Bandit LOAF

For twenty two years Origin Systems set the tone for the computer gaming. Ultima, Wing Commander and dozens of others set the gold standard for which the rest of the industry could only hope to catch up. This era has finally come to an end as Electronic Arts readies an announcement that it will shut down the Austin-based Origin studio.

This is not the end for Ultima or Wing Commander. Ultima Online will now be run from California, and development of Ultima X will continue on the west coast. Hopes that another Wing Commander game would be developed in Austin were dashed long ago; the longtime belief that a California-based EA team would develop the next Wing Commander title may, ironically, be bolstered by this news.

What it is, however, is a tremendous moral loss on all fronts. Origin Systems will always be the ultimate symbol of gaming's greatest days, and its dissolution to a faceless corporate entity is, sadly, equally symbolic of the world today. Origin entertained, challenged and inspired our generation in a way that seems impossible today. Though the individuals who developed our games long ago moved on to greater careers, the very existence of the company itself continued to stand for something special; something amazing.

The CIC will continue to dedicate itself to Origin's legacy - we will redouble our efforts to archive anything and everything related to the company. We will strike to make the world remember what Origin meant. I wanted to end with a quote - something plithy and literary to express the meaning of such an ending. I came up with only this:

With your carrier destroyed, you drift endlessly through the void.

--
Original update published on February 24, 2004

Filler

Delance

This sad thing. The whole Origin logo was a symbol of quality, of good games. Remember the orchestra and the Earth?

The game universe can live on, however, this has happened before to Master of Orion and Civilization, to mention some well known examples.

Let's just hope that, when and if they make a new WC game, it's not disfigured.

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-- Chesterton

OriginalPhoenix

...I hear the gentle playing of taps.

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Delance

To make a WCP paralel, Origin was already over, just like Hawk. Tomorrow is just the funeral.

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"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him."
-- Chesterton

Malar

This forum is the most suitable one, in order to deplore my mourning over the loss from Origin...

I heard it from some German gaming mag online news.

It is purely sad, that Origin is forever gone.
This "company" or better said, a forge of ideas, had influenced me too in my childhood.
Their storywritters, their designers and their producers.
Looking Glass and Logic Factory are sad examples too.

Requiscat in Pacem for one of the best game developer the world ever seen.

Shame on you EA. >:|

Good to know that Lord British & Co. and the fan community like this here continous to exist.

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Kindly regards,

Malar

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The day will come, on which humans regret their existence.

ChrisReid

We'll always be here, until a new development team officially takes up the reigns. In the mean time, all isn't lost. This is mainly a symbolic move today. The actual changes that brought us where we are began many years ago, and the fans have stepped up since. We will continue to be blessed with smaller projects such as Prophecy Advance from time to time, and someday we will ultimately get more original games.

Karthik@KANE

EA owns 20% of the gaming market. I hope that market crash which hit Atari way back in the 80s would come back to kill EA.

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Huge companies like Infogrames, Electronic Arts and Eidos should go to hell! They are here to rip gamers money, conclusion, to Hell With Them!

ChrisReid

Which could then put the WC rights in a state of awful limbo. EA is extremely successful and stands way above all other game publishers. They had almost thirty million-selling titles last year. And some of those sold multiple million copies. They're only going to get bigger.

Bob McDob

Repost of LancersReactor:

Let me repeat the most important line:

This is not the end for Ultima or Wing Commander.

Though the name Origin may be gone, Wing Commander is not dead. Electronic Arts still owns the rights to Wing Commander, and most of the Origin staff will be retained. More importantly, we, the fans are still here. And we are arguably the most important part of the equation.

For ten years we stuck loyally to the series, through good times and bad, triumphs and travesties. Through the rise and fall and rise again of the space game market. Through full-motion video and Pentium processors and 3D accelerator cards. Through Privateer, Wing Commander IV, Prophecy and even the Wing Commander Movie. Through all of these Wing Commander's fans stayed loyal to the mythos. Will we allow a mere name change to end all that?

Moreover, Wing Commander is not dead. Last year Unknown Enemy, a fan game using the Wing Commander Secret Ops engine, was released, and two others, Standoff and Wing Commander Saga, are near completion. Also last year, Raylight Studios completed a port of Wing Commander Prophecy to Game Boy Advance, proving that the series is far from dead. And recently EA brought back Andy Hollis, a veteran game designer and one of PC Gamer magazine's "Game Gods" along with Chris Roberts, putting him to work on an unknown project. A new Wing Commander game? Why not?

Regardless of what the future holds (and I am quite confident that brighter days lie in store), Wing Commander's fans will still be around. After all, it is we that made it what it is, elevated it from obscurity into one of the top game series of all time. It is through our love and devotion to the series that, game or no game, will allow it to survive and, yes, prosper. Wing Commander will not die, so long as fans believe in Wing Commander.

Let me finish with a parable. In 1966, Desilu Studios produced a science-fiction televisions series. Though it attracted many devoted fans from all walks of life, the series was axed after three years due to the vagarities of network television. Its creator and the staff moved on, and Desilu Studios collapsed, selling the series rights to Gulf & Western. But the series would not die. Its fans kept it alive through conventions and fan magazines. Eventually Gulf & Western, now Paramount, realized what a hot little property it had on its hands and brought back the series creator. Today it is one of the biggest franchises ever, spawning five television serieses, ten movies, a theme park, innumerable books and assorted products. It is called Star Trek. Perhaps you may have heard of it.

