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Point of Origin: Vol. 1, No. 6
This is part seven of our series highlighting archived copies of Point of Origin, Origin Systems' internal newsletter (Hey, at least it's free.) Looks like they remembered how to count! It's now November 22, 1991 and everyone is getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving. The big projects which the company had hoped to finish by Christmas, Ultima VII and Stike Commander, have both been delayed into the next year - but more obscure releases like Special Operations, Wing Commander/Ultima 6 CD-ROM and Ultima 6 FM Towns are marching on!
A very special thanks to Joe Garrity of the Origin Museum for making this resource available and to Electronic Arts for sending them to him in the first place!
Here's the breakdown for Wing Commander:
- Dallas Does San Fran relays Dallas Snell's trip to a Fujitsu conference promoting the FM Towns. "After the conference, Dalls swung over to Software Toolworks for a sight-seeing/fact-finding tour and to talk about the CD-ROM projects they're doing, like Wing/U6."
- The Big Score reports on a new distribution deal with the Handleman Company, responsible for stocking stores like Sears and Target. That's good news for WC2: "Handleman's initial order is for about 1680 pieces of Wing 2 and about 630 pieces of U7, the majority of which will be going into Sears Brand Central stores. Future plans call for expansions into Handleman's other chains. Marten says Wing 2 is still holding its own, but Special Ops could spark it up. He thinks we could get a second round of sell-through activity before Christmas, even in a soft consumer spending market."
- Read All About It rounds up more press for WC2:
OMNI Editor Keith Ferrell called to say that Wing 2 will be feature prominently in a 2-pager on 'hot' flight simulators in the December issue. Greg Keizer, the freelancer who wrote the article, calls it a 'Top Gun 2001.' Keith says 'congratulations to all on yet anothersensational product!'
There's a new flight simulator newsletter out, appropriately called Simulations! It's published by Shay Addams of QuestBuster fame. In the premier issue, Bernie Yee's review of Wing 2 was positive but notglowing. Look for copies on the boards.
PC Sources will be joining PC Consumer reviewing Mike Harrison's Wing Commander book. It's selling so well that it's gone into a second printing.
In case you didn't hear at last week's Social Hour, Wing Commander lost its #1 spot on the Computer Gaming World Top-100 Chart--to Wing 2! Assistant Editor Alan Emrich says the Reader Survey rating of 10.91 (out of a possible 12) may be a new record. Kudos to both project teams.
- Charting the World follows suit for the rest of the world: "Tilt Magazine (France) gives Wing 2 19 outof a possible 20 points. On Generation 4's 'Hit Parade' in Germany, Wing 2 is #1 on the PC chart. ASM Magazine (German) rates Wing 2 'Prima'. On the German 'Hitline' for MS-DOS,Wing is #4 and Wing 2 is #6. Germany sends us two other awards via a users' group known as Deutsche Abenteuer Spiel Auszeichnung (DASA). It named Ultima VI 'Best Computer Role-Playing Game of 1990' and honored Wing Commander of 'Best Computer Strategy-Simulation Game of 1990.' Wow! First the Berlin Wall, and then all this..."
- Play It Again has good news from QA - Special Operations 1 has signed off! "First and foremost is the official signoff of Special Operations, which said through playtesting and out the door this week. It's slated to ship on Monday. 'I don't remember how many bugs there were, but there weren't many,' Sherry said. 'That really says a lot, not only for the Special Ops team, but for the Wing 2 team, too. It shows their game really holds together well.' The staff sends its heartfelt thanks to QA for doubling its efforts to keep Special Ops moving in time for Thanksgiving.
- Finally, Dear Point Man has a fascinating exchange about naming the main character in Wing Commander - I guess this is where Carl LaFong died:
Dear Point Man,
In your last newsletter, you said you're looking for names for the hero in the new Wing Commander book. HA! Fat chance! No way am I going to focus all my creative energies without some sort of reward. Catch my drift? What's in it for me?
Signed,
Name Withheld
Dear No-Name,
Okay, okay., here's the deal: each person who submits a winning name and/or call sign will get to name a character in the computer version of Wing 3. (What did you expect, royalties?)
Point of Origin
Vol. 1, No. 6 - November 22, 1991
Contents
Dallas Does San Fran
Priest Punctured at Pint Party
Talkin' Turkey
Xmas Xtra
Industry Standards
The Big Score
Charting the World
Go With the Flow
Read All About It
On the Payroll
Play It Again
Dear Point Man
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[# 8210]
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Update published on October 5, 2007. View all news from that day.
