A slightly tipsy Christmas thank you. Do excuse the rambling.
In February, Wingnuts voted in the annual poll: 'What kind of year will it be for Wing Commander?'
I've noticed in years gone by, a certain growing trend of pessimism in the annual 'morale check' but, thanks in part to the announcement from Chris Roberts that something special was on the way, this year's turn out was remarkably cheerful:
Now compare that to twelve months before:
...and I would say that this year we really hit the nail on head. It has been a superb time to be a fan of Wing Commander, and I think we were definitely too negative in the previous vote.
Since 2012, a lot of good has happened. All Wing Commander titles became available on GOG. This in itself is outstanding given the years that have gone by where it was only available to buy secondhand, and not before time! Then of course, the arrival of Chris Roberts in our very own IRC client to chat about a special forthcoming project, followed by the announcement of a new, massive open universe style space sim from the man himself; obviously heavily influenced by our favorite games. We've had the fanmade Wing Commander Saga Freespace mod released. Not to mention, Wing Commander Academy made available on Amazon and the Wing Commander movie released on Blu-Ray. In addition we've had the normal swathes of fan art, mods, fiction, RPG and add-ons.
I guess what I'm getting at, is that it's been a really good couple of years to be a fan of the series. Like many of you, having had the games in my life for nearly a quarter of century has been a privilege and I can genuinely say they've had a positive presence in my life.
There was a sense though, after the non-follow up to Secret Ops and the cancellation of Privateer III, that as fans we were in the wilderness, not just as fans of Wing Commander but of the Space sim genre in general. The Wing Commander CIC has relentlessly worked to keep us well and truly out of the vacuum. I honestly can't emphasize enough just how lucky we are to have such a dedicated group of enthusiasts working endlessly to bring us news from the exciting and groundbreaking, to the leftfield and obscure. As a reward for their efforts, we get goodies we'd otherwise not have had a hope in hell of coming near; the downloadable WC1, the archive documents, behind the scenes pictures, interviews, models. I dare say (and perhaps it's conjecture) that if the CIC had never existed, Roberts wouldn't have been inspired to create Star Citizen. Who knows?
Nevertheless we should be grateful, this place is awesome - even during the quiet times there all kinds of curiosities trickling through on the front page, works in progress by fans, projects and ambitions to keep Wing Commander alive in various ways.
I'm not going to reel off names, all the staff are fantastic; but I'm sure the others wouldn't mind me paying tribute to the walking Wing Commander encyclopedia that is Ben 'Bandit LOAF' Lesnick, who is a library of information and insight, and frankly we're damned lucky to have him around. Without the CIC, a lot of talented enthusiasts might not have met, we may never have had the likes of Unknown Enemy, Standoff, and a hundred amazing mods from the the likes HCl and other talented programmers.
In short, thank you CIC! You've kept Wing Commander alive and continue to do everybody proud, in the quiet times and exciting ones.
In February, Wingnuts voted in the annual poll: 'What kind of year will it be for Wing Commander?'
I've noticed in years gone by, a certain growing trend of pessimism in the annual 'morale check' but, thanks in part to the announcement from Chris Roberts that something special was on the way, this year's turn out was remarkably cheerful:
Now compare that to twelve months before:
...and I would say that this year we really hit the nail on head. It has been a superb time to be a fan of Wing Commander, and I think we were definitely too negative in the previous vote.
Since 2012, a lot of good has happened. All Wing Commander titles became available on GOG. This in itself is outstanding given the years that have gone by where it was only available to buy secondhand, and not before time! Then of course, the arrival of Chris Roberts in our very own IRC client to chat about a special forthcoming project, followed by the announcement of a new, massive open universe style space sim from the man himself; obviously heavily influenced by our favorite games. We've had the fanmade Wing Commander Saga Freespace mod released. Not to mention, Wing Commander Academy made available on Amazon and the Wing Commander movie released on Blu-Ray. In addition we've had the normal swathes of fan art, mods, fiction, RPG and add-ons.
I guess what I'm getting at, is that it's been a really good couple of years to be a fan of the series. Like many of you, having had the games in my life for nearly a quarter of century has been a privilege and I can genuinely say they've had a positive presence in my life.
There was a sense though, after the non-follow up to Secret Ops and the cancellation of Privateer III, that as fans we were in the wilderness, not just as fans of Wing Commander but of the Space sim genre in general. The Wing Commander CIC has relentlessly worked to keep us well and truly out of the vacuum. I honestly can't emphasize enough just how lucky we are to have such a dedicated group of enthusiasts working endlessly to bring us news from the exciting and groundbreaking, to the leftfield and obscure. As a reward for their efforts, we get goodies we'd otherwise not have had a hope in hell of coming near; the downloadable WC1, the archive documents, behind the scenes pictures, interviews, models. I dare say (and perhaps it's conjecture) that if the CIC had never existed, Roberts wouldn't have been inspired to create Star Citizen. Who knows?
Nevertheless we should be grateful, this place is awesome - even during the quiet times there all kinds of curiosities trickling through on the front page, works in progress by fans, projects and ambitions to keep Wing Commander alive in various ways.
I'm not going to reel off names, all the staff are fantastic; but I'm sure the others wouldn't mind me paying tribute to the walking Wing Commander encyclopedia that is Ben 'Bandit LOAF' Lesnick, who is a library of information and insight, and frankly we're damned lucky to have him around. Without the CIC, a lot of talented enthusiasts might not have met, we may never have had the likes of Unknown Enemy, Standoff, and a hundred amazing mods from the the likes HCl and other talented programmers.
In short, thank you CIC! You've kept Wing Commander alive and continue to do everybody proud, in the quiet times and exciting ones.
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