News Collection: On This Day in WC News

2025.115 (April 25, 2025)

Reminder: #Wingnut Movie Night Tonight!

This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Aliens (1986) which was a favorite of series creator Chris Roberts when he was working on the first game. You can find details on that as well as how to watch along with us in the announcement post here.

After Action Report: Highlander

Greetings WingNuts, What did the Wing Commander movie club take away from Highlander (1986)? Well, if there was just one lesson it pretty much has to be that there can be only one. But we actually found out something pretty interesting with this screening… more on that below! To our modern eyes, Highlander holds up pretty well; it's a very distinct 1980s experience that feels right at home next to films like the original Terminator.

2024.116 (April 25, 2024)

New Bomber Sketch Ready to Smash Some Kilrathi

CountvonSchnaps has a brand new Wing Commander sketch, and this one is a bomber! He's created a Longbow named "Sledge Hammer" for the war effort. It's a chunky beast with lots of gorgeous details to look over. There's also an extra turret up top to fend off the Kilrathi.

2023.115 (April 25, 2023)

August 1999 Pay Per View Advertisement Resurfaced

Today we've got a peek at the August 1999 advertisement for Wing Commander on Pay Per View. We shared this clip many years ago, but it was on an account that was taken down at some point. So now we've rehosted our own permanent copy. Why is it important?

2022.115 (April 25, 2022)

Privateer 2 Lineup Reveals Localized Actor Highlight in Europe

Dominus of Exult shared a pretty nifty finding when comparing the Privateer 2 boxes side by side. We've extensively covered how different the North American box art is compared to what countries like the UK, France and Germany saw on shelves. But there's one tiny difference that's gone largely unnoticed: each European version gets a tiny prominent actor highlight: Christopher Walken, Mathilda May or Jürgen Prochnow on the back. I assume that's because each was more popular or well known in the various regions.

2021.115 (April 25, 2021)

Wing Leader Tests Show Off CRT Shader & Character Models

A frequent question we get is to ask what's up with Wing Leader, Howard Day's impressive tech demo in the Unity engine. It's been in suspended animation for a bit, but Howard recently posted some shots of what it looks like with Mattias_G's CRT shader in place. It gets quite a retro vibe! He's also been playing around with some character models.

2020.116 (April 25, 2020)

Docteur J Concludes French WC4 Run

After a yearlong battle fighting for humanity, Docteur J has wrapped up his epic French language playthrough of Wing Commander 4. Through his YouTube channel Oldies Games TV, J is a prolific gamer and Wingnut who has long been helping spread appreciation of the WC series to an underserved audience. He's even covered the translated version of Prophecy for the Gameboy Advance. While most of our visitors may not understand exactly what he's saying, the emotion, excitement and fun come across in his vids very well.

2019.115 (April 25, 2019)

All Wings Considered - Episode 10 - LIVE!

The latest episode of ALL WINGS CONSIDERED is live now! All Wings Considered is the CIC's first ever streaming variety show which features news, conversation and gameplay relating to our favorite series. This week's Nav Points include: Visiting Bex to check out Brian Blessed's unusual mission Special Operations 1, Series 3: Flying the Morningstar Privateer 2 ship of the week: the Skecsis Food Club: Testing the MREs from End Run! Missed the stream?

2018.115 (April 25, 2018)

Assemble & Disassemble WC2 Now With New Tool

UnnamedCharacter's latest creation is an assembler/disassembler app for Wing Commander 2. He provides examples of disassembled code and how the program works in practice. It all looks way more advanced than my simple mind can comprehend, but there is one cool demonstration of the possibilities. After digging in, tweaking the text at the right point allows for manipulation of the cutscene subtitles.

Wing Commander Meme of the Day: Bad Luck Brian

Not quite a "Gash" Dekker, but he has heart.

2017.115 (April 25, 2017)

Visual Reference: Wing Commander I Rooms

Following our gallery of Wing Commander II backgrounds, here is a smaller selection of backgrounds from the original game. There weren't as many places to go on the Tiger's Claw, but it's interesting to note they didn't 'double up' on similar places--the Hangar Deck and the debriefing area have separate backgrounds.

2016.116 (April 25, 2016)

Outdoors Rapier Photo Shines New Light On Design

Lightning Picture of the Day recently posted this nifty photo of what appears to be the Wing Commander Movie's Rapiers after construction. The caption references Pinewood, and if it's the same historic Pinewood Studios, then that would be where Privateer 2: The Darkening was filmed. This somewhat contradicts the info we have for the canopy photos which were believed to have been shot in Luxembourg. No matter where the ships were converted though, this is still a pretty cool look at Rapiers from this perspective.

