News Collection: On This Day in WC News

2024.359 (December 24, 2024)

BREAKING NEWS: The Fatman Releases Wing Commander II Album

Here's a welcome holiday surprise: George "The Fatman" Sanger has released a new 45-track album covering his work on Wing Commander II and Wing Commander Academy! It's a stunningly curated collection with an excellent introduction from Sanger and extensive notes on individual tracks. It includes not just properly formatted and recorded versions of the final music but also longer versions of tracks that were cut to save disk space at the time. Amazing stuff… and it's just the start!

Annual Call For Award Nominations

We're a little late in calling for nominations, but there's still time before 2024 gets away from us! We're quickly approaching our annual Fan Project of the Year contest, and this year we're adding a twist. We always ask about the community highlights from the prior twelve months, but this time we're adding a Hall of Fame vote where you can separately select from some of your favorite projects from years past. So think back to some of your favorites and let us know what you think!

2023.358 (December 24, 2023)

Originator Extraction Tool Expands Compatibility for File Types and Game Content

We've got another great update to a new fan tool today. AllTinker has released a new version of Originator, his multipurpose extraction tool that can decipher all manner of internal assets from within the code of classic WC games. He aims to support a broad cross section of Origin and Wing Commander titles, so today's update improves the program's ability to read certain formats. It will also read more types of information, including text content within the games.

2022.358 (December 24, 2022)

Wing Commander: The Perfect Last Minute Gift

If you're up late Christmas Eve and still scrambling to complete your list - we've all been there, and the CIC is here to help! Give the gift of Wing Commander. The entire series is discounted to $12 as part of their winter sale. There are also great digital options that can virtually deliver the movie, music albums and ebooks.

2021.358 (December 24, 2021)

Special Christmas Eve Gemini RPG Session - TONIGHT!

Rear Admiral Tarsus and the Gemini Sector RPG crew have a special mission tonight! "The team must face their most challenging challenge yet." A fancy Christmas-themed briefing has been created which launches at 6 pm Pacific / 9 pm Eastern US Time. Get in the holiday spirit and visit their Discord server to join the fun!

2020.359 (December 24, 2020)

The Twelve Days of CIC Christmas

Boy, what a year. Hopefully you all are safe and able to start settling into the holiday spirit. To help get everyone in the mood, here's a classic that we haven't pulled out of the archive in a very long time. Enjoy the Twelve Days of CIC Christmas below!

2019.358 (December 24, 2019)

Preview Moongate Artwork's Wing Commander Elements

The Origin history book Through the Moongate, from Wing Commander and Ultima VII to Portalarium now has a back cover! In his December update, author Andrea Contato shared an initial preview of artist Manda's conceptual draft. This will also be featured on the project's awesome cloth art piece. The cloth was included at the €110 tier, but may be available as a €30 extra as inventory allows by contacting Mr.

2018.358 (December 24, 2018)

Make It A Wing Commander Christmas

If you're a very last minute shopper, there's still time to gift your friends and family a digital set of Wing Commander gifts! The GOG Winter Sale is in full swing, and this time the WC series clocks in at 75% off. You technically have until January 3 on these, so they make good belated gifts in in a pinch as well. That's $1.

2017.358 (December 24, 2017)

In The Spirit Of Christmas Future...

Christmas doesn't show up much in Wing Commander, but the novel False Colors does include a Christmas party aboard a derelict Kilrathi heavy carrier! Here's the excerpt to get you in the festive space spirit: Bondarevsky had never been much for celebrating Christmas, beyond putting in the expected appearances at the festivities held by the people in his command. Born and raised on Razin, a distant frontier world settled by Russians of mostly Eastern Orthodox religion, Bondarevsky had been brought up to celebrate Epiphany, the baptism rather than the Nativity of Christ, and even yet he still was apt to keep the Twelfth-Night holiday rather than the more traditional Christmas Day. He and Kevin had a long-standing tradition of not exchanging presents until Epiphany.

