[aldo_14]

Tolwyn is correct.

Selective memory?

Heh, more likely they were given the barest of background material to work from.

[Flipside]

It looks like Gaia Industries use a standard graphics engine for their games...

http://uk.media.xbox360.ign.com/media/857/857555/img_4161482.html

That's a shot from Street Trace NYC. And while I'm on the subject, why does their texture artist outline everything in black?

[DaBrain]

I blame the coder! 

Doesn't look like something an artists could do.

[Commander Zane]

I think its safe to say that after this comes out it will be the end of Wing Commander.

Yeah, I'd have to agree. The movie did enough damage, this will just kill what's left...
Too bad, Wing Commander was the greatest of its time...

[redsniper]

And while I'm on the subject, why does their texture artist outline everything in black?

looks like cel-shading to me...

[Flipside]

I blame the coder! 

Doesn't look like something an artists could do.

I'm not so certain, look at the building behind the skater in that picture, what would you say the resolution of that image is? 64 x 128 maybe? That speaks of either poor mipmapping or an inexperienced texturer, though there is always the possibility of specification error at the design stage.

I've never played these guys games, so I'll reserve judgement on them, retro isn't always a bad thing, my guess is that EA feels that 'Unreal Tourney in Space' is a good way to attract new faces to the WC franchise (Also, I'll be interested to see whether the multiplay contains the usual EA requirement of streaming ad capability - The other reason EA likes multiplayer).

Personally, I don't like the look of it, the capship battles talk of completing 3 'layers' of capship, after which it explodes, sort of like fighting the Bosses in old 2D side-shooters, fun in the short time I don't doubt, but not really using the environment to the full. It's a quick-reflex arcade game, with power-ups etc. My concern is that the release of Arena, using the Wing Commander name, could actually damage the label 'Space Combat Sim'.

Edit : Yeah Cel Shader is a strong possibility, on inspection, those black lines go around the character model as well, which suggests post-processing rather than texture.

[Bobboau]

I've got a nasty suspicion that rather than being the rebirth of the series, this could very well end up the final nail in the coffin.

ARGGG!!! WC kiled teh genrah!!!

[Flipside]

That would be strangely ironic, all things considered....

[Sphynx]

Tolwyn is correct.

Selective memory?

Perhaps. Sloppy work is also another possibilty. They also made some other misakes, saying that in the original WC you could upgrade your armor, shields, weapons, etc. That was only possible in Privateer and Privateer 2, and the closest thing you could do to that in othe WC titles was choose your missile loadout in WC3 and 4. I was a little surprised that some of the "big gun" WC fans who jump on other inaccuracies like a junk yard dog on a T-bone steak let these errors pass by without so much as a warning shot across the bow.

Another bit of irony: among some hard core WC fans, some of the biggest critiques of FS has been a lack of characters and shallow story line. As far as I can tell, Arena has no characters and no real story line to speak of. Even Academy had some characters you were familiar with, and even Armada had a bit of a plot. But from what I am seeing it is just missing here.

You know, I might even feel a little differently about it if it had actually been made 3D. Even that little change would have helped. It still would have felt more like Star Fox than WC, but it would have made a difference. But each time I try to like it, the flat space concept just comes back to haunt me and reminds me that it will be very hard for a WC video game to feel like WC to me if it isn't 3D.

Maybe if they marketed it as an arcade game that people from within the WC universe play when they are off duty, I might be able to bend my mind... I have really tried to like the concept, and every now and then I will get a spark, but it just fades away. I tried, I really tried.

[gevatter Lars]

Some of the fighters look ok, when viewed in the selection screen. The caps look awefull. The Midway has way to much strange details added to it. Its has become also quite fat.
Well we will see what explanation they will have for that.

[Flipside]

Middle Age Spread

[gevatter Lars]

Ah yes that explains it ^_^
Takeing a look again at the Midway...I could life with it except these spiky things and the round boxes I can't make any use of.

