Wing Commander to Invade XBLA

Electronic Arts is digging into the retro vault for its second Xbox Live Arcade title, with a planned release of Wing Commander Arena in the middle of the year.  There is no indication that Mark Hamill will be bringing his sweet vocals to the game, which seems more like a space shoot 'em up than a story driven action adventure.  Expect early Wing Commander gameplay rather than the live action movie sequences of the later Wing Commander iterations.

The most amazing thing about the announcement from EA is that the game will support 16 players over Xbox Live.  Multiple maps and game types could make for a great cheap way to have fun online.  The game could also be a blocky mess of ancient game graphics and tacked on Live support, but we won't know until we know.  EA sent us the following press release:

Electronic Arts today announced the return of its beloved Wing Commander franchise with Wing Commander Arena in development for the Xbox LIVE Arcade. With up to 16 players, Wing Commander Arena offers the largest multi-player melee experience to date on Xbox LIVE Arcade. The game is scheduled to go live worldwide on the Arcade service in Summer 2007.

Wing Commander Arena is a fast-paced space combat game where players can team up to attack other teams of ships. The game introduces the classic franchise to an arcade-style experience that allows up to 16 players online in battle at once. Players can propel their customized ship through space, fire torpedoes and unleash deadly gravity bombs as they try to climb the leader board. Online players will compete for Frag count, high score and dueling stats.

“We’re really excited to deliver unparalleled multi-player arcade action,” said Chip Lange, EA Vice President. “The design for Wing Commander will appeal to both long-time fans of the franchise and immediately engage anyone who wants the melee style action of an arcade shooter.”

Wing Commander Arena will feature four styles of play: single player, multi-team, multi-player free for all and multi-player duel. Within the game there are eight game maps that include team maps, free for all maps and dueling maps, so Wing Commander Arena offers a gameplay experience for every Arcade gamer, whether they want a quick ten minutes of action or a longer more immersive game.