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DragonCon Trip: CIC in the Big City
On Tuesday we passed through New York City and had an amazing opportunity to visit Gaia Industries, the development studio that created Wing Commander Arena. They've also just released Street Trace NYC to Xbox Live Arcade, an equally elaborate (and fun) shooter-racing-hoverboard hybrid game!
We presented them with Ninja's original contest-winning Arena sketch on behalf of the Wing Commander community as thanks for taking such good care of our universe. Then we took to space where... they beat us at the game a lot. They're real pros!
So - a big thank you to the guys at Gaia for letting us stop by! We also saw some awesome concept art and talked about the ins and outs of the game for quite a while. We'll post a bit more about exactly what we learned in the near future, but for now enjoy a few pictures:
[LOAF] [# 8157] [Discuss (9 comments)]
DragonCon WebCam Active!
It's that time of the year and we've made it to Atlanta! Now you can get in on the fun by... watching us sleep? That's right, the annual Dragon*Con webcam is active here.
[LOAF] [# 8158] [Discuss]
Sartha vs. Ferret
IronDuke, the Wing Commander community's pre-eminent rock star, has some updates for his Wing Commander TacOps project. First of all, he's released version 0.12 of the game's manual! He says:
Please note that the gun stats have changed! The mass driver is now your "jack-of-all-trades" average medium gun, and I reduced the neutron gun's range while increasing its damage ratio. I hope these changes make WCTO more true to the original WC2 experience...
The manual is available for download here.
He's also running the first online practice game online - and you can follow the play-by-play here! Check out all the action as Kavok's Sartha face off against Pip's Ferrets!
[LOAF] [# 8144] [Discuss (82 comments)]
There's A Newt On the Record
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich recently appeared on FOX News' 'On the Record With Greta Van Susteren' show to talk about his Presidential aspirations and politics in general. Why should we care? Because he also explained exactly how he co-authors 'alternate history' books with Wing Commander writer author William Forstchen:
VAN SUSTEREN: When you write these books, how do you do that? Do you, like — do you have a set time every day?
GINGRICH: Well, there are three of us, Steve Hanzer and Bill Forstchen and I. We're all three historians. We start a year, year- and-a-half out, and we begin to argue and put together a book and do research. And then we get down to one day at a time. So what would happen then and how do you do it and how do you put it together? Then Bill Forstchen does the first draft, and it comes to me. I do an entire second draft. Goes to Hanzer. Comes back to Forstchen. And we do it all on word- processing track change. I do most of my writing actually on the airplane, so you know, I'll pull out my computer and start banging away.
I wonder if they ever mention about our favorite game - after all, the Pacific War has previously served Dr. Forstchen well in plotting his Wing Commander novels. You can find the entire transcript here.
[LOAF] [# 8148] [Discuss]
Now You Can Cube Your WCP
Kevin Caccamo has an unusual update for us: step-by-step instructions for using the new OpenGL patch for playing Wing Commander Prophecy in odd resolutions. So if you have an especially strange monitor or you just like playing with odd things, these are the instructions for you:
I've been playing around with Pedro OpenGL patch for WCP/SO and I've ran it in a few unusual resolutions, like 868x651 or 720x540.
To run your Prophecy/SO in unusual resolutions, download the patch here. Make sure you have a GENUINE (as in from the CD) exe file, or else the patch will not work.
Randomize a multiple of 4, then write it down or put it into short-term memory. Then divide this number by 4 and multiply it by 3. Then write it down or put it into short-term memory.
Then, open up the OpenGL config program and type in the first number as the width and the second number as the height.
And don't worry, it will look fine.
He also snapped a picture of Prophecy at 868x651 as proof-of-concept:
[LOAF] [# 8151] [Discuss]
Peter Telep Goes to War
There's more modern military fiction from Wing Commander novelist Peter Telep - Amazon is listing "Direct Action: Special Forces Afghanistan" as being set for a January, 2008 release. Telep's official site says:
This series follows a U.S. Army Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha team as it takes on some of the hardest missions imaginable in and around Afghanistan. The first book, Direct Action: Special Forces Afghanistan is scheduled for Jan ’08 from Berkley Books. I’ve been working with dozens of military and professional tech advisors on this series. It promises to be a fun read!
Cover art is already available - poor helicopter:
[LOAF] [# 8152] [Discuss]
DragonCon Trip: A Day at the Beach
We're on our way to Dragon*Con! Yesterday the CIC staff (minus Kris) spent the day at the beach in Frosty's home town of Old Saybrook, CT (America’s eighth largest indigenous body of water). We had plenty of fun and some of us learned a very special lesson (don't go swimming in jeans). Next we're off to New York, New York for a very important mission - more on that soon! After that it's a race to Atlanta to set up for the convention... so stop by our table to see Wing Commander in action or just join us for whatever other zany adventures we come up with. We're always happy to hang out with other WingNuts!
[LOAF] [# 8156] [Discuss (13 comments)]
Wing Commander Remixed
Eric Sparks, an indie filmmaker and fan of the Wing Commander movie, was kind enough to e-mail us about a project he's recently finished: an entirely new cut of the Wing Commander movie! He's created this new version as part of the fanedit.org community. He says:
It is called "Wing Commander: Countdown to Invasion". Basically I tried to focus the film more on stopping the coming invasion, and less on the "Top Gun meets Melrose Place" aspects of the pilots' lives. I've cut 29 minutes from the film, leaving a runtime of 71 minutes.
This sounds like a fascinating project - similar 'fan' editing jobs (including one on Wing Commander's contemporary, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace) have managed to make significantly different films out of the same material as the original. You can download the trailer here (WMV, 11 mb) and then find Torrent/Rapidshare information for downloading the full movie here.
[LOAF] [# 8147] [Discuss (1 comment)]
DragonCon Week Is Here!
It seems like just yesterday we were all at LOAF's house getting ready for the '06 DragonCon. This year we're at Frosty's place, and we're almost set to go. The entire staff (minus Kris holding down the fort at home) drives down to Atlanta on Tuesday. In addition to the famous DC street parade, the CIC staff will also be promoting Wing Commander in the lobby of the Atlanta Marriott Marquis. If you're in town for the con this weekend, stop by and say hello! CIC visitors get a special new CIC gift! We'll also be participating in various panels where we'll have the opportunity to let organizations like Baen know Wing Commander fans are out there and want more. Many pictures, webcam and updates to come!
[ChrisReid] [# 8142] [Discuss (8 comments)]
Saga Knows Nose Art
The Wing Commander Saga mod for FreeSpace 2 has released a new piece of artwork showing off some of the squadron artwork included in the game. This is a cool choice that harkens back to the original Wing Commander when players would see a Killer Bee painted on the side of their Hornet when taking off and landing:
The Wing Commander Saga main campaign will provide the player with the opportunity to fly as a part of several different squadrons, just like the original Wing Commander series. Each squadron has a unique group of pilots and its own logo. These logos can actually be seen painted on the fuselages of the different fighter squadrons in game. Most of our squadron logos are inspired by actual logos used in the Wing Commander trading card game. Check out the screenshot for an example of some of the squadron logos you will encounter.