2016.359 (December 24, 2016)

Homeworld Mod AI Gets Smarter & Fighters Work Harder

Several slick coding updates have been made to the Homeworld Remastered Mod that both fix bugs and enable some cool features. To start with, the Confederation fleet AI has been reenabled and should allow for competitive games against the computer now. Significant tweaks were made to fighter behavior so that their shot placement is improved and landing pattern behavior now occurs as expected. The Border Worlds' long range anti ship missile has also been modified into a nifty two-stage variant that effectively drops a fast torpedo as the main assembly reaches its target.

2015.358 (December 24, 2015)

Annual Call For Award Nominations

Another year is drawing to a close, so that means there's a few annual holiday traditions that are upon us. The seventeenth annual Wing Commander Web Site & Fan Project of the Year awards will kick off soon, and it's time to start thinking about the undertakings that impressed you this year. The CIC doesn't rely on original content to fill our news page - it's the continued activity of thousands of fellow Wing Commander fans that keeps everything going. In order to bring attention to and help recognize some of these working fans, we vote on the people and places who've done a lot for Wing Commander over the past year.

2014.358 (December 24, 2014)

New Compatibility Patch for Kilrathi Saga WC1

As many of you will be aware, the Kilrathi Saga editions of Wing Commander 1/2/3 were supposed to make the games get along with Windows 95, but there is a host of issues when you try to get them going on more recent versions of Windows. Forums member Stinger has set out to create a patch that solves most or all of these problems. The 'wcdx' patch replaces the game's DirectDraw API calls with Direct3D equivalents, which brings a number of improvements/fixes to systems running Windows Vista or newer: the game no longer breaks the color palette, it always uses the proper 4:3 aspect ratio, and it can run in windowed mode. In addition, the game no longer requires compatibility mode or administrative privileges to run, and it fixes a music bug that could cause the victory theme to play over and over again.

2013.358 (December 24, 2013)

A Christmas Party - Richard Garriott Style!

Wing Commander fans are well aware that Origin founder Richard Garriott de Cayeux is an outspoken supporter of space exploration. His trip to the International Space Station on a Russian Soyuz has been well documented, but it's a lesser known fact that he's actually worked directly with NASA in a consulting role. They wouldn't hire him as an astronaut decades ago, but he was a perfect fit for the Education and Public Outreach Committee of the NASA Advisory Council. So he has a few friends in high places - check out his neat shots from the White House Christmas Party last week!

2012.359 (December 24, 2012)

You Can Still Claim Party Prizes

There's a bit of Christmas Eve housekeeping going on here at the CIC, and we'd like to get prizes out to fans who earned them at our birthday party in August (call it inspiration from Santa Claus). If you claimed your winnings at the time, you should either have received your item or gotten a recent email from us. If not, please resubmit your name, nickname, prize and address now. If you happen to have an outstanding item from a prior CIC event, you can also claim those too!

2011.358 (December 24, 2011)

Nomination Period Winding Down

This is a reminder that the annual CIC Fan Project & Web Site of the Year contests kick off in just a week. Everyone still has a chance to send their nominations in here, and be sure to check out some of the past winners below.

2010.358 (December 24, 2010)

¡Audios Amigas!

Great news for fans of Wing Commander music: Maz Sound Tools is preparing Immortal 4, a two-disc release of remastered music from classic Amiga games.. and it will include a track from Wing Commander. What's more, the Wing Commander track features original composer Dave Govett playing the drums! The Immortal 4 album is in the final stages of production and will be available in early 2011.

2009.358 (December 24, 2009)

So What's New?!

The exciting rerelease of Wing Commander 4 for the Playstation 3 and Playstation Portable has raised a few important questions. Wingnuts have been asking us for specifics about the game and details compared to the PC version. As this is a 'PSOne Classic' game, what is now available is the original Playstation version released in April 1997, and it's up for purchase now through the PS3 and PSP (and not for the PC) for $5.99.