Origin is dead. Long live Wing Commander.

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Aboard one destroyer, [Admiral Jacky Fisher] saw the sign "UT VENIANT OMNES" in gold letters mounted on the bridge. "What does that mean?" he asked. "Let 'em all come", replied the youthful lieutenant in command.
Robert Massie

If it's stupid but it works, then it isn't stupid.

Snitter

Hey WC Fans,

how about starting a project to buy the "Wing Commander" production rights.
Woun't be like taken candy from a baby, I gues........
But all you guys, waiting or another offical WC release, in some cases even producing
own WC-Mod-Stuff, got the skills to create a future for the WC Universe.
Maybe even Mr. Chris Roberts himself will take this chance to get..... let's say "back to the roots" thing; after the financial WC-Movie desaster......
Could be the Masterplan or just a crappy idea. Who knows.
But it's fuckin' worth a try !!!

Cheers
Snitter

Bob McDob

This sort of thing has been discussed before. Aside from the incredible cost (EA paid American$42 million for Wing Commander, and with the success of WCIII and IV I doubt they'd let it go so cheap), and assuming that they'd be willing to sell the license to a group of fans (fantasy at best), I wouldn't be surprised if EA probably had their own ideas for reviving WC. After Prophecy's relatively lukewarm reception they'd understandably be hesistant to do anything without Chris Roberts, but Chris himself is tied up on a bunch of projects at the moment, mostly film and the odd game, producing the upcoming Punisher, directing American Knight, and pitching the adventure game Silverheart, a project he's spent the last eight years trying to develop. Wing Commander may be dormant, but it still represents one of EA's most successful series, and they wouldn't give it up if even the slightest possibility exists it could make money for them in the future. That's how they became EA, after all.

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Aboard one destroyer, [Admiral Jacky Fisher] saw the sign "UT VENIANT OMNES" in gold letters mounted on the bridge. "What does that mean?" he asked. "Let 'em all come", replied the youthful lieutenant in command.
Robert Massie

If it's stupid but it works, then it isn't stupid.

ChrisReid

Alrighty, once you find a few million spare dollars EA might consider talking to us on a temporary-license basis. Then we can start fund raising for production costs of an actual game.

Delance

Well, the best possible way from this kind of approach would be to try to make a partnership of some kind. You know, how Lucasarts allowed Raven, Bioware and Totally Games make their own Star Wars games. You would still need a lot of money and a company to produce the game, but it should be more possible.

This might as well be what actually happens when someone tries to produce a new WC game, but how fans can interfere is an open question.

EDIT: Like Lucasarts, EA could produce and publish the game, but let another company develop it. But I'm not sure if EA works like Lucasarts on this business.

__________________
"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him."
-- Chesterton

ChrisReid

To a certain extent.. it's not necessary to look to other companies for examples. EA allowed Destination Software to use the rights for certain properties to develop GBA games. That's how we got Prophecy Advance. However.. EA seems far less willing to budge when it comes to original games or games on the newer consoles and PC. And I can guarantee fans played a role in that whole affair.

Duriel

Hellos, My first post on the forums, been here awhile though. Im surprised ive never made an account before this. Anyway I felt I had to say something about this as it is a truly sad thing that has happened. As the late George Harrison said in one of his songs, "All things must pass". It is a pity though that most truly great things pass faster than the other things.

Loyal WC2 fan

I can remember playing Wing Commander 2 until the small hours of the morning when I was around 7 or 8. I had the speech add on pack, bringing it up to something like 12 or 13 disks

I am truely sad to learn that those &^$^%&$&$**$ at EA have bought it, they're notorious for poor customer support and never playtesting their games.

I'm new here and I'll admit I just came here on a nostaligia run so I probably won't be back for another 10 years, but I love what you guys are doing to keep WC alive.
I have SO many good memories from playing WC2, most of all the great plot that accompanied the fantastic action.


I'll sign off here, but leave with with the first worlds that I ever heard spoken in a video game, may they always be remembered. Origin, you'll be missed.

"Guards you are dismissed, I will speak with Prince Thrakath alone."

ChrisReid

We point this out constantly, but it never sinks in. EA bought Origin shortly after WC2 was finished. Most of the Wing Commander series was developed and supported with EA's money. EA has made a number of decisions that turned out to be pretty dumb in hindsight, but it will also be EA that is eventually responsible for bringing us new games.

sneed

you guys aree rediculous games are a hell of a lot better now and thats the way it will always work with better stories and graphics. so just shut up, grow up, and go try to get laid

Martini Doctor

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making a garden of the desert wide
where Parry conquer'd death and Franklin died."

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Death

Hmm. Digging up a thread whose last post was 3 months previous just to make a pseudo-anonymous flame, and we're the ones without a life?

[MrRogers]Can you say "irony", kids?[/MrRogers]

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Cargoman

Just because it's crisper in appearance , brighter in color ,
splaters further when shot , and has a louder soundtrack ,
does not make it better . Most games I've seen in the last
few years lack any originality and would choke to death if
some how a truely decient plot was shoved in their maw.