News Collection: On This Day in WC News

2025.022 (January 22, 2025)

New Wing Commander IV Timeline!

We've created a new timeline that shows you almost day-by-day (sometimes hour-by-hour!) what happened in Wing Commander IV! Since 2025 and 2673 have the same 'layout' of a year this means we can track Wing Commander IV 'as it happens' starting at the end of July. You can study the new timeline in Spreadsheet form here or read below for notes about how it was created and why it is different from previous attempts.

2024.022 (January 22, 2024)

Confederation Project Gets Fancy Widescreen Cutscenes

Today we've got some stunning visual updates for the Confederation project to enhance WC1. AllTinker rebuilt each of these familiar settings with extra wide backdrops to the sides. They look very natural and fit in great. Be sure to click in for an animated cutscene sample!

2023.022 (January 22, 2023)

And the Winner Is...

We've been collecting votes for the last several weeks, and the winners of our annual Fan Project of the Year contest have become pretty clear! It may come as little surprise, but we have a quite definitive first place choice for 2022. With a commanding lead in our polling, the WC4 Remastered project wins as our Fan Project of the Year! Congratulations to the team!

2022.022 (January 22, 2022)

WC Vets Hitting the Convention Circuit in 2022

It continues to be a good season for Wing Commander autographs. Despite the ongoing pandemic, there are quite a few conventions still planned for this year. Here's some highlights that will feature familiar faces: The Texas Frightmare Weekend will provide a double opportunity in Dallas from April 29 to May 1 with both Ginger Lynn Allen and Matthew Lillard appearing. Lillard also has a solo appearance lined up at the HorrorHound Weekend in Cincinnati March 25-27 as well as a mail-in event via CPA Authentics in April.

2021.022 (January 22, 2021)

Check Out a Creative Cat Collage

Artist rcgdoremi has put together an interesting piece to celebrate the Kilrathi from Wing Commander 3. It's an unusual style, but there's something compelling about it. Each individual Kilrathi comes across as familiar and unique, even though there's a few repeats. The artist has a number of similar works for other sci-fi like Dune or the The Mandalorian which are also pretty neat!

2020.022 (January 22, 2020)

New Icon Pack Refreshes Your Game Launcher

Kobi-K has put together a nifty icon pack for the Wing Commander series. He covers each of the main games, plus Privateer 1&2, Academy and Armada in both ice and png format. A couple even get alternate editions. The art draws on a mix of archival files and marketing promotional images as source material.

2019.022 (January 22, 2019)

Lord British Loving Life in his Robot Body

st3lt3k found a fun LifeHacker article with Origin founder Richard Garriott on work habits. His video game development studio, Portalarium, is based in Austin, Texas, but his family currently lives in New York. Yet he maintains a daily presence in the office thanks to his Beam telepresence robot. Mr.

2018.022 (January 22, 2018)

"Your profile is clear to sector's edge..."

As if on cue, DefianceIndustries is back with another very cool ship to share. This one isn't directly related to the Secret Ops MUP, but it's a beauty nonetheless. It's a Broadsword in Privateer colors, which is an interesting route to go. The bomber is so often associated with its WC2 green - even the Arena variants are all green hued - but it's nice to see a changeup once in a while.

2017.022 (January 22, 2017)

Exclusive Pilot's Medal Packed with Rare German WC4

It's not very often that the CIC staff comes across a Wing Commander product that's completely new to us, but Pascal made our day with this special edition of Wing Commander 4! It was apparently sold only at the Karstadt department store in Germany, and it amazingly came with a pilot badge collectible. The medal is labeled Wing Commander 4 "Elite Fighter" and comes numbered. Pascal notes that these aren't very common even in Germany, so he's a lucky fan to have one in his collection!

2016.022 (January 22, 2016)

Still Time to Back the Wing Commander Album

Physical copies of George Oldziey's reorchestrated Wing Commander album have been landing in mailboxes the world over. If you missed out on the crowdfunding campaign, there are still a few copies available. Fans that donate $20 to offset the remaining production and shipping costs will receive a digital copy of the album, the collectible physical CD (including a digital copy) is available for those who contribute $40 and an autographed album is $60. Head over to his website to find out more!

2015.022 (January 22, 2015)

CIC RSI Organization Turns One!

It's hard to believe but it was exactly one year ago that we launched the Wing Commander CIC group over at Roberts Space Industries. We haven't organized any meet-ups for the organization yet, but now might be a good time to do so! The recent release of Arena Commander 1.0 has added a number of new features, including a friends system that makes organizing matches easier.

