EA plans Desert Strike update

EA seems to be developing a penchant for the reinvention of classic franchises. Just last week we reported on the publisher's plans to bring back GoldenEye for its next Bond project, and this week we've learnt that the one of the firm's UK studios is busy at work on a new multi-platform Desert Strike game, also set to be unveiled at E3 this year.

However contrary to reports that sprang up earlier in the week, the game is not being developed in the States, although our source tells us that work did start out there. We understand that development has since shifted and now resides with EA Northwest here in the UK, who have started afresh with most aspects of the game - something which puts the original internal release estimate of Q1 2005 on rather shaky ground. Since there's no movie or license attachment here, we wouldn't be too surprised if EA slips it back to later in 2005.

It certainly sounds like it'll be worth investigating though. Although veterans of the 16-bit versions (including spin-offs Jungle Strike, Urban Strike, etc) are probably expecting more strictly airborne business, we understand that EA Northwest's design is more like Battlefield 1942 meets Grand Theft Auto III, pitting you in the role of an infantryman stranded in a hostile region, travelling around on foot commandeering vehicles - including, no doubt, the requisite choppers.

All in all it doesn't sound much like the isometric Desert Strike that we remember - a thinking man's shoot-'em-up that soon dominated time spent in front of the TVs when it was published back in the early days of the 16-bit era. Here's hoping that EA "does an Ubisoft" and hides a copy of the original game somewhere within the code...

Hopefully we'll be able to bring you more on Desert Strike when we get to Los Angeles in May.