Three of them are from the CCG: Hell's Archers (Arrow), William Tell (Longbow) and Mud Shark (Thunderbolt). The Hell's Archers were VMF544, assigned to the TCS Ark Royal.
[LOAF] [# 8150] [Discuss (4 comments)]
Flight Commander 1.5 Released
Eddieb has released version 1.5 of the Flight Commander engine. Get it here (50 megs). The most notable improvements for players are:
- Players can control turrets on their fighters, including a new turret hud.
- Mouse support
- Captions support
- Conversations with characters between missions
- Moving doors/movies and sound effects in the gameflow
- Multiple comms/insults for more variety
- Nav points have names
The first screenshot shows the new turret targeting HUD. Flight Commander comes with a graphical mission editor and uses standard formats for graphics and sound. If you're looking to use the engine to create your own game, version 1.5 offers these new features:
- Save variables between missions
- 6 new scripting commands available during combat.
- Fully customize all the music easily
- Briefings:
- Fully customizeable, scriptable briefings. Add voice actors, move ships, adjust timing.
- Navs on briefings can have labels.
- A new briefing creation tutorial.
- 27 new scripting commands are available for briefing editing
- Gameflow:
- Fully scriptable, add conversation with characters, multiple rooms
- play custom movies whenever you want
- change movies based on the outcome of the mission
- Move the briefing camera whever you want.
- 6 scripting commands.
- Custom fonts colors in the gameflow
[KrisV] [# 8141] [Discuss (2 comments)]
Second Call For Prize Winners
CIC Birthday Party prize winners who submitted their addresses should have gotten a confirmation email from us by now. If you haven't seen one, your email probably got caught in a spam filter and you should resend it or drop by IRC. With most of the CIC Staff out adventuring together for the next couple weeks, a number of these packages won't ship until later September. Here's a list of the prizes and winners again.
Birthday Prizes
- CIC Glass - Wedge, Sycrus
- CIC Playing Cards - Ironduke, Wedge
- CIC Polo Shirt (submit size) - TheFraix
- TCS Eisen T-Shirt (submit size) - Justice, Paragon, Priest
- TCS Eisen Hat - Taser, Wedge, Powell99
- Confed Replica Patch - Blitz, ventsetti, HCl
- WC2 Game - BobMcDob, Justice
- WC4 DVD - LeHah, Vinman
- WC CCG Pack - ZFGokuSSJ1
- WC Novel (submit preferences) - Jetlag, matthew954
- WC Movie DVD - Frogzilla
- WC Movie Action Figures (submit preferences) - No Regret, Blonde
- WC Movie Poster - Shades
- WC Movie Longsleeve T - Jetlag
- XBox Live 1 Year Subscription - Jetlag
- XBox Live 1600 Point Cards - Justice, Jetlag
- XBox Smack Talk Device - Dundradal
- Nasa Sticker Set (donated by EddieB) - Dyret
- Star*Soldier Print - Mekt-Hakkikt, Vinman, AD, Shades
Arena Xbox Contest Prizes
- XBox 360 Elite - NinjaLA
- CIC Polo, Playing Card, Glass & Star*Soldier - IronDuke
- TCS Eisen Hat & Star*Soldier - Blitz
- WCM Soundtrack & Star*Soldier - Pedro
- CIC Glass & Star*Soldier - SabreAce
- Star*Soldier - Paragon
- Star*Soldier - matthew954
[ChrisReid] [# 8138] [Discuss]
Standoff Episode 4 Inches Closer
Eder has posted a major update to the Standoff website. Episode 4's beta test has recently expanded, and the new missions and features are currently under close scrutiny. Four new screenshots have been released showing off the new starscape and high resolution graphics mode. These upgrades will improve the visuals for all previously released episodes, as can be seen by the upscaled intro shots below. The team also hopes to firm up a release date soon.
Now, as far as actual progress is concerned, we now (finally!) have all missions on both paths. Those last two missions from the losing path took a while because of the minefields mentioned last update, but it's all working now, and apart from a few briefings, the episode is now only missing music and voiceovers.
...In fact, my to-do list has gotten so short, that I've made three new cockpits in the last few days - the Arrow, the Hornet, and the Broadsword (all of which can be seen in the latest batch of screenshots - in fact, the Arrow cockpit can be seen in two versions, because after I took the first screenshots of it, I went back and added some stuff to the VDU and other displays in the cockpit, to make it less empty). And hey, if I get bored, there may be one or two others, before this episode is done :-).
In other, also very important, news, progress on Pedro's OpenGL patch continues. We uploaded some screenshots showing this patch in action last update... now we've got a few more to show. In particular, these latest shots show off the new starfields, which replace the little random dots WCP/SO used to draw. The result is extraordinary, especially when you combine it with high resolution and anti-aliasing. Just look at that 1280x1024 shot of the Guadalcanal from the Episode 1 intro - it's just plain magnificent.
[ChrisReid] [# 8132] [Discuss (7 comments)]
Birthday News Round Up
The CIC birthday is when we refresh popular sections and add new features to the website. For our ninth birthday we had over 30 updates. Hopefully you were here for the big party, but if not, here is a quick rundown of some of the most interesting news from that day.
[KrisV] [# 8140] [Discuss]
Flint Fansite Still Kicking
A while back, Arek Grzegorzak noticed that there was a severe lack of Jennifer MacDonald websites on the internet. He set out to fix that by setting up the (Un)Official Jennifer MacDonald Site. It features a big section on her work as Flint in Wing Commander 3, along with a some biographical and filmography information collected from the internet, magazines and DVDs. Since the modern internet has become so obsessed with self-centered bloggles, podtubes or commercialized gaming/community hubs lately, it's really nice to see there's a few old school fan sites still around. Check it out here.
[ChrisReid] [# 8136] [Discuss]
No Wing Commander BD In 2007
AD noticed that Fox has announced their Blu-ray Disc release schedule for the rest of the year. Unfortunately Wing Commander didn't make the cut, but there are some neat movies on the list. A high definition version of the film continues to make the rounds on certain cable channels, so we definitely expect it to show up in retail someday. Here's hoping for 2008. You can find their press release here.
[ChrisReid] [# 8134] [Discuss]
Wing One Update: Tracks 24, 25 & 26 Added
It looks like the end of the road for Wing One! The Fatman has added three more tracks to the album, bringing the total up to 26. Here's the kicker: only one of them is from the game! The upbeat 'Arcade Training Theme', heard when you engage Wing Commander's TrainSim is Track 24. Track 25 is the famous Surf version of the Fanfare, long expected to be part of this album... but Track 26 is real surprise. It's a version of "Go To Sleep You Pilots" with, wait for it, lyrics! They are, in a word, hysterical - if you buy no other part of the album, get this last track!
[LOAF] [# 8139] [Discuss (1 comment)]
Mean Green Cockpit Added To Standoff
Eder's whipped up another new cockpit for Standoff. This time it's the Broadsword, and I think it's one of his best yet. The arch of the frame seems spot on, and the enhanced starfield doesn't hurt either. The new background you see there is pretty much what space will look like beginning with Episode 4.
