The Wing Commander movie club is home from exploring the new world with sexy Columbus. I wouldn't say anyone loved 1492: Conquest of Paradise but it was certainly a movie you could think about. This week's movie is... not that. We'll be watching RoboCop 3 (1991), arguably the third or fourth best of the RoboCop movies. But it also may just be the kind of movie you need after a week of taking things too seriously! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.
The big connection for RoboCop 3 is once again that Chris Roberts used some of its music when temp tracking the 1999 Wing Commander movie. RoboCop 3's score is by Basil Poledouris who we previously heard in StarShip Troopers. Chris used "Murphy's Memories" embedded below for the early version of the scene where Blair confronts Angel about Maniac (after the depth charge attack).
RoboCop also reminds us of this classic fellow (robot? cyborg?) from Privateer Righteous Fire. He first appeared in 1994 but he was originally created for a cutscene in the base Privateer that would inform the player they'd gone into debt and the game was lost. This was a scenario that could only happen if you land with zero credits and the docking fee brings you into the red... so to save space, the final build of the game drops the cutscene and simply doesn't let bases charge you if it could bring your balance below zero credits. The more you know!
Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?
Robocop 3 is available for rent or purchase on the standard streaming services. If you would like a physical copy, the movie was released on Blu-ray in 2011 and remains in print around the world; the current version from SHOUT Factory is particularly nice. A copy is available on the Internet Archive. If you are not able to locate a copy please stop by the Discord and ping a CIC staff member before Friday's showing.
How do we watch the movie together?
It's pretty low tech! Simply join the Wing Commander CIC Discord on Friday and we will be chatting (in text) along with the film in the main channel. Everyone who wants to join in should bring their own copy and we will count down to play them together at 10 PM EST. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to join in the conversation; sharing your thoughts helps make the experience better for everyone!
How can I help pick future movie club movies?
The movie club movies are voted on each week by the Wing Commander Discord. The poll is typically posted 24 hours before each week's screening and the next movie is announced at the end. The choices for the poll come from a master pool of Wing Commander-related movies. If you would like to suggest a film for inclusion in that pool you can post it to this thread.
An eBay listing fo a Wing Commander Prophecy flight suit recently ended. We thought we'd add the quality photos to the archive. It seems to have belonged to a prop house, probably one that purchased it surplus after Electronic Arts sold off their stored props. No label is visible, so it's likely that this belonged to an extra. Maybe Smudo?!
Inside Mac Games was a unique sort of magazine from the mid-1990s. It was specific to the small, affluent community of Macintosh gamers and instead of being printed it came on a CD-ROM! The articles were presented through an interactive executable and they could link to slide shows, trailers, advertisements and even game demos! Dundradal, who remembers IMG from his youth, located five major previews and reviews of Wing Commander games which we've extracted to the best of our abilities here. Links to copies of the ISOs themselves are also included in case you want to get the genuine experience emulating them on an old Mac!
IMG 24 - January/February 1995 - Super Wing Commander preview
Sneak Peek: Super Wing Commander
by Tuncer Deniz
NOTE: Screen shots and information presented in this article are based on a pre-release version of Super Wing Commander and are subject to change before final release. This article is not a review.
Every time a "space" movie comes on the tube, I'll immediately start watching. It doesn't matter if it's Star Wars, Star Trek, or even a bad space movie like "It Came From Mars" on some obscure cable channels at 2 o'clock in the morning. I just can never seem to get enough.
Although our fascination with flying has been with us since mankind first gazed to the skies, our thirst for flight in recent times has not only been earthbound but spacebound as well. Trips to the moon, walks in space, sci-fi shows and movies, and, yes, even computer games have heightened our desire to travel through space in search of the unknown. But I'm sure you would agree that space travel would be pretty boring without some action, especially on a computer. Better yet, how about something you can fight against, like in Star Wars? I mean, what's a good space game with some evil aliens trying to destroy you?
Super Wing Commander has all these exciting elements and more. Super Wing Commander originally bore out of the popular Wing Commander series for the IBM PC platform in the late 80's. Released about a year ago for the 3D0 game system, Super Wing Commander is a space adventure shoot'em up and represents Origin's return to the Macintosh game market after years of absence. The port is being handled by Lion Entertainment of Austin, Texas for Origin and is scheduled to be released sometime in March or April.
The Terran/Kilrathi Conflict Begins... In the year 2629.105, a lone exploration ship encounters a spacecraft of unknown origin. Standard wide-band non-verbal message to the unknown ship are soon greeted with the alien vessel savagely opening all guns on the exploration ship /wen and destroying it completely. War on the Empire of Kilrathi is declared on 2634.186 after years of countless acts of piracy and unwarranted assaults on Ter ran Confederation ships and planets.
This is where you come in. You're the Terran Confederation's best pilot and you've been summoned to defend the TCS Tiger's Claw, in Vega Sector from the evil Tiger-like Kilrathi.
Know Thy Enemy. The Kilrathi's are born warriors and raised for battle. You might say their entire culture is based on war and aggression (fighting among Kilrathi tribes has led to countless of civil wars) and they hold little regard for other intergalactic species, especially humans. The Kil rat hi 's thirst for conquest and domination is unparalleled and they will stop at nothing, not even in the face of death. But don't let their aggression and hatred fool you into thinking they are not skilled fighters. Expect a tough fight and be prepared for the unexpected.
Pre-Flight Check. The Rec Room on the Tiger's Claw provides crew members a hangout to check out everyone's latest number of kills, talk with pilots, and practice with the simulator. New Wing Commander pilots can enter the training simulator to brushen up on their flying and combat skills before actual combat.
Once you've honed in your pilot skills, you can enter the briefing room to begin your missions. Here Colonel Halcyon will brief you on the day's mission. After the briefing is over, you are fitted with a flight suit in the armory and then put into your battle- ready fighter.
Your fighter is equipped with the latest in Terran fighter technology. The viewscreen provides a view of space ahead of you. In the middle you'll find a circular radar display showing the direction of your enemies (and friendlies). On your left is the Left Video Display Unit and shows your shield and armor status. As you take damage you'll see red spots appear where the ships shields are weakening. The Right Video Display Unit shows the ship closest to you. The onboard computer targets the ship and places its profile on the VDU. Here you'll be able to see how much damage you've inflicted on the enemy ship.
Your ship also has other important indicators such as the Blaster, Fuel, Speed, Eject Warning, and Autopilot indicators.
Engaging the Kilrathi. Sooner or later you'll encounter the Kilrathi. This, of course, is where all the action is. They are fierce and relentless so getting them in your sights is crucial. You'll often encounter a number of Kilrathi ships, so you'll need to tell your Wingman to engage the enemy. If you get in trouble, you can also signal him or her to help out or to attack your target. You can even send random insults to the enemy, thereby luring them away from your wingmen or another friendly ship.
Depending on your ship you have a few to choose from), you have access to a number of missiles including dumbfire missiles (just point and shoot), Friend-of-Foe missiles (they don't require a missile lock, but they automatically travel toward the nearest enemy), and Heat-Seeking missiles (they require a heat source to lock on). Also depending on the type of ship you have, you can select between laser, neutron, or mass driver guns. Or you can choose to have all guns combined for a massive punch, but this tends to deplete your blaster power quickly.
Gameplay, Graphics, and The Rest. The gameplay in Super Wing Commander is intense and sometimes challenging. One of the biggest problems I encountered with the 3DO version of SWC was that it was nearly impossible to control using the control pad. I later tried it with a FlightStick Pro and had better luck with it. With the Macintosh version I used a ThrustMaster and it performed flawlessly and accurately.
The graphics in Super Wing Commander are quite good but since the graphics have been dithered down from 24 bit color (from the 3DO version) to 8 bit color, you'll notice that the 3DO version looks a lot better (if you have one). Also, some people might be turned off by the fact that the graphics are in low resolution but in general the low resolution graphics are not a hinderance. Three screen sizes are provided in the Macintosh version from small, medium, to big (640 X 480).
The beta version I was given ran extremely well on my PowerMac 6100 with only small slowdowns. However, being a beta version and not fully optimized yet, I expect the shipping version to be a lot faster. The game comes with 72 missions although not all of it is linear, so expect to play about half as many. You are assigned different missions depending on how well you do a previous missions.
Super Wing Commander will ship on a single CD-ROM and will, thankfully, be fat binary for both 68K and PowerMacs.
Welcome Back, Origin! Although Super Wing Commander may not be the most technologically advanced space sim on the computer game market (its sister game Wing Commander III on the PC may be), it is none-the-less an exceptional Macintosh game, especially considering the space games that are available on the Macintosh.
