News Collection: On This Day in WC News

2021.026 (January 26, 2021)

"I'm Poppin' The Pod! Make Sure I Get Picked Up..."

We've got a new poll up now, and this time we're asking about the worst places to need to eject. The options in this survey are bit deeper lore than we usually include, so here's a fuller rundown of the choices available:Planet Pisces is the place where Krulan nar Ragitagha is stalked by the infamous ArthrosquidsAngel is forced to eject after taking out the skipper missile bearing down on the ClawMinx is in an escape pod poisoned by radiation after the destruction of Ayer's RockVagabond loses a fight against a wing of Darket in the Kilrah System on the Temblor RunThis is the pilot that Seether executes if you stay aboard the LexingtonHawk reveals to Casey that Iceman saved him in B'shriss, but he was found and captured by the Kilrathi - the remains in the pod retrieved by Blair weren't prettyI can only imagine what new challenges Arena's Nephilim fluid-space presented to ejected pilotsThe pilot of the crashed fighter we see on the Steltek Derelict technically made it back to base, but I sure wouldn't want to be lost that far off the spacelanes!And wow! For the first time in a number of years, "Great" won out in our annual new year's poll!

2020.026 (January 26, 2020)

Hellcat Ready to Leap Off Drawing Board

NightBall06 has completed his detailed Hellcat perspective drawing. If you'll recall from previous updates, this is an intricate sketch as opposed to a 3D model. NightBall would like to convert this into 3D for use in fan projects. Although that's not currently on the table for the near term, he'd still really like to know what you think about the design!

2019.026 (January 26, 2019)

Tabletop Game Grows Networked Fleet

Adm_Maverick has done quite a bit of work with his WC tabletop game. One focus has been the creation of quite a few new ship cards. Each one has a snappy header graphic, and he's created numerous variants to add additional flavor. A neat focus will be the interoperability of ships from different eras without the artificial constraints that each game's specific stat ranges bring.

2018.026 (January 26, 2018)

Suite Sound of Wing Commander Heard Around Europe

The Wing Commander Suite based on The Fatman's Wing Commander soundtrack has again been getting a lot of play in northern Europe of late. There have been a number of concerts in Norway and Finland as recently as November that have featured the suite. These concerts are part of the same series of performances we reported on over a year ago. New dates keep cropping up for both the "We come in peace" and "Score" performances.

2017.026 (January 26, 2017)

Sharper Batwing Dralthi Flies Into Vision Engine

Here's a look at DefianceIndustries' latest Kilrathi fighter, the iconic Dralthi IV. Although this won't play a part in the Secret Ops MUP, it'll have a small role if and when he managed to get around to a Prophecy model conversion in the future. While he was painting the Kilrathi durasteel, he also took the time to illustrate the exotic Kilrathi ace variant from Wing Commander 3. It's quite a visual treat!

2016.026 (January 26, 2016)

"Ek'rah skabak erg Thrak'Kilrah maks Cheesy Balls"

LOAF recently uncovered a neat "alphabet" sheet for the Wing Commander Movie. It shows sixteen symbols of the type used in the alien scene translations. There are several very distinct Kilrathi writing styles observed from the dots and dashes in the SM2 Dralthi cockpit to the iconic Kiranka claw that debuted in Wing Commander 3. The Movie's text is a very interesting cursive alternative.

2015.026 (January 26, 2015)

WC RPG Positioned For An Exciting 2015

In the latest update on the status of his massive Wing Commander RPG Wiki, capi3101 has laid out the plan for the year ahead. Work continues to round out the "stat blocks" for members of the Kilrathi Demon's Eye Pack that will appear in the Elegy of Sivar expansion. This comes after the successful completion of most character histories. capi is also trying to gauge feedback to see what kind of accompanying art fans might be interested in.

2014.026 (January 26, 2014)

Announcing 2013 Winners!

Another annual contest has run its course, and we have a new set of winners! For the past few weeks, Wingnuts have been voting for the Wing Commander fan projects and web sites that made the most impact in 2013. Most of you are familiar with the process, so let's get to it!Howard Day's Concordia Hangar has won in the category of Wing Commander Web Site of the Year!