[ChrisReid] [# 8133] [Discuss (35 comments)]
Wing One Update: Tracks 22 & 23 Added
The Fatman posted two new tracks for Wing One over night. Track 22, "Barracks - Go To Sleep You Pilots," is a wonderfully calm and soothing tune that pilots will remember from the Tiger's Claw Barracks. If you're just picking out individual tracks to buy right now, this is a great one to go with. The sooner you grab it, the cheaper it is. Track 23, "Eject - Lost in Space," is the alternative to "Eject - Upcoming Rescue," which was released last week.
[ChrisReid] [# 8135] [Discuss]
Street Trace Released!
After many months of waiting, Gaia Industries' first Xbox Live Arcade game has been released! Street Trace NYC is now available for 800 MSPoints. For those unfamiliar, Gaia developed Wing Commander Arena for Electronic Arts - and now their own original title is available! Here's hoping it does well... they deserve a hit! I'll certainly buy it as soon as I make it home to my Xbox next week. Here's the official word:
Set in the urban wastelands of New York City, "Street Trace: NYC" (Gaia Industries) is an all-in-one hoverboard racing and arena battle game featuring multiplayer over Xbox LIVE with up to eight players and an up to a four-way split-screen. Players can choose from four arena games, three street games and even "cash" tournaments that allow them to purchase board and weapon upgrades between games. For more details on "Street Trace: NYC," please visit http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/s/streettracenycxboxlivearcade/
[LOAF] [# 8137] [Discuss]
On The Wings Of A Lego Dralthi
Another day, another amazing Wing Commander creation. nnenn made this fantastic Dralthi out of Legos, MegaBloks and other compatible brick toy brands. He says that once in a while he might use some colored tape to cover holes and other things, but I don't see exactly where that might have been used on this model. I'm continually surprised by how authentic people can make Lego ships with the limited elements available. This is quite an art. You can find some of his other designs here.
[ChrisReid] [# 8131] [Discuss]
Research? Bah!
Maxi de Sokar reports on a Play.TM article which gives a 'history' of the Wing Commander series, going from the original 1990 game through to today. As a basic timeline it's fairly well done, but their conclusions are fairly lame:
The Wing Commander universe lives on however, fans continue to create mods and hacks for the existing games and the recent release via Xbox Live of Wing Commander Arena is the first official new WC game in ten years. While it's turned out to be a none too impressive multiplayer shooter with not an FMV cut scene in sight, it does at least show that the Wing Commander brand lives on in the heart of EA somewhere and perhaps paves the way for a true sixth game in the series. There's been various false dawns for fans over the years, talk of Wing Commander Online or Prophecy sequel Strike Team have all come to nothing, so perhaps now is the time to dust down the franchise and re-invent it for this new generation of gamers who've been so starved of space combat games lately. I for one would be stood in the queue waiting to pick up a copy. Especially if they brought FMV and Mark Hamill back.
Actual Wing Commander fans to stupid people, Arena is awesome. I guess you can't expect the world from an article about Wing Commander that uses a StarLancer screenshot as its splash header (they also claim Chris Roberts left after Prophecy - it was before - and fail to mention Secret Ops). Read the whole thing here. Thanks as well to Justin Vroone.
[LOAF] [# 8117] [Discuss (30 comments)]
Wicked Cool Wingnut
When you visit the tattoo parlor with a Warbirds poster, you're bound to come out with something neat. Now if anyone ever questions how fanatical a Wing Commander fan No Regret is, he has something to set them straight. The amazing image below took about 40 minutes to ink, and the dedication to Wing Commander will be evident for a lifetime.
When asked if he was living up to his name, No Regret had this to say.
Of course not. I know there's somewhat of a stigma attached to game tattoos, but the Kilrathi logo looks sufficiently tribal to go well with my first (tribal) tattoo. So far only one person I've shown it to knew what it referenced. Everyone else just thought it looked wicked cool. Which it does.
[ChrisReid] [# 8129] [Discuss]
Command & Conquer TV Debuts
EA has added even more neat stuff to the resurgent Command & Conquer franchise. Last week, the first episode of Battlecast Primetime show appeared online. The hour-long show is packed with things like cast/development team interviews, narrated play-by-plays of exciting multiplayer games and information on community mods and events. The premiere show also announced the first expansion to C&C3, Kane's Wrath.
New C&C merchandise continues to emerge as well. EA is taking preorders on Talking Kane Bobbleheads now for $19.95! How crazy is that? I can't wait until we get Talking Thrakhath Bobbles.
Show your loyalty and order now! Hand-painted, the Kane Talking Bobblehead features Kane’s notorious black hooded cloak and an over-embellished Nod ring. Measures approximately 7” in height and stands on a base featuring the Nod logo.
[ChrisReid] [# 8130] [Discuss]
Standoff Jazzing Up Starfields
The Standoff team is experimenting with new sharper starfield backgrounds for the Episode 4 release. These shots below are just preliminary, but they already look great. Eder explains the technical aspects of it below.
We are experimenting with the high-res cube-mapped nebula feature that Pedro showed in his video as a way to display better starfields. It lets us have thousands of stars, of varying sizes and brightness, that scale better between different resolutions... instead of a handful of tiny grey or orange blocky pixel-stars like in original WCP.
While the original starfields were single pixels (or small blocks) randomly scattered over space that we had no control on, the new starfields are texture maps, so we can do anything we want to them - the only limit now is the talent of this humble modder.
If you look very closely at the new shots, there are very subtle glows around the brighter stars, as well as a very subtle color variation between them. I did try to keep it as generic as possible so that we could make the same starfield fit all the different nebula / lighting colors in every system, that's why these features are barely noticeable.
[ChrisReid] [# 8125] [Discuss (21 comments)]
Zerg Rush / Paladin's On Our Side
Chris (not Reid) has found an interesting article at 1Up: a StarCraft II preview which compares the game to Wing Commander III! In fact, it's subtitled "Single-player campaign = Wing Commander?":
The big departure from StarCraft is that story won't be doled out only in cut-scenes and through in-game conversations. Instead, in between missions, you'll get to control Jim on board the battle cruiser Hyperion, interacting with different elements of the ship and chatting with shipmates in role-playing-game style conversations with branching dialogue trees. The way you navigate the ship (click on a control panel, point of interest, or character milling about the deck) is reminiscent of a modern-day Wing Commander III or IV, only minus Mark Hamill and giant kitty puppets.
You can read the whole thing here.
[LOAF] [# 8116] [Discuss (2 comments)]
Wing One Blowout: Tracks 17 Through 21 Added
It's been a few days since the last tracks were added to Wing One, so The Fatman has added a whopping five songs to the growing virtual album. Each one is quite impressive, and the set has a good variety. "Grim or Escort Mission" is a classic patrol march and "Extra Long Victory" is an embellished Wing Commander theme. "Debriefing Successful" and "Funeral" are both proud and emotional pieces. They're both on the long side too. The final track (#19 in the list) is an amazing bonus track that was not included in the original game: "Damage Sketch" includes recognizable WC elements but almost feels like it'd fit right into Privateer. Very neat.