Super Wing Commander is really a test, in Origin's eyes. If the title does well, it will spur on more Macintosh game development from Origin. In fact, Origin is in the midst of porting another PC game called System Shock, a first person 3D science fiction action adventure. But for Origin to not only come back but STAY in the Macintosh market, titles like Super Wing and System Shock must do extremely well. I for one am hoping they do because I'd love to see Wing Commander III on the Macintosh.
By the way, look for a Super Wing Commander demo in the next issue of IMG.
Video
Side Show
IMG 27 - May 1995 - Super Wing Commander review
Review: Super Wing Commander by Ivan
Type: Space flight/combat simulation
Publisher: Origin Systems (800/245-4525)
Retail Price: $59.95
Street Price: $49.95
Requires: 25 MHz 030 or greater, 4 MB RAM, 256 colors, 2x CD-ROM drive
Protection: None
IMG Rating: 3.5 flight sticks
Back around 1990, I used to go down to the local Electronic Boutique and cast jealous eyes on all the PC games while I shopped around for games that would run on my puny SE. It was about that time that Wing Commander first came out. Wing Commander looked like nothing else I had seen before, and the fact that I couldn't bring it home with me wrenched at my heart. Never before had I wanted a PC as much as I did then. Unfortunately, there wasn't much I could do about it, so I went home saddened, only to be reminded with every trip to the software store. A couple of years went by, as they will do, and suddenly here was Wing Commander II! Another stab in the heart from the PC world. Later on came more Wing Commander stuff: add-on missions for the first two games, Wing Commander Academy, Privateer, and most recently, Wing Commander III. Every one another stab in the heart of all Mac users. But finally, after five long years, Wing Commander has come to the Mac at last, proving that good things come to those who wait.
The Plot Thickens. For those of you who haven't already heard of Super Wing Commander (and you must have been holed up under a rock for the last year), it's a space flight/combat simulator, in which you play the role of an up and coming fighter pilot in humanity's desperate war against an alien foe, the Kilrathi. The Kilrathi are a race of ruthless cat people who see humans as lowly hairless apes, too low even to be called prey. The war against Kilrath has lasted 20 years, and is now at a critical turning point. After 20 years of combat, the forces of both sides are heavily depleted, and the tide could easily turn either way. A brilliant tactical strategy and a fiercel y dedicated bunch of fighter pilots are Earth's only hope. Fortunately, the Earth forces have you. Starting out as a rookie pilot, it's up to you to rise through the ranks and carry the forces of humanity to victory (or defeat) against the Kilrathi. Be victorious, and Earth will be safe forever. Lose, and humanity will become the slaves of Kilrah.
Le Jeu. As you rise through the ranks, you'll pilot a number of different ships against the Kilrathi. Each ship has its own strengths and weaknesses, but they all share common elements. You'll start out piloting the Hornet, a light fighter with minimal shields and weaponry, but good maneuverability. If you succeed in your missions, you'll eventually get to pilot the Rapier, a new experimental fighter and the pride of the Confederation — not as much armor as the Raptor, but great maneuverability and a full complement of missiles. Unfortunately, you don't get to pick which ship you'll fl y, so you'd better learn to be comfortable in all of them. Each ship is armed with a variety of beam and projectile weapons, including lasers, mass driver cannons, neutron guns, heat seeking missiles, friend or foe missiles, and dumb missiles and mines. HUD (Heads Up Display) layouts vary with each ship, but each HUD variety includes all the standard equipment, including a diagram of your current target and its damage status.
One of the really neat things about SWC is that your opponents will frequentl y taunt you with a variety of nasty insults...and you can taunt them right back! In fact, taunting often angers your opponents enough to distract them from other targets, which can be critical during escort missions. While you're being taunted, a close-up view of your tormentor's face appears in your HUD, and the taunter's ship is bracketed in white so you can pick them out — but don't let them distract you! Though most of your opponents are just generic Kilrathi, there are a handful of distinct personalities among them, such as Baktosh Redclaw and Bhurak Starkiller (who earned his reputation by firing at ejected pilots). They're a little tougher than the ordinary opponents, but when you meet them, do your best to kill them. It won't affect the course of the war, but it'll earn you some extra acclaim among your compatriots and improve your reputation.
Oh, and you won't be flying alone. During combat, you'll always have a wingman (hence the name Wing Commander), to back you up. Managing your wingmen is one of the most important aspects of the game. Your fellow pilots vary greatly in their ability, but even the worst of them (barring Knight — more later) will help keep at least one opponent occupied and off your back. The most efficient way to use your wingmen is to assign them a particular target as soon as you enter combat, and then go after a different target yourself. If they report they've killed their target (they will tell you), immediately assign them your current target and go after another one. If you force your wingman to follow your lead, they'll whine until you wish they were dead, and if you just let them join the melee without assigning them a particular target, they'll usually get in your way, either hitting you or taking hits from you. Don't worry about them hogging all the glory — once you become a proficient pilot, they'll rarely destroy more targets than you. You can also get your pilots killed if you don't watch out for them, so if they're reporting heavy damage, send `em home. Getting your fellow pilots killed earns you a reaming from your commanding officer, and severe feelings of guilt when you're forced to attend their funeral.
In between combat missions, you can hang out in the rec room of your carrier ship, the Tiger's Claw, where you can play with the combat simulator, gossip with Shot Glass the bartender, check out your combat ranking and mission to kill ratio [irritatingly, no distinction is made between fighters and flagships), or talk with any pilots who may be hanging around. Frequently, your fellow pilots will offer valuable combat tips, so it always pays to talk to them between missions. Talking to the other pilots also provides interesting and sometimes valuable information about their personalities.
Different pilots have different combat styles and will behave differently under pressure. Since you'll eventually get a chance to fl y with each of them as your wingman, it pays to know as much about them as you can. For instance, you'll hear rumors that one of the pilots, Knight, is a "kitty lover" who holds back in combat. From my own experience, I can say that Knight is just a god awful pilot who provides little if any help in combat. During the three missions I flew with him, I was just praying he'd be killed, so I wouldn't have to listen to his constant "Maverick, assist please!" In our last mission together, the lousy S.O.B. actuall y abandoned me in the middle of a fight with two troop transports, leaving a fighter he was assigned to right on my tail. Later, in the rec room, he chatted me up like we were old buddies. If it had been an option, I would've launched myself across the table at him fist first! My anger over Knight's actions just proves how much the game draws you in, and how convincing the non- player characters can be. But the one personality who's the most annoying is your own. There's no option to configure your own character, and you're invariably stuck in the role of Maverick, a lantern jawed wasp among an otherwise ethnically diverse group.
Technical Issues. Super Wing Commander is basically a refurbished version of the original Wing Commander. It features the original graphic engine and missions, with some new cut scenes and story material. Super Wing Commander was actually developed for the 3D0 platform but, ironically, the 3D0 uses a Mac- based development environment. Having done the 3D0 version, Origin was presumably just a hop, skip and jump away from a Mac version.
After playing the SWC demo (included with a recent issue of IMG), I was actually somewhat disappointed. Not by the new cut scenes, which are stunningly well done, in beautiful hi-res. But as I mentioned, SWC uses the original Wing Commander graphics engine, which relies on bitmaps to represent objects in space (as opposed to the more sophisticated polygonal engines used in newer games such as LucasArts' X-Wing). What that means is that a limited number of two dimensional images have been drawn for each object, and a different image is shown, depending on the angle at which you're viewing the object. This frequently results in object views flipping back and forth from one image to another as you move in relation to an object. Additionally, as you get closer to an object, the pixels that make up the image are blown up, making objects close to you appear very blocky. The bottom line is that it's a five- year-old game.
Despite my disappointment with the demo, I bought the full version as soon as it came out...and then let it sit on my desk, unplayed, for several weeks. Finally though, I started playing, and I can happily say that, a couple of missions into it, my disappointment began to drop away. After a few more missions, I was completely hooked. SWC's graphics engine may be a little long in the tooth, but the combat features are still remarkably robust. Once I really got into the game, I stopped noticing any problem with the graphics because I was so caught up in the fighting. As far as I'm concerned, it was worth the wait.
Though SWC is pretty memory intensive, the Mac programmers have made every effort to allow it to run as well on older Macs as it does on newer. Graphics can be set to small, medium, and large — on the fl y, thankfull y — and there's an every-other-line option.
Overall, it's a pretty good port, as PC ports go. The interface was pretty decent to begin with, and it hasn't lost anything. And after several days of constant play, I'm happy to report that I haven't experienced a single crash. SWC is remarkably stable. It's even multi-finder aware, which is a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, it does unpredictable things when relegated to the background. For one thing, it leaves the menubar hidden when switching apps, and for another it remains active in the background, so that any clicks you make in another app are still received by SWC.
