Privateer Drifting Away?

If you dowloaded your copy of Privateer from GOG in the first hour or so it was available and you're having trouble with a driftig mouse cursor then you should redownload the game. GOG's expert technical staff identified the issue and patched the game to version 1.0.0.5 almost immediatey--but it's possible a few hardcore fans managed to get the game earlier.

GOG EA Trailer Available Online

GOG's trailer announcing the arrival of EA classics is certainly a little bit odd... but I'll be damned if my heart didn't skip a beat when Privateer was the first thing to appear on the screen. Now, it's available for rewatching. You can stream the trailer online here or download a copy here (44mb).

BREAKING NEWS: EA Store is Now Origin

... nothing else changes? Users attempting to access the EA Store are finding that it is gone, replaced with a message saying that it will be relaunched as ORIGIN at 9 AM PST. It also looks like EA has finally purchased Origin.com for the service! We will keep you updated as this develops. EA's E3 presentation will begin at 12:30 AM PST and more information should be revealed then. Welcome to the EA Store, now called Origin! Our site is in the middle of an upgrade. Please come back at 9am PST to experience our new storefront.

Happy Privateer Day!

In honor of Privateer's release on GOG, we're going to be running updates all day talking about some of the game's history and also collect some fascinating odds and ends. Keep stopping by--new posts will appear under this one as they are ready.

Privateer Day: Read All About It

Origin published their first in-house Wing Commander book for Privateer, the Privateer Playtester's Guide. The guide includes detailed maps of every system in the Gemini Sector and introduces you to the whole Privateer playtesting team! There was also an unofficial guide in Germany, Das Privateer Piloten Handbuch by Peter Schmitz and Christian Schmidt. It has a cool space battle with a Gladius on the cover!

Privateer Day: How it Got Made

If you are interested in knowing more about Privateer's development process, from how an Origin game went from the spark of an idea to a box on the shelf, it is used as a case study in The Magic of Interactive Entertainment: The main goals in the design of Privateer were to create a commerce trading system within the Wing Commander universe. Another goal was to provide a game with random missions that players could play over and over again. That freshness ensures the game never ends. Some initial ideas never quite made it into the final game. One such idea involved player finances. The game initially enabled players to get loans from banks or other (less reputable) characters. In this scenario, you might run into debt, and be pursued by creditors or bounty hunters which were after the price on your head. Privateer took about a year and a half to make, and so during this period, many such ideas were dropped while others were developed and added to the game. (Read the full chapter.)

Privateer Day: A Novel Idea

There's one other great literary connection to Privateer. Famed author Jerry Pournelle, who was once scheduled to co-author a Wing Commander novel, loved the game and frequently mentioned it in his BYTE column. As late as December, 1998, he still had stories to tell in the Privateer setting:

Early on there was a spinoff game called Privateer which used the original Wing Commander engine and some of the original ships, but had a free form universe you could explore until you stumbled across the story line. That was followed by an ad-on scenario called "Righteous Fire" that was the single most enjoyable action game I have ever played. I loved Privateer and Righteous Fire... I still wish they�d simply publish the specs for writing ad on scenarios to the original Privateer, though. If they want to improve the graphics levels, fine, but in fact that was about good enough; and it sure was fun. I can think of a number of stories I could write in that universe.

Privateer Day: How it Started

The game we know as Wing Commander: Privateer began life as Trade Commander, a game planned in 1992 to take advantage of the RealSpace technology being developed for Chris Roberts' opus, Strike Commander. The plan was to offset the tremendous cost of Strike Commander by quickly releasing other games built on the same engine--something that could be accomplished by beginning their development before Strike was ready. As Strike Commander ran into delays and overruns, it became clear the new 3D engine would not be available in time. Plans for Trade Commander were adapted to use the existing, less technically impressive Wing Commander engine. Trade Commander's sister project, Phoenix Force, was less lucky: it was unceremoniously cancelled and is rarely remembered today.

Trade Commander was formally announced, in typical Origin fashion, in 1992:

In 1990 ORIGIN revolutionized the industry when it introduced interactive cinema with the first Wing Commander game. In 1991 Wing Commander II carried this vision to new heights of game action, and with it new depth and sophistication. Now this year (we hope) will see the release of Trade Commander (now Privateer), a game that brings interactive entertainment software to a higher pinnacle of excitement than ever before.

