Happy Birthday WC3 from Slashdot

ChrisReid

ChrisReid

Super Soaker Collector / Administrator
Yay, we got a mention on slashdot today. It's pretty fun to see non-CIC people talk about Wing Commander http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/12/13/1457234&tid=202
And it's still amazing it's been ten years.

I don't think it was III. I'm leaning towards II, but whichever one opened with an Origin "symphony" being conducted. Man, that put my Sound Blaster to the test. Actually it was the original Wing Commander, after checking out some of the info [wcnews.com] WCNews has on the game, it all comes rushing back: the Tiger's Claw... ah, the joys of youth.
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Ah, the classics - this was right at the advent of the cd-rom revolution, of course, a time when games had just started to push the big-budget envelope.

They were actually offering a lot more at the time, too - the box not only had the game cds, but separate install and game manuals, which introduced your character to the TCS Victory, as if it were written in the fictional universe. The original games even had fold-out blueprints of the ships, complete with fictional statistics and flight characteristics. It's a level of out-of-the-box immersion that just isn't done anymore with these new-fangled microboxes, consarn it!
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what WC3 brought to gaming was the first (attempt at) a truly cinematic experience in a video game. Sure, Cinemaware had done the same thing years prior, but it was hard to call those "cinema" when the characters only had 500 pixels. WC3 was more movie than game, yet it really did create an interactive cinematic video game. Something else a lot of people don't realize is that its blue screen virtual sets predated those of Phantom Menace by several years.
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How right they are about Wing Commander 2 and the sound card. I remember working to get a friends brand new SoundBlaster 16 working with Wing Commander 2. I listened to the opening enough that I now have engrained in my brain the phrase "How goes the war against the humans?" which almost always meets with puzzled looks when used. It's especially funny when talking to people who deal with desktop support.
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It's pretty great that people we don't know go around asking how the war against the humans is going.
 
I totally remember that! I had forgotten how great the introduction to WC 2 was. I almost wish they'd have had FMV at that point. In my opinion, WC2 had such a great overall plot, it really mastered the feel of the WC experience and set the standard for the series. It would have made the perfect Movie/Game
 
man, oh man.

i never really thought about how old the games are. i knew they were old, but not that old.

hell, the first one is almost as old as my sister.
 
...written in the fictional universe. The original games even had fold-out blueprints of the ships, complete with fictional statistics and flight characteristics. It's a level of out-of-the-box immersion that just isn't done anymore...
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I believe that was something Origin did with all their games, "We create Worlds" and all that. :)

I also remember how good it felt to get expanded memory working for WC2. And at that point, I didn't know much about computers.
 
Yeah.. the expanded memory thing was big. Got it set up for Academy and I was amazed at the intro movie with the Wraith. God, it cruised at 600 kps.
 
I even menaged to get EMM memory set up on a 286, how cool is that?
 
Yeah I can't believe it has been 10 years since WC3 came out either.

WC2 and WC4 however are my favorites in the seriest. I remember just having gotten my 486 when I played WC2. Man those were the days.

God I feel old now. Kids today have no idea how it was growing up during the dawn of computer gaming. I got my c64 when I was 6 years old, and been following the gaming world ever since. 20 years is a long time.
 
Nope. I dunno if Qemm even existed. But my machine came without any XMS memory, so I was limited to 640 base (manufacturing error or somesuch). So they gave me 512k XMS for free as an expansion. Now with the use of a BIOS switch you could enable a EMS option IF you had at least 512k XMS AND had a proper EMM driver. And that was the tricky part. I dunno where I got the EMM.EXE (not EMM386.exe, just EMM.exe) that finally worked, but I remember when I frist saw the HAND ON THE STICK in WC. Wohooo...
 
I'll never forget walking into Egghead Software with my dad and on their tv's they were playing the introduction to WC3. I couldn't stop staring at the tv. I knew I was getting the game that day but I just wanted to keep watching the intro up on the screen. My dad even suggested we get another interactive movie game which was Under a Killing Moon. I also have very fond memories of playing that game too. Hmm, does anyone have any advice how I might get that game working on my machine?
 
"Rise, Grandson"
IN FULL SPEECH!
Great moments. I actually think no amount of FMV and 3D GCI could ever beat WC2 2D cartoon intro.

The Kilrathi intro song for WC2 is probably as good as the SW's Imperial March.

But WC3 was... amazing. It blew me off my socks. That solid box was filled with happiness.

Ultima VII had another unbeliavable intro. The red face of the Guardian SPEAKING to me. "AVATAR..."
gives me the shivers. Anyone has this intro in avi or mp3?

It's been some great 10 years.
 
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