[ChrisReid] [# 8128] [Discuss]
From RealSpace Combat to Real Combat Spaces
Wired is running an article about Total Immersion Software, a company founded by former Wing Commander producer Mark Day. Total Immersion is developed something called RealWorld, a heavy duty simulation package that will help train soldiers for real-world missions.
With a pair of hoops in his left earlobe and a graying goatee, Mark Day doesn’t look much like the corporate suits, scruffy-bearded professors, and crew-cut officers hanging around the DARPATech conference in Anaheim. That’s because he’s a game designer by trade, not a military scientist; he produced a couple of installments of the Wing Commander franchise for Electronic Arts, then started his own gaming company.
Today, he's still putting together games, But now, it's for the government. He's using a version of the Gamebryo engine -- which forms the heart of everything from Civ IV to Morrowind -- to put together Real World for DARPA. "I still treat it as a game -- otherwise it gets too scary-serious," he says. Still, "after being responsible for supposedly corrupting the youth of the world for so long, it's nice to do something with actual meaning."
Mark Day certainly had a huge impact on our youths, corrosive or otherwise: in addition to being a good friend to the fans for many years, he produced Wing Commander III, IV and Prophecy... and then the post-EA company he founded was Daylight Productions, which developed the Wing Commander IV and Prophecy DVDs. You can read the entire article here.
[LOAF] [# 8120] [Discuss]
Small Sequence Packs In The Action
gr1mre4per has a neat little clip to show off that he constructed in Lightwave. The scene is just 18 seconds long, but the animation is smooth and the camera moves realistically in sync with the action. Appropriate music and sound effects add to the atmosphere as well. The ships were extracted models from WC3, except for the Excalibur which was modeled by Alan Hart. I would love it if people would turn stuff like this into full fledged projects. Check out the video here (1.7 megs, DivX or VLC).
[ChrisReid] [# 8126] [Discuss (10 comments)]
More Tests With Animated Battles
gr1m's scene actually came to light in a discussion with Queeg over CGI fan movies. He has been experimenting with video tools as well, and his first test mission is available here (8.3 meg, wmv). Prior to building that animation, he put together a couple small tests too: Kilrah Explosion, Attacking Transport and Chasing Confed. These were made with 3DS Max.
[ChrisReid] [# 8127] [Discuss (20 comments)]
New Standoff Cockpits Implemented
Eder has built two new authentic cockpits for Standoff Episode 4. The Arrow and Hornet now have their own designs and will no longer borrow art from other ships. These will debut in the game's next chapter and be retroactive to all the prior episodes. There's several lesser-used craft still left in the game that lack their own dash, and it's possible that these will get a unique makeover for Episodes 4 and 5 as well.
[ChrisReid] [# 8124] [Discuss (35 comments)]
Space Sim First Look: Deepspace: Life on the Frontier
Bob has found an oddity for general space sim fans - an 'Elite' clone made in Blitz3D, an amateur game development setup. It's called "Deepspace: Life on the Frontier", and should probably play similar to our favorite Privateer game... although that isn't the objective:
Anyway Deepspace was first started in May 2006 as an Elite ‘style’ space/trading game. But shortly after I noticed that Elite itself was or seemed to be disappearing from the gaming culture. I thought what better way to keep the legend alive than to do my own homage to this great game. Whether I finish it or not I’ll enjoy every minute of it. :)
You can find out more here.
[LOAF] [# 8115] [Discuss (2 comments)]
Keep Them Flying
Bob is back with what can only be described as more thought than anyone would think possible about what the Terran Confederation flag should look like. He's done an incredible amount of good work here, so he can take over the update:
For as long as I can remember I've been interested in the design of flags—or "vexillology", as the official term for it is—and being a Wingnut, I was naturally drawn to the Confederation flag. In particular the Confed star intrigued me; despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that it originated as the Origin company logo, I believe it has a simple, bold grandeur that many real state emblems lack. After I looked into the matter, I discovered that no one had ever tried to produce accurate dimensions and guidelines for reproducing this gallant badge.
Now, I can be a real stickler for detail sometimes; this is one of those times. I became absolutely determined to reproduce the various Confed Stars as closely and as authentically as possible, since after all it is a prominent feature of both confirmed Confederation flags, and my eventual dream was to see them take their rightful place alongside those of other fictional universes at the website Flags of the World.
All things have to start somewhere, of course; I needed a starting reference, and I found mine in the Kilrathi Saga manual, as it covers the first three games and its version of the badge seems to be quite close if not identical to that used in WingIII and IV. The end result was this—a bare-bones vector drawn in Inkscape which is traced at the same size as the manual version but "loses" two of its outer bars when viewed in many programs due to them being white. Since I wanted to keep this file as a resource to people who wanted a star without hassle, I needed to present it in a way that made it more visible to people who just wanted a star.
I thought this over for a few days before I realized the answer was right in front of me—the big, blue flags seen in the background of the Price of Freedom epilogue. Unfortunately, since the physical version of these have yet to be found, I was unable to recreate them as accurately as I would have liked, and so the final proportions of the non-star elements are very much a matter of guesswork. The actual star is, however, as close to the original as I could make it, and because it's not transparent it's probably more useful for learning the proportions of the thing. Download Inkscape and look at it. You'll see what I mean.
As a final, triumphant aside, I pasted the flag into the canton of the Confederation Flag—the version seen in the opening of the movie and which has been interpreted multiple times by Klavs, Shaggy and myself. It is my third revision of the design, and stems from a recent viewing of the film when I realized that the top of the flag was incorrectly reproduced. It's not a definitive version, of course; the colors are conjectural compared to the original in the film, the top bars are still somewhat uncertain, the proportions are imprecise. Unless the original art used in the introduction is found, I doubt there ever will be a truly official version of this flag. It is, however, the best that I could make of it.
You can find the SVG files below:
[LOAF] [# 8114] [Discuss]
Tractor? I Just...
Jetlag's Broadsword poster didn't win the contest... but he's come up with a way to get that Xbox, anyway! Any Arena veterans can tell you that this is pretty much a sure-fire way to win:
[LOAF] [# 8118] [Discuss]
Wing One Update: Tracks 14, 15 and 16 Added
Do good things really come in threes? They seem to, these days. The Fatman has released three more tracks from Wing One: Eject Upcoming Rescue (14), Rec Room - Swing Commander (15) and Dull Patrol (16). My favorite of the bunch has to be Swing Commander - it reminds me of all the good times chatting with Shotglass and my wingmen. At this rate, we'll be done in no time...
[LOAF] [# 8123] [Discuss (10 comments)]
The Mighty Quine
It's that time of the week: Chris Knudsen has released more screenshots from his Privateer Ascii Sector fan game. The first screenshot shows the load screen. Chris says: "When you move the cursor over the saved games, you get a short summary of that game to help you remember what's what." The other four pictures show off the Privateer's best friend - the Quine 4000 PDA!
