When Origin Ruled the Press

Archive sites have recently preserved a new swath of gaming magazines. I found a pretty interesting general Origin preview in this issue of Computer Games Strategy Plus (February 1993)... but as I went to post about it, I got to thinking: just how much of this issue is covering games from Origin? The answer surprised me!

The issue's cover story is a preview of Origin's Pacific Strike, a game that ended up not having the simplest birth. It's all sunlight here, though, as the game promises to be a followup to Strike Commander that actually lets you drool over the textured aircraft in longer gunnery-based dogfights.

This is the preview itself which covers Origin's entire lineup at the time. Some of these projects, like Bioforge and Wings of Glory, would end up being over a year away! The fact that they intended to have a disk-based SKU for Bioforge is itself fascinating but Wing Commander fans will be most interested in Chris Roberts' early descriptions of the Wing Commander III interaction system and of Wing Commander Academy. There's also a great shot of the Super Wing Commander shuttle as it appears in Bioforge!

The 1993 Strategy Plus Game Awards give Simulation of the Year (General) to X-Wing with Privateer and Wing Commander Academy as runners up. Strike Commander loses out in Simulations (Flight) to Tornado... and Serpent Isle loses the CRPG award to Betrayal at Krondor. Always a bridesmaid!

There's also a pretty positive review of Shadowcaster, a game developed by Raven but published and supported by Origin:

There's also a multi-page strategy guide for Privateer! Unfortunately, every copy online seems to be missing the last page.

Origin advertised heavily, too, with THREE full page slots! The three Ps, Privateer, Pagan and Pacific Strike:

Finally, I tbought it would be fun to list out the Origin games that appear in the standard issue six-page Chips & Bits advertisement. Chips & Bits was known for running these 'list' ads in countless magazines... and for taking preorders for games sometimes before they were even announced! Still waiting for my copy of Ultima X...

Quarterdeck Game Bund $62 (included Privateer)
Ultima Trilogy $39
Ultima Trilogy 2 $48
Wing Com 1 Dlx or CD $48
Shadow Caster $45
System Shock $54
System Shock CD $54
Ultima 9 or 10 CD $54
Ultima Underworld 1 $ 2 CD $59
Wing Commander 3 CD $54
Wing Command Ultima 6 CD $57
Wing Command Ult UW CD $55
Martian Dreams Hint Book $15
Quest Clues 2, 3 or 4 ea $21
Quest Clues 5 Bk Orbs $16
Qust Clue 6 Man Swrds $16
Savage Empire Hint Book $10
Shadow Caster Hint Book $18
Strike Commander Of Bk $15
Ultima 4-6 Hint Book ea $10
Ultima 7 Hint Book $12
Ultima 7 & Underworld Bk $16
Ultima 7.5 Blnce Scales Hint Book $16
Ultima Avatar Advs Book $16
Ultima U Stygian Abyss $12
Martian Dreams $37
Savage Empire $34
Ultima 4 Quest of Avatar $35
Ultima 5 Warriors Dest. $35
Ultima 5 Warriors Dest. $38
Ultima 6 False Prophet $19
Ultima 7 Black Gat $48
Ultima 7 Forge of Virtue $18
Ultima 7.5 Part 2 Silv Sd $20
Ult 7.5 Serp Isle Spc Pk $18
Ultima 7.5 Serpent Isle $48
Ultima 8: Pagan $48
Ult 8: Pagan Spc Acc Pk $17
Ultima 9: Ascension $52
Ult. Uworld 2 Labyrinth $46
Pacific Strike $52
Pacific Strike Spch Pak $18
Privateer $47
Privateer Special Op $22
Privateer Speech Pack $17
Strike Commander $41
Strike Comnd Spec Op1 $20
Strke Cmnd Spch Pk $16
W C 2 Operation 1 $22
W C 2 Operation 2 $22
W C 2 Speech Mod $13
W C Secrt Mission $20
W C Sec Mis1&2 Bundle $20
W C Secret Mis 2 HD $20
Wing Armada $54
Wing Commander $19
Wing Commander 2 $29
Wing Commander 3 $52
Wing Command Acad $32