PC Gamer On Wing Commander (January 6, 2007)

[ChrisReid]

Goku tipped us off about a Wing Commander discussion in the latest PC Gamer Webcast. In Episode 65, the PCG editors discuss the continued enthusiasm of the Wing Commander community and recent goings-on such as the WC Saga release. They're off on a couple facts (Saga is not a remake of a WC game) and aren't up on the status of the series (Electronic Arts has owned the franchise since 1992), but they're pretty excited that the fans continue to keep things going. Goku cut out the six minutes on Wing Commander and converted it to mp3 format. You can check it out for yourself here (1.5 megs). The entire audio recording is available at the PCGP site.

"It's fantastic that this kind of stuff is out there and I love the fact that the PC gaming world has these communities that will keep this stuff alive... I'd love to see Wing Commander come back as a multi-billion dollar mega-game... The real hope for these homebrew ports is that they send a message to the publishers that there's still a lot of fan interest in these games."

"I'd be surprised if whoever owns the IP is not aware of this."

--
Original update published on January 6, 2007

 

[hurleybird]

It's good that the prologue is bringing quite a bit of new attention to Wing Commander, but that web cast was excruciatingly painful to listen to. The guys talking knew pretty much nothing about Wing Commander. It makes me wonder what we're coming to as an industry if even the people in the industry have such little knowledge of classic video games.

 

[AD]

It's good that the prologue is bringing quite a bit of new attention to Wing Commander, but that web cast was excruciatingly painful to listen to. The guys talking knew pretty much nothing about Wing Commander. It makes me wonder what we're coming to as an industry if even the people in the industry have such little knowledge of classic video games.

I didn't get that from it. They were unaware of who held the IP but They certainly aren't unfamiliar with Wing Commander. Though they don't keep up with all the everyday goings on in the Community as evidenced by them confusing aspects of WCU and WC Saga projects.

 

[hurleybird]

I didn't get that from it. They were unaware of who held the IP but They certainly aren't unfamiliar with Wing Commander. Though they don't keep up with all the everyday goings on in the Community as evidenced by them confusing aspects of WCU and WC Saga projects.

They thought that the WCU prologue missions were remakes of the early WC1 missions... you can't get any worse than that IMHO.

 

[Chicken]

The folks on the podcasts usually sound either: a) uninformed or b) stupid.

But either way, it still proves that Wing Commander is still alive and kicking now and then.

 

[AD]

They thought that the WCU prologue missions were remakes of the early WC1 missions... you can't get any worse than that IMHO.

So? That still doesn't mean they never played or aren't familiar with official WC titles. Of course they sound stupid for not researching it better first but I don't think that was the point of the piece at all... especially when the podcast ends with them talking about looking into SAGA more and how one of the guys has a 486 with an mt32 in his closet for Wing Commander (I don't know if Goku left that part in). From what I gathered only one of them had even tried Saga, and not very much by the sounds of it.

I don't mind if you think they're stupid and ill informed about various things, but saying they aren't familiar with WC because they mixed up two *FAN PROJECTS* is idiotic. Somewhere they heard about the WC:U project and how they hope to remake all the WC games and got the two confused.

 

[hurleybird]

Of course they sound stupid for not researching it better first but I don't think that was the point of the piece at all... especially when the podcast ends with them talking about looking into SAGA more and how one of the guys has a 486 with an mt32 in his closet for Wing Commander (I don't know if Goku left that part in).

Nope, but that would change my attitude somewhat.

I don't mind if you think they're stupid and ill informed about various things, but saying they aren't familiar with WC because they mixed up two *FAN PROJECTS* is idiotic. Somewhere they heard about the WC:U project and how they hope to remake all the WC games and got the two confused.

I find it unlikely that they even know of WCU, as if they did they would probably have also known about Standoff, UE, and FC, and probably would have mentioned them somewhere in the webcast. Keep in mind that they called Wing Commander "The Wing Commander Saga" and that the guy who thought that WCS was a remake of the entire Wing Commander series is the only one who actually played the prologue.

 

[Bob McDob]

This is nothing new for PC Gamer, seeing as ten years ago in their October 1996 issue they wrote that Wing Commander Academy was based "thirty years before the events of the first game," and the year before that wrote in their Christmas previews for IV "the Kilrathi are back, and they're hungry for revenge," or words to that effect.