News Collection: On This Day in WC News

2024.340 (December 5, 2024)

Avoid the 'Roids

Check out this gorgeous render created by Alan Baker. It depicts two Hornet fighters tangling with a pair of Dralthi in an asteroid field. One of the Kilrathi fighters is deftly maneuvered right into the rocks, which results in quite an explosion. The setup reminds me of the Kilrathi Saga intro!

2023.339 (December 5, 2023)

X-Wing and Wing Commander Top the Early 1994 Sales Charts

Here's a great little time capsule from the fantastic X-Wing Game Series account. It shows a snapshot of the best selling PC games in early 1994. Due to print lead times, this would basically have depicted the holiday 1993 sales. Wing Commander Privateer and Academy are both included as they launched within a month of each other in September and August respectively.

2022.339 (December 5, 2022)

Ultima VI Intro Provides Glimpse at TV Feature Proposed for WC2

Wing Commander II had a plan to include a TV you would watch between missions to get broader story updates. The design called for it to be the same dimensions as the Ultima VI intro TV so they could share art! This can be seen in a recent Tweet from the crazy ass moments in furry history account or watch it on YouTube here. The opening of Ultima VI prominently features a pixelized recreation of a Keith Berdak illustration of a zebra centaur pole dancer(?

2021.339 (December 5, 2021)

New Flight Commander 2 Demo Released!

eddieb is reporting in with a new update on Flight Commander 2, the sequel to his modable WC-style space flight engine. The latest version has a new AI implemented to do simple combat maneuvers, and the visuals are a generational leap over the earlier days of fan projects. If you've never played around with this before, make sure to at least check out the video below. It has game flow portions to simulate walking around the carrier and its flight engine is very reminiscent of Prophecy.

2020.340 (December 5, 2020)

Annual Call For Award Nominations

Woah, it's December, and that means 2020 is quickly coming to an end. And while this year has been objectively dreadful is so many ways, dedicated Wingnuts have continued to create great things. It's a positive creative outlet for them, but it also helps spread Wing Commander cheer across the community. Each year we do a poll to help recognize a small handful of the fan projects that had some of the biggest impact.

2019.339 (December 5, 2019)

All Wings Considered - Episode 33 - 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: Wing Commander III - Caliban & Delius on the 3DO A Visit to the Head Museum Righteous Fire - Visiting Tayla 25 Years of Wing Commander on the PlayStation Missed the stream? The replay will be available below once it has been processed by YouTube.

2018.339 (December 5, 2018)

Testing WC1 on Classic Hardware with SetMul

PhilsComputerLab has a new video on a program that slows down older machines. As early as 66 MHz started to come on the market, fans had to use programs like moslo to get the original Wing Commander smoothly playable. This presented an issue whereby a system powerful enough to run WC3/4 was too powerful to run WC1. In comes the 'setmul' app that specifically works with higher speed original Pentiums for some very granular adjustment.

2017.339 (December 5, 2017)

Nephilim Added To Star Trek Armada 2 Mod

The Wing Commander mod for Star Trek Armada 2 has added a major new faction to the game. A full lineup of Nephilim capships and fighters have filled out the ranks and is set to invade the spacelanes. Each individual starship is beautiful, but check out the battle scenes. They look like tons of fun!

2016.340 (December 5, 2016)

MechWarrior 5 Announced!

The MechWarrior series will be getting a new single-player sequel! MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries was just announced at Mech Con 2016. It will be made by Piranha Games, the studio behind the MechWarrior Online multiplayer-only shooter that's been running for the past couple years. This is a significant development for a couple of reasons.

2015.339 (December 5, 2015)

Secret Missions Livestream Broadcasting Now!

You knew the battle wasn't over after the Venice Starpost was destroyed! The Goddard Colony is under attack, and the Tiger's Claw is racing to investigate. Wing Commander: The Secret Missions shipped to stores 25 years ago yesterday, and we're playing through the adventure again to celebrate. Watch live on Twitch and join in the conversation #Wingnut!

2014.339 (December 5, 2014)

Orion Launch Successful!