(Read the full announcement.)

Privateer Day: WANTED!

Wing Commander Arena was full of Privateer references... but the coolest was this, the back page of the game's manual. It's a wanted poster for Privateer's lead character and it's full of Privateer jokes (the picture of an older, angrier Burrows was an earlier version created by Origin.)

Privateer Day: Yo Quiero Privateer

You don't need to speak Spanish to appreciate this awesome Privateer feature article from a 1993 issue of MicroMania! It's amazing to remember that there was a time when gaming magazines were both this comprehensive and just plain attractive:

Privateer Day: Don't Answer the Phone

Lead Erin Roberts tells a story about the talkie CD-ROM version of Privateer being cancelled and restarted so many times that he decided to stop listening to EA and have his team finish the game whether they were supposed to or not. Thanks to deals with companies like Dell and Gateway 2000, tt would go on to be one of the most bundled CD-ROM games ever made. Here's a great magazine review from 1994:

Privateer Day: Number Five with a Bullet

Privateer's four ship options are loved by fans everywhere, even the cheaper choices (internally, the game calls the Tarsus the 'clunker' and the Orion 'tug'--so they knew what they were doing)... but did you know there was originally going to be a fifth "speeder" ship? Here's a design sketch:

Privateer Day: Shirt off their Backs

Per tradition, design teams at Origin would create a team shirt for each product being developed. Working on Privateer's team would have earned you an especially cool t-shirt! Check out this awesome Centurion:


High Res	High Res

High Res	High Res

Privateer Day: Get the Point!

Origin's internal newsletter, Point of Origin, is a great way to trace development history... and Point of Origin was published very frequently during Privateer's development cycle! Here are links to every issue which mentions the game:

Privateer Day: A New Paradigm

In 1993, Origin released an amazing Windows 3.1 screensaver package called Origin FX. It was filled with modes from all the top of the line Origin games... including two from Privateer! In one, Privateer ships fly aroud your widows... and in the other the TCS Paradigm moves back and forth in space.

Privateer Day: That's-A-Polling

Here's a funny bit of data--numbers from a poll that Gamespot ran on August 10th, 1998... the day the CIC opened for business! At the time, it's clear that Privateer was the favorite Wing Commader game, with almost twice as many votes as the nearest competitor. Good choice, GOG!

Which is your favorite Wing Commander game? Privateer: 37% Prophecy: 21% Wing Commander IV: 15% Wing Commander III: 11% Wing Commander II: 7% Wing Commander: 6% (8,505 respondents)

Privateer Day: Another Screensaver

Don't have Windows 3.1 running? Want a comparatively modern Privateer screensaver? Former Origin designer Captain Johnny created one! 3D Wing Commander ships fly around the screen... all while Privateer music plays! Grab a copy here (300k). It is eleven years old, so all bets are off as to whether or not it will run in modern Windows.

Privateer Day: Word to your Father

Ever want to have a closer look at the 'holo posters' that appear in various offices in the Gemini Sector? Thanks to the discovery of the original textures, you can--there are some truly bizarre jokes in there that no one could ever have seen.

Privateer Day: Early Light

WingCenter recently posted scans of a great Privateer preview from PowerPlay magazine. The most interesting thing, though, is that it's using early mockup images--check out the fully 3D ships in the cockpit image... and a cinematic scene with Demons!

Privateer Day: Raiders of the Lost Manual

Does the Privateer manual seem a little plain to you? There's an intereting story behind that--they actually produced a full set of Claw Marks-style line art for the booklet which somehow went unused! You can download the whole thing here (17 meg). A collection of faxes relating to this project is also available here (43 mb).

Privateer Day: Meet Mark Thornton

In 2007, we were contacted by someone named Mark Thornton about a technical issue with our web forums. I noticed a funny coincidence--the name appears as a fighter pilot in Privateer's manual. Was he a former Origin employee or somehow connected to the company? He was kind enough to share his very cool story: I wrote Origin a letter a long time ago regarding opening my own custom software store, and asked them for any assistance about purchasing software, business licensing, etc... and they sent a HUGE mailer back to me with a bunch of stickers, promotion pages of upcoming games, and a nice letter wishing me good luck. Over the years though they were all thrown away, grrrrrrr. But I do still have all of their games! :) (thank you DosBox! :)) Anyway, Wing Commander Privateer came out soon afterwards and when I saw my name in the Flight Training portion of the manual, I FREAKED! It's great to be a permanent part of Origin's history! You can learn more here.

