Electronic Arts has announced the return of its Wing Commander franchise with Wing Commander Arena in development for Xbox Live Arcade.

With up to 16 players, Wing Commander Arena offers the largest multi-player melee experience to date on Live Arcade. The game is scheduled to go live worldwide on the service in Winter.

Wing Commander Arena is a fast-paced space combat game where players can team up to attack other teams of ships. Players can propel their customised 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.

Wing Commander Arena will feature four styles of play: single-player, multi-team, multiplayer free for all and multiplayer duel. Within the game there are eight game maps that include team maps, free for all maps and dueling maps.