[LOAF] [# 8119] [Discuss (214 comments)]
Happy Birthday from J. Allen Brack
Wing Commander Prophecy veteran J. Allen Brack was kind enough to follow Sean Murphy and George Oldziey in sharing some memories of WCP's development and wishing the fans a happy birthday! Read on:
Greetings to the Wing Commander community!
It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since Wing Commander Prophecy
launched. Like most games, Prophecy took lots and lots of time and effort to
get out the door, and we worked really hard to make it the best Wing it
could be.
Prophecy was conceived as the next WC trilogy, following Casey from raw
recruit in game one, to a hero of the Confederation with game 3. We had a
great cliffhanger with Blair at the end of Prophecy resulting in his
transport to Nephilim space, and interesting plans for what could happen next.
Sadly, the remaining 2 parts of that story will likely never be told.
Memories of the game in no particular order:
- Captain Johnny and the Friday Doughnut Horn.
- Crunching late into Halloween night to post the demo for the game.
- Staying up 3 days straight as we got close to ship.
- Spending time on the one page addendum, realizing that I was too
tired and not making sense, and calling in a friend to assist.
Certainly for me the most difficult part of the experience was cutting
multiplayer. It was something we were all excited about, but just couldn't
make work in time for the holidays.
I'm also grateful for the opportunity to work on Secret Ops. The episodic
content idea didn't have a lot of AAA support at the time, and we worked
hard to prove that the concept could work. At almost one million downloads,
it was a huge success for the time.
A lot of the WC veterans have transitioned to online in recent years. Lots
of folks worked on Star Wars Galaxies, and have transitioned onto other
products recently. Be sure to check out their great work, past, present,
and future.
When the web first came out, I thought success for me would be the day I
worked on a project that had people create their own fan page. Thanks for
making one of my dreams come true and keep up the great work! You guys have
kept the Wing Commander spirit alive since the Usenet days. You are true
heroes of the Confederation.
J. Allen Brack
Lead Producer
World of Warcraft
Now I'm awfully curious about what Captain Johnny's doughnut horn was...
[LOAF] [# 8121] [Discuss (14 comments)]
Post-Party Prize Procurement
Another big party has come and gone, so it's time for all the trivia and random drawing winners to claim their prizes. Send in your mailing address to get your stuff. Be sure to include your IRC and real name, plus size/preference where appropriate. Here are the prizes and list of winners. The results of the Great XBox 360 Contest are also below. Be sure to check out their entries if you missed them Friday!
Birthday Prizes
- CIC Glass - Wedge, Sycrus
- CIC Playing Cards - Ironduke, Wedge
- CIC Polo Shirt (submit size) - TheFraix
- TCS Eisen T-Shirt (submit size) - Justice, Paragon, Priest
- TCS Eisen Hat - Taser, Wedge, Powell99
- Confed Replica Patch - Blitz, ventsetti, HCl
- WC2 Game - BobMcDob, Justice
- WC4 DVD - LeHah, Vinman
- WC CCG Pack - ZFGokuSSJ1
- WC Novel (submit preferences) - Jetlag, matthew954
- WC Movie DVD - Frogzilla
- WC Movie Action Figures (submit preferences) - No Regret, Blonde
- WC Movie Poster - Shades
- WC Movie Longsleeve T - Jetlag
- XBox Live 1 Year Subscription - Jetlag
- XBox Live 1600 Point Cards - Justice, Jetlag
- XBox Smack Talk Device - Dundradal
- Nasa Sticker Set (donated by EddieB) - Dyret
- Star*Soldier Print - Mekt-Hakkikt, Vinman, AD, Shades
Arena Xbox Contest Prizes
- XBox 360 Elite - NinjaLA
- CIC Polo, Playing Card, Glass & Star*Soldier - IronDuke
- TCS Eisen Hat & Star*Soldier - Blitz
- WCM Soundtrack & Star*Soldier - Pedro
- CIC Glass & Star*Soldier - SabreAce
- Star*Soldier - Paragon
- Star*Soldier - matthew954
[ChrisReid] [# 8122] [Discuss]
Wing One Update: Tracks 11, 12 and 13 Added
The Fatman has posted three, count them, three new songs at Amie Street! Have you taken some hits? Better listen to "Damage Assessment Medium"! Are you just an all around failure? "Debriefing Unsuccessful", is for you then. My favorite by far of the three, though, is "Medal Ceremony Purple Heart" - it's complex and emotional. You can listen, buy and download them here.
[LOAF] [# 8112] [Discuss]
WCP/SO OpenGL Patch Beta Released
Sometimes spam filters are more trouble than they're worth - here's an update that should have been posted in time for the birthday. Pedro has come up with an HCl-style technical patch for Wing Commander Prophecy and Secret Ops aiming at improving the graphics even further! Read on:
This patch is infact an additional optional graphics library, compatible with both Prophecy and Secret Ops, and will be included in the release of Standoff episode 4. In principle it is designed solely to remove problems experienced when using Direct3D such as 32bit support for ATI cards, and removal of texture glitches, most notable on things such as lens flares. Full transparency is supported, mimicking 3DFX. Some other mild improvements are also available, including the option to scale backgrounds and FMV to fill the screen.
This is a test release, designed to get as much feedback as possible, there are however some known issues which means you should use your personal judgement deciding if you wish to use this initial release:
- The DVD and multiplayer patch is not currently supported
- Dynamic lights need to be refined
Thanks goto HCl and PopsiclePete for their documentation of the graphics interface, Quarto, Eder and PopsiclePete for testing, PopsiclePete for config utility and setup.
You can download it here . Also check out this video (19 meg AVI), which demonstrates the improved graphics in action. Update: get the latest version of this patch here.
[LOAF] [# 8113] [Discuss (33 comments)]
Happy 9th Birthday, CIC!
I know I've said this every year for as far back as I can remember, but Wing Commander fans are the best fans in the world! In 2007, we were truly blessed - from official releases like EA Replay, Wing Commander Arena, Wing One and Star*Soldier to the continuation of amazing fan projects like Standoff, Flight Commander, Gemini Gold, Saga and beyond... it's been a good year to be a WingNut. Pat yourselves on the back, it was your hard work that got us where we are today... and it's only going to get better! For nine years I've watched you write fan fiction, argue about continuity, build amazing mods, run RPGs, record music, construct websites and a thousand other things. I've watched many of you (myself included) grow up and become the best of friends - I wouldn't trade this community for anything in the world.
2007 also marks the tenth anniversary of Wing Commander Prophecy - the very first game we ever followed live (as cub reporters at Introspection's Wing Commander Home Sector). It may be best known for having dialed back the amount of FMV, but it was also the first Wing Commander title developed from the ground up for Windows and the first to take advantage of 3D accelerator cards. Add to that the game's focus on smooth, fun and action-packed gameplay along with its epic story, amazing art direction and generally stunning visuals and you'll see why Prophecy will be remembered as one of the true classics.
