2008.079 (March 19, 2008)

Wingnuts Tactically Retreat

Crius.net pilots evacuate to the Corsair System this week while they regroup and conduct some under cover recon in Dralthis recovered from the Ras Nik'hra. The Tiger's Claw has also taken on some new pilots - Jazz and Doomsday just joined the crew. WC fans are planning to complete the Secret Missions 2 together this month and move on to Wing Commander 2 in April. Here's Skanks with the latest mission reports.

Near Firekka 2: Back in the pancakes... this troopship better be worth it! The Gratha on the way to Nav 1 don't seem convinced so we afterburn to Nav 1. Amazingly the wing of Hhriss there don't realise we aren't Kilrathi! The Drayman jumps out... I hope we find it again soon. Get to Nav 2 where a few Jalthi are buzzing around, and thankfully the Drayman is here too! The unsuspecting Jalthi are made short work of, and it seems the marines have done their job too. We hook up with the Drayman and head home. Unfortunately the Kilrathi have other ideas and send a few Krants to stop us. They seem to underestimate us however as we easily blast through them and get the Drayman safely back under the protective wing of the Tiger's Claw.

Interlude: Doomsday and Jazz are back to the TCS Austin, Jazz seems a bit funny with me and seems insistent we'll meet again. Both of them seemed fairly decent pilots so I hope so.

Corsair 3: The Tiger's Claw is under attack! Hunter and I launch in Raptors, thankfully it's only some Dralthi and Salthi. Two of the Dralthi even turn tail and run! Nav 1 is clear, but Nav 2 finds a Ralari guarded by 3 Grathas. We manage to take out the fighter cover before turning ours guns on the destroyer. Nav 3 finds a Snakeir guarded by a mere 2 Jalthi, this is worrying, where is the rest of it's fighters? We take the carrier and its fighters out before high tailing it back to the Tiger's Claw. Surprisingly only 2 Dralthi are attacking her, perhaps the ones from earlier returned? We take them out in short order.

Interlude: Iceman says they have founds 2 human traitors. They belong to a group called the Society of Manderins, what could make a person turn traitor when we are fighting for our very survival? Knight has decided to pass up becoming a flight instructor, a shame, he'd make a good one.

• Community Replay - General Discussion
• WC1 Week 1 - Enyo, McAuliffe, Gimle, Gateway, Cheng-du
• WC1 Week 2 - Brimstone, Dakota, Kurasawa, Rostov, Port Hedland, Hubble's Star
• WC1 Week 3 - Venice, Hell's Kitchen, Alternate Paths
• Secret Missions Week 1 - Goddard, Border Zone, Midgard
• Secret Missions Week 2 - Jotunheim, Bifrost
• Secret Missions Week 3 - Valgard, Vigrid
• SM2: Crusade Week 1 - Firekka
• SM2: Crusade Week 2 - Corsair, Near Firekka

Learn The Moves Of A True Master

At the CIC we still get lots of questions about Wing Commander Arena, and one of the more common ones is how to get the tricky Ring Game achievement - Hot Dog. The Ring Game is activated by the blue tabs around the perimeter of the Firekkan bearpit station. There are different games on each side that are mirror images of each other. Navigating the rings seems nearly impossible at first, but it can be easy once you get a hang of the aerobatic fighter maneuvers. Learning some of the special moves can be a big bonus in combat as well. Kris typed up some pointers here to get people started.

You need to use a light or medium fighter for this. A bomber can't complete the tracks because you need to execute a loop for the high and low rings. And time is limited, so you need to hurry. I recommend a medium fighter because you'll need to make some very precise maneuvers and you risk overshooting in the Arrow or Darket. I completed the game in a Dralthi Rhino.

The right stick is instrumental here. Roll left and right to quickly make your way down the track. Keep the right stick pushed back to catch a low ring. Keep it pushed forward to catch a high ring. Keep one eye on the counter at the bottom of the screen. You'll see a number flash when you succesfully move through a ring (this is not always obvious for the low and high rings depending on your camera angle). For some parts you may need to back up a little and realign your ship or you won't be able to do the looping. Be careful that you don't back up through the previous ring or you'll have to start over! Save time by using afterburners for straight sections.

You need to complete the ring game three times in the same bearpit game (it's okay to die between turns). Each time you will be presented with a harder track. You should set up a private game with three other players. Two players can play the ring game (the two ring powerups are located at opposite sides of the arena) while the other two hang out in the pit.

Good luck!

Don't forget to take a cloak if you'll be doing this in a public game. If all else fails, drop by #Wingnut for some help setting up a quiet bearpit room to practice in.

Wing Commander CIC - Visit the front page

Official news, fan projects and topics of particular interest to Wing Commander fans.

