finally obtaining my first graphics card and if this was a console only party I'd personally gnaw on one of the cash registers at work until my brains fell out. Which is not to say I hate console gaming, my gamecube still works great for smash but I don't want to play a WC game on one... and can anyone say mod city?

So now I guess we just hope to death that this is a WC game, because this is the best news I've had in well over a year if that's the case.

[jaeger]

redwood city? that aint far from my house... hrmmmm roll up in the beer truck to distract them.... leave doors open... do some recon... loose my job.... its worth it! just thinking that wing commander might be comin back to the pc make me... wanna... drink more to celebrate! oh yeah I currently deliver beer. no its not that cool of a job becuase I dont get to take breakage home... but possible new wing commander?!?!?! besides arena?????? yay.

[Cardinal]

Originally Posted by PredatorW

If you look at the Arena announcement link on the front page (http://www.wcnews.com/news/2007/02/22), you'll notice that this new announcement comes one year after Arena has been announced.

Hmmm...if this announcement turns out to be another WC game, perhaps Feb. 22 should become a community holiday.

Best news I've heard all day. I'm quivering in anticipation.

[eddieb]

Originally Posted by Andrewas

Yes, they can be made to work for space combat, but none of the strengths of a BSP engine apply to that environment. Its not even worth generating a BSP tree, because the optimum tree is one huge leaf covering the entire play area. (Unless asteroids count as static terrain, but they are generally hideous shapes to carve with, when something like that turns up in an FPS level its normally explicitly subtracted from the world so that it doesn't effect the tree).

In short, its the wrong tool for the job. If its all you have, you can make it work. If you have the choice, you would find a better tool. And surely EA have a choice here. Which makes me suspect that, given the studio they chose and the tools used by that studio, they aren't making a classic wing commander game. Normally, Id be unhappy with that conclusion, but EA control a number of franchises, and there are many I would like to see brought back.

There's some amount of overlap, and it might be possible from using a FPS engine.
But as a programmer, I'd want to optimize the algorithms and data structures. AI and collision detection depend quite a bit on the environment you are in.

[Pedro]

Originally Posted by eddieb

There's some amount of overlap, and it might be possible from using a FPS engine.
But as a programmer, I'd want to optimize the algorithms and data structures. AI and collision detection depend quite a bit on the environment you are in.

A well designed game will be split into code which is reusable in any game the company produces, code which could be used in a similar game, and game specific code. Just about every company these days has multiple projects on the go at once, as often as not in very different genres, but still share a common codebase. It would be easier for them to work on another FPS, which may indicate this isn't WC, but if it is WC its really isn't an issue.
You possibly *could* optimise engine code for a specific game, but few developers would willingly limit themselves in such a manner.

[BrynS]

Starbreeze Studios mention Project RedLime in their end of 2007 report (pdf; released yesterday).

There's this line on P.4:

”Project RedLime” med EA
Det projekt som har kodnamn ”Project RedLime” drogs igång i november 2007, och befinner sig fortfarande i förproduktionsfasen. Förläggare är Electronic Arts.

which translates as:

"Project RedLime" with EA
The project codenamed "Project RedLime" was started in november 2007, and is still in the pre-production phase. Publisher is Electronic Arts

There's also a paragraph on P.3 which seems to expand on the publishing arrangement:

Vi kan nu meddela att vår förläggarpartner för det nya spelutvecklingsavtal som undertecknades i
november är Electronic Arts. Projektbudgeten är den största i Starbreezes tioåriga historia. Vi gläder
oss mycket över detta avtal med EA, som är den ledande förläggaren i branschen. EA besitter bland
annat en stark marknadsförings- och distributionsapparat, som gör att de flesta av deras releaser
uppvisar goda försäljningssiffror. Genom att samarbeta med just EA ökar sannolikheten väsentligt att
vårt spel kan sälja tillräckligt stora volymer för att Starbreeze skall uppnå säljroyaltybonus.

[Bandit LOAF]

It's also worth noting that the website's claims about the "Starbreeze engine" clearly haven't been updated in quite a while -- it describes a cross-platform engine that's being used on the *last* generation of consoles (Xbox/PS2/GameCube.)