To celebrate nine years of WCNews.com and ten years of Wing Commander Prophecy we've collected the usual assortment of fun toys and cool oddities... check out the updates below to learn more! What's next for us? Well, you can see some of that from the new projects we're starting below... but first it's time for vacation! The CIC staff (minus Kris, who'll hold down the fort) is headed for Dragon*Con - and we're going big this time! Not only will we be running a 'fan table' to promote Wing Commander, but we'll also be leading a convoy right down the East Coast. If you're somewhere between Connecticut and Atlanta, GA and want to join in the festivities, be sure and let us know!
[LOAF] [# 8077] [Discuss (9 comments)]
Birthday Greetings from Sean Murphy!
We asked Sean Murphy to say a few words about Wing Commander Prophecy in honor of its tenth anniversary. Sean was one of the game's 3D artists... he created some of the game's most familiar ships, including the beloved TCS Midway. More importantly, he's always been there for the fans, even after all these years! Without further ado, Sean Murphy:
Wow, ten years? It seems like just a short while ago we were burning the midnight...and two a.m....and four a.m. oil! What an experience Prophecy was - we were a seasoned team of Wing Commander vets, but we were striking out into new territory without Chris Roberts behind the wheel (even if that wheel had often been half a continent away on the previous games!). We were pretty stoked to prove we had the stuff to make a Wing Commander that would stand just as proud in the company of Wing III and IV (not to mention the classics I and II!).
It was a killer - no one who worked on the project would honestly say otherwise; but the fact is we bonded as a team in some pretty amazing ways. We went through a lot together, we kept each other going. Whether it was Captain Johnny's doughnut horn on Fridays (oh, how I miss the doughnut horn!) or movie viewings in Mark Vearrier's office (including THAT movie - remember, guys?) or a thousand other things the crew did to make the experience tolerable, we got through it - and at the end I think we produced a game that we were all as proud of as anything most of us have done before or since.
It's really pretty incredible that after all this time the work we did is still appreciated and enjoyed by you guys, the WCNews crew and fans. I know that I, for one, feel honored that the game I helped make ten years ago is still a source of delight to a group of fans out there.
Keep it up, and happy birthday WCN!
-Sean Murphy
You can find some of Sean Murphy's Prophecy artwork here.
[LOAF] [# 8088] [Discuss]
Birthday Greetings from George Oldziey!
... and George Oldziey, who composed the wonderful musical scores for Wing Commanders III, IV and Prophecy, was also kind enough to take time out of his schedule to comment on the WCP's development! He gives a very honest - and I think important - commentary on the project:
For me, the most memorable aspect of working on Wing Commander Prophecy was that it was the first WC game of the post-Chris Roberts era. In my opinion, Chris had gotten a bad rap from Electronic Arts, as well as internally at Origin, for "overspending" on Wing Commander 4. It was a very expensive project (over $10,000,000 I think), but it still garnered a profit for EA, just not what they had projected. It seemed to me that the heads at Origin, including the new WC producers, wanted to change up the overall look and feel of the game as much as possible without straying too far, all in an attempt to distance themselves from the Chris Roberts production values, which I thought were very successful. This revamping even came down to the music, as I was told by the new executive producer and his henchmen to make the music sound as little like Wing Commander as possible. "WHAT???", I thought to myself. In my opinion, all of the Wing Commander games prior to Prophecy had a very distinct musical sound, and I'd always thought it was my responsibility to be as true to that as I could. So, in the early stages of the composition of music for WCP, I was constantly being told that my music sounded too much like Wing Commander and had to be re-written. Needless to say, it was a very frustrating experience. I would look at some video, think about some mission music, and inevitably the WC "sound" would pop into my head for inspiration. To then have to go against that instinct almost drove me to the point of quitting. But cooler heads eventually prevailed and I was slowly allowed to make the music sound "reminiscent" of Wing Commanders past as long as I added some new elements. I agreed to that scenario and the music started to flow again. However, due to all that angst I have to say that WCP was my least favorite of the three games (WC3, WC4 and WCP) on which I worked, and thusly I think my music was perhaps less inspired than in the earlier games.
Just fyi, even though WC3 was my first game, and was a magical experience, WC4 was my favorite. When I listen to some of that music I think some of it is the best music I've ever written.
You can find some of George Oldziey's Wing Commander music online here.
[LOAF] [# 8089] [Discuss]
Birthday Greetings from Electronic Arts!
We're also here to celebrate Wing Commander's bright present... and the guys at Electronic Arts responsible for Wing Commander Arena were also kind enough to send along some awesome birthday greetings. They say it better than I can, so read on:
Hey there Wingnuts,
We here at EA and Gaia just wanted to take a minute to say hello and
send a HUGE thank you to everyone in the WC News community for you
support, help and passion. Without you, the Wing Commander franchise
would not be what it is today and things like Star Soldier may never
have existed. We are all honored to be a part of your community and to
bring you Arena as Wing Commander gets ready to turn 18, we can vote!
(Taggart/nar Hhallas 08!) Being able to share in a game that has at the
same time such a rich, funny history (Ginger Lynn, really?) and such
awesome fans is truly rare indeed. Thanks again and remember, somewhere
between the Kilrathi Empire and the unknown, lies the future. Enjoy the
party!
- The Wing Commander Arena team
[LOAF] [# 8090] [Discuss]
A Special Present from Electronic Arts
... but wait, there's more! Producer Sean Penney, the guys at EA Arcade and the team at Gaia also have a special present for us to enjoy! One of the fan-favorite things we saw during the leadup to Arena's release were the amazing 'white' ship render wallpapers created by Gaia. Over the weeks and months we saw all eighteen flyable fighters, all three satellite bases and even the TCS Port Broughton... but two things were missing! Now, w e are pleased and honored to premiere the rendered images of the Confederation and Kilrathi battlecruisers! These bad-ass ships have quickly become the most popular part of Wing Commander Arena - massive warships that fight a giant broadside battle in the 'Capital Ship' game mode! If you haven't tried this part of the game, it's worth the 800 MS Points alone...
[LOAF] [# 8091] [Discuss]
Birthday Greetings from The Fatman!
The Fatman, whose Wing One album is currently lighting up all of our Last.FM pages was also nice enough to send seasons greetings. He's also sent along information on an upcoming fundraiser for the University of Texas' new Game Archive being held by Richard Garriott and company!
Yeah, I Friggin' LOVE you guys! It's really fun to be able to dump this music onto the ears of somebody who knows and loves it. AND it's cool to be doing it in a way that keeps The Man from keeping us down. Well Done, my friends.
PLEASE ENJOY!
2.
On another topic, WC fans might be interested in knowing about the Game Archive that the Center for American History at UT....hey wait a minute, they know three of the four honorary committee dudes who are doing this!
It's me, Warren Spector, and Richard Garriott. And Bill Bottorf, who is cool but not a WC hero.
Anyway, there's a huge fundraising party coming up in less than a month, on Richard's property. Anybody got enough bucks to help out? I'm no expert, but I would guess that this would ensure WC's place in Actual American History.