Origin Museum Interviews the Vampire

2013-05-20 -- Joe Garrity of the Origin Museum has a pretty cool toy and an interesting piece of history! The Vampire space superiority fighter pictured below was created by Origin Systems to advertise Wing Commander Prophecy at trade shows like E3. Joe recently came across it in a lot of props and costumes saved from Origin after all these years.

Wing Commander Airing on HBO & On Demand

2013-05-19 -- Blaster reports that the Wing Commander Movie has been added to HBO’s Video On Demand section on DirecTV. You can find the film listing here. It's also been recently airing in high definition on the HBO ZHD channel.

WC Vet to Lead New UT Gaming Academy

2013-05-19 -- The University of Texas at Austin has announced that Wing Commander producer Warren Spector will be leading a new gaming academy at the school. The program will also be directed by Blizzard COO Paul Sams. Twenty slots will open up for promising students in the fall of 2014, and the end result will be a distinguished post-baccalaureate certificate.

A Little Austin Adventure with LOAF

2013-05-18 -- I'm back in Austin visiting LOAF this week, and here's a tiny peek at our exploits. First things first, we hit up three vintage game stores and scored some WC merchandise at each one! It's always so great to see the store clerks light upon mentioning the Wing Commander name.

Strike Commander Gains OS X Compatibility

2013-05-18 -- Good Old Games has added Macintosh support for ten more games, and this latest batch includes Strike Commander! This is good news for fans of classic Origin games, but it doesn't stop here. Fill out this form and let GOG know they need to add more Wing Commanders!

Slick Sabre Slicing Shapeways Soon

2013-05-17 -- Klavs' latest design is another star of Wing Commander 2, the heavy attack Sabre. It's looking both sleek and vicious in these new renders. The F-57 still needs a set of colorful textures, but we can't wait for this bird and its Broadsword bomber brother showing up at Terran Fleet Supply soon!

'Hazardous Duty' Pitch Revealed!

2013-05-16 -- Origin alumni and consummate archivist Binky has discovered another great treasure: the 1997 Origin pitch video for Wing Commander: Hazardous Duty. Hazardous Duty, named after one of George Oldziey’s music tracks for Wing Commander Prophecy, was an attempt to spin Wing Commander off into an FPS game. Binky saved a VHS of the demo all these years and recently digitized it for the ages!

BREAKING NEWS: Wing Commander on Blu Ray

2013-05-15 -- At long last, Chris Roberts' 1999 Wing Commander film is coming to Blu-Ray! Walmart's catalog has outed plans to release the Blu-Ray on August 13, 2013. A re-release of the DVD is also listed.

Space Sim First Look: Wings of Saint Nazaire

2013-05-14 -- Community member Howard Day is working on an indie space sim "in the vein of Wing Commander and X-Wing." The ship models look incredibly detailed, and the cockpit view has a pleasing '90s vibe. Wings of Saint Nazaire is being built on the Unity 3D engine, which means it'll run on Windows, Mac, Linux and even some consoles!

Have a Helping of Homemade Hellcat

2013-05-13 -- Whiplash has moved beyond subassembly construction and now has a complete spaceframe for his custom Hellcat design. His model wings have been joined to the fuselage with wood glue and everything is coming together nicely. The fighter looks really solid and has a slick finish to it.

Time to Think Outside the Box

2013-05-12 -- Wing Commander games are well known for their amazing manuals and other boxed goodies, but the boxes themselves are a treat too! They all feature iconic art, and many even include snippets of bonus fiction, deleted scenes and pre-production graphics that provide an even larger window into the universe. The new poll asks about your favorite.

Wing Commander... In Iron Man 3?

2013-05-11 -- Ever since I first heard that they had chosen "the Mandarin" to be the villain in Iron Man 3, I had been wondering if someone would throw a Wing Commander reference into the mix. Now after having seen the film I'd like to believe they did. The Mandarin character claims responsibility for a number of terrorist bombings in the film.

RSI Approaches $10 Million Milestone

2013-05-11 -- Roberts Space Industries has met another incredible milestone. The team recently hit a whopping $9.5 million in total crowd funding revenues since the October launch of Squadron 42.

Roland MT-32 Emulation Still Beating

2013-05-10 -- Back in the '80s and '90s, supported games sounded a lot better if you had an expensive Roland MIDI card for your PC. Now, it's possible to enjoy nearly the same audio quality through software emulation. We first reported on the munt Roland MT-32 emulator two years ago.

Broadsword Bomber Swoops In

2013-05-09 -- Here's a peek at one of Klavs' next models, the mighty Broadsword! We can't wait to see it side-by-side with the Ferret. The bomber looks massive and powerful from every angle, and the upcoming 3D print should make a great addition to any desk's strike force.