Today was another very successful launch to cap off an exciting year in space exploration. In case you missed these images in your internet travels, here's another chance to see what went down (after first going up). Check out those marvelous rocket flames! The Orion capsule made it out to a 3,600 mile orbit in the first test of what will eventually be a long-range system for deep space exploration.

2013.339 (December 5, 2013)

On The Straith & Narrow

ScoobyDoo's latest wallpaper is a majestic spacescape featuring Privateer 2's starter ship, the Straith. The high resolution image below features three of the little flyers rolling past a planet. Each ship includes his characteristic WC3/4-style engine intakes and steely hull plates, plus there are some other nice touches such as refuel port markings. Scooby has a lot of irons in the fire, so to speak, and he's been working on this ship for well over a year.

2012.340 (December 5, 2012)

Getting Caught Up With GameStar

Thra`Khrom has another batch of scans from GameStar magazine. The first article is a very lengthy flashback piece that's dedicated to The Heart of the Tiger. It's amazing how well the game still holds up today! There is also a fun feature on Wing Commander Privateer.

2011.339 (December 5, 2011)

Have Some Wine With Your Wing Commander

Here's some additional information on the Wineskin technique of making Windows games playable in the MacOS. If you missed the original news post during the Birthday celebrations in August, this is the process that was used to make the Macintosh version of Wing Commander Standoff. While the Mac version of DOSBox is ideal for the older games, this method is good for newer games like Prophecy (that weren't ported to Mac). wcnut has provided some helpful more background information: I had personally discovered this technique of running Windows .

2010.339 (December 5, 2010)

Art's Art Plays a P3 Part

Art Wong is a digital artist that worked on several Origin games. Mr. Wong worked on Ultima 9: Ascension and Wing Commander Prophecy among others. He also created designs for some of Origin's most famously canceled games such as Ultima Online 2 and Privateer 3.

Wing Commander IV Storyboards - Scene 247

Scene 247 has Blair chewing out Maniac after being forced to rescue Catscratch. It happened (or didn't, depending on your in-game choices.) These storyboard images were recovered from a backup CD containing materials belonging to Origin's web development team. They were dated November 17, 1995 and were likely planned for a never-completed web feature.

2009.339 (December 5, 2009)

Blair, Tolwyn Rock Out

Forums member Mace points out that Mark Hamill and Malcolm McDowell are both voicing multiple characters on the Metalocalypse animated TV show. Metalocalypse, a dark comedy show about American/Scandinavian death metal band Dethklok, is currently in its third season and can be seen on Adult Swim. The two actors also did voice work together on the Wing Commander Academy animated series. Hamill, a prolific voice actor, was recently nominated for a Video Game Award.

2008.340 (December 5, 2008)

XBLA Delisting Delisted

Last summer, Microsoft caused quite a stir by suggesting that 'underperforming' Xbox Live Arcade titles might be removed from the service - which could potentially include Wing Commander Arena. As we said at the time, many practical factors would prevent the plans from going through -- and it sounds like that's exactly what happened. Gamesindustry.biz spoke with Microsoft: Microsoft's Xbox 360 online and services boss John Schappert has said that the company has no immediate plans to delist underperforming games on Xbox Live.

Making the Games: Mollerhaug System

The third and final system is Mollerhaug, which also looks to be the most active of the group. If we can take only one thing away from this map, though, it is this and simply this: on the list of resources at the civilian space station, tacos are listed before hookers. Thanks to Captain Johnny for both archiving and providing this material! The series is winding down, though, so if you're a former Wing Commander developer with a story to tell or a document to share, we'd love to hear from you.

2007.339 (December 5, 2007)

The Lonesome Death of FreeLancer 2

Pistol reports that a neat site called Such Things That Never Was has run an article about the long-cancelled FreeLancer 2 project. Development on FL2 went on for quite a while, and included several Wing Commander veterans. We actually get regular e-mails asking for information about this game, thanks to what we thought was an obvious April Fools joke update. They say: At the time of Digital Anvil's closing, the company was working on two Xbox 360 titles, one of which was dubbed with the codename Project Lonestar (the other, Project Enwor, I'll go into at length at a later date) but also known by the name of Freelancer 2.

