News Collection: On This Day in WC News

2020.212 (July 30, 2020)

Learn About Remastering CGI Cutscenes

The WC4 Fan Remake will be using ODVS' fantastic video for most cutscenes, but there are a handful of CGI sequences that would be better served with complete graphical overhauls similar to the playable parts of the game. The team has to be careful to match the visual fidelity of anything new that they create so that it doesn't feel out of step with everything else. As such, DefianceIndustries, ODVS and Pedro have published a new article titled 'Recreating Worlds' to detail this process. It's a nice thorough overview and shows that they're making great use of the new project website.

2019.211 (July 30, 2019)

Technical Talk Leads to Funny Finding

While discussing the latest and greatest Wing Leader build, developer Howard Day and former Origin director Siobhan Beeman got into a conversation about how the WC1 VDUs were coded. It turns out there was a typographical error in the way "component" was spelled, but it became so widely entrenched that it propagated into Wing Commander 2! LOAF dug up a screenshot of some of this code and there it is! So next time you see a flash on your dashboard, it means a componeant is being triggered!

2018.211 (July 30, 2018)

Choose Your Own WC3 Review

Pix recently managed to locate a really awesome review of Wing Commander 3 from the magazine PC Zone. In line with the game's branching paths and dialog choices during cutscenes, the article actually lets you read through and jump to individual subsections based on what you think. In the end, these choices lead to two different conclusions and review scores! That's pretty clever.

2017.211 (July 30, 2017)

Homeworld Mod Aims To Be First RTS To Kilrah

The Homeworld Remastered Mod was originally conceived with a major focus on Wing Commander 4, but it has grown into some interesting places over the years. L.I.F.

2016.212 (July 30, 2016)

New Oldziey Music Featured In Prime Time Address

In between work composing the next live Wing Commander album as well as performing at the Elephant Room in Austin, former Origin musician George Oldziey was asked to create a brief patriotic medley by friend and film maker Robert Rodriguez. The two previously worked together on projects like Sin City and Once Upon a Time in Mexico. It wasn't immediately clear what the new music would be used for, until George was informed it would be featured in this past week's Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia! Regardless of your political leanings, this is a pretty proud moment for a very accomplished artist and strong supporter of the Wing Commander community.

2015.211 (July 30, 2015)

PC Gamer Reflects On FMV Games

PC Gamer has posted a new article on the state of FMV both yesterday and today. They point out the genre's rocky history, but Wing Commander is called out as a major exception that stands the test of time despite some technical limitations. Although live action cutscenes are largely seen today as a relic of a bygone era, the author highlights how they continues to pop up in new places. Live action trailers for games that don't use FMV are becoming increasingly popular.

2014.211 (July 30, 2014)

Hakaga Fleet Slices Straight Through to Earth

Klavs has followed up his Hakaga model with a render of the full-on assault. It's a great tribute to the Fleet Action cover, and it would make a fantastic wallpaper image. This version pulls back a bit farther that the book's art, so the frame includes six of these monsters in one shot. Wouldn't it be great to see these in motion (or battle) someday?

EA Announces New Game Service

Electronic Arts has announced EA Access, which is a new way for gamers to play a variety of the publisher's titles. For $5 per month or $30 per year, selected games will be available for free. Even better for fans of their series, all digital purchases will be discounted 10% and members will have five-day early access prior to official launch days. Some have asked, "What's the catch?

2013.211 (July 30, 2013)

One Week to Blu-Ray!

We're now just one week away from the anticipated release of Wing Commander on Blu-ray! Although some places still suggest an August 13 street date, most places seem to be holding firm to August 6. Fans who've preordered at Amazon with release date delivery will know for sure if they get a shipping notification in a few more days. Kris did some digging and found an interesting quote from 2002.

2012.212 (July 30, 2012)

Academy Two Months Old, Picked Up By Major Retailer Online

Wing Commander Academy has now been out on DVD for two months - do you have your copy? Check out this video for a sample of the gorgeous image quality, although the final product is even better. All thirteen episodes have been beautifully remastered - and in some cases restored - to ensure Wing Commander fans have a high fidelity archive of the fantastic show. We've been pointing out Deep Discount's low price of $16.