Goodbye, Tony Stockton

2013-05-08 -- There is truly terrible news today, as we have learned that programmer Tony Stockton passed away yesterday. Tony worked on Privateer 2: The Darkening and was the man responsible for the game’s incredible booth trading system.Tony was an extremely active member of the UK game development community and he leaves behind an extensive body of work.

Super Wing Commander Played with Flightstick Pro

2013-05-07 -- Decay has put together another neat video that shows Super Wing Commander being played with a 3DO Flightstick Pro joystick. Console input methods can range from amazingly awesome to quite cumbersome, and Decay's not sold on this particular interface. It's really cool to see it all in action like this however, and most people haven't seen anywhere close to enough Super Wing Commander.

"Whiplash, I want you on my wing..."

2013-05-06 -- Whiplash's hand-crafted Hellcat has seen significant progress on its wings. Each section had to be carefully measured and cut to ensure a smooth fit to the fuselage and engines. A lot of effort went into getting the shape right with the vertical wingtip stabilizers, and the entire wingbox benefits from some new strengthening.

Fan Favorite Ferret Flies into Fleet Supply

2013-05-05 -- Klavs has released his latest model, and this one's a beauty! The P-64 Ferret is now available at Terran Fleet Supply as a 3D print. Owing to its small size and Klavs' innovative modeling techniques, it's also the cheapest design at under $15.

Facebook Page Turns Three

2013-05-05 -- The CIC's Facebook Page hit its third anniversary this past week. It's been a big year for Wing Commander news, and the membership at the page has more than doubled in the last twelve months! The look has also changed considerably.

RetroN 5 Plays SNES, S Famicon & GBA WC Console Games

2013-05-04 -- The Hyperkin RetroN 5 is an upcoming console that emulates a number of popular gaming machines. The system has slots for NES, SNES, Super Famicon, Sega Genesis, Megadrive and Gameboy Color/Advance. If you've wanted to play your PAL or Super Famicon Wing Commander on a North American computer's LCD, the N5's HDMI output will make that quite a bit easier.

Big GOG Sale Knocks 60% Off Low WC Prices

2013-05-03 -- Good Old Games' weekend promo delivers almost 30 EA games at 60% off for the next three days. This means Wing Commander titles are discounted down to a whopping $2.39!

Arena Match Set for Sunday

2013-05-02 -- The Monday afternoon time slot appears to have been a tough one for TrueAchievement. They have rescheduled the Wing Commander Arena achievement-gathering session for this coming Sunday, May 5, at around 4 pm Eastern time (1 pm Pacific, 8 pm GMT). It's still early enough that hopefully Wingnuts from a couple continents can join in.

Steam Indie Game Introduces Curious Ursine Foe

2013-05-02 -- Claymore has spotted an interesting alien race from the new space strategy game StarDrive. It features a Japanese-inspired race of intelligent bears named the 'Kulrathi'. Even with their samurai swords, my money would definitely be on a bonafide Kilrathi to win in hand to hand combat!

Privateer Board Game Nears Printable Trial

2013-05-01 -- The Privateer-themed board game team has posted new pictures of the fan project close to beta testing. Images released last month showed the game running in the Vassal engine for online play, and these shots show the new printable tabletop version. It's very colorful, to say the least!

Virgin Galactic Pulls Off Major Test Flight

2013-05-01 -- Here's some fantastic shots of Monday's first supersonic rocket-powered flight of the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo craft. They look straight out of something science fiction, but these are actual photographs! The SS2 hit Mach 1.

Tales of the Claw Announced

2013-04-30 -- Klavs has done an incredible job turning his 3D models into physical craft, but now he's taking on a new platform. He will soon be using his exquisite designs in an animated web series that takes place aboard the Tiger's Claw! Few details have been released, although there is an exciting high resolution teaser wallpaper to accompany the announcement.

GalCiv2 Pack Brings WC Style Designs to the Metaverse

2013-04-29 -- pigsonthewing is an avid Galactic Civilizations player, and he's spotted a ship pack that's inspired by the fleets of Wing Commander. The author has taken a bit of artistic license, but the similarities are clearly there. Grab it here or here!

GOG Adds Mac Support for WC3 & Other Origin Titles

2013-04-28 -- Good Old Games has announced that another batch of classic games is now officially compatible with the Macintosh. The latest addition adds Wing Commander 3, Crusader: No Regret & Ultima 8: Gold Edition! There are now over a hundred games in their library that run under OS X, including WC1, WC2 and Privateer.

Assemble for Arena Achievement

2013-04-28 -- This is a reminder that TrueAchievements is holding a Wing Commander Arena play session on Monday. The event takes place relatively early in the US (1 pm Pacific, 4 pm Eastern), but this also allows Wingnuts in Europe to get in on the action (8 pm GMT). They're shooting for 16 players in order to get the TCS Tiger's Claw achievement.