2008.359 (December 24, 2008)

Community Replay Concludes Year With Prophecy

After a full year of replaying the Wing Commander series, dedicated Wingnuts have reached the end of Wing Commander Prophecy. The final four missions in the Kilrah System are up this week. Next week is a down week for any players needing to catch up, and then Secret Ops will start up in January. Here's Lorien with some recollections from Kilrah.

Perfect Plan Pushes Ahead

We haven't heard a lot about the Perfect Plan mod for Flight Commander lately, but work steadily continues. Kyran reports that the story and mission outlines are complete, but voiceovers are behind schedule. He's slowly but surely working on texturing models for the game. The Klavs Ferret skinning example below is a recent accomplishment.

2007.358 (December 24, 2007)

One Week Left - Get Your Votes In

Since there's so many great choices in this year's annual Web Site & Fan Project of the Year award contest, some fans might have held back on their votes to contemplate the decision. With just one week left in the year, now's the time to start thinking about which nominees to settle on. If you haven't cast your ballot yet, head over to the voting page and help pick the winners! Fan Project of the Year Nominees Das Erwachen grew in 2007 with the completion of its second fan novel.

Point of Origin: Vol. III, No. 43

The July 30, 1993 issue of Point of Origin marks the release of Wing Commander Academy... in a very low-key fashion. Will the mission editor sell as expected? We'll find out in the near future!

2006.358 (December 24, 2006)

Hudson Sharpens His Blade

Hudson has kicked out another neat redesign of a classic Privateer 2 ship. The Kindred PL4B Blade has been remodeled with more detail and characteristic red paint job. He's also created a ship, the "Dream," which is featured in Deacon's recent stories. A small Duress appears next to it for scale.

All Claimed Prizes Shipped

The last batch of CIC Birthday Prizes that we've received addresses for went out last week. It should be arriving early this week for US residents and slightly later for WC fans that live elsewhere. A few remaining winners still haven't claimed their prizes, so please email us if you won an item below. Prophecy Flight Suit - eddieb Wing Commander 4 DVD - Iceheart, Wedge BlackLance.

2005.358 (December 24, 2005)

WC Tactics Adds Scimitar And Waterloo

It's been a while since we've reported on the latest updates involving WC Tactics for Nexus. The mod has been going some internal shake ups, but the core gameplay still seems to be intact. The Scimitar Medium Fighter and Waterloo Cruiser have been added to the game engine. Nexus' interface is pretty slick, so it's neat to see more and more Wing Commander ships added in.

Flight Commander Fixes Now Available

Although a version 1.4 release of Flight Commander is still in the works, the game's creator eddieb has released an interim patch. The patch fixes a pair of problems which will really only be of interest to people who are modding the game. Fix choice of formation, doesn't always use 0 any more.

2004.359 (December 24, 2004)

Tracking Unidentified Signal

Confederation intelligence has been tracking an object rapidly approaching the Sol system. While attempts at communication with the object have been met with silence on all channels, a long distance drone has managed to obtain images which appear to show a Sleigh class transport. Intel believes the transport may have lost all drive power since the craft is being towed by nine ships of a design similar to reindeer, the first of which is emitting a bright red glow. Our limited intelligence indicates that the transport may be loaded with Christmas presents destined for Sol III.

Brighten Up Your Desktop

I'm not sure how we missed this at the time, but Raylight have up a wallpaper based on the Prophecy Advance box art. That jump trail would make a neat Christmas decoration too. You can find the wallpapers for the three main resolutions on this page. Edit: You can find this and other wallpapers in our wallpaper section here.

2003.358 (December 24, 2003)

Book 'Em A Little More

LOAF has added one more section to his Wing Commander Book Collectors' Guide. A few international publications can be found here. Below is the full-color original (non-translation) Japanese official guide to Wing Commander 3 for Playstation.