2015.115 (April 25, 2015)

Relive Blair's Story in Seven Minutes

Szych has put together a tribute video to the Wing Commander series. He hits the highlights of WC1 through 4 as well as Prophecy in one composite package. While the clip is jam packed with different scenes, it's not just a music video with random edits - he does a good job of trying to cover many of the major plots points in a fun nostalgic trip. Good for weekend watching!

2014.115 (April 25, 2014)

Sega CD Memory Cart Unlocks Extra Save Slots

CIC Staffer and Star Citizen community manager Ben Lesnick recently picked up an external memory cart for his Sega CD (aka Mega-CD) gaming console. Why is this news? Because the Sega CD port of Wing Commander has a cool visual effect when you have this add-on plugged in. Shaped like a Mega Drive cartridge, players could transfer their savegames to or from the memory cart.

2013.115 (April 25, 2013)

Ultimate Arrow Model Under Construction

Klavs has pioneered some fantastic models that can be 3D printed in sizes as large as 4-6 inches. This is already much larger than the 1-2 inch miniature designs that were the only ships possible a few years ago, and anything much bigger gets exponentially more expensive. The limits of technology, cost or imagination has never stopped a dedicated Wingnut however, and Arrow aficionado Rylex wanted to push the envelope even further! The result is this one-of-a-kind F-27.

2012.116 (April 25, 2012)

Help Decorate the Fleets of Enigma

Deathsnake has posted several new layout shots that show off the variety of ships which will be featured in his Enigma 2666 mod. There are quite a few different vessels broken out by capship/base, Kilrathi and Confed craft. A fourth shot also shows off one of ScoobyDoo's Clydesdales in escort formation with a pair of Rapiers. Most of the ships pictured below just have preliminary textures, so talented Wingnuts who would like to help tidy these up can let Deathsnake know.

2011.115 (April 25, 2011)

Raptor Gets Its Claws Dirty

Here's Klavs' vicious Raptor with a new advanced texture. There's significant weathering effects present now, and all of these shots feature the ship carrying four menacing torpedoes. It's amazing what some scorch marks and scuffs can do for the look! Thanks a lot you guys, I will be building some good desktop pics for you when time permits!

Space Sim First Look: Star Pagga

There's been quite a few new space combat sims for iOS devices lately, so NuAngel sent in a cool new game for Android phones. Star Pagga boasts about its action-packed 3D gameplay, intense single player campaign and 8-player multiplayer over local networks or online. The Lite version is available to try for free, and the full game is only $2.36 on the Android market or $1.

2010.115 (April 25, 2010)

Wing Commander Music Coming to Live Orchestra!

Here's some news that certainly rates a solid 11 out of 10 on the Awesome Meter! Veteran composer George Oldziey is working his tail off to bring the music of Wing Commander to the live orchestra. Although there are many details yet to work out, the target is to perform an arrangement of classic Wing Commander 3 & 4 sometime next year in Austin. We can't wait!

XBox Engages Afterburners

There's a new flight sim on XBox Live Arcade, and it really shows off what's possible today. The 50 megabyte maximum file size limit that was around when Wing Commander Arena was release has long since been lifted, and new games like Afterburner Climax clock in at a whopping 500 megs. The price tag hasn't budged however, and this game is only $10. The new game from Sega only has three fighters (compared to Arena's 18) and no multiplayer, which should help you appreciate what EA and Gaia managed to do with Wing Commander.

2009.115 (April 25, 2009)

Space Sim First Look: Galaxy on Fire

The Galaxy on Fire space trading sim has been available on a wide range of mobile phones for a couple of years now. Just recently, a version with upgraded graphics and motion sensor controls was released for the iPhone and iTouch. PC World ran a piece on it: I forget how many space sorties I've flown over the years. Elite, Privateer, Wing Commander, X-Wing vs.

Making the Game: Mission SS1

But wait, there's more! The original plan for Wing Commander Prophecy's TrainSim included four 'ship specific' simulator missions! Mission SS1 teaches the player to fly the mighty Tigershark. The interesting thing here is the unused dialogue, which suggests that the 'shark is somewhat old.

2008.116 (April 25, 2008)

Ken Burns' Wing Commander

Rvcontre is putting together a neat YouTube series called 'The Gaming Standards.' He's creating a six-part documentary about Wing Commander and its time -- a pretty neat concept that I'd like to see more of in the future! He says: Hi! I've just started to make a little video project for fun and am looking for some input on where I should go with it.

Window Shopping for Wing Commander

Does anybody else take pictures of Wing Commander games whenever they see them in a store? I always do. I love seeing these things on shelves.