AND the Captains of the Chess Team, my wife's nerd band will be playing, featuring three people who were deeply involved in Wing Commander:
me,
my wife, Linda,
Marc Schaefgen
And fabulous THINGS will be auctioned off. Perhaps Richard will...never mind...I'll just BCC him...
:)
again, THANKS
Love,
FAT
You can read all about the Game Archive event (and buy tickets) here. To borrow from Guy Clark, I wished I was in Austin...
[LOAF] [# 8092] [Discuss]
Don't Call It the WingKiPedia
In general, the CIC staff are old fashioned internet gentlemen. We don't advertise or Podcast or YouTube or MySpace or anything of the sort... and, on rare occasions, we've been known to turn up our noses at these new fangled things kids today love. Well, our readers have made one thing painfully clear in recent months: they want a Wikipedia.
At first we demurred - the concept isn't one we've ever loved. Let anyone who wants to change anything they went to about an encyclopedia? One needs look no further than the current Wing Commander entries on the Wikipedia proper to see that it doesn't always work. Then, we realized: it wouldn't just be anyone editing the database... it would be WingNuts, the best community in the world!
Nevertheless, we're going to do this on our terms: it's not a permanent open database, it's a project to create the greatest Wing Commander Encyclopedia ever... and it has a timeline - at this time next year, we absorb it into the rest of the site. You have to register to use it and we've selected a license that doesn't give all our work to the Wikipedia corporation.
Everyone who contributes can consider themselves Wing Commander grad students... and you get your degree when the whole thing is finished! For my part, I'll be there every part of the way, writing entries as frequently as humanly possible and checking everyone else's research to make sure it lives up to our impossibly high standards!
We've set up a blank page and made it look like the CIC -- you can begin creating the WCPedia here.
... and as for the name in the update subject? Heed its warning, lest KrisV hunt you down.
[LOAF] [# 8087] [Discuss (8 comments)]
Star Gods, Star Ships
To this day, a full decade after their arrival, the Nephilim remain largely a mystery. Their ships, however, are now a little better known... thanks to a behind-the-screens document left over from Origin! "Shipsalien.doc" includes specifications, histories, notes and sketches of all the Nephilim ships which appear in Prophecy! Want to know how long a Hydra is or what the original name for the Leviathan was? It's all there! We've translated the original Word doc into an article, which is available here.
[LOAF] [# 8104] [Discuss]
Revamped Video Section Is Totally Tubular
 Last year we opened the Holovids movie archive, cataloging everything from official trailers and interviews to fan created music videos. In an effort to make these easier to watch, we've adopted the Flash Video technology that made YouTube so popular. Many of our clips now offer immediate, inline viewing alongside traditional downloads. Some files could not be converted because they use a proprietary codec or because they are too large to offer in this format. If you want the best possible picture and sound quality, we still recommend the direct download option.
[KrisV] [# 8107] [Discuss]
Full Full Motion Video Collection
The other night an old friend called me with a normal question - was Prince Thrakhath right or left handed? Boy, I said, I don't know - right, I think, but we'd have to load up WC3 to see for sure.1 Has this ever happened to you? Sure... but never again, thanks to our new index of Wing Commander III videos! By combining new-age flash video technology with Wing Commander 3's extracted videos we've created a neat site which allows you to pick and watch any part of Wing Commander III at any time! Better yet, the quality is identical to that found on the CD-ROM. Find the mission series you want in the index, pick out the video... and you're good to go! We've also included extracts from the game's script for each video, so you can know what you're looking for without even playing the movie! You can find the index here.
1 - True story. For the record, he is right-handed.
[LOAF] [# 8094] [Discuss]
Holovids Up To Speed
These new videos were in the news over the past couple of months. They've now been given a spot in the video archive.
[KrisV] [# 8109] [Discuss]
Tech Support Section Expands
The Birthday always gives us good motivation to refresh some of our older sections, and Tech Support, which debuted at last year's party, has been updated! The section now contains instructions on how to get all your Windows games working on modern systems. Unlike with DOSBox, we're dealing with thousands of unique hardware and software configurations, so not every issue has a clear cut fix. Nevertheless, it's more than possible to get every single DOS and Windows game running smoothly on today's machines. Many of the common tips have now been brought together in one place, and it will be much easier to add new information here as we identify additional workarounds and fixes in the future.
[ChrisReid] [# 8101] [Discuss]
Going Back in Time!
Here's a quick feature old timers may enjoy - an 'On This Day in Wing Commander News' feature! Wondering what was in the news one, two, three... or nine years ago? You can find out here. So, what happened on August 11th? A heck of a lot of partying!
[LOAF] [# 8086] [Discuss]
Behind the Screens: Prophecy GBA Script
Here's an unusual sort of developer document to archive -- one we actually created! As some of you may recall, the CIC staff helped advise Raylight on their ground-up GameBoy Advance port of Wing Commander Prophecy. One of our jobs was to create a gameflow script from the extracted video and comm video files in the PC version. To explain how the game worked we created a 'no frills' website that walked the developers through Prophecy one step at a time, listing all the dialogue, mission locations, events, etc. Because Raylight originally planned to render cutscenes in their 3D engine, we also went about the heartbreaking process of choosing roughly one third of the game's story which should be cut (marked in red in the document). Thankfully that never came to pass! You can read it in its original web format here. It's not only a historical curiosity... it's also great for finding bits and pieces of Prophecy's dialogue.
[LOAF] [# 8078] [Discuss]
Wing Commander Movie Storyboards
In 1995 Chris Roberts and Origin Systems began pitching a Wing Commander movie to various film studios and investors. To help sell the project they created a series of lush painted storyboards to go with their presentation. Over the years several of these have made their way around the internet in generally low resolution scans from magazines - owing mostly to a PR release at Origin which accidentally claimed they were storyboards for Wing Commander Prophecy's film shoot. Today, however, we collect them all in their original format - showing everything from Blair in his space suit to paintings of the 3D Merlin character who almost was. You can find all 28 of them here.
[LOAF] [# 8079] [Discuss]
Radio Free CIC
Nine years ago to the day, we launched our very first InfoBurst -- an interview with CIC founders Christopher Reid and Ben Lesnick. Originally a RealAudio show, the CIC InfoBurst returns as a free internet radio station. Tune in 24/7 to listen to random tracks from our music archive. Special shows including the 1998/1999 interviews with Chris Roberts, George Oldziey and Chris McCubbin have been archived in MP3 format. The new system allows for live broadcasts, so look forward to new special shows. We hope to set up a live broadcast from Dragon*Con next month.
Supported players include Winamp and VideoLan. Click here to tune in. Playlist and listener information is available from the InfoBurst section.