2014.022 (January 22, 2014)

CIC Organization Up and Running at RSI

Yesterday, RSI launched their Organization System that allows fans to create a variety of groups from the basic organization to complex role-playing groups with their own internal rules and ranks. It's sure to be a very cool feature of Star Citizen. We've created a CIC organization where Wingnuts can join now. After you apply, it requires someone to accept the application before you have access to the organization's internal Description, Members, and Chat areas.

2013.022 (January 22, 2013)

Nearly Complete Tiger's Claw Gets Destroyer Escort

Here's an updated look at Klavs' gorgeous new Tiger's Claw. Keen observers have noticed the proportions look slightly different from the games, because he's going for a tighter feel. The design we've seen so far potrays the carrier slightly shorter/narrower than typically seen. The later few images also show off a small warship based on the WC3/4 cruiser and destroyer.

2012.022 (January 22, 2012)

This Gratha's Seen Some Action

Zohrath has finished his Gratha model, and the results are fantastic! The spaceframe had a very raptor-like feel to it, and the brown Kilrathi durasteel has some very fine wear and tear. Z's got more updates in the works, which we can't wait to see. Check out his previous models here.

2011.022 (January 22, 2011)

OBJ2WCP Fixes D-Plane Algorithm

A new build of OBJ2WCP has been released! Kevin Caccamo got some fancy equation help from gr1mre4per and has published version 1.2 to fix some rendering issues. The tiny app is available here (15 k zip), and instructions are included.

Center for All Wingmen Revamped

The German Wing Commander hub Wing Center has been overhauled for 2011. The site features news and forums for Wing Commander fans who speak German. Previous news in their archives goes back to 2007, and they are also working on building up a database of WC info. It was originally launched almost ten years ago.

2010.022 (January 22, 2010)

Win Big in Ascii Sector 0.6.3

The first new version of Privateer Ascii Sector for 2010 is jam packed with bug releases, and it includes the highly anticipated casino ship! The 'Lucky Lady' can be found at Nav Point 2 in the Adavene System. Check out the full list of improvements below, and download the latest version here. - Fixed bug with passenger list carrying over if you exit a game and immediately start a new game.

2009.022 (January 22, 2009)

Wing One, Take Four

Well over a year ago, The Fatman published his Wing Commander soundtrack, "Wing One", through the Amie Street music service. Twenty-six tracks were released throughout the Summer of 2007. Thirty second samples of each track are available to everyone, and once you've bought a song, you can listen to the full version online or download it outright. These are plain old MP3s, free of DRM.

Outlander Premiere Is Here!

It's been a long wait for Outlander fans, but Chris Roberts' latest sci-fi film will finally premiere in the United States this weekend. Although it's still a limited release, some fifteen major markets will each be getting the film on a number of theaters. Check out the actual list of screens here! I'm fortunate enough to have a theater featuring the movie just two miles from me and hope to check it out soon.

2008.022 (January 22, 2008)

BrickCommander Stacks Lego Capships

Exarch found a few more Lego model renders to add to all the cool designs posted lately. The scene features a highly detailed Tiger's Claw with Exeter escorts hanging majestically in space. Now Death Angel's fighters have a fleet to call home. These surprisingly authentic ships were created by Primus and posted to BrickCommander.

The Art of Wing Commander Arena - Part Fifty-Eight

We saved the best for last when it comes to environments: this is concept art for a mode which would have impressed a lot of people... a Nephilim wormhole map! Nephilim ships (seen here) would have emerged from the wormhole to do battle with human players. It would have been pretty neat to team up with friends against alien AIs!

2007.022 (January 22, 2007)

Steltek It Away, Boys

Here's one for the history books. The original Privateer features a spectacular opening cinematic... but the ending, in which the Steltek Drone tows away the Delta Prime derelict, has left many players underwhelmed. There's a good reason: a longer cutscene was removed to save memory, as the game initially shipped on 3.

EA Arcade in the News

Electronic Arts' recent announcement of Boom Boom Rocket for the X-Box Live Arcade has been followed by a whirlwind set of press interviews. The latest comes from Gamasutra, where Chip Lange answered questions about both the new game and EA's future prospects. Who knows, Wing Commander Arcade could be just around the corner. GS: Can you tell us a bit about Electronic Arts' position with Xbox Live Arcade going forward?

2006.022 (January 22, 2006)

Preview Tactics Dork Here

We've got two more updates from WC Tactics today. The Kilrathi Dorkir Transport has been added to the Nexus engine and is ready to haul stuff around. The model comes in at around 1800 polygons, which puts it on the lighter side. I'm more of a Dorkathi man myself, but those twin tanks look neat from certain angles.