It also certainly doesn't account for something like being involved with an EA project -- the fact that they used the "Starbreeze Engine" on all their projects in 2003 doesn't mean that they would be absolutely unwilling to use something a partnership agreement with EA gives them access to (... like Unreal?) It's an interesting thing to note, but it's definately not a crushing argument in either direction.

But let me stress again that there will probably be some first-person aspect in Wing Commander X -- this is something Oritin and Digital Anvil wanted to do time and time again... and it's something that seems necessary today. One of the issues with space sims is that space-repeat is boring... and static gameflow scenes for navigating character interaction aren't very exciting, either. Even one of the new StarCraft games has a walk-around-between-missions environment, IIRC.

[Red Dragon]

http://www.videogamer.com/news/21-02-2008-7578.html

EA Partners has announced it has teamed up with Starbreeze Studios, developer of The Darkness and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, to reinvent one of EA's most acclaimed classic franchises.

The game is currently being referred to as Project RedLime and is in development for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

"EA Partners gives independent developers like Starbreeze access to EA's unrivalled global publishing infrastructure, letting us focus our energy on what we do best - making incredible games," said Johan Kristiansson, CEO of Starbreeze Studios. "We're already deep in development on Project RedLime and the team at EA is giving us the time we need to perfect our vision. We're excited to bring a new perspective and gameplay innovation to this beloved fiction."

Look out for additional information on the secretive project in the coming months. We're having a guess that the classic EA franchise is Syndicate

.

[BrynS]

Yeah, the Starbreeze engine was pretty advanced for Riddick on the Xbox and then PC (in late 2004): IIRC it was one of first games to use soft shadows and could really bring a high-end rig of the day down to its knees. Whatever Starbreeze have been working on should be neat as Riddick was a great change to the monster closets of Doom 3 and the tight, linear cinematics of Half Life 2; well worth checking out if you haven't played it!

[Bandit LOAF]

Syndicate is a possibility - if we take EA CEO (I can't spell his last name at 7 AM...)'s keynote literally then they're probably planning on reviving one Origin, one Westwood (C&C - and how!) and one Bullfrog property.

On the other hand, while it has its fans, Syndicate seems a heck of a lot more obscure than Wing Commander.

[Red Dragon]

I bought Syndicate after a few friends told me it was a "great" game. Personally, I tried it a few times but could never really get into it. The game finally ended up in the bin

[Aginor]

I guess they'll make a first person shooter with the syndicate flair in it.
(But I hope it is another WC anyway....)

[Bandit LOAF]

The biggest strike against Syndicate is the fact that the article is about revising a *franchise* -- which Syndicate isn't (also, the fact that Syndicate was never as big as the internet makes it in retrospect -- the IP was ultimately dumped in favor of Origin's Crusader...) Wing Commander is one of the few EA IPs that you might consider a franchise in the media sense...

[LeHah]

Originally Posted by Bandit LOAF

The biggest strike against Syndicate is the fact that the article is about revising a *franchise* -- which Syndicate isn't (also, the fact that Syndicate was never as big as the internet makes it in retrospect -- the IP was ultimately dumped in favor of Origin's Crusader...)

Sad but true. I knew no one aside from two close friends who played Syndicate, but they seemed to come out of the woodwork in later years (Most who played Syndicate Wars loathed it, but I thought it was a fun game).

To myself, Syndicate is as classic a PC game as you can get (though this may be etched into my brain since it came on a EA disc along with Wing Commander 2, Strike Commander and an Ultima game as well!)

[JasonRocZ]

I thought EA was going to announce a new Road Rash game!!! that'd be a hot item......but being the WC fan that I am....I can only hope for it to be WC

[JasonRocZ]

Originally Posted by Howard Day

In Sweden? I wish. Nope, I am officially in no way involved in this.

Since some of the work you've done on some of the awesome models.......they should. ....they'll just find a few crack crazy programmers to do a new flight engine of sorts and things will be just fine