The Art of Wing Commander Arena - Part Thirty-Five

This was one of the earliest menu mock ups made for the game - it's very different from the finished product! Note the single player mission option and the fact that both the fighter and the space station seen in the image were not used in the finished game. 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.

2006.339 (December 5, 2006)

Big Battles Await In Homeworld Mod

Fans have been playing the WC4 Homeworld 2 mod preview release quite a bit over the last week, and a whole bunch of new exciting screenshots have surfaced as a result. LeHah and Wildweasel snapped this set of images during a multiplayer game. They show off some of the most intense battles we've seen yet. The pictures are also in very high resolution, so all the beautiful detail is very clear.

Enterprise-D(rama)

Attention Trekkers: Pocket Books has recently published a detailed reference guide to Star Trek books. It's called Voyages of Imagination: The Star Trek Fiction Companion (by Jeff Ayers) and features descriptions and commentary on every Star Trek novel ever published. Aside from being an interesting and well researched project, how does this interest Wing Commander fans? The book includes an interview with WC novelist Dr.

2005.339 (December 5, 2005)

Standoff Stands Up

Eder has updated the Standoff website with a progress report and a whole host of exciting new screenshots! Their news update goes into more specifics than I could, but suffice it to say Episode 3 is coming along smoothly! They've also added Cougar's profile to their characters section. Episode 3 is coming along - the missions are progressing nicely, we have implemented about 60% of the voiceovers, and both versions of the intro cutscene are done, except for the music...

The World Says Goodbye to Digital Anvil

Digital Anvil's closure is a case study in the standard internet formula for gaming news. The secret equation is as follows: reworded press release + funny title = gold! We have here exactly what venture capitalists pay the Gamespots and the IGNs of this world millions of dollars for: eleven articles, all identical in content but featuring slightly different words and, here's the kicker, a variety of unique titles -- most of which are attempts to make a pun from Digital Anvil's name. GameStop: Digital Anvil Melted Down IGN: Hammer Falls on Digital Anvil Joystiq: MS Brings Hammer Down On Digital Anvil GameDaily: Microsoft Drops the Hammer on Digital Anvil Voodoo Extreme: RIP Digital Anvil XBox Circle: Digital Anvil Is No More Pro-G: Digital Anvil Staff Redeployed Playfuls: Microsoft Kills Digital Anvil CVG: Microsoft Drops Digital Anvil Gamasutra: Microsoft Confirms Closure Of Digital Anvil 1Up: Digital Anvil Shuts Down What happens when you don't follow the script?

2004.340 (December 5, 2004)

Holding The Line Chapter 195

Busy times for us here at the CIC. what with putting up Christmas decorations and the like. Fortunately Raptor isn't too busy to send in a new HTL chapter. Hey all, Raptor here HTL continues with Part Twelve of the "Into The Inferno" series, which is written by yours truly.

Electronic Arts Responds To Labor Rumors

The SPOnG gaming news site has posted a memo from EA's human resources vice president that was recently sent to employees. There have been several articles written over the last month or two that have suggested some employees at the company have been subject to unfair working conditions. This is an interesting look at the company's stance on the issue. As much as I don’t like what’s been said about our company and our industry, I recognize that at the heart of the matter is a core truth: the work is getting harder, the tasks are more complex and the hours needed to accomplish them have become a burden.

2003.339 (December 5, 2003)

Another Look at Ultima X Odyssey

We haven't really taken a good look at Origin's Ultima X Odyssey since it was announced this past summer, and there have been some various developments since then. I'll frontload this update with pictures. New ones have been steadily released and they look pretty neat. In these shots you can finally see more of the interface and a couple of rather cool animals/monsters are revealed.

Wing Commander on Sci Fi Channel Saturday

As we reported last month, the Wing Commander movie will be showing on the Sci Fi channel on Saturday. It begins at 12:30 pm Eastern US time. That's shortly after noon. Or you could buy it from Walmart for $5.

2002.339 (December 5, 2002)

Entertainment Weekly Article

CIC ChatZoner Wulf spotted an article about WC in the current issue of Entertainment Weekly. It also features an interview with Chris Roberts. Here's a quick quote: The sci-fi Wing Commander series, inspired by Star Wars (Hey, they wrote it, not me), and starring actors like Mark Hamill and Malcolm McDowell, imposed cinematic narrative on games. 'My games were mostly about stories and characters,' says Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts.

