It's hard to imagine how it could be a 'poor' year. That would mean, to me, that something bad would have to happen -- that a game would be cancelled or that the community would fall apart or some other
Now, sure, we can lean back and declare that the only way we'll ever feel good about Wing Commander is if Electronic Arts announces a new game. Then we can each add our own personal caveats to further avoid the possibility that it might be a good year: the game has to star Mark Hamill, the game has to be produced by Chris Roberts, the game has to give you a diamond studded steak for playing it, and so on. The point is that no matter what happens, people are going to try to avoid enjoying themselves.
So what will make this a great year? Hell, I don't know - I can't promise that it will be. I know I'm going to enjoy the hell out of it simply because of the community. New game or not, I'm going to enjoy 365 days of arguing about the movie, helping new players with tech support, making really great friends and learning more about Wing Commander here, on IRC, in Atlanta, in Austin and in real life. The Wing Commander community is one of the closest knit, best fandoms in the world -- we will always have that to look forward to.
Beyond that, who knows? There's fan projects - I hate to admit that I don't play them very often, but a lot of people love them. They don't have to be your cup of tea, though, for you to realize what they're doing for the community and for you to understand how much love and effort is being expressed by their teams. Give them a try - they might surprise you and they're sure to inspire and impress you. The same goes for fan fiction, fan art and all the other activities that fans do on their own.
I'll be doing my best to try and find new pieces of some of our long lived puzzles. Wing Commander 2 SNES is out there. The cut scenes from the Wing Commander movie are out there. Prophecy DVD is out there. Scripts and artwork and other documents from cancelled titles are out there. Half a dozen other holy grails are out there. I'm going to work on trying to find them -- chances are, I'll hit a home run or two and we'll all benefit. Lend me a hand, if you want -- there's thrill in the chase.
And can any of you really claim to be done with the massive amounts of Wing Commander that's already out there? Ever played the 3DO port of Wing Commander III? The gameplay is completely different! Go pay $50 for a used 3DO on eBay -- for the same price as some horrible car robbery simulator you can play a new Wing Commander. Why not hunt down that rare book you never read? Or that rare port you never tried? I know for a fact that none of you have played Wing Commander for the FM Towns! Heck, a lot of you have probably never had a big Armada multiplayer battle. You can put together a network of 486s for the cost of a new game. Give it a shot, you'll have a good year.
This year in Wing Commander is how you make it. EA can step up and make it an amazing year without exception by announcing a new game, sure... but the lack of that event is not a death sentence. (And even then -- as the man himself chose: there's always hope. Keep that hope alive and you'll have a good year, even if you don't take any of my advice.)