2013.026 (January 26, 2013)

WC vs History: Panama Games Are The Fleet's Problem

"Sir, that sergeant over at the comm center said a carrier had come through," Geoff said, forcing his voice to sound even and under control. "That's against standard doctrine, but it was a scenario you presented to us in class. They're most likely launching fighters and bombers now. They could be here in less than an hour and a half.

2012.026 (January 26, 2012)

'Boxy, But Good' or 'Oh, Don't Mine Me'

Cybot's back with another cool render of a Wing Commander Academy vessel. In addition to bringing back a fun variety of familiar designs, WCA also created a few of its own. This dedicated hospital ship is one of them, and it packs a lot of character for a rectangular box! Cybot has also created another original design, which he has dubbed a (very well armed!

2011.026 (January 26, 2011)

More Wing Commander Tabletop Gaming Rules Previewed

Astro Commander doesn't just make amazing models to look at. His amazing fleet will also soon be used for tabletop battles. He's posted a set of sample rules (120 k .xls) to explain how the game will work for this.

2010.026 (January 26, 2010)

New Kat Ship's an Asymmetrical Beauty

Here's a new Kilrathi design that JasonRocZ has created for Wing Commander Collateral Damage. The first two images below show off this ship, which he's named the "Darthek." Jason's done a very good job of creating a classically styled Kilrathi design without just mishmashing existing designs. The later three shots feature his take on the heavier Vaktoth.

Genre-ation Ex

Wired UK is pondering the question, "Where do game genres go to die?" As alive and well as the Wing Commander community is, it's still hard not to notice the lack of new space sims on the market today. Their article also addresses adventure games and 3D real time strategy titles, which are conspicuously absent these days too. The author then looks to fan mods for some relief, and hasn't found it yet.

2009.026 (January 26, 2009)

Face Time With Your Heroes

Today we have a contribution from Blitz. He ran mug shots from the first four Wing Commander games through a program called FaceGen to create 3D models of the characters' heads. The free version of the program includes only two kinds of hair, but some of these renders come pretty close to the real thing. You can grab the resulting 3D files here.

Cruising Into Cygnus

The Community Replay is about halfway through Secret Ops. This week, the pilots of the TCS Cerberus have to rescue a pair of luxury liners that have come under attack in the Cygnus System. DaveO has Photobucket and YouTube feeds with a host of screenshots and gameplay videos from all the games that have been covered so far. These are his notes from Cygnus: Cygnus 2Zero is in an SAR shuttle for this mission, and believes we will find the source of the distress call.

2008.026 (January 26, 2008)

Community Replay Begins This Weekend

Dundradal is leading a massive play-through of the entire Wing Commander series via the CIC Forums. Each week he'll be pacing out chunks of Wing Commander games and inviting fans to share their experiences online. The fun starts Sunday, January 27, with Wing Commander 1. Players should try to run through the first three systems - some combination of Enyo, McAuliffe, Gimle, Gateway and Cheng-du and discuss their experiences at Crius.

The Art of Wing Commander Arena - Part Sixty

This is the avatar concept artwork for a Terran pilot - note the Wing Commander III style uniform! They really must have done a lot of research before putting digital pen to screen on this project.This is part of a series of beautiful Wing Commander Arena concept images graciously provided by Gaia Industries. You can find the original article here.

2007.026 (January 26, 2007)

Kilrathi Kamekh On The Prowl

I always liked the Kamekh. After all the torpedo bombing missions in Wing Commander 2, it was nice to be able and chew through a big ship's phase shields with regular guns and missiles. The modest capship also appeared in Academy, Privateer and Freedom Flight. Marc took this classic Kilrathi corvette out for a spin to update the textures, and the results look pretty sharp to me.

DC Guest List Updated

The 2007 DragonCon guest list got its first big boost this month with the addition of Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes and Roberto Picardo from Star Trek. In addition to friendly folks (with Wing Commander credits) like Margaret Weis and Bill Fawcett, this year's list of celebrity attendees is off to a decent start. Four-day convention passes are $50 until February 15, so order soon if you plan to attend. You can check out what the CIC staff and friends did at DC2006 in last year's gallery here.

2006.026 (January 26, 2006)

Wing Commander FL Moves Ahead With More Ships

Warzog hopes to maintain momentum with the Wing Commander Freelancer conversion kit. The next version of the ship pack will add the Hades Class Cruiser, Panther and Dragon. Textures should be fixed on other craft as well. Here are a some preview shots of Hades.