2007.115 (April 25, 2007)

Sprechen Sie Arena?

LeHah noted a small error at the EA Arcade site: a question about what languages Wing Commander Arena would be available in was answered with a response about Boom Boom Rocket. EA's community moderator was quick to respond with a correction and some good news: Wing Commander Arena will initially be offered in English, French (Francais), Italian (Italiano), German (Deutsch), and Spanish (Espanol). Sounds like the game will be released in Europe and the US at the same time! If you haven't started posting to the official message board boards, give them a look -- it's a great way to interact directly with Electronic Arts!

We're Not Out of the Woods Yet

Hot on the heels of his clay armada, Mustanger has turned to wood for his next creation. The wooden hull of his Confed Light Carrier is mostly complete. After some finishing touches, the ship will be ready for paint. If the clay version is any indication, the final product should be pretty sharp.

2006.115 (April 25, 2006)

Sean Murphy For The Win!

Sean Murphy is home from his bike ride! Here's what he has to say: The ride went great; we got in yesterday [Sunday] afternoon/evening. My son did an awesome job - he rode every inch of the 173 miles without walking his bike or riding the support van once. I'm working on a blog with some photos from the ride and I'll send you the link once that's up.

From Achilles to Zarkowsky

So, you love lists of ships but you don't like having to load a MS Word document? Well, fret no longer: the all new, version 2.0 annotated Ships List is now available in easy-to-view HTML format! You now no longer have any excuse for using the wrong class names for obscure Kilrathi battleships in your elaborate fan fiction chapters.

2005.115 (April 25, 2005)

Playstation WC3 Midis Extracted

AD has created a pack to complement the Playstation sound effects released a couple weeks ago. The 3 meg zip we have today includes over 500 midi files from the game, though there's probably a bunch of duplicates between the four discs. They are arranged differently on each CD however, and the original directory path structure has been preserved in the zip. They range mostly from 30 second clips for special situations to two minute background sequences for missions.

Mark Hamill's A Friendly Guy

Our latest poll results are in, and people picked Mark Hamill as the actor whom they'd most like to befriend. Tom Wilson came in a strong second. It's interesting to see how the results change over the course of a poll. Initially Malcolm McDowell and John Rhys-Davies were neck and neck with Wilson, but this changed significantly over the last week.

2004.116 (April 25, 2004)

What's Your Favorite Furball Style?

It was about a month and a half ago when we asked you which style of Blair was your favorite. Well, now we're doing the same thing.. with 100% more Kilrathi! Our new poll asks which type of Kilrathi is your favorite (not which character is your favorite).

Electronic Arts to Support XBox Live This Summer?

Rumors and speculation have surrounded this subject for a couple years now, but IGN and other sources claim to have reliable information that EA will make an official announcement on XBox Live support in the next few weeks. EA is known for their multiplatform simultaneous console and PC launches these days. A Wing Commander game in the near future would probably appear on the XBox, among other systems. The comprehensive online features provided by XBox Live would be more than welcome.

2001.115 (April 25, 2001)

SWC Ship of the Day: Krant

Super Wing Commander Ship of the Day rolls into day two... today's picture: the Krant class medium fighter! In response to all your many, many e-mails: I know that it looks like a Talon -- but it's not! The models from Super Wing Commander were re-used on various other projects...

ANZAC Day

Raptor asks that we post this, about ANZAC day, the Australian/New Zealand equivalent of Veteran's Day....Today, Australia and New Zealand observe ANZAC day, honoring the soldiers who fought and died for us in wars throughout this century. For all you Antipodean Wingnuts out there, please take the time to remember the soldiers whose sacrifices gave us the freedom and privileges we take for granted today. And be sure to give generously to the Returned Services Association collectors.

VS Update

Here's the latest from the Vega Strike team...I have made tremendous progress on a new model editor. The current version allows a very user friendly interface to texture a model, and just in: a very intuitive system to place weapons or logos or engines or anything for that matter on the surface of a given starship model! I just got it working this morning though I've been sick recently and unable to make much progress.

Goodbye, Lanced.Net

Because it hasn't been updated in months, SLVault (and FLVault), formerly Lanced.Net, is closing for good on April 27th. The site, run by ShadowLight, was the first (and for a long time the best) StarLancer news site -- we enjoyed a friendly rivalry with them for some time... it's a real shame to see it gone for good.

1999.115 (April 25, 1999)

More Exact DVD Release Date

Craig McDonald pointed us at The Digital Bits. Their rumor mill section reports July 13 as the tentative release date for the WC movie DVD. You can check it out for yourself here. She's All That DVD, also starring Freddie Prinze and Matthew Lillard, is scheduled to be released that day as well.