Privateer Day: Now You See It

Privateer features four Kilrathi ships, all of which are versions of ships created for other games: the Gothri, Drathi, Kamekh and Salthi (in Righteous Fire). But what if there were a fifth ship? It almost happened! The art team also created a Privateer version of the Strakha stealth fighter--but cloaking devices were removed from the game, rendering its inclusion impossible. Here is what it would have looked like?

Privateer Day: Around the World!

Privateer was't just an American success story--the game was well reviewed around the world! Here you can see a Korean advertisement (left) and a blue Japanese DOS/V release of the game!

Privateer Day: A Tarsus Visits Babylon 5?

Privateer's famous Tarsus scout may have made a cameo appearance on Babylon 5--check out the ship below, which appeared in the episode "War Without End". After the episode aired, B5 creator J. Michael Straczynski admitted to being Wing Commander fan but not borrowing the Tarsus: No, actually, I've never gotten into the Privateer stuff...I have the new Wing Commander, but my joystick is screwed up (others have made that observation before), so it's waiting until I can yank the computer out of its niche and install the Fancy New Joystick I bought that has fifteen thousand different plug-in points. jms

Privateer Day: What Sharp Talons You Have

If you're heading to the Gemini Sector this weekend, you can expect to encounter a LOT of Talons--they're flown by the militia, the pirates and the Church of Man ("Retros"). But did you know that each type of Talon actually has a different paint scheme in the game? Look carefully and you'll see it! Here's a handy chart to help you pick them out (also pictured are the SWC Gratha and the Privateer 2 Talon).

Privateer Day: Haven't I Seen You Here Before?

You can be forgiven if a few of the ships in Privateer seem familiar--that's because Origin borrowed several from Wing Commander II... and then re-used several others in later games! Wing Commander II's Broadsword, Kamekh and Dralthi make return appearances in Privateer. The Dralthi, Salthi and Raptor models created for Privateer return in Super Wing Commander (the Gladius as a Raptor) and then again in Wing Commander Armada (as the Shok'lar and Gladius, respectively). Privateer's Demon also seems to have evolved into SWC's Raptor and then Armada's Banshee and Phantom. Strangest of all is the Talon model, though, which reappears as a Kilrathi Gratha in SWC and then again as a Talon for one mission in Privater 2!

But that's not all: Privateer's distict "comet jump" sequence would later be used in the introduction to Origin's Metal Morph, an obscure SNES sidescroller. You can find a video of the sequence online here.

Privateer Day: Remembering Brian Smith

In this day of celebration for Wing Commander fans, we should take a moment to remember one of Privateer's developers who is no longer with us. Artist Brian Smith passed way in 2007 and is greatly missed by his colleagues and fans. Brian was part of a small art team and did a great deal of the graphics in the finished game--including the Mercenary's Guild fixer who he on his sister! Hopefully it is of some comfort to those who knew him that his work is still bringing joy and excitement to Wing Commander fans almost twenty years after the game was first released. You can find our online memorial here.

Privateer Day: Centurions Enter the Arena

Eagle-eyed fans may have noticed Privateer's signature Centurion heavy fighter in the logo art to Wing Commander Arena! It's true: the Centurion (and Gothri) were originally to be playable ships in Arena, but were cut during development. You can actually find the Centurion model hiding in the game itself--floating listlessly forever near a derelict Pelican.

Privateer Day: Know Your Foe

Learn your Privateer ships with this handy chart--and simply click on the target for more information!

Fighters

Tarsus	Demon	Orion
Galaxy	Centurion	F-38 Talon
Dralthi VII	Gothri	Salthi
F-71 Stiletto	A-15 Gladius	A-17 Broadsword
Drone	Scout

Capital Ships

Paradigm	Carrier	Drayman
Kamekh

Installations

Halsey	Pirate Base	Gaea
Agricultural Planet	Pleasure Planet	Oxford
Mining Base	Refinery	New Detroit
New Constantinople

Other

Weapons	Ejected Pilot	Food
Raw Materials	Fuel	Luxury Goods
Processed Goods	???	???
???	Slaves

Privateer Day: Sketchy Bonus

I don't know art, but I know what I like--and I like this! We've scanned and collected a large number of Privateer concept sketches--these are the drawings of all the ships and locations made by the team at start of the development process. Major bonus: the artists drew the Millenium Falcon in the area art where the finished ships would go! Download the ships here (26 megs) and the gameflow screens here (14 megs).