My one big complaint about the interface is the save feature. Instead of just pressing command-S, you have to enter the barracks room, which is filled with bunks, each bunk representing a save position. When a game is saved, the bunk is filled with a sleeping person. Delete the saved game, and the person goes away. Sure, it's a cute feature, but you're stuck with onl y eight save slots! Fortunately, SWC writes all your saves to the SWC pref file in the preferences folder in the system folder. To backup your current save positions, all you have to do is copy the pref file to a safe location. It takes a little creative management to keep track of more than 8 saves, but it is do-able.
One thing that really pleased me about SWC was its improved keyboard sensitivity. All of the original PC Wing Commander games had horrible keyboard sensitivity, and were virtually unplayable via keyboard. I generally prefer using the keyboard, so kudos to the Mac programmers who fixed this feature. By the way, if you play SWC with a joystick, be sure it's a good one. I've heard nothing but complaints from friends who've tried to play it with the GamePad or its equivalent.
Sturm Und Prang. Super Wing Commander features a full musical soundtrack, which is pretty nicely implemented, and changes to fit the mood of the moment. During combat, the music is all deadly serious, with heavy drumbeats complementing the fighting. Returning home victorious gets you a very upbeat, almost playful, martial theme, heavy on the horns. Fail a mission, or get a fellow pilot killed, and the music plays sad and mournful, heavy on the heart.
I do have one big gripe and one small gripe regarding the music and sound effects. The big gripe is that, while the game offers separate volume controls for music and sound effects, several of the musical instruments force the volume up when played. For instance, the cheerful horns I mentioned above max out the volume whenever they're called up. Since I was playing with earphones, this usually meant a painful blast of sound whenever I won a mission. I assume this is a bug, and not a feature. The small gripe is the lack of stereo sound. Granted, I'm using cheap earphones, and don't have a particularly good ear for this kind of thing, but I'm pretty sure all the sound is mono. Stereo sound would've been a lot nicer, especially during combat.
Bottom Line. It's been a long wait, but the Mac platform at last has a decent space combat game (OK, you could make a case for Rebel Assault, but I don't think it's in the same category, given its limited replayability and linear arcade action). Ironically, in just a few short months, we'll have two, with the arrival of LucasArts' X-Wing. If you're on a tight budget, then be aware that X-Wing is going to blow SWC out of the water, and you may want to wait for it. SWC is a good game, but it's definitel y showing its age. If you can afford both games, then buy SWC immediately and play it to death, because after you've played X-Wing, you'll never look at SWC again.
Pros
At last, a spaceflight combat sim! Gripping storyline & gameplay Good musical score Good keyboard sensitivity Surprisingly stable
Cons
Out of date bitmap graphic engine Music tends to rise to max level despite your preference settings Lousy 8 slot save feature Will be passé the instant X-Wing hits the shelves Mono sounds
IMG 34 - January/February 1996 - Wing Commander III review
Review: Wing Commander III
by Ross Scott Rubin
TYPE Action/Adventure
PUBLISHER Origin Systems
RETAIL $89.95
STREET PRICE $55.00
REQUIREMENTS Power Macintosh, System 7 or later, 8 MB RAM, CD-ROM drive
PROTECTION None
PPC NATIVE Yes
The costliest game ever for Power Macintoshes and compatibles has arrived.
Possibly the second most- hyped game in PC history, Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger, is the third installment of Origin's best-selling space flight saga. Spanning four CD-ROMs, WCIII follows the familiar battles between humanity and the Kilrathi: tall creatures who have the hearts of Klingons from Star Trek and the face of Mustafa from The Lion King.
Known for its $4 million production budget and big-name stars like Mark Hamill (as the your character Col. Christopher Blair) and Malcom McDowell, WCIII is rife with video, most of which is acted very well. The costumes and scenery are at least on par with The Daedalus Encounter, another well-done sci-fi CD-ROM game. Hardly an action occurs outside the space sequences that isn't accompanied by footage from hopping into the ship of your choice you can choose from five) to taking the elevator up a flight. It gets to be a bit tiresome.
The interactive parts of the game are important and do affect its outcome, though. Through the course of the adventure, you make hundreds of decisions that have an impact on other parts of the game. Tick off the mechanic and your ship may pay for it.
Quadras Need Not Apply While the game requires a PowerPC with an L2 cache, 23 MB on your hard disk for a minimum install 60 for full) and as much RAM as you can spare (including 5.7 MB just to hear music), be prepared for some compromises. Overall, the sets and fighting scenes are graphically impressive, but Origin's video compression makes a notable sacrifice of quality for the sake of size and speed. Characters look blocky and splotchy. Leaving the Victory base ship in which you're based looks like a slide show. And launch sequences entail a delay at their end while even double-speed CD-ROMs scramble to load one of the 50 missions.
The graphics in Wing Commander's action sequences, though, are crisp and the cockpit and space graphics shine at 640 X 480. How fast the action moves will depend on many factors, but turning on all options, including the Star War-like music, will tax a midrange PowerMac such as the 8 1 0 0/8 0. Those with lesser hardware can opt for a smaller screen size, no music, or partial or no texture-mapping.
Lion Entertainment's port is a fine one from the interface standpoint. WCIII can cause some funny monitor permutations after quitting, but it's generally a well-behaved application.
Roll 'em For Wing Commander III, Origin must have had a hard time deciding whether to produce a movie or space flight simulator because it decided to do both. The result is an engaging storyline with quality acting interspersed with flight action. A variety of camera angles including front (with optional cockpit), left, right, aft, and chase keep you in the action.
Learning WCIII is more difficult than your typical shooter but not as hard as some of the more sophisticated flight simulators. While there's a fair number of keyboard controls to keep you occupied, the cockpit dials are fairl y simple while offering you good status and some control over guns and other options. In a world of arcade games and simulators, WCIII is definitel y in the former camp although some missions will require some strategy and forethought.
You can communicate with your "wingman" (hence the name) dispatching them and calling them back to the fold. Beginners will probabl y find their wingman saving their hide in the earl y rounds but you'll have to be more of an ace in the later missions. Learning the ropes is eased somewhat by a space flight simulator where you can practice.
While Its Hot While Wing Commander III became a benchmark on the PC side, its rule of the roost will soon be eclipsed on the Mac side by Wing Commander IV Ca demo is already available for PCs.) Also starring Mark Hamill, it is rumored to be available in the Spring and on twice the number of CDs. Hopefull y, Origin has been able to take advantage of some of the higher-quality video codecs that have been developed since WCIII.
But the technical limitations shouldn't prevent you from enjoying the most elaborate CD-ROM set ever developed for the PowerMac. If your hardware is up to it, Wing Commander III's blend of quality acting, Hollywood feel, and furious space action make this a landmark Macintosh game.
Pros
High resolution sets Good acting and professional production Easy to control space craft Interactivity prevents it from being the same game twice
Cons
Gratuitous and low-quality video Requires beefy Power PC for smooth gameplay with all options enabled
Slide Show
IMG 36 - April 1996 - Wing Commander IV preview
Sneak Peek: Wing Commander IV
by Bart Farkas
Well Colonel Blair, you have successfully dispatched the kitty planet of Kilrath and now you've decided to settle into a nice life of farming shoulder to shoulder with the average civilian population. Feels nice doesn't it? Real soil under your feet. No worrying about being blasted into the cold vacuum of space. Yep, this is the life. Think again Colonel, because you are just about to get pulled into the most complicated story you've ever been written into.
Wing Legacy The Wing Commander series of games have long been popular distractions for [mostly PC) garners. From its relatively humble roots, the Wing Commander saga has expanded and grown into an entity I doubt even its creator, Chris Roberts, would (or could) have envisioned. Wing Commander IV is now nearing the state of reality on the Macintosh, just two short months after its much ball yhooed PC entrance. Despite the hype, the actors, and the legacy, this game is very special for one very big reason. 1 2.5 million very big reasons actually.
"12.5 million?" you ask?
Yep, the official cost of this baby was 12.5 million U.S. Dollars. To put this into perspective, the movie 'El Mariachi' could have been made over 1 600 times for the same amount of money. Although the thought of an 'El Mariachi Part 1 532' may sound far fetched to some, the concept of computer entertainment software costing more than most '13' Hollywood movies sounds like it belongs in a bad Cheech and Chong flick. In fact, if you'd have told me 5 years ago that a computer game would cost more than 10 million donaros I would have questioned your mental health. However, hairstyles change and so does the computer gaming market, sometimes in dramatic ways.
What can you get for a suitcase of green? While Wing Commander III broke new ground with its 3 million dollar budget and cast of fairly well known actors, it seemed to lack something in the hybridization of movie and computer game. This something was to most, intangible, but present nonetheless. Some felt that the blue screening process left the actors looking unrealistic in the computer-generated backdrops, while others complained that the acting seemed unnatural at times. Whatever the complaints, Wing III was a great game and has sold a reported 700,000 copies (that's a bunch). Obviousl y Origin and Electronic Arts felt the $1 2.5 million risk was easily recoupable on a sequel.
If Wing III's engine or basic construction had any shortcomings, they have largely been addressed in Wing IV. Perhaps the most striking new feature comes in the form of real sets for the video cut scenes. This, as you might expect, greatly increased the cost of making Wing IV, but the end result is a life-like backdrop to support the plot. By moving to realistic sets the actors seemed to have a better grip on what was going on, and thus their performances seem a little more inspired, and indeed more realistic. In fact, the movie (or passive) portion of Wing IV is substantially more entertaining than its predecessor, and as you flow through the game you become ever more engrossed in the tangled web of lies and deceit which entangles the storyline from start to finish.
But I thought the war was over! Since the end of the war with the Kilrathi there have been an increasing number of attacks on the Confederation frontier. The frontier was defended vigorously by the people of the Border Worlds during the war with the felines, but now it seems that they have taken it upon themselves to make a move towards self government. Admiral Tolwyn pulls you back into the fray to help investigate what the heck is going on near the Border Worlds, and being the well decorated hero you are, you accept. Problem is, this isn't a cut and dried go-out-and-get-the bad-guy type of game. This time, you'll have a much harder time following orders, and indeed you'll have to choose your allegiance, and thus your destiny.
Not only does this interwoven plot will make Wing IV perhaps the most interesting game of its kind to be involved with, but it pulls you into the story in a guttural way that defies descri ption. As with Wing III, Wing IV will have plot changes hinging on the outcomes of certain missions, but Wing IV also puts a fair bit of emphasis on your interactive movie choices. Should you give the begging ex-fighter pilot some cash? Could that affect a mission much later in the game? Maybe. Wing IV actually has two losing scenarios and only one winning endgame. However, there are a bunch of ways to reach the end, even the winning end. There's around 50 missions throughout the game and over 30 'conversations' where your response has some effect on the game.
Flight Engine Changes There are essentially no fundamental changes to the flight engine in Wing IV, and thus, it behaves much like Wing III in this respect. This was because of the quick turnaround time between Wing III and Wing IV, there just wasn't time for Origin to rework the flight engine. And hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. The changes you !pill notice immediately are in the elimination of the cockpits in your spacecraft. Yep, Wing IV has become full y HUD (Heads Up Display) and the added viewing real estate is a welcome bonus. Also, you won't be flying in the same craft as you were last time, there are several new makes to take for a spin, and several new weapons that are fairl y flashy you'll know what I mean when you get the game).
Building on the Best Wing III was one of the best selling games of all time, and its younger sibling is bound to match, or even exceed the previous sales marks. With a record-setting price tag, big name actors (Mark Hamil, Malcolm McDowell, Jason Bernard, and John Rhys- Davis are all returning, along with 'Maniac' (Tom Wilson)) and the most engrossing storyline ever seen in a Wing Commander game, Wing Commander IV is sure to be a winner. Get your CD changers ready though, this baby comes on six-count `em-six CD ROMs.
Note: The demo below is for Power PC computers only.
IMG 39 - August 1996 - Wing Commander IV review
Review: Wing Commander IV
by Dan Radmacher
TYPE Interactive Movie/Space Flight Simulator
PUBLISHER Origin
RETAIL $59.95
STREET PRICE $49.95
PROTECTION Yes
PPG NATIVE None
The war with the Kilrathi is over, thanks to your heroics in Wing Commander III. You've retired to a farm on an out-of-the way planet Ca desert planet suspiciously similar to Tatooine from Star Wars). But all is not peaceful. Pirates are attacking civilian space ships, and an increasing number of skirmishes with ships from the Border Worlds may lead to civil war.
So, Colonel Blair — known to the Kilrat hi as the Heart of the Tiger — is being recalled to active duty. You'll be reunited with old friends (and enemies) and make new ones. You'll get back in the cockpit to defend the interests of the Confederation.
But you'll also be pulled into a web of intrigue and mystery. Your loyalties will be tested, perhaps to the breaking point.
Welcome to the long-anticipated Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom.
More than a game The fourth installment in the Wing Commander series (the second to be brought to the Macintosh), WCIV comes closer than any of its predecessors to fulfilling the promise of a kick- butt space simulator melded with an involving and entertaining interactive movie.
The budget for WCIV was an impressive $12.5 million, unheard of for a video game. But the money was well spent. If you are familiar with WCIII, you'll be pleased to see the actors on real sets instead of computer-generated ones during the numerous and lengthy cut scenes.
The acting is still not feature film quality. Mark Hamill portrays Col. Blair, your alter-ego. Best known as Luke Skywalker, Hamill hit his creative peak with the Star Wars movies. Too often, he seems to be going through the motions in Wing Commander. Of all the actors, only Malcolm McDowell as the sleazy Admiral Tolwyn really seems to relish his role. Tom Wilson is way over the top as "Maniac," though he does manage some subtlety later in the movie, er, game.
But despite the cheesy acting, the cut scenes manage nicel y to pull you into the story. There is less repetition than in WCIII (for example, you don't have a mechanic repeating the same inane phrase every time you finish a mission).
Game play is not significantly changed from WCIII, although the cockpit is gone, replaced with a full-screen HUD that is well-organized and fairly easy to interpret. The flight model is still more arcade than flight-sim. I especially miss the "axial roll" X-Wing provides.
There is a good variety of missions — everything from escort to recon to atmospheric missions (the fighters don't seem to handle any differently in atmosphere than in vacuum, though.) Odds are usually more even than in X-Wing, and your wingmen actually help out a lot.
And, unlike X-Wing, you can fail a mission without the chance to replay it over and over Cif you die, you do get the opportunity to try again.) Your success or failure has direct bearing on the progression of the story. If you mess up a recon mission, the next mission will be that much harder. Fail too often, and you will end up washed up back on Tatooine's twin planet, dreaming of old glory.
The game portion of WCIV is quite challenging hint to newbies: you start out on the "Ace" skill level. Take it down to "Veteran" or "Rookie" for awhile until you figure things out.)
As in WCIII, you get the opportunity to make decisions about Blair's reactions during cut scenes. Again, you only have two choices. Some of the forks in WCIII seemed thrown in just to make the movies more interactive. In WCIV, the decisions are usually much more plot-oriented.
Outside of the cut scenes and cockpit, you maneuver around the carrier by pointing and clicking on hotspots. Hitting "M" calls up a map of the carrier, and handily, shows where conversations with other characters are possible (blue dots) or required (red dots).
Potential Wing Commander IV is starting to show the true potential of interactive movies. On top of that, it is a very decent and exciting space combat simulator. This game is fun to watch and fun to play. Shipping on an impressive six CD-ROMs, WCIV is a good, game- playing value, offering lots of replay possibilities and lots of full-screen video. I like this game a lot and will anxiousl y play it through to the end.
Pros
Real sets with good actors for involving cut scenes Intriguing plot Full-screen HUD instrumentation makes for easier flying
Cons
Limited interaction in cut scenes (two choices) Less-than-inspired acting by some
Publisher Info
Origin Systems
5918 W. Courtyard
Austin, TX 78730
Phone: (800) 245-4525
http://www.origin.ea.com
Slide Show
This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that are referenced by Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here. The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!
We had a great time following a universal classic with its weird but incredibly special legacy sequel. 2010: The Year We Make Contact is a fascinating movie and I hope everyone enjoyed listening to me go on about it for two hours. I could probably spend that much time just opining on the unusual choice of tense for the title!
Here's the Leonov, designed by Wing Commander Prophecy's Syd Mead! Eagle-eyed sci fi fans will notice that Babylon 5 later... borrowed... the ship for the Omega-class destroyer. Which in turn fascinated Chris Douglas during the making of Wing Commander III!
All three of our simple 2001 references also reappear! Here's HAL, the AE-35 and TMA-1 as seen in all three places (2001, then 2010 and then Wing Commander). The Tycho monolith is only seen in the slideshow of clips from the original movie that opens the film. By the way, we also see "Moonbase Tycho" as a Confederation base on the moon in False Colors, likely a 2001 nod!
And let's drop 2010's magnificent, deep space photography-inspired look for Jupiter into the timeline of jovian planet film shots. You can see 2010 is what inspires the Wing Commander versions and not 2001!
Sully has docked with the Leonov and is ready to return to Earth.