Wing Commander CIC - Visit the front page
Official news, fan projects and topics of particular interest to Wing Commander fans.
- Some Ship Viewer Sample Shots Shown
- 2012-05-24 -- BoH_Havoc is continuing to move forward with his online ship viewer based on feedback he's received so far. Here are some new prototype images with the TCS Concordia rendered in the program. Pretty neat!
- Destroyer Destined for Guard Duty
- 2012-05-23 -- Kevin Caccamo's Ralari has taken a huge leap since the last time we saw it. The model has been plated with nice metallic textures that don't overdo the look. Running lights, windows, powered engines and intake glow all add significantly to the presentation here too.
- GOG Talks Space Sims
- 2012-05-22 -- centaurianmudpig spotted a new PlaySF interview with the folks at GOG.com. They discuss the state of the space combat genre and the possibility of releasing expansion packs for Wing Commander games.
- Enigma Mod Measures Out Confed Fleet
- 2012-05-21 -- Here's a new Confed showcase of capships for the Enigma 2666 mod. Each ship's length and scale is still subject to some potential tweaking to sync better with fighters, but the current lineup is displayed below. The TCS Concordia is very far along the design path, as is the Gilgamesh.
- "Sir, if we spot this Fralthi, should we engage?"
- 2012-05-20 -- Now we go from Fralthra to Fralthi WIP images. CMDBob's latest design is a classic Kilrathi light carrier/cruiser. His model has real clean lines and an animated WC1-style set of textures.
- Fearsome Fralthra Filling In Fast
- 2012-05-19 -- Red Baron has started to texture Cybot's Fralthra, and it's quickly turning into quite a work of art. The color scheme already does a great job of evoking Wing Commander 2. He's also scaled a Jalkehi as a point of reference and imagined what the entire fighter complement of the ship might look like.
- Wing Commander Saga Download Reminder
- 2012-05-18 -- If you haven't yet downloaded the long-awaited fan game, now is as good a time as any to get your hands on a copy! The Windows installer weighs in at a hefty 3.4 gigabytes, so we recommend some kind of download manager that can resume paused or failed transfers.
- New RPG Kicks Off
- 2012-05-17 -- The TCS Phoenix has launched and the game has begun in the Wing Commander: From the Ashes forum-based RPG. Some of the first characters have already been defined, and action in the Pentonville System is now in motion. There is also an out-of-character area where new players can ask questions and get situated before they begin role playing.
- Vega Sector Reinforcements Inbound
- 2012-05-16 -- Here's a preview of new designs that Klavs is working to bring to the Shapeways model factory. If all goes according to plan, this foursome may be available in a future bundle pack together. It's an interesting assortment of ships - Rapier, Super Wing Commander Rapier, Scimitar and Dralthi - and they all look fantastic!
- Academy Just Two Weeks Away!
- 2012-05-15 -- Wingnuts now have less than 14 days to prepare for the release of Wing Commander Academy on DVD! All thirteen episodes of the television series will be available in this set starting on May 29, 2012. Barnes & Noble and Deep Discount have some of the lowest prices, and there's still time to order from Amazon.
- Scimitar Prepares to Slice Up a Dralthi
- 2012-05-15 -- And to further get you in the Academy mood, here's another beautiful NinjaLA sketch. The CF-105 Scimitar was the workhorse of the cadets flying off the Tiger's Claw, and soon you'll get to watch them again in the new high quality release!
- Exotic Designs Hit the Spacelanes
- 2012-05-14 -- ScoobyDoo has put together several more concept renders inspired by a variety of sources. The first is a medium size capship with fighter-carrying ability, and it's followed by a beefier looking take on the Bearcat. The last design is a more unique idea that mixes Wing Commander elements with a Freespace ship.
- Fleets Increase Presence in Enigma
- 2012-05-13 -- Here's a big update for the Enigma 2666 mod. A handful of new pictures show off where the game is at today. Four different capship classes are pictured near a large Confed base, and all the fighters sport updated textures.
- Echo Sector Reopens
- 2012-05-13 -- The world's biggest website dedicated to the Crusader series, Echo Sector, has gotten a big revamp. New features include a streamlined menu interface and increased security. Not all of the links work yet, but more features will come online soon.
