2012.294 (October 20, 2012)

Cybot Redeemers Himself With Prophecy Shuttle

Cybot has a sequel to his shuttle posting with another compact design. He's created several highly modular variants of the Condor SAR-23 refueling ship. You can grab it for your aspiring fan project at the CIC Forums here. Who was a little surprised that each of these got their own proper "TCS" name in Prophecy?

RSI Concludes Big Week

It's been a huge couple of days for Roberts Space Industries! Initial response to the Kickstarter has been phenominal with over $300,000 raised in just 54 hours. At the same time, RSI's pledge site crossed $1.2 million for a combined total over $1,500,000! Five dedicated fans have even pledged for the $10,000 category. The main page has started to sell out of certain slots, including the $30 "First Responder" and $1000 "The Stars My Destination." It is still currently possible to contribute these amounts via KS. The Star Citizen FAQ continues to expand, but a number of questions have been answered on forums or via social media. Here's a couple answers to things we've heard people asking about.

On the subject of dual-pledging to both Kickstarter and RSI (not upgrading an individual pledge at one single site):

Don't worry. You don't have to trade in your ship - you can have multiple ones at the same time (but only fly one at once of course). I was just using this an example of a possible upgrade if you wanted a different type / style of ship than the one you start with. I fully expect players to go both ways - some will collect all the ship types as a goal, and some will be more concerned about hone one ship into the perfect fighting / trading ship.

So on the "double" backing - if you pledge for say a SCOUT package and then get a WINGNUT Package - you will have both ships in your "space" garage, your credits will be pooled and you'll get all the physical rewards promised in each package.

When asked if it's possible to lose the ship you pledge for:

Its not technically correct that you don't lose your pledge ship - you do. BUT all pledge ships come with lifetime insurance, as opposed to the ones you can purchase in game. So when your ship is destroyed you'll get rescued and returned to the nearest friendly base / planet and will have your ship minus its cargo and any upgrades you bought along the way. You can purchase insurance in-game for upgrades, ships & cargo (think Loyds of London).

I'm really wanting to model a "real" world situation. So just like in the real world you're not forced to buy insurance - if you're in the safe parts of the empire you probably don't need it, but if you're trading in areas that you can be attacked by pirates its probably a smart thing to have - but its always your choice. The concept is that in the safe parts,where there is heavy law enforcement you pay landing tariffs and taxes on the goods you sell - to pay for the infrastructure and law and order. But on the outer part of the galaxy, that doesn't have law and order and therefore will have pirates & PvP there are no tariff or taxes and therefore greater profit. But also greater risk. By modeling a full ecosystem like this I hope that different sets of players gravitate to different roles and take different amounts of risk. Some will hie others to take risk trading runs, others will gravitate to it. Some will band together to from a pirate clan, others a merchant guild.

There have been two new RSI articles posted. The first is a chapter of an adventure story and the second is Chris Roberts' take on physics. You can check out a video on the game's physics here.

I will admit that the ship doesn’t need to have wings or fans on the front, but the idea behind that is for possible atmospheric flight (this is not a promise of planetary action for the early build but allows for expansions in this direction), and as a RAM scoop. Plus it just looks / feels cool!

In the days ahead, RSI plans to release stats/images for more ships and allow members at the RSI website to upgrade their contributions. They are also shooting for a Reddit AMA with Chris Roberts on Monday.

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.