Wing Commander flies to Xbox Live Arcade

Electronic Arts waited for more than a year after the Xbox 360's launch to announce its first title for Microsoft's downloadable Xbox Live Arcade service, Boom Boom Rocket. The publisher appears to be doing more than just testing the waters, because today, barely a month later, EA announced its second Live Arcade game, Wing Commander Arena.

An all-new game developed by Gaia Industries (which is also working on Street Trace: NYC for Live Arcade), Wing Commander Arena drops up to 16 players in an arcade-style dogfight through space. The game includes a single-player mode and three multiplayer options (team, free for all, and duel), which EA promises will make it suitable for 10-minute sessions as well as 10-hour marathons. Players will be able to customize their ships and compete on leaderboards for flat-out frag counts, dueling stats, and high scores.

The Wing Commander franchise was one of developer Origin Systems' hit series along with Ultima when EA acquired it in the early '90s, but it has gone largely untouched for the better part of a decade. Wing Commander Arena will attempt to breathe new life into the franchise when it's released this summer.