Wing Commander on Xbox Live Arcade

Heero let me in on this pleasing bit of news this morning. Publishing giant EA announced the upcoming summer release of Wing Commander Arena to Xbox Live Arcade.

Before any of you bust out into a geek-gasm, I should add that this is not based on the 1990 PC classic. Instead this is more of a casual, pick-up-and-play arcade-style shooter with a few token Wing Commander trademarks stamped on for good measure.

Given that the original PC version would easily fit within the current 50MB download cap for XBL, it's almost counter-intuitive for EA to contract out a developer (Gaia Industries -- who?) to create a brand new game -- likely a far inferior one, I might add, with much bias.

We'll see how this plays out. The Wing Commander franchise is very dear to my heart. I'm sure many gaming geeks of my generation have fond memories of flying out on countless suicide missions from the Tiger's Claw and Concordia, all the while soaking in the in-between missions drama that took place amongst the crew and pilots. This was, without a doubt, the first video game to successfully inject cinematic styling and pacing into gaming and has blazed a trail for many gaming franchises to follow.

To see the legacy of Wing Commander reduced to a forgettable Xbox Live arcade game is kind of sad. I will reserve judgment until the game finally drops, but I'm not getting my hopes up too high.

Edit: Forgot the link.