This Wednesday: Wing Commander Arena and Super Contra battle aliens on XBLA

Considering EA already let the Kilrathi out of the bag, it was no surprise that Wing Commander Arena was coming to Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday. A little less known was that Super Contra is also crashing the alien fighting party. Wing Commander Arena is the -- let's be delicate -- re-imagining of a Wing Commander game to work with the XBLA pew-pew bang-bang concept. Super Contra is the sequel to the original Contra. If you've ever played any Contra game then Super Contra should be familiar territory.

Wing Commander Arena is apparently the first XBLA game to have 16 player support and will have four different game modes for 800 MS points ($10). It also appears extremely similar to the upcoming Battlestar Galactica XBLA game which we did actually get hands-on time with at E3. Super Contra is Super Contra, gamers will have one or two player local co-op or through Xbox Live for 400 MS points ($5). Players will be able to choose between original and "enhanced" graphics. Both games have 12 achievements to go with their 200 gamerscore point opportunity. Now can we pick up the conversation back at making a real Wing Commander game?