Privateer Day: More Documents

Here are nine more 'behind the screens' documents saved from Origin--ranging from a copy of the game's script to notes on its music sequences! These take some time to study, but they are well worth the investment.

Dialogue Script (11 megs)
Mission Summaries (4 megs)
Raw Conversations (39 megs)
Music Sequences (14 megs)
Sound/Music List (2 megs)
Art List (39 megs)
Art List (5 megs)
Options Screen (2 megs)
Delete Pages (7 megs)

Privateer Day: Nice Spread

Here's a two-page Privateer advertising spread which ran in many magazines in 1993! Note the wrong date--2670 instead of 2669. Also exciting: this quick shot was the first experimental image taken by a new camera purchased today for an upcoming CIC secret mission.

Privateer Day: Trailer Parked

Did you know they had trailers for video games in 1993, decade before streaming video became a reality? It's true! You can download a copy of the extremely short Privateer video here. Here's the narration: Origin presents Privateer, a next generation space combat simulator for the IBM platform. You'll move through an intensely cinematic universe experiencing the two very different thrills of reaching a hard bargain and real time 3D space combat. Make your own alliances and choose the life of a pirate, a mercenary or a merchant. Customize your ship, modify your weapons, armament and systems. Explore a complete universe with more than fifty bases and planets in almost seventy systems!

Privateer Day: Rumor Control

Privateer's bartenders are a great source for conversation--and they always have the latest rumor or tip. Some are just for flavor, some are red herrings and others refer to the game's ongoing plot. One in particular, though, shows up in online discussion time and time again: Hey, I heard a good one the other day. Seems that there�s this hollow asteroid along the Kilrathi border... The thing of it is, the Kilrathi use it as a munitions dump! The guy who finds that dump can help himself to as much ordnance as he can haul! So, to clarify once and for all: is there a hollow asteroid full of Kilrathi weapons hidden somewhere in Privateer?

NO

The rumor is meant to refer to the Steltek derelict! Stop searching the Kilrathi star systems--you will not find this asteroid!

Privateer Day: 3D, No Glasses Needed

Want to get a REALLY close look at the world of Privateer? You can, if you have a 3D rendering tool! Click here to download a massive archive of 3D models used in the production of the game--ships, weapons, environments, it's all there... and incredibly detailed. Every 3D model was created with high resolution graphics and then reduced to a small bitmap for the game itself.

Privateer Day: More Lost Arena

Here is another set of unseen Wing Commander Arena screenshots, showing the unused Centurion model in great detail. Also included are very early 'top down' shots of the game in action, which include both the Centurion and Gothri in action!

Privateer Day: As Seen on TV?

In 1995, Origin developed plans for a TV show spun off of Privateer! The idea was that there would be two further Privateer games and a weekly TV series which would all tell a combined story over the course of a year. You can find a copy of the series' bible online here. It was written by Claw Marks' Aaron Allston, who went on to fame and fortune writing in the Star Wars universe. We caught up with him at a convention some years later where he explained that the pitch actually made it to Hollywood--but that he was glad the project had died, as it was a shadow of its former self by that time (he specifically mentioned an episode about visiting a planet of half-naked Amazon space women).

Privateer Day: HCl's Privateer Tinkering

Wing Commander's certified genius, HCl, is no stranger to Privateer--although his tweaks are frequently overlooked! Here's what he has been hiding all these years in the archive area of his web site: Privateer 1 Ship Viewer - Old program that allows viewing the Bitmaps of P1 ships. Dralthi Patch - Allows you to fly a Dralthi, works with Floppy and CD versions of Privateer. Replaces the Tarsus. Stiletto Patch - Allows you to fly a Stiletto, works with Floppy and CD versions of Privateer. Replaces the Tarsus. Privateer 1 - TRE Format - This information file will explain the format of the TRE files Privateer uses. This is the same format WC Armada and Strike Commander use. Test mission for P1/RF - A new mission for Privateer, Righteous Fire, where you have to search and destroy a Paradigm stolen by the Kilrathi. Pays 300k credits. Many thanks to RFBurns for the dedicated beta testing of this new mission and discovering a few bugs i didn't see in the first version!:) To install this mission, edit your rf.cfg file and add to the beginning of the file the line "=test.tre". Then start Righteous Fire and load the test savegame.