New Players Needed For New Dawn

If you haven't noticed yet, we're spending a week to highlight some of the active Wing Commander role playing games that populate our community. Most RPG groups tend to stay pretty quiet and keep to themselves, but they're surprisingly active under the circumstances. Another group looking for new recruits is also the oldest in nonstop operation. The Edge of Chaos WCRPG was founded on November 9, 1996 and recently celebrated their ninth anniversary.

HD WC Alert

Your second to last chance to catch HBO HD's showing of the Wing Commander movie in 1920x1080 resolution is coming Tuesday morning. After January there are no scheduled high def air dates for at least a few months. Anyone have any luck getting screencaps or recordings yet?

2005.022 (January 22, 2005)

Strange Austrian Comics Revisited

There's some good news and some bad news regarding the strange Austrian comic we posted earlier this month. The good news is that Valkyrie has been able to translate the comic in to English. "Hey Jim, what do you think about some kind of vacation?" "Nice idea, I know a beautiful beach.

Choose Your Own Adventure

We recently came across what appears to be a Wing Commander themed College project. It aimed to create a Choose Your Own Adventure game dubbed Wing Your Own Commander: Choose Your Own Adventure is a subset of the fiction genre of books. CYOA reads like any ‘normal’ story, save for one extreme difference. At pivotal points throughout the book, readers are asked to choose amongst a set of decisions which will then impact how the rest of the story plays out.

2004.022 (January 22, 2004)

Privateer 2 Files Recovered

While hunting for a copy of the lost Privateer 2 demo, Kris found some files hidden deep within the depths of a vault. First up is a list of commodities and the best routes to take them in order to make a great profit. For example, Kris says that shipping brain implants from Karatikus to Crius is lucrative. You can find the list in Excel format here.

Just a Reminder

Don't forget, the first batch of auctions from Wing Commander artist Sean Murphy end tonight! This is your chance to win a batch of stickers which would have been used on helmets in Prophecy, or his assorted lot of CCG cards.

2002.022 (January 22, 2002)

Transport Tuesday - Part 1

The Wing Commander Saga web site has been updated, showing off renders for four new cap-ships... including a pair of Confed transports!

Transport Tuesday - Part 2

Cameron Wu is also in the transport business... he posted this picture of a ultra-detailed Pelican class ship to the Chat Zone.

Happy Birthday Hadrian

Evan "Hadrian" Adnams, the man responsible for things like buttons that say '2001' and mousepads with pictures of ships on them, turns twenty today. Happy birthday, even if you did ruin the theme of 'Transport Tuesday'. E-mail him your best wishes here.

2001.022 (January 22, 2001)

Trivia Week 13 Released

Last week was a tiny bit slower than usual. I think a few regulars might have missed the boat. If you've got the time, play before you forget! All new players are always welcome as well.

Happy Birthday - Part One

It's Birthday Season over at the CIC again, and first up is Hadrian. Happy Birthday! If I were more witty I'd find a funny way to ask if you'd prefer cake or chocolate moose.

2000.022 (January 22, 2000)

Movie Rental in Holland Soon

Trashcan's friend at Minasotus (a Universal Studios company) says they've received a viewing copy of the Wing Commander Movie. This means that the movie should be available for rent in Holland mid March. The movie will probably become available in Belgium around the same time.

Design a Fighter Contest

Blackwolf from Twisted Animations is running a contest:We at Twisted Animations are having a contest. The contest is make your own fighter for WC: Lost Universe and WCSO. First Prize is having your fighter in our game. Second prize is a role in the game.

Bored of Being Normal?

Tired of looking just like every other damn citizen? Amen to that, brother. We at the Leary Medical Alteration Centre on Karatikus have devoted our lives to the unusual, the bizarre and the downright strange. Why not visit our beautiful planet where we can offer you the following body modifications:Body Lengthening/Shortening (250 creds/10cm)Extra Limbs/Organs (500 creds Arm of Leg, 750 creds Eye, Nose, Ear, 1500 creds other)Your choice: No demand is too bizarre - tentacles, feathers, we'll do 'em all.

1999.022 (January 22, 1999)

March? Maybe...

Ash over at Dan's Wing Commander Movie Chat Board posted the below excerpt from Movie Facts, which also reports that the movie will be out by March 31st. To control rumors, please note that the Kilrathi in the movie are NOT trying to destroy the universe... Wing Commander (PG-13)Science Fiction Based on the popular video game, a young pilot joins an interstellar war to fight against evil invaders trying to destroy the universe. Stars: Freddie Prinze Jr.

Massively What?

For those still debating exactly what a 'massively multiplayer Wing Commander game' is, check out this news update at PC Accelerator. It's pretty funny...