Holding The Line Chapter 146

Be afraid.. be very afraid. No, not of Raptor, the story. Hey all, Raptor here.

WCPolaroids: Casey (16/24)

According to the writing, this is a photo of Casey after he has taken off his belt and boots. Perhaps in preparation for a cut X-rated scene?

2001.339 (December 5, 2001)

Time To Vote

The nominations are in and here are the five top nominated sites and projects. Time for the final voting. Send your votes to us. We'll close the voting on the 19th December 2001 and announcer the winners then.

B5 Commander News

Speaking of Babylon 5 Commander, the page has been updated with the latest news on the mod.We are working on the ship scales and getting the capships into actual WCP/SO capship style. This will allow us more freedom on mission editing, no 6 capships per mission limit, and no 6 turrets limit like into the corvettes. This will take some time and work though.

Odd Link Of The Day

In part two of TC's weird link quest, we have an interesting post from Slashdot from a former Origin employee dated 4th December 2001. Actually I don't have the actual link so I'll quote the post.Re:EA's mismanagement? (Score:2) by Moofie (battleangel99NO@SPAMyahoo.

2000.340 (December 5, 2000)

Sweet Release

Lancers Reactor was the first to receive this press release, regarding the situation at Digital Anvil...MICROSOFT TO ACQUIRE DIGITAL ANVILAddition of Austin-Based Development Studio Continues Microsoft Games Division GrowthREDMOND, Wash. - Dec. 5, 2000 - Microsoft Corp.

Telep Article

Peter Telep's official site posted a scanned article about the Wing Commander author from the Orlando Sentinel. It provides both a nice overview of Telep's career, as well as an insight into his toughts regarding his novelizations of movies.

Do That Online Thing

Westwood has started accepting applications for beta testers for their upcoming Sci-Fi MMP game -- rumored to be the game EA killed Privateer Online over. Fill out the form here.

Long Live...

Sloth asks that we mention his Confed Clan, a Wing Commander themed Star Trek: Armada group -- which is presumably looking forward to the release of the Invasion mod.

1999.339 (December 5, 1999)

Realm of the Privateer Up For Grabs

SX Glory posted over at alt.games.wing-commander that he'll be unable to continue the Realm of the Privateer website much more into the future. Over the past year ROTP has been one of our top ten referrers.

Free DVD Shipping Offer Continues

This time DVD Box Office says it's the holiday season that's extending their free shipping offer.

A Chance to Coin it in!

A report by Col Digger, editor of Entrepreneur magazine. A big hello to all my entrepreneurial acquantances out there. Top tip for this month involves the Hephaestus Planetary Mint. My contacts report that a new edition of Platinum Standards, coins much in demand by collectors, is being planned.

1998.339 (December 5, 1998)

Transcribe THIS!

The uber-cool Official Unofficial Freddie Prinze Jr. site had this nifty story, extracted from a log of a recent chat with the Wing Commander actor... (and no, I don't know what's with the 'THIS' thing either).What is your most embarassing, on-set, moment?

Vote THIS!

Head over to PCFan to vote for the PCFan Reader's Awards! Prophecy has been nominated for Best Shooter, and Secret Ops is up for best expansion.

Accelerate THIS!

TC sends us a copy of this review of Secret Ops, which comes from the December issue of PCXL -- which has like the coolest companion site...Just when you thought all those pesky space bugs were dead and it was safe to roam the universe again, they return in droves And they're really pissed at you for kicking their asses in Wing Commander Prophecy. Don't you hate it when bugs hold grudges?Secret Ops is a free (yes, you heard me right) follow-up to Wing Commander: Prophecy, Origin's flashiest Wing Commander game to date.

Reminder

This is your last chance to participate in Trivia. Get your answers in before Sunday to be counted for Week 2. Also, if you have question or question theme suggestions, send them here.

250,000!

Last night at around 11PM EST, the CIC reached a quarter million hits. It has now been just over four months since the original CIC splash screen went up, and the CIC staff would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for your continuing support and encouragement over this time. View the CIC's NedStat statistics here.