Space Sim First Look: Acamar Rising

Isaac Alexander let us know about a new little space sim called Acamar Rising. It's a straightforward space shooter created by an independent team in Arizona. A 1.4 GHz computer and 64 meg 3D card are required because of the game's advanced graphical effects, though some of the models and textures might seem pretty basic to some players.

HD Wing Commander Month Ends Saturday

Your last chance to catch the high definition version of the Wing Commander movie will be this Saturday. It airs at 6:15 PM on HBO HD East. Hopefully there will be another set of show times for this upgraded presentation soon, but fans will probably have to wait at least a few months. You can find the schedule for upcoming standard air dates here.

2005.026 (January 26, 2005)

Books Area Gets A Little Refresh

Shades has taken the time to help us update our Books Section. Although the page itself is basic and showing its age, the information listed there is still useful. You can find the titles and publishing information for most of the official guides and novels written in English. Each one of the items in the section adds new history and backstory to the Wing Commander universe.

EA LA Conducting Layoffs?

EGM/1up is reporting this morning that 50-70 people at the Los Angeles EA studio are being let go. Although the rumor is that these people largely worked on the recent Goldeneye and upcoming Medal of Honor games, the Origin brand is also located at this complex. With new James Bond and Medal of Honor games scheduled for release later in 2005, these shake ups are a little mysterious.Edit: GameSpot confirms the news with new quotes from former-Origin and current-EALA general manager Neil Young.

CIC Manitoba Office Open

Here's a picture of the CIC Insurance Center at the University of Manitoba, thanks to Jibbo. You can see it for yourself on campus in the Student Union Building.

2004.026 (January 26, 2004)

German RPG Back in Business

Florian Lau wrote in to let us know that the German Kilrathi Empire Online Rollenspiel Deutschland is in the process of relaunching. Previous members and new people alike will be welcome to play just as soon as the rules have been rewritten.I'd like to report, that the Kilrathi Empire Online Rollenspiel Deutschland (www.kilrathi-net.

Battle of the Cheap WC DVDs

So you got a shiny new DVD player for Christmas and need something to play on it? Or maybe you just want a new copy of WC since you can never have too many. Either way, Walmart and Outpost.com are battling it out to give you a good price.

2003.026 (January 26, 2003)

Prophecy Delay Official?

Well our release date list from a couple of days ago already indicated that release had been pushed back from January to February, but now Nintendo's site seems to confirm the delay. The Prophecy page now lists a release of "Feb 2003". There's no official reason for the delay.

WCPolaroids: Extras (5/16)

Another lineup of some non-descript pilots. Dispassionate Guy seems no happier even though he now has a drink.

2002.026 (January 26, 2002)

From Rapier to Snakeir

Aaron Dunbar has found another very interesting thing: the web site of Eric Alba, the facility vfx producer, main-title producer for the Wing Commander Movie. He's got a fantastic section showcasing 94(!) pictures of the work he did for the film -- many of which are 'making of' type images which show how the FX were created. Very, very cool!

Cool as a Quasar

Shades (and then several other people) found another interesting bit at the Saab & Miller Productions site: while working for Digital Anvil they were responsible for the impressive Charybis Quasar sequence of the Wing Commander Movie.As an aside, the company is run by Wing Commander veterans Kerry Miller & Pauline Saab (WCIV, WCP, SO, etc.) -- which gives us an excuse for trivia! Whoever can find the most 'Saab' references in Wing Commander games gets a virtually useless GOLD STAR...

2001.026 (January 26, 2001)

New Final Conflict Lasers Look Like Hell

According to WC Final Conflict point man Rylex, the new lasers in his fan made movie "look like hell!" I'm assuming that's a good thing. They certainly look nice to me anyhow. I hope this one makes it to completion.

Prophecy Keyboard Covers Could Be Out

It's come to our attention that the official Control Zone Interactive website no longer lists the Prophecy keyboard covers for sale anymore. They've got other old games still for sale, so I suppose it's possible they sold out. LOAF noted that Chips & Bits still sells the item, but for the record, they presell Privateer 3 and the Privateer 3 Official Guide too (and for the outrageous price of $52.95!