[DaBrain]

Some of the fighters look ok, when viewed in the selection screen. The caps look awefull. The Midway has way to much strange details added to it. Its has become also quite fat.
Well we will see what explanation they will have for that.

Hehe, I just wrote the same thing on CIC before I've checked this thread.

Weird/useless details = No no

[Commander Zane]

Some of the fighters look ok, when viewed in the selection screen. The caps look awefull. The Midway has way to much strange details added to it. Its has become also quite fat.
Well we will see what explanation they will have for that.

It's not that it's too fat, it's that it's now a short, stubby P.O.S. And the fighters are absolutely terrible...They ruined the Rapier design AGAIN just like the movie did. The game's just going to finish the damage the movie caused. I'd hate to see the Bengal Strike Carrier's design now...

[Crazy_Ivan80]

not to mention the sillyness they did by mentioning that whole Pilgrim-thing-turd.

I don't know why but people don't get it: The movie may have been Wing Commander, but it is to remain seperate from the games.

and incidentally: the CIC chiefs are fanboys.

[NGTM-1R]

and incidentally: the CIC chiefs are fanboys.

No, they're sellouts. Any fanboy worth his salt would be screaming pure bloody murder.

* ngtm1r is far more familar with fanboy behavior then he'd like.

[Commander Zane]

not to mention the sillyness they did by mentioning that whole Pilgrim-thing-turd.

I don't know why but people don't get it: The movie may have been Wing Commander, but it is to remain seperate from the games.

and incidentally: the CIC chiefs are fanboys.

It can't be seperate from the games if the movie had nearly every character from Wing Commander 1. The story (If I'm right.) also had the same plot: Kilrathi attack in Vega, Confederation pushes them back away from Vega.

[Sphynx]

Well, in some ways that is true. In other ways it ripped glaring contradictions into the story. For example, in the movie Bossman died before Blair ever met him. In the game, Blair and Bossman flew quite a few missions together and became friends. In the movie, Paladin was already in special ops when Blair came to the Tiger's Claw. In the games, that didn't happen 'till WC2, Paladin was a pilot aboard the Claw in WC1. In the game, Rapiers are not jump capable, in the movie they are. In the movie, Hunter and Blair don't get along. In the game, they are friends and take out a Kilrathi station together. In the movie, Knight dies very early in Blair's career. In the game, he is still their in the second secret missions part. That is not to mention that the Tiger's Claw looks different, there was a total re-visioning of the universe, etc. I could go on.

I know some people who would fight me to the deat h on this, but it I think the movie was more of a re-visioning of the game universe than a coherent part of the game universe. Nothing wrong with that in principle, it just gets sticky if you try to make the two stick together.

[Commander Zane]

I remember that much from what little of Wing Commander 2 I played. And yes, I know the Tiger's Claw looked different...it looked like a green paper towel roll...that opened up to let Rapiers take off and land...

[Ace]

not to mention the sillyness they did by mentioning that whole Pilgrim-thing-turd.

Yeah... that was... stupid...

Honestly the movie would have been quite a bit better if:
It focused on say the McAuliffe missions of WC1.
Keep the ship designs like WC1, but have them a lot more darker, worn, and grittier. (so the bright greens are very... very... drab) Similarly uniforms and sets somewhat similar to the cutscenes in-game but made darker.

Having the Kilrathi ships look more like the ones in WC3 was fine... but the cats themselves needed to keep the overall red coloring and a look similar to WC3. Use armor to make them more menacing...

Ditch the submarine movie "shh! be quiet in space" crap. The whole hiding in a crater and 'depth charges' bit was somewhat fun and clever, but really the whole sequence should have been reworked into a cat and mouse game around a gas giant system and its closest moon. If some 'submariner' stuff was needed having the ships duking it out in the outer atmosphere of a gas giant (fighters inside the ship, say this is done as a desperate move due to losing too many bombers) would have worked.

A tight, coherent story tied around Confed's protecting a single planet (The Tiger's Claw having to draw off Kilrathi capital ships which could bombard it, etc.) and Blair's hitting the front lines and realising how bad the war actually is going would have been much better.