Merry Christmas Eve

In a bit of early Christmas house-cleaning, LOAF has trimmed the ban list at Crius. So perhaps a few more of you now can wish the Forums a Merry Christmas. Most of the staff here has shopping and other last minute things to get done, so we'll see you guys tomorrow.

2002.358 (December 24, 2002)

Last Call For Votes

We'll be announcing the winners of our Fan Site of the Year and Fan Project of the Year contests real soon now, so if you haven't yet voted now is the time! You can check out the nominated sites/projects and the voting procedure here.

Small Prophecy Trailer

A week or so ago we posted the original trailer for Prophecy, however it was a little on the large side weighing in at 18 megs. By the power of Divx compression, we now have a small, lower quality version which is just 3 megs. You can grab the file here.

WCPolaroids: Rachel Coriolis (1/2)

Here is proof that Rachel can still smile.. something Prophecy left us wondering about.

2000.359 (December 24, 2000)

Academy Mirror: Episode 5

Even if you're a jerk to us, we still love you -- so here's your early Christmas present -- Wing Commander Academy episode 5. You have one week to grab it! Thanks to the following: BlackLance.org, Death and TC.

Trivia Reminder

The standard reminder: trivia answers for Week 8 must be mailed to Chris Reid by midnight tonight. Week 9 questions and updated scores will be posted on Christmas!

And the Winner Is...

The Wing Commander Fan Project of the year is... Unknown Enemy! It was neck and neck with Invasion until the very end, but the fans have decided that the oldst WC fan project is also the best! The winner gets the winner award, and the runners up (in order of popularity) recieve the runner-up image.

Secret Ops Missions

Primarch has updated his Wing Commander - Secret Ops Missions site with the final episode of his Rebellion series! Some new missions for Secret Ops are definitely a most welcome holiday treat.

FreeSpace Still Out There

FreeSpace Watch posted this update on the WC/FS TC. If you can help, contact Darkmage.For all you people wondering what's happening to the Wing Commander mod, well here's the latest. I'm releasing a new ship pack!

1999.358 (December 24, 1999)

A Talent For Chats

Beth over at the ATFW Chat Board wants to know who you want to appear at their next multi-dev space sim chat. The chats are pretty dashed cool, so go make your suggestions.

Maybe a Dingo Ate Your Video

Wing Commander has been released on video for rental in Australia! The DVD is not yet on sale. Thanks to all who have reported this.

1,000 Years of Computer Games

GameSpot UK (which is like normal GameSpot, except more polite) is slowly but surely publishing their 100 Games of the Millennium. Ten are announced each day... no Wing Commander's yet, but keep watching -- one is bound to turn up as they get closer to #1.

Taking A Shot At Starlancer

Twister and Trash Can have sent along the six screen shots that accompanied a previous Starlancer article from Power Unlimited.

Aye, There's The Reference

Yesterday's quote came from the Emporer of Kilrah in Wing Commander 2, speaking with Crown Prince Thrakhath about his cousin Khasra.

Report from the Front

Here are some Wing Commander reviews from Germans who have been kind enough to submit them. The first comes from ToddMarshall@gmx.de.Here's a short overview of my feelings about those so-called WC reviews.

Ore Market Crashes

Stock market analyst Tony Knox reports. The Hermes stock market took a battering last night, following some ruthless action on the part of speculators. It seems that large stocks of different ores have been hoarded up, only to flood the market when prices were favourable. As a result, the whole value of the ores market has dropped significantly, and many traders are trying to sell their surplus in an attempt to cover losses.

1998.358 (December 24, 1998)

Jump Traces Detected

Telemetry from an outsystem jump node detected a mysterious emission into Sol System space earlier tonight. Early scans suggest one large bogie preceded by eight - possibly a ninth (a large red blip on the radar is obscuring current analysis) - smaller inbounds. Although this task force is currently unidentified, the nearest comm relay is picking up friendly IFF codes. We'll see what this convoy brings in the morning.