- Va ka Garga ka naru ha Garga
- 2012-05-12 -- NinjaLA has sketched a new fearsome Kilrathi. With his latest warrior, Ninja has done a good job of introducing menacing facial features, and this sinister look goes beyond just drawing a humanoid tiger. The armor is inspired by the classic WC2 style with a WC Movie headpiece.
- Kilrathi Destroyer Continues to Take Shape
- 2012-05-11 -- Kevin Caccamo is once again working on a Ralari model. Since we last saw the ship, additional detail has been added to the window areas and secondary structure. It appears to conform to the Claw Marks schematic quite well.
- Wing Commander Stories From The Fatman
- 2012-05-10 -- In recent weeks, Armchair Arcade has been conducting a series of interviews with famous videogame composer George Sanger. The newest issue talks about his and Dave Govett's work on the soundtrack for the original Wing Commander. Well worth a listen!
- Super Rapier Models Ready To Go
- 2012-05-09 -- Klavs has completed design and prototyping of another physical model. His Super Wing Commander Rapier is now available for fellow Wingnuts in 1/600 scale from Shapeways. The image below reveals that, although tiny, the ship packs some incredible detail - very distinctive hull markings and guns!
- WC Saga Soundtrack Released
- 2012-05-08 -- The WC Saga team has released the soundtrack to their Freespace mod. They are also working on a spinoff album based on George Oldziey's tunes from Wing Commander 3. You can grab the Darkest Dawn OST here (187 meg zip).
- Garriott DVD Drops May 15
- 2012-05-08 -- Richard Garriott's Man on a Mission documentary will be released on DVD next Tuesday! This charming film captures Lord British's successful dream to become the world's first second-generation astronaut. Most reviews have been quite positive and the documentary has come highly recommended.
- Paradigm Deployed to Enigma Sector
- 2012-05-07
- New WC Ship Viewer In Development
- 2012-05-06 -- BOC_Havoc has put together a very sharp 3D ship viewer. The program is still in the prototype stages, but you can try out the current build here. The unity web player plugin is needed to see the model.
- Still Worthy of an Honorable Mention
- 2012-05-05 -- There aren't as many gaming sites name dropping Wing Commander as there were a decade ago, but they still pop up all over if you look. Here's a couple from just this week: HotHardware ran a feature on gaming clichés. The story decries the linear nature of modern games that screech to a halt if any losing conditions are met.
- Warren Spector Revisits Origin Memories
- 2012-05-05 -- Yet another Wing Commander mention this week came from an interview with Warren Spector. Metro.co.
- A Trip to the WC Universe is Right
- 2012-05-04 -- PlaySF magazine has put together a wacky article on Wing Commander and Christopher Blair. From the perspective of an inter-dimensional time traveler, the author jumps back in time to the year AD 2700 within the Wing Commander universe. Once there, he encounters James Taggart and the TCS Midway.
- Everything's Ship Shape!
- 2012-05-03 -- In recent days WCPedia contributor Iceblade has worked on finalizing a layout for the ship articles on the project. After experimenting with the Broadsword article, and creating a great layout in the process, he's started to implement that layout across the Confederation fighters category. Currently, the F-36 Hornet article is the most complete.
- HUDdle Up and Check Out New Cockpit Displays
- 2012-05-02 -- Aginor is working on a new Wing Commander mod, and this game will be played from the Kilrathi perspective. Although there won't be full dashboard cockpit graphics, each ship will have a unique heads up display. Most games use the same targeting crosshairs and reticle for all ships, but here are some examples of how Wing Commander 4 differentiated its craft.
- Don't Miss an Infoburst!
- 2012-05-02 -- Are you linked up to get the latest Wing Commander news right as it happens? In addition to the main website and CIC Forums, dedicated Wingnuts can follow the CIC on various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and with RSS to stay in the loop as news breaks. In addition to hot stories, followers also see occasional special features and behind-the-scenes updates.
- Glance at Mod's Gwynedd Mission
- 2012-05-01 -- Here's some new shots from the Enigma 2666 mod that show off a fighter launch, autopilot fly-by and ship size comparison. Sharp players will quickly recognize the familiar Broadsword/Ferret pairing from the Fralthra Strike at the beginning of WC2 - a very fun mission, if you can keep the Broadswords alive! Here I used the Confederation Class from Klavs and the converted Broadsword from Standoff.
- Rapier Prepped for Production
- 2012-04-30 -- Klavs has finished his Super Wing Commander Rapier, and the result is gorgeous. These ships are now off to a trial at Shapeways 'rapid prototyping' lab. If the design pans out, small physical resin copies may be available to order soon.
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