There's a pretty good joke hidden in the 'tips' section of the Wing Commander IV manual. Check out the very last one:
"You can fight the Seether" is maybe not a helpful tip for playing Wing Commander IV… but it does tie the game's genetically enhanced villain to the 1994 Veruca Salt song that provided his name! Here's the music video:
Another fun little popular music reference in a Wing Commander game is Arena's Broadsword Warpig, which was named after the Black Sabbath song War Pigs. RIP Ozzy!
Cybot has a friend to introduce us to: Uncle Bilbop. Uncle Bilbop has a large selection of Privateer-styled ship upgrades that are available as OBJ files for you to use in your own work!
But wait, there's more! Cybot has also posted the .OBJ files for a Privateer-styled software booth which is presented here by a pretty lady:
There are also some cool renderings of a Clydesdale and some friends!
Are you lucky enough to live in or near Sweden? Then you'll want to mark your calendars: the next edition of the gamed SCORE game music concert is coming to the De Geerhallen concert hall in Norrköping on November 8… and it will include music from Wing Commander! SCORE is an ongoing concert series which presents an ever-changing lineup of both classic and current video game music. In the past they've played a suite of music from the original game's score by George Sanger and it's a good bet that's what lucky Swedes will hear in November. You can learn more about the project and the Wing Commander suite here and you can book your tickets here.
The Wing Commander movie club has returned from the distant, hopeful tomorrow of 2010 and we've voted to watch another movie with a year for a title! This is going to be an interesting one because it's a movie I have not seen and know nothing about: Ridley Scott's 1992 historical drama 1492: Conquest of Paradise. Ridley Scott has made a lot of nearly perfect movies… but this is one we didn't know. It should be pretty exciting to find out what its deal is! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.
The Wing Commander connection is fascinating, too. 1492 is one of three major references used by Chris Roberts to develop the Wing Commander movie's spectacular opening sequence. The opening was not scripted with the rest of the movie, it was something Chris developed after the shoot to try and capture viewers' attention based on the same 'everything in the first act' philosophy used to develop games at Origin. In a sense, it worked: the intro stands out as by far the best part of the finished film!
Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?
1492: Conquest of Paradise is available for rent or purchase on the standard streaming services. If you would like a physical copy, the movie was released on Blu-ray in 2010 and remains in print around the world. A copy is available on the Internet Archive. If you are not able to locate a copy please stop by the Discord and ping a CIC staff member before Friday's showing.
How do we watch the movie together?
It's pretty low tech! Simply join the Wing Commander CIC Discord on Friday and we will be chatting (in text) along with the film in the main channel. Everyone who wants to join in should bring their own copy and we will count down to play them together at 10 PM EST. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to join in the conversation; sharing your thoughts helps make the experience better for everyone!
How can I help pick future movie club movies?
The movie club movies are voted on each week by the Wing Commander Discord. The poll is typically posted 24 hours before each week's screening and the next movie is announced at the end. The choices for the poll come from a master pool of Wing Commander-related movies. If you would like to suggest a film for inclusion in that pool you can post it to this thread.
A recent BlueSky post mentioned Wing Commander IV's "chief corkscrew woman," the lady seen piloting the Intrepid throughout the latter half of the game. That got me thinking: what do we know about her, anyway?
The character is credited as HELMSPERSON (not helmswoman) and she was played by actress Beverly Castaldo. She actually appears in about a dozen cutscenes, generally in periphery any time we see characters interacting in the Intrepid's CIC (often right over Blair's shoulder). She has a few scripted lines which are mostly variations of "aye aye, sir" after she is ordered to set a course to a new location.
In spite of this, she gets several dedicated reaction shots which give us a good look at her face. And there are two 'moments' that fans will remember immediately: when Maniac attempts to flirt with her and instead sends the carrier careening off course and then when she can barely control her amusement when Maniac can't use the communications system. Neither of these moments were scripted or storyboarded which suggests they were something that came out of Tom Wilson's performance.
She has very little in-universe lore beyond that she mildly tolerates Maniac's advances. Her nametag is tough to spot because of how she holds the helm but it reads DAY (after Wing Commander IV producer Mark Day) and her rank is 1st Lieutenant. She's also wearing 'wings,' though these appear on most characters in the game. That's about it!
What about Ms. Castaldo? She only has one other film credit, a 1995 thriller called Separate Lives. Her big scene sees her attending a party with lead Jim Belushi, only to have Linda Hamilton steal her away.
It looks like she was better known a model -- here she is advertising Cone-brand jeans in the late 1980s!
What about the 'corkscrew'? It is of course the BWS Intrepid's helm which controls the ship (as we see clearly when Maniac knocks it off course!). When she's shown from the side you get a good look at the additional controls that surround it. Remember that the Intrepid's CIC has been converted into a makeshift bridge and so it is intended to look somewhat out of place in the environment. The design itself seems reasonable for a ship that must operate in 3D space. Compare to a modern destroyer:
It's also very similar to a very silly contemporary game controller, the infamous Fragmaster.
We also see the same control device aboard the Vesuvius at the end of the game. Wing Commander IV's writers actually made a deliberate choice not to show the Lexington's bridge in the first act to make your character feel more lost aboard the ship!
I was leafing through Strike Commander's wonderful manual, Sudden Death, the other afternoon and I noticed something I had never really thought about before: just after Chris Roberts' letter the booklet includes… an extensive bibliography? It was an era when serious flight simulators needed to prove their authenticity and one small way to support that was to show how serious the research the team had done was. And researching a video game IS serious business; I just wish the Wing Commander games had included this sort of thing!
A little more research revealed that Strike Commander wasn't the only Origin game with a bibliography. All five of the company's dedicated flight simulator had them in some way or another. I decided to transcribe them all into a single spreadsheet which you can access here. Now you can recreate Origin's research library in your own home!
Wings of Glory didn't include a bibliography in its manual but it more than made up for that with an eight page reference section in the official guide which even includes other games and movies the team watched! It's a fascinating piece of behind-the-screens information.
Finally, both of Origin's Longbow games included bibliographies. They're actually nearly identical, with Longbow 2 adding only two US Army reference manuals.
This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that are referenced by Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984) and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here. The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!
We had a great time watching 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's a cold and unforgiving movie, for sure, but it also contains multitudes. It's inspired a million other things and it's hard to imagine what both film and science fiction would look like today without it. So let's take a look at some Wing Commander references both real and imagined!
Here's one that was pretty easy to catch: HAL 9000 as he appears in the film versus his cameo in the SNES port of Wing Commander. For those curious he does not appear in the port of The Secret Missions because the takeoff sequence is completely replaced with a cool mode 7 treat.
The AE-35 antenna, referenced in Wing Commander Secret Ops as a winning password, is the McGuffin that HAL uses to eliminate Frank Poole.
And the other 2001 password is TMA-1, which refers to the monolith discovered on the moon and seen in the 1999 sequence. TMA stands for Tycho Magnetic Anomaly.
We noted that the spindly Wing Commander III transport must have been inspired by 2001's Discovery. Like the Discovery, the Clarkson-class has a drive section at the very rear and then a spindle that can carry cargo and equipment. The Discovery was originally designed to feature a nuclear bomb-throwing engine but Kubrick decided it wouldn't make sense to audiences to see it functioning on screen.
2001's magnificent low earth orbit station is what's sometimes called a von Braun wheel, after the German rocket scientist that helped popularize them in the 1950s. That got us thinking about Secret Ops, which has two such wheel-shaped space stations: Talos and Krieger. The idea was that the station would generate artificial gravity inside the ring. In the end, it turned out that we specifically WANTED microgravity for orbital science!
You probably remember Jupiter in 2001 as a brilliant orange striped planet and you might be surprised to find that it isn't. We'll see a more modern Jupiter in 2010 but in 2001 it's usually kept in the shadows… because no probe had taken close up photos when the movie was made! We thought we'd compare that to Wing Commander's similar jovian planets. Can you name all of them? That's Torgo, Jupiter, Jupiter and Planet 415 in the Dakota System.
The life signs that appear in the original Wing Commander's barracks are absolutely a nod to 2001's frozen science crew aboard the Discovery. Which terrified me as a kid!
2001's pod scenes are often borrowed… including the introduction to Wing Commander Prophecy where the TOBY drones even use some of the same shots!
The scene at the start of Wing Commander III where Blair reads the news aboard his shuttle seems like it's conscious of Dr. Floyd's trip aboard the Pan Am space clipper.
A case of art imitating life in both instances but we couldn't help see a little Tarsus in the clipper cockpit!
... and the shots of Frank using the pod look a bit like a tractor beam mission from Wing Commander 2!
True story: at the start of the movie the apes howling made Sully go crazy and run around… and then at the end his sister Lumi had to help Dave Bowman disassemble HAL!
This patch removes the TownsOS-based save disk selector that normally appears when running "Wing Commander" on the FM Towns. Instead of prompting the player, the game will automatically default to using the first floppy disk drive (i.e., A:) for all save and load operations.
The patch is particularly useful for players who prefer a smoother experience without extra steps, or for those running the game without a mouse attached. By bypassing the selector screen, it ensures that progress can be read from and written to the default drive immediately, making gameplay setup quicker and more convenient.
Patching Instructions
This patch release includes a custom patch-applying kit. It specifically targets the Redump rip of "Wing Commander", and no other version of the original source disc image can be used.
To apply the patches, follow the steps below.
1. Extract the latest release package ZIP to any folder of your choosing.
2. Place the entire Redump disc image in the redump_original folder.
3. Launch the apply_patch.bat script and watch for status messages as it applies the patch.
4. Upon successful completion, patched disc images will reside in the patched_disc_image_cue_bin and patched_disc_image_ccd_img_sub folders. These disc images are acceptable for burning to CD-R, using with an ODE, or using with an emulator.
We've mirrored a copy here.
Here's a scan to brighten your day: a newly aquired VidPro card for the SNES port of Wing Commander. These were the 'cards' that you would pick up to purchase a video game at stores like Toys R Us. They're a minor collectible today and we're hoping to complete the set of Wing Commander ones!
We previously shared this earlier type of SNES VidPro card. There may also be a 'horizontal' version... if we find more, we'll share them!
Venerable space sandbox No Man's Sky has recently turned its eye to starships with a brand new, free expansion called Voyagers. Voyagers allows players to create their own "corvettes", massive capital ships that can be customized to their liking in endless ways. Shaggy immediately took up the challenge… and he took it pleasantly literally, creating a Kilrathi Kamrani-class corvette and a human Venture-class in the game!
For those that don't know No Man's Sky just added the ability to build custom corvettes in the game. So what was the first thing I did? I built a Venture class and then a Kamrani. I took some artistic license with the Venture, because even the blueprint images out there are kind of simple, and the Kamrani runs right up to the complexity limit in the game, so I couldn't dress it up with antennae or other little greebles and the angular shape makes it hard to plug gaps with the parts available. I haven't fully dressed out the insides yet, I'm working on maxing out the Venture first, then I'll focus on the Kamrani. My next build might be a Thunderbolt but so far you can't store corvettes in the games "deep freeze" so they take up spots in your active ships, which makes it less efficient to scrap ships, which has been the fastest way to get storage augmentations for me.
The Wing Commander movie club has charted the evolution of man all the way to the distant future of 2001… and it's obvious why this is such an important film both for cinema and science fiction. Next week we've voted to continue the story going with a VERY different sequel: 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984). It's a case of a different filmmaker picking up the toy box and doing something different in just about every way. I can't wait to share it! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.
2010 is a little bit like Wing Commander Prophecy: the same world but adapted by a different director once the creator was wholly gone. And it makes a lot of the same choices! But the real connection to Wing Commander is the Soviet spaceship Leonov which appears in Wing Commander Secret Ops in the form of a Murphy-class destroyer. What's more, the Leonov was designed by Syd Mead… the mind behind Wing Commander Prophecy's aliens (and a frequent contributor to the films in this series)!
The Leonov shows up in Ella 4 alongside two other capital ships named after cosmonauts: the Murphy-class Kuznetsova and the Plunkett-class Tereshkova. If you're interested in the naming of all the Murphies and Plunetts, I put together a quick spreadsheet to cover it.
As with 2001, we get another nod to the Leonov in the Secret Ops passwords. Here it's the winning password given after Episode 4 ("Triangle").
Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?
2010: The Year We Make Contact is available for rent or purchase on the standard streaming services. If you would like a physical copy, the movie was released on Blu-ray in 2009 and remains in print around the world. It is also currently streaming on Turner Classic Movies in the United States. If you are not able to locate a copy please stop by the Discord and ping a CIC staff member before Friday's showing.
How do we watch the movie together?
It's pretty low tech! Simply join the Wing Commander CIC Discord on Friday and we will be chatting (in text) along with the film in the main channel. Everyone who wants to join in should bring their own copy and we will count down to play them together at 10 PM EST. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to join in the conversation; sharing your thoughts helps make the experience better for everyone!
How can I help pick future movie club movies?
The movie club movies are voted on each week by the Wing Commander Discord. The poll is typically posted 24 hours before each week's screening and the next movie is announced at the end. The choices for the poll come from a master pool of Wing Commander-related movies. If you would like to suggest a film for inclusion in that pool you can post it to this thread.
Mac (of Mac's Lore) is back with some more... let's say unusual Wing Commander renderings. They mash up stunning models of Wing Commander spacecraft with characters from "Girls Frontline 2: Exilium". I don't know Girls Frontline 2: Exilium so I'm not in on the whole joke… but those starfighters are pretty sexy!
Wing Commander X Girls Frontline 2: Sharkry (ArtStation)
A imaginary crossover between the ships of Wing Commander and the T-Dolls from Girls Frontline 2: Exilium.
When the Border Worlds started getting Rapiers for their Space Forces, many pilots nicknamed them XCRs due to the BW's fascination of an ancient Earth trend called "Weebery".
The meaning of XCR was "eXtremely Cute Rapier".
Wing Commander X Girls Frontline 2: Klukai (ArtStation)
A imaginary crossover between the ships of Wing Commander and the T-Dolls from Girls Frontline 2: Exilium.
Klukai x Hellcat V
The popular phrase "She is all I need", was a response from an unknown Hellcat V pilot who took down a Fralthi-II Cruiser. When asked why he didn't retreat and call in reinforcements he simply said:
"She (The Hellcat) is all I need."
Sad news to report today: French actor Emmanuel Karsen passed away on Thursday. M. Karsen had a lengthy list of film credits but he is best known for his voice work, which included performing the French dubbing for actors Sean Penn and Norman Reedus. You can find an obituary here.
Wing Commander fans–French ones, at least–knew him for his work on Wing Commander III as the voice of "Radio" Rollins. Rollins is actually one of the biggest roles in the game since he appears in unique videos at the end of nearly every mission! Here's a sample of M. Karsen's work, the start of Rollins' first one-on-one with Colonel Blair outside the elevator:
Thank you to Sergorn for reporting this news.
This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that are referenced by Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here. The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!
The Wing Commander movie club enjoyed True Lies! It holds up very well, although a lot of what we remember as having been ridiculous action actually seems pretty mild compared to the average blockbuster today. We already talked about the music in the intro post but we did notice one interesting Wing Commander connection in the opening credits: the film's production designer was Peter Lamont. James Cameron would famously tap him again for Titanic… and then he would go on to work for Chris Roberts on the Wing Commander movie! You can read more about his work (and watch an interview) in our memorial post.
Sully didn't appreciate the little black dress; that's his look all the time!
Foxhound noticed a neat Wing Commander nod in a recent PC Gamer preview of an upcoming game called MENACE. The game is a turn based strategy from Overhype Studio in the vein of Jagged Alliance. But as this screenshot shows, its briefing room has a familiar inspiration!
To learn more about MENACE you can check out its Steam page.
Creative Labs is… back? It looks like the legendary sound card company is preparing to launch a Kickstarter campaign for… something. The description made available so far is incredibly vague: "Sound Blaster RE:Imagine is built for creators, gamers, audiophiles, and tinkerers. It's a bold reimagining of a classic. Designed to adapt, expand, and evolve with you." It's hard to imagine what any of this could be as sound cards are no longer a key separate component of PCs like they were when Creative was powering Wing Commander II's speech accessory pack.
What is interesting, though, is that they are using the original Wing Commander in their ad campaign. A BlueSky post provided a screenshot from an email promoting the project that features a screenshot directly from the Enyo System:
Further search discovered a video version complete with Wing Commander-specific ad copy posted by the project's product manager to Instagram. Apparently we can look forward to our "wingman in sound" returning!
We aren't sure what any of this means but Creative and Wing Commander go way, way back. In fact, the company has previously cited Wing Commander II's speech feature as one of the reasons their sound card became the industry standard in the early 90s. But the partnership actually goes back even earlier: Creative started using Wing Commander screenshots on their packaging in 1991 with the Sound Blaster 2.0. You can find a history of the partnership here… or perhaps just the partnership so far?
You can sign up to be notified when the campaign launches here.
The Wing Commander movie club had a great time revisiting the '90s with True Lies! For our next movie, we're going back to space... the space of a recent future past. That's right, it's finally time for Stanley Kubrick's legendary 2001: A Space Odyssey. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.
The first major reference to 2001 in Wing Commander is that the HAL 9000 actually appears in the SNES port of the original Wing Commander! Watch carefully as you take off, he's on the first 'rung' of the Tiger's Claw. It's so fun to imagine some artist at Mindscape deciding to sneak this into the game.
The passwords provided at the end of the second episode of Secret Ops ("Thickening") are both direct references to 2001. AE-35, the winning password, is the model of the Discovery's antenna which HAL sends the crew to repair. TMA-1, the losing password, is the monolith which is found on the moon in the 1999 segment; it stands for Tycho Magnetic Anomaly One.
This concept image of a Vaktoth in action created by Art Wong for the sadly cancelled Privateer 3 is titled "Space Odyssey".
And finally, Roger Ebert's scathing review of the 1999 Wing Commander movie specifically calls out the fact that 2001 director Stanley Kubrick died just a week before it premiered.
These actors, alas, are at the service of a submoronic script and special effects that look like a video game writ large. Wing Commander arrives at the end of a week that began with the death of the creator of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Close the pod bay door, Hal. And turn off the lights.
Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?
2001: A Space Odyssey is available for rent or purchase on the standard streaming services. If you would like a physical copy, the movie was released on Blu-ray in 2018 and remains in print around the world. It is also currently streaming on HBO Max in the United States. If you are not able to locate a copy please stop by the Discord and ping a CIC staff member before Friday's showing.
How do we watch the movie together?
It's pretty low tech! Simply join the Wing Commander CIC Discord on Friday and we will be chatting (in text) along with the film in the main channel. Everyone who wants to join in should bring their own copy and we will count down to play them together at 10 PM EST. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to join in the conversation; sharing your thoughts helps make the experience better for everyone!
How can I help pick future movie club movies?
The movie club movies are voted on each week by the Wing Commander Discord. The poll is typically posted 24 hours before each week's screening and the next movie is announced at the end. The choices for the poll come from a master pool of Wing Commander-related movies. If you would like to suggest a film for inclusion in that pool you can post it to this thread.
Here's a funny little 'unreadable text' Easter egg found in Privateer's source textures: the instructions for using the Oxford library computer, which appear as only background dots in the final game (shown).
K-MSi Instructions:
1. insert non-metallic objects in the vat.
2. put your finger up your butt.
3. wish real hard.
4. live peacefully and vote for the people's party.
We can also get a closer look at the buttons on the side of the machine, although there's not a clear meaning to them!
[ar] [vr] [vr]
[rr] [rr] [ar]
[vr] [rr] [vr]
[rr] [mi] [vr]
[vr] [rr] [ar]
[vr] [rr] [ar]
[mi] [vr] [rr]
[vr] [ar] [mi]
[ar] [ar] [mi]
There is some text that you're supposed to read! While the device is scanning your artifact, the screen displays:
structure unknown
trace failure
origin unknown
And then you cut to a closeup where you're intended to read all about Dr. Monkhouse. There's some pretty important lore hidden in this brief text!
XENOARCHAEOLOGY RESEARCHERS (CONT.) ENTRY 1009872
MONKHOUSE, LEMUEL A.
Doctorate - Xenoarchaeology - Oxford University;
Masters - Xenobiology - Olympus Mons University
Bachelors of Science - Xenophilology - Oxford University
Dr Lemuel Monkhouse, the Confederation's foremost expert in
xenoarchaeology, brings to the field a unique multi-disciplinary
approach, grounded in the knowledge of alien biological systems
and the conceptual analogues common to all languages.
The pinnacle of Monkhouse's career was his discovery of the
Mars Steltek Site in 2667, relics from which have been dated
at 2.4 billion years of age. This find shook the scientific
community and called into question previous estimates of the
age of the universe. This was also the first evidence found
which supported the "Steltek Hypothesis", the postulation that
an advanced, galaxy-spanning civilisation existed before the
so-called Dawn of Intelligence. That evidence has been confis-
cated by the Confederation, and the Mars Steltek Site has been closed
since 2668. Despite Monkhouse's unsurpasses reputation,
many authorities still dispute his findings.
Monkhouse, Chairman of the Jones Memorial Archaeological
Foundation, is widely sought for consultation on alien artefacts.
Rumour has it that he retains some Steltek artefacts in his
possession. Currently, he can be found on Palan, overseeing
an excavation at an undisclosed site. Funds for these excavations
are provided by the Palan-based Rondell Corporation.
OTHER TOPICS: MAJOR WORKS; RESEARCH PAPERS; BIOGRAPHY
A Chat With the Developers of Wing Commander Prophecy
Recently, PsychoNews, hosted a chat on #PsychoNews between the members of the press and the developers of Wing Commander: Prophecy. Origin is not eager to give up any surprises, but we did manage to get a few tantalizing hints.
Time : 6:30 PM EST - Wednesday, 12th Of November, 1997
WCP Team were :
Frank Roan, Director
Billy Cain, Lead Designer
Mike McCoy, Internet Product Manager for Origin
The Press were ::
CyberGames
Extreme Games Online
Gamesmania
Game-wire
Gamezilla
Impel Productions
Introspection Wing Commander Home Sector
OGR Magazine
PsychoNews
Worlds Of Origin
WOO : Can you give us any clarification about a multiplayer patch and/or addon for WCP?
WCP_Team : We are committed to producing a Wing Commander multiplayer product in the future.
CrazedFan : So what problems delayed the Multiplayer from being in this release?
WCP_Team : We wanted to make sure that everything in Prophecy was the best that it could be, and we felt that we needed to focus on the single player game first and foremost.
Gamezilla : How do you feel about the response to the WCP 3Dfx test, and the 3Dfx card in particular?
WCP_Team : We're really happy with the fan response for the test. It was phenomenal!!
WOO : Will the control be the same as in Privater and the other Wing Commander games or will we half to learn new controls etc. again?
WCP_Team : We have spent a LOT of time optimizing the controls, while at the same keeping our previous game interfaces in mind. We will most resemble WC IV in control scheme.
Gamezilla : How do you feel about the criticism regarding overemphasis of cinematic experience over gameplay?
WCP_Team : We have tried to blur the line between game and cinematic sequences.
WCP_Team : (Boomer says) He was convinced that he was in a movie, and he was getting pounded!
ExGames1 : I have two questions, one being when is the game release date? Two: will there be more or less cinematics in this version than the others?
WCP_Team : That's the goal.
WCHS : Will the final game utilize joystick control, like the 4-way hat for external views, that seemed to be lacking in the 3Dfx test demo? Specialized controls like throttle, hats, etc...
WCP_Team : We have not locked down final controls yet.
ExGames2 : WCP, in last month's CGW there is a gentleman named Mark Day referred to as the producer. Is he working in conjunction with Mr. Downing?
WCP_Team : He's the producer of the video portion of the game, as well as helping out with other areas of the game's production
Gamezilla : Were there any features that you specifically endeavored to change in WCP that bothered you in WC4?
WCP_Team : Less searching for characters on the ships. Everything in the game has been optimized as much as possible.
WCHS : Will there be a large public release party when WCP is released?
WCP_Team : Everyone will be dancing in the streets!
Gamezilla : And can we come? :)
WCP_Team : Sure, you can all come!
Gamesmania : Will any stars be at the party? Can we beat up Maniac?
Gamezilla : Speaking of the Maniac, we he be in WCP, and how big of a role?
WCP_Team : Maniac will be back, as well as others... :)
Gamesmania : What kind of system do you estimate you'll need to run Prophecy?
WCP_Team : Users with high end systems will be extremely impressed. Users with lower end systems will still have fun
WCHS : Will we be able to get medals and promotions like in WC1? And what factors in to getting a medal/promotion?
WCP_Team : There may be some surprises!
WCHS : Does the 3Dfx demo have a feature to display framerate?
WCP_Team : Sorry, we left that out. That would have been a good idea. Thanks for the suggestion
WCHS : Will we see any of the Kilrathi in WCP
WCP_Team : Yes, but we're not saying in what way. :)
Gamezilla : Will there possibly be Playstation or Nintendo 64 conversions?
WCP_Team : Anything's possible; thanks for letting us know there's interest!
Gamesmania : Can you give us an idea of what the state of the Kilrathi is? When we last saw them, they look pretty down and out. What's been happening in the meantime?
WCP_Team : Now that would be a spoiler, right? :)
WCHS : With both a orchestral soundtrack and a industrial soundtrack for WCP...where will we see orchestral music (and who is composing it?) and where will we see the industrial music (like in the 3Dfx demo?)
WCP_Team : Orchestral in the main campaign. The Cobalt 60 tracks will be in there. You'll find them.
Gamezilla : What do you feel about the growing size of internet demos (not just yours of course)? A lot of complaints about this one.
WCP_Team : We do everything we can to keep our demos small but when you create the type of Worlds that Origin does it takes a lot to keep our fans happy!
Gamesmania : Will Origin offer any kind of add-ons, like the secret missions disks, or new missions?
WCP_Team : We're considering all possibilities.
WCHS : We there be a WCP "Premiere Edition"? If so, what will it contain that is unique from the normal boxed version?
WCP_Team : There will be a Deluxe Edition at Sam's and PriceCostco.It will include a hint pamphlet and a CD Single from Cobalt 60 (Co6o).
WCHS : Will there be a way to capture action from the game in a way like Quake demos or the X-Wing or Tie Fighter film room?
WCP_Team : There's a lot of good ideas for the game, but only so much time. We'll keep it in mind.
ExGames1 : WCP_Team wondering if you could field that question. Why isn't there a screen shot hot key? it would help sell your game as people could take shots and show their friends/audience?
WCP_Team : We have one in the plan. It was disabled in the demo. Sorry :(
Gamezilla : Is there a randomized enemy feature, as in Privateer 2?
WCP_Team : Please be more specific. What do you mean by that?
Gamezilla : When you hyper-jump to a new area in P2 there may be 2 enemies or 20. It made the game overly difficult, to my way of thinking.
WCP_Team : We have gone through great lengths to balance this game experience we think you'll be challenged but not overwhelmed. :)
OGR : Will Wingmen be treated like the previous WC games space combat-wise?
WCP_Team : We believe that the name "Wing Commander" is integral to the experience. So look for even more interaction with them. Can anyone say "Killboard?"
WOO : Will damage to the Midway carry over from mission to mission? And will it be visible during combat flight from the exterior?
WCP_Team : We think you'll be pleasantly surprised with what you experience and see!
ExGames1 : WCP_Team any ideas on how many CDs this game will be on?
WCP_Team : We've stuffed 3 CDs with more game than Wing 3 or 4. (Are we allowed to say that?) :)
Gamesmania : Can you select Wingmen? Or do you have to take what you're given by Blair?
WCP_Team : Since you're no longer the Heart of the Tiger, you may have to make do with what you're given. This has allowed us to better the entire experience.
ExGames2 : How much influence did Syd Mead have on the final design of the new alien race... or is the design 'final' yet?
WCP_Team : We have based our alien designs off Syd's initial sketches and design docs.
Gamesmania : How easy will it be to modify the code to make our own ships, missions...Is Origin going to encourage this sort of thing?
WCP_Team : Editing the game: We do not discourage it. But it's far from easy to modify.
Psycho : Will there be IPX support for Multiplayer ?
WCP_Team : We will deliver the richest gameplay possible, on whatever system will support it.
Gamesmania : Are we going to see multiple endings in this game? And what about role-playing decisions?
WCP_Team : Most role-playing happens in spaceflight, based upon your performance...
iWCHS : What about the number of enemy ships?
Wing Commander Prophecy
WCP_Team : Number of ships: There's a LOT more than there has been in the past.
ExGames2 : There is mention of "Dolby Pro Logic" technology... will this be traditional (4 channel) or the so-called 'Digital' (5.1)?
WCP_Team : Traditional
Gamesmania : Can you give us a rough number? Confed vs. Mysterious Aliens?
WCP_Team : You will be seriously outnumbered at times. :)
iWCHS : What about a simultaneous international release? Will that happen?
WCP_Team : There is a plan for a simultaneous international release.
Psycho : What other projects did this team work on ?
WCP_Team : Team members have worked on everything from Strike Commander, Armada, Wing 2, 3, 4, Academy...
The developers didn't have long to chat, and made it a quick interview. Although we would love to know more about Propecy (don't call it Wing Commander V) and the developer's coyness may be a little frustrating for fans, and least they aren't over-hyping their game. For more information, check out Origin's Wing Commander Prophecy page.
Gamesmania would like to thank Lorien of PsychoNews for the invite.
This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that are referenced by Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is True Lies (1994) and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here. The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!
Dune may fall short of its source material but it's certainly a fun movie to talk about; we were waxing nostalgic about our Dune experiences well into the night! Without further ado, here are some screenshots to match the Wing Commander references we noted last week.
Here's the quote from the movie which appears in Privateer as a 'joke' comm you can make to New Constantinople. In the movie, it's part of Paul's inner monologue when he is training the Fremen to use the weirding modules. It doesn't appear in the book.
Wing Commander doesn't show us any giant sandworms but it does reference them several times!
And here's Princess Irulan, referenced in Privateer 2, played by Virginia Madsen. Her narration opens the movie.
Dune author Frank Herbert and his star system.
And of course Jurgen Prochnow as Duke Leto Atreides!
Sully wasn't so fond of the pugs.
There's an exchange in End Run where Kevin Tolwyn excitedly claims he has shot down a Drakhri and Bondarevsky points out that it was actually a Sartha. This always felt a little relatable specifically because Wing Commander II's manual had World War II-style 'plane recognition' silhouettes for all the ships. Here's the excerpt:
Jason walked out of the room and back out on to the flight deck. Tolwyn’s fighter was pulled off the flight line and came to a stop. The canopy popped open and an exuberant pilot stood up and climbed out of his ship, joyfully slapping his ground crew chief on the back.
“I got one, I got a Drakhri,” Kevin announced, coming towards Jason.
Jason said nothing, looking at Kevin coldly.
“Didn’t you hear me, sir? I got a Drakhri.”
“First off it was a Sartha, so get your plane recognition straight.”
“I’m sorry, sir. I guess I’m just excited.”
“That Sabre you were supposed to cover,” Jason started, his voice cold.
“That Sartha was coming straight in on us,” Kevin interrupted. “I snapped a thousand clicks ahead to meet him and the furball turned and ran back towards the moon’s surface. I figured if I didn’t nail him right there he’d be back up for more trouble, maybe hit some of the medevac’s coming back up. So I went down and got him.”
I was curious what this 'mistake' might have looked like so I lined up both of the original models and rendered them at their canonical lengths. As you can see, the Sartha is much, much smaller than the Drakhri!
We've got a strange one for you today! Background: Megg, Mogg, and Owl is a critically acclaimed comic series by Simon Hanselmann which started in 2014. It's about as 'indie comic' as you can get, full of edgy content and deep meanings. All of that is simply to introduce a single, wonderful panel that was recently published on Instagram:
If you're curious about the backstory (which we must note is extremely profane!) you can read the entire 33-part comic on the account linked above. The Owl character's home and beloved copy of the original Wing Commander were destroyed by a group of violent clowns led by his jilted ex-girlfriend. A physical version will be printed in the future and we'll share when that happens… but the panel on its own is pretty great!
I’ve finished packing and/or shipping all the vinyl editions of volume 2, and have around 60 of them left (and a bunch of vinyl mailers!). In case anyone missed the fundraiser they are now available on my website store. They are kind of a limited edition as I don’t see ordering more vinyl of that volume after how long it took to get this batch. And of course the downloads and CDs are still available there as well.Thanks!
George
It's like the say, everyone loves the theatrical cut of Dune 1984! We had a great time discussing everything Dune last week and this time we're going back to Earth for a pretty fun one: the 1994 action comedy True Lies. It's a movie that's going to make us feel like it's 1994 again… coincidentially when Wing Commander III came out. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.
Once again, this is a case where Chris Roberts used tracks from True Lies score as temp cues during the editing of the Wing Commander film. True Lies' music is by the legendary Shirley Walker who many will know for her work on another heavily Wing Commander-inspired project: FOX's Space Above and Beyond. Two of Walker's tracks were used, the first being Harry Rides Again. It was used for the 'depth charge' scene where a Ralari destroyer is dropping space bombs on asteroid craters in the hopes of finding the Tiger Claw.
The second track is called Harry Saves the Day and it was used for the ensuing 'decompression' scene when Blair is almost sucked out into space after the Tiger Claw is damaged in the bombardment.
Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?
True Lies is available for rent or purchase on the standard streaming services. If you would like a physical copy, the movie was released on Blu-ray in 2024 and remains in print around the world. It is also currently streaming on Disney+ and Hulu. A copy is available on the Internet Archive. If you are not able to locate a copy please stop by the Discord and ping a CIC staff member before Friday's showing.
How do we watch the movie together?
It's pretty low tech! Simply join the Wing Commander CIC Discord on Friday and we will be chatting (in text) along with the film in the main channel. Everyone who wants to join in should bring their own copy and we will count down to play them together at 10 PM EST. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to join in the conversation; sharing your thoughts helps make the experience better for everyone!
How can I help pick future movie club movies?
The movie club movies are voted on each week by the Wing Commander Discord. The poll is typically posted 24 hours before each week's screening and the next movie is announced at the end. The choices for the poll come from a master pool of Wing Commander-related movies. If you would like to suggest a film for inclusion in that pool you can post it to this thread.
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