[KrisV] [# 8110] [Discuss (1 comment)]
Selling Prophecy: Press Kits 1 & 2
In 1997 magazines couldn't just log on to a press site to download screenshots and content -- the internet wasn't that complex yet. Instead, game developers put entire disks and later CDs of game information in the mail! Our own KrisV was able to track down the two special Electronic Press Kits which Origin released for Wing Commander Prophecy. They're packed to the gills with screenshots in obscure high res format. PSDs, TIFs and TGAs, oh my! What's in these mysterious files? We've converted a lot of the data into several updates below! But if you're especially adventurous then you can download the original packs here (heck, there are even some files in here that we couldn't figure out):
[LOAF] [# 8080] [Discuss]
Selling Prophecy: Promo Images
You've all seen how Electronic Arts releases Wing Commander Arena screenshots in bursts. Well, life in 1997 was the same way - with Origin offering precious few Wing Commander Prophecy in special bursts. We've managed to preserve three of these collections in better quality than has ever been seen before -- including eight amazing full resolution FMV photographs and twenty high res cutscene renderings! Some are familiar, some were thought lost to the ages... see them all here.
[LOAF] [# 8081] [Discuss]
Selling Prophecy: Ship Images
You've all seen them before, two Prophecy images you'll never forget: a trio of Wasps arrayed over a planet and a pair of Panthers exiting a bright green jump gate. They're beautiful and part of our shared Wing Commander culture... but did you know that Origin actually made over two dozen such promotional ship renderings? It's true - everything from Vampires to TOBY pods got the 'promo' treatment ... and many of them never appeared in public -- until now! You can check them all out here.
[LOAF] [# 8083] [Discuss]
Selling Prophecy: Teaser Intro
Would you enjoy... a little bit of new continuity? We've got it! What follows is part of a Prophecy 'teaser' story written by Origin for the press in 1997:
Following this revelation, Kt’Lan refused all offerings of food or drink from her accolytes and ordered them to prepare her K’Shrik-Non, or death den. On the third day of her fasting, before she was welcomed into the busom of Sivar, Kt’lan dictated her final words as the 9th Prophecy.
“As our hearts are consumed in sacrifice, a sound of thunder will herald the beginning of a new age. Our Great Loss will bring with it dark enemies of our clan who will seek to feast on our bones and will, like the savage wind, spread to the four corners of the sky and all that is. But yet in this suffering, we must be strong, for Sivar will send another messenger who shall bring redemption to our race and fill us with the Warriors Spirit and reunite us as a people.”
The coolest part? Because it was published, the tiny details can be considered canonical. So, if you're the kind of person who lives to learn the names of ancient Kilrathi Emperors or what the furball word for "death den" is then you need to read the whole thing here.
[LOAF] [# 8084] [Discuss]
Selling Prophecy: Rod Nakamoto Interview
Rod Nakamoto, a former Sega executive, was brought in by Electronic Arts to run the Wing Commander franchise during the development of Prophecy. Worlds of Origin, the great Origin fan club, interviewed Nakamoto for a document which Origin later distributed to promote the game:
Is there anything you can tell us about the future of the Wing Commander line?
I wouldn't want to spoil our surprise…All I can say is that a new Wing Commander product will be released later this year…and it will be AWESOME. As anticipated, it will be a strong single player game with a new multi-player component. If you're interested, I'll supply more information and previews as we get closer to our target.
Read it all here.
[LOAF] [# 8085] [Discuss]
Selling Prophecy: Broad Strokes
This is a good crash course for those unfamiliar with Wing Commander Prophecy - the original press description of the game (and franchise) created by Origin's PR department to sell the game to newcomers:
The Story
Rookie academy pilots Casey and Maestro report for their first tour of duty aboard the experimental capital ship TCS Midway. On the ship they meet the crew, including senior fighter pilot Maniac, and special military advisor Col. Christopher "Maverick:" Blair, both of whom formerly served with Casey's war-hero father Iceman (from Wing 1). Before the new pilots can adjust to their first assignment, word comes down of an attack on an unarmed Kilrathi colony. Soon, the Midway finds itself on the front lines of a full-scale invasion: a mysterious alien race is pouring into confed space, literally out of nowhere. And what does the new menace have to do with ancient Kilrathi Prophecy?
History
Wing Commander is an original space combat series that stunned the gaming community with its debut in 1990. It continued to set new technology and design benchmarks with Wing Commander II in 1991. Wing Commander III built on this success in 1994, and added the highest quality interactive movies ever seen by the industry. In 1995, Wing Commander IV combined everything that ORIGIN had learned, to provide the gaming market with the smoothest synergy of Hollywood and gaming ever seen. Wing Commander : Prophecy, due in late 1997, will continue in the Wing Commander tradition, delivering the same standards of quality and innovation that Origin's audience has come to expect.
The entire document is online here.
[LOAF] [# 8093] [Discuss]
WCHS Comes Home Sector
But what were we doing when Prophecy was being released? The CIC is only nine, and Prophecy came out a decade ago! Well, for those who haven't been with us for all those years: the CIC had a predecessor, a Wing Commander news site called the Wing Commander Home Sector. The basic setup was essentially the same - daily news, feature articles, fan developed content and more organized by a very young LOAF and ChrisReid. Unfortunately, the WCHS archives were long thought lost... until today! We're proud to give everyone a sample of what we were like way back when! You can find our WCHS web mirror here.
[LOAF] [# 8082] [Discuss]
Web Archive: Prophecy Official Site
One of the most elaborate websites ever created (with one of the worst URLs ever registered) was Origin's wingcommanderprophecy.com. The game offered extensive details about the game, including a section where pilots logged in as TCS Midway fighter pilots! After many years, we've been able to recover many portions of the site! Unfortunately the site just doesn't work in a modern browser... so we'll link you individual sections:
Check out how different some of these VDU shots are from the finished game!:
[LOAF] [# 8095] [Discuss]
Too Cool For MTV
Wing Commander music videos... we've all seen them. From touching tributes to Blair's death to heavy metal set to giant space battles to Ashlee Simpson narrating the Wing Commander IV trailer, fans are good at making them (except for that last one). Did you know there was an actual Wing Commander music video? It's true - Cobalt 60's 'Prophecy' song was set to a scripted video of the game's first mission! The video was released on the Prophecy OST and saw a limited amount of play in some areas of Europe. Most interesting to fans is the fact that a very early build of WCP was used to create it - check out different VDUs and a Fralthi II wreck that's actually on fire! You can download it here (102 mb, MOV) or view it in the new Holovids section here.
[LOAF] [# 8106] [Discuss]
Birthday Poll - How Long Have You Been Here?
Annual poll time! At this time each year we ask our readers: how long have you been among our ranks? Is anyone old enough to remember WCHS? Did you come aboard for Secret Ops, Prophecy GBA, Standoff or EA Replay? Let us know! I'm willing to bet there are some new fans thanks to the release of Wing Commander Arena. You can find old 'longevity poll' results here.
Our last poll asked you which Wing Commander Arena single player mode you were looking forward to. A majority chose Gauntlet as their 'most excited' game type... not surprising, since it includes a familiar Midway-class ship! Melee, which pits the player against a host of AIs in the middle of the familiar space station map, came in a close second.
| Which Arena single player mode are you most excited about? |
| Melee |
28.16% |
 |
| Meteor Storm |
18.45% |
|
| Gauntlet |
31.72% |
|
| Proving Grounds |
21.68% |
|
|
