Breaking: New Chris Roberts Game Announced! Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Update ID

Roberts Space Industries has announced their new space combat sim! The new game is a complex, ambitious and exciting adventure. The overall framework is titled "Star Citizen," which Chris Roberts described on two levels: The first aspect involves the player character's citizenship in the universe, which could be determined by either military service like traditional Wing Commander gameplay or successful business a la Privateer. Alternately, the concept also involves bringing fans into the fold and making them citizens of the universe by involving them in the game's development. The single player campaign will be playable both offline or online in cooperative mode with your friends, and there will also be a dynamic multiplayer universe for all the merchants, mercenaries or pirates out there.

The game's storyline campaign has been dubbed "Squadron 42," and it describes the player's role as a member of this elite wing. A lengthy trailer has been released that shows the Bengal Class Carrier, UEES Paul Steed, come under attack in the Kurasawa System of the Vega Sector. Many classic Wing Commander touches were in full effect - from the dash down the red-tinted corridor to being able to see your hand on the joystick in the cockpit. Players will be able to walk around their carrier and even right into their fighter. Each ship has dozens of moving parts, and the spaceflight/carrier-based portions are rendered seamlessly in the same engine. Check out these gorgeous screenshots below!

WCNews Begins Design Overhaul Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Update ID

Today we have begun rolling out a new design for the main CIC website. The previous design was over ten years old, and no longer fit the current direction and focus of the site. A few outdated and obsolete sections have been retired, and the leaner menu system reorganizes our content into four distinct sections:

  • Under News, you'll find links to older archives, social media links and the latest poll.
  • The Games section links to product background pages where you can find information, downloadable game documentation, patches and more on that particular title.
  • Information on characters, ships and places can be found under Universe.
  • Forums, #Wingnut and InfoBurst are a few of the sections you'll find under Community.
Almost the whole staff pitched in with ideas or sketches, but most of the credit goes to ace, who was the only one with working knowledge of 21st century web technology. You may notice a missing section or a broken link somewhere. We'll probably get to it soon as we continue to tweak the layout, but you are welcome to point out bugs or oddities by commenting on this post, or by posting to the site feedback forum. If the site looks broken in IE9, you may want to check your compatibility settings. You can do this by disabling Compatibility mode entirely or by pressing Alt (to reveal Internet Explorer's main menu) and going to Tools > Compatibility View Settings and removing wcnews.com if it happens to be listed there.

RSI Crowd Funding Campaign Kicks Off Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Update ID

In order to finance the new game, Chris Roberts has arranged a variety of private investors, but he is also looking out to fans to support the new game's development. The funding campaign is being run like a typical Kickstarter program, although everything is managed directly through Roberts Space Industries. There are numerous tiers that range from $10 to $10,000 contributions, and each provides an associated benefit. For example, the $125 Wingnut tier gets players the Hornet fighter, access to the alpha/beta builds, in-game credits, a ship-shaped USB stick, the game's CD soundtrack, glossy color map, hard bound manual and more! The initial crowdfunding goal is $2 million, but there are top tiers with additional benefits if the community reaches $3, $4 or $5 million. There's even a tantalizing secret $6 million level!

“We Have Liftoff!”
Initial Goal
    $2+ million Pledged
  • Community Updates
  • Star Citizens will get to play in the multiplayer Alpha (12 months)
  • Star Citizens will receive access to the Wing Commander/Squadron 42 campaign (18 months)
“Have Starship Will Travel…”
Stretch Goal 3
    $5+ million Pledged
  • Increased Community Updates! Monthly Dev. Team Webcasts
  • Monthly Town Hall Meeting with Chris Roberts
  • Star Citizens will get to play in the multiplayer Alpha (12 months)
  • Creation of Professional Mod Tools provided free to players
  • Star Citizens will receive access to the Wing Commander/Squadron 42 campaign (18 months)
  • Deep Storyline
  • On-Line Ship Marketplace
  • Max Missions
  • Star Citizens will receive access to the Wing Commander/Star Citizen universe for on-line persistent play (30 months)
  • Privateer-like gameplay
  • Multiple Star Systems to Explore

Note that the site is currently being hammered by the initial excitement. Backup sites have been set up for North America and Europe in case the main RSI website is unavailable.

Breaking: Squadron 42 Trailer Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Update ID

Good morning! Chris Roberts is set to announce his new space sim title at the GDC in Austin in a few short hours, but the action starts early with Gametrailers.com apparently leaking the trailer! The game appears to be (tentatively?) titled Star Citizen - Squadron 42 and does not yet provide any explicit clues as to which franchise it belongs to, or if this is an entirely new series. We'll have to analyze it frame-by-frame, but for now we present the following screenshots without further comment.

Get ready to jump on the cockpit of Squadron 42 and discover that, even in the furthest reaches of space, there still exists a PC game proud to be a PC game.
Thanks to everyone who wrote in to report this!

Recent Updates


Follow or Contact Us

All Wings Considered

Episode 37 - Back to Gemini!
Archived video streams

Forums: Recent Posts

  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  

Current Poll

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Where to Buy

WCPedia: Recent Contributions

  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  

Site Staff