Privateer Day: Keep Me Companies

You may not put too much thought into who is offering you the auto-generated computer missions in Privateer... but Origin did! The extracted list below names all the possible options, which really helps to build a living, breathing universe without using up too much disk space. There are some classic Origin in-jokes in there as well, including Beto's Foodcorp (from the muffin-loving Strike Commander fixer), Ultima Resorts and even companies named Origin and EA! The Merchants' Guild The Militia The Confederation Anonymous Employer Lynch Enterprises Lynch Shipping Lynch Mining Lynch Security The Exploratory Service Private Citizen Omni, Inc. Cerberus Shipping Blankenstaff Ltd. Tsunami/Azuma, Inc. Trebor Corp. Tactical Micro Devices Izanami Corp. Omniscan, Inc. Galaxy Resources, Inc. Tetsuo Distribution, Ltd. Cerebus Shipping Tsumami Azuma Weapons Gemini Export The Cardann Group Beto's Foodcorp Unltd. Tanya/Sepree, Inc. Frontier Enterprises United Distribution TransComm Confederated Mining MegaCrunch Credit Austin Entertainment Group Russo Disposal Systems Manners Arms and Shielding Johnson and Cafrelli, Ltd. Apex Terraform Corp. Hydroshock Manufacturing Universal Imports Transector Plus Fellowship Systems Skybird Scanners Rolling Hills, Unltd. Valle Brothers Frake Packaging Capri Mining Nexus Mining Taurus Mining Saturn Mining Deep Space Asteroid Mining Dell Refineries Nicholson Refineries Hendershot Mining Starfield Cruises Maximum Pleasure Ultima Resorts Infrared Detection Systems Total Eclipse Merry Rover Mycroft Mining Middleton Securities First Bank of Gemini Gemini Savings and Loan Jefferson Confederal AllSafe Retrograde Bridesmaid Enterprises TDR Symposium Borderline, Inc. Averson Dynamics Citation Hawkeye Security Renegade Weapon Systems TipTop Systems AntiStealth, Ltd. MicroDeath Delivery AutoNav Second Star QuarterMast Nav and Chart Parsec Mining First Strike, Inc. Heistand Forecasting Abyss Minerals EnvironMental, Unltd. Tarsus MetroScan The McLaughlin Company Delta Resorts Gamma-Way Thermal Optics Scorpio Consulting Obsession, Inc. The Outskirt Consortium Big Bang Pharmaceuticals Cannon Research Group Capital Investments Universal Charter Martin Swig Distillery FiberLink Origin Systems, Inc. Electronic Arts, Inc. Lehman Carbonshares Black Hole Retrievals Triple Play Enterprises Oxford Research Foundation Castro Memorial Foundation Grim Reaper Systems Voight, Inc. CyberSoft Brainwave Instruments

Privateer Day: What is a Privateer, Anyway?

Consider this a miniature "WC vs. History"! Earlier today you learned that Privateer was originally called "Trade Commander". The change was likely because, well, Trade Commander sounds dreadfully dull (there was actually another pitch at the time called Alien Commander--more on that in coming months)... but having changed the name, what is a Privateer?

A Privateer was, during the age of sailing ships, essentially a pirate sponsored by a government. Nations could create Privateers by issuing a "Letter of Marque and Reprisal" (Wikipedia) to a private ship. The 'privateer' would then have government-sanctioned permission to fight and capture ships belonging to an enemy nation. For their part, they would profit from the sale of captured ships and material. Creative privateers was an especially important tactic in situations where a country might have a disadvantage in terms of sea power, such as the United States during the Revolutionary War.

The background is largely left unsaid in Wing Commander Privateer (although letters of marque were later referenced in Star*Soldier)--but the assumption is clear: because of the desperate war situation, the Confederation has given your character special permission to fight the Kilrathi and pirates. Now let's see one of our talented fans come up with a 27th century letter to hang in our Tarsuses!