2011.211 (July 30, 2011)

WC3 Intro a Game Star

German gaming website GameStar has run an article about the best video game intros of the '90s. Among the list are games like Strike Commander, Command and Conquer, and, of course, Wing Commander 3, with Privateer 2 getting an honorable mention. Here's the Google Translation:Actually you could put every intro from a Wing Commander game on this list - especially the intro to Privateer 2 with Clive Owen in the lead role. But we have opted for Wing Commander 3, since it was revolutionary when it came out it 1994.

Origin Discounts Classic Series

Electronic Arts' Origin game download store and social media platform is currently hosting its biggest sale to date. Several dozen hit titles are on sale for about $5. The service has started to add some back catalog games, including entries in the Sims, Command & Conquer, Medal of Honor and Battlefield franchises. Check out the full list of discounted games here, and act quick!

2010.211 (July 30, 2010)

Saga Sheds Light on the Darkest Dawn

In advance of a preview trailer for WC Saga, the team has released a teaser with a variety of cut footage. It shows off a handful of the game's signature WC3-era ships in a pitched battle and suggest there will be more to come this "winter." You can download the 21 meg .mp4 video here.

2009.211 (July 30, 2009)

Invasion Arming New Weapons

Progress continues on the next update to the Wing Commander Invasion mod. Virtually all non-turreted weapons have been replaced with new gun and missile effects for the next release. Major Payne is working on an interesting new 'galactic conquest' campaign as well. Here's a bit more detail on that.

Making the Game: Comms Master

This is the master list of which comms go where in Wing Commander Prophecy; the interesting thing is that it seems to have been planned for an earlier version of the game which would have shipped on only two CD-ROMs... which would help to explain some of the long silences that take place late in the game.These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

2008.212 (July 30, 2008)

Can Stand the Heat

It's rare that a press release mentions Wing Commander in 2008... but that's just what happened yesterday when Austin-based developer Heatwave Interactive announced a new business model:AUSTIN, Texas, Jul 29, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Heatwave(TM) Interactive announced today that it has received a $7.5 million series "A" investment from Syncom Venture Partners for the initial funding of "Central Studio" which will develop new and licensed Video Game IP for exploitation across multiple media channels. "Heatwave's Central Studio has assembled veteran talent from the interactive games, film, television and music industries to create a production studio with a unique business approach," said Anthony Castoro, Heatwave's President and Chief Creative Officer.

Making the Game - Part 86

This short section of the Wing Commander Prophecy bible offers a six-page overview of a mid-development Wing Commander Prophecy script. Divided into acts, this is the version that ends with Blair and the Maestro character missing in action. If only... Bible 16 - Series, Missions Download (5.

2007.211 (July 30, 2007)

Happy Birthday, ace!

Today is Brandon "ace" Strevell's birthday! From my earliest days on the internet, ace's friendship has been a constant - I can remember thousands of nights at Origin's Wing Commander Chat Zone, on IRC and then later in person. He's without question one of the finest men I've ever known. You may not see his name in lights every day, but he's been a CIC staff member since day one - and he's talked me down off more than a few ledges.

Title Bout Tonight!

It's LOAF versus the world, tonight on pay-per-view! This evening at 11 PM EST I'll be facing off against fifteen Xbox 360 news sites to try and earn some cool prizes for Wing Commander fans! The tournament will involve multiple free-for-alls and culminate in a Bearpit match between the two luckiest survivors. The event will be broadcast live via GamerTagRadio Vision, which you can access here.

Download Wing Commander Academy

Thanks to Wing Commander Arena, there are quite a few new people who've filtered in over the last few weeks. WC fans, new and old, who are just getting started at the CIC have a lot of material to get acquainted with. One of these items is Wing Commander Academy. The WCA television show is an exciting part of the franchise that we have available to download in its entirety.

2006.211 (July 30, 2006)

Party Prep In Full Swing

The CIC Eighth Birthday Party is less than two weeks away! We all know that everyone comes for the fun, but we like to sweeten the deal by giving away Wing Commander related birthday presents each year. The current prize list includes Wing Commander books, games, DVDs and collectibles and CIC merchandise such as polo shirts, playing cards, Eisen tees, hats and glasses. A custom made Prophecy-style flight suit will go to one lucky attendee, and rare copies of Wing Commander 4 on DVD will also be available.

Wing Commander 3 Movie Sets Download Record