Privateer Day: The Canonical Editors

Lets step back into pre-history for a moment. From the very first moments that man stared up at the stars, he dreamed of editing Privateer in various ways. And even without high powered computers, access to developer informtion or a world wide web to share information across, early man managed to fashion these tools in a near-vacuum. Three Privateer editing tools were created and spread across the pre-internet landscape of BBSes and services like Prodigy and Compuserv. And today, these simple tools are just as useful as they were way back then.

PREASY - A Privateer 'trainer' for adding money to your savegames.
PREDIT - A detailed save game editor which allows you to change money, ship, location and more.
PRSHIP - A deceptively simple ship editor that's difficult to use but essential once you master it.

Here's one we should have done 20 hours ago: PDFs of Privateer's documentation! The Playguide Manual is Privateer's deceptively cool manual, with its strange but fascinating bit of short fiction! And note that Privateer is the rare game where you do want to read the reference card--it has all the prices for ship upgrades on it!

Privateer Day: Wall of Honor

Here's a very important update we often forget--the credits for Privateer and its related games. These are the people responsible for giving us thousands of hours of entertainment--we don't want to forget who they are. (Note that we have been completey unable to find the creits for the original Privateer speech pack--if you have a copy, please pass them along!) Privateer Credits Original Concept - Joel Manners, Chris Roberts Lead Design - Joel Manners Design - Tom Kassebaum, Anthony Nichols, Phil Wattenbarger Lead Programming - Ed Maurer Programming - Charles Cafrelli, Reinaldo Castro, Richard Dean Johnson, Arthur DiBianca, Edwin Herrell, Alex Jen, Jeff Wilson Graphics / Artwork - Chris Douglas, Robert Frye, Beverly Garland, Danny Garrett, Craig Halverson, Jake Rodgers, Brian Smith Music - Laura Barratt, Marc Schaefgen, Nenad Vugrinec Sound - Randy Buck, John Tipton Executive Producer - Chris Roberts Producer - R. Scott Russo Associate Producer - Erin Roberts Writing / Dialogue / Story - G P Austin Playtesting - Bill LaCoste, Starr Long, Dan Orzulak, Tobin Shelton, Dee R. Starns, Perry Stokes, Todd Wachhaus Special Thanks To - Whitney Ayres, Bill Baldwin, Paul Isaac, David Lawell, Aaron Martin, John Miles, Alan Perez, Kevin Potter, Zachary Booth Simpson, Suzanne Taylor, Jeff Wand, Jason Yenawine Righteous Fire Credits Project Leader - Arthur DiBianca Game Concept - Phil Wattenbarger Programming - Arthur DiBianca Design - Tom Kassebaum, Phil Wattenbarger Conversations - Arthur DiBianca, Phil Wattenbarger Art - Melinda Bordelon, Alan Perez, Brian Smith Music - Barry Leitch Quality Assurance Leader - Dan Orzulak Quality Assurance Team - Charles Angel, Jerrold Harrington, Kevin Kushner Graphic Design - Trey Hermann Documentation - Arthur DiBianca, Tuesday Frase, Melissa Mead Producer - Warren Spector Special Thanks - Ed Maurer Privateer CD Credits Project Leader - Arthur DiBianca Programming - Arthur DiBianca Voice Direction & Recording - Randy Buck, Arthur DiBianca, Scott Hazle, Phil Wattenbarger Voice Processing - Randy Buck, Britt Daniel, Stretch Williams Additional Voice Processing - Arthur DiBianca, Scott Hazle, Phil Wattenbarger Voice Talent - Kerry Awn, Marten Davies, Arthur DiBianca, Annie Greenwood, Lucinda Hinton, Bill Johnson, Colum Keating, Ev Lunning, John Meadows, Diane Perella, Marco Perella, Toni Perensky, Don Phillips, Shannon Sedgewick, Michael Stewart, Ron Tatar, Kirk Winterrowd Quality Assurance Leader - Jeremy Mappus Quality Assurance Team - Evan Brandt, Don Derouen, Mark Franz, Bill LaCoste, Dan Orzulak, Harvey Smith, Brian Wachhaus Graphic Design - Jennifer Davis Documentation - Melissa Mead Producer - Warren Spector

Privateer Day: Standoff and Run Away

We've already seem some interest in the 'Speeder' ship shown earlier in the day--the fast, nimble fighter cut from the finished version of Privateer. Well, a while back the Standoff team created a special patch that lets you fly the ship in their game's simulator! You can head on to the downloads section to check out this new ship, which we've dubbed Artemis-class, and which will be present in Standoff's next episode among the many civilian ships that fell to the Kilrathi offensive in orbit around Mars. This patch will replace the Raptor in Standoff's simulator with the Artemis, and will temporarily disable sending your scores to the online scoreboards (for all ships), but it can be uninstalled through the Windows Add/Remove program control panel. You can download the patch here (300kb).

Privateer Day: Music to my Ears

We had a request on Facebook for a little Privateer music. Instead, how about about all of it? The Privateer soundtrack really is spectacular. I can't hear the Perry theme without feeling a little pride in the Terran Confederation Navy...

High Quality MIDI Recordings

Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - Agricultural Base (1.6 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - Credits (1.8 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - Fight Approach (1.9 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - Fighting (1.5 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - Gaea Dead (2.2 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - Inflight (1.3 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - Intro (2.3 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - Jump (0.2 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - Landing (0.7 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - Launch (1.1 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - New Constantinople (1.4 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - New Detroit (1.1 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - Oxford Library (1.2 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - Perry (1.3 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - Pirate Base (1.9 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - Pleasure Base (1.5 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - Refinery Base (1.5 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - Steltek Base (1.3 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - Steltek Destroyed (0.8 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Privateer - Victory (0.9 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Righteous Fire Gaea (2.1 MB)
Barrat, Shaefgen & Vugrinec - Righteous Fire Opening (1.6 MB)
Thanks to Mad Hatter. (Details, more)

Various tracks

These three MIDIs came from Righteous Fire--and were sent by the composer, Barry Leitch, directly!

Finally, these Privateer tracks were actually released on commercial CD soundtracks! How cool is that?

Origin Audio CD Vol. III

Electronic Arts Music Sampler

Combat Montage (Privateer) - Nenad Vugrinec

Privateer Day: The What Didn't Happen?

Privateer did eventually get a sequel. Privateer 2: The Darkening is one of my favorite games of all time (and GOG willing, a subject for PRIVATEER 2 DAY)... but why wasn't there ever a direct sequel? The sad truth is that while many other Privateer followups were attempted, all met sad ends. Here's a quick rundown:

Privateer 2 was a Chris Roberts project that would have been developed after Wing Commander IV. Chris left Origin instead and the project was replaced by The Darkening, already in development in the UK. Privateer 2 (and a sequel) were also part of the plan for the 1995 Privateer television series project.

Privateer 3 was one of the saddest chapters in our history. Privateer 3 was deep in development by the Crusader team and ready to shoot its film segments when it was unceremoniously cancelled. Adding insult to injury, the cancellation came just days after a beautiful multi-page magazine preview had formally announced the game in the first place.

Privateer Online seemed like a natural followup to Ultima Online, and all the more so after EA dictated that Origin go 'online only'. Sady, after some development the game was cancelled and the team fired mere days before the release of the Wing Comander movie in 1999. Most of the POL group went on to do Star Wars Galaxies for Sony. The proposal actually talks about four games--Privateer Online, POL Gold, Privateer Online 2 and POL 2 Gold.

Privateer Online (again!) was a second attempt at Privateer Online developed in 2000-2001. The game got far enough to have a very rough interface where players could walk around in an environment... but in the end, the budget axe killed it. This version would have reused elements from both Ultima Online 2 and Wing Commander Prophecy!

Wing Commander Mercenaries was a Privateer pitch developed in 2005 by Origin veterans who moved to California wih the UXO group. It was described as 'Battlefield meets Grand Theft Auto' and would have involved a multimedia franchise relaunch similar to that developed for Dead Space.

Privateer Browser Game was a project explored by Electronic Arts in 2008, similar to what became 'Lord of Ultima'. It would have been a very simple click-to-play RPG, but absolutely thick with Wing Commander lore. Critical Mass did early concept work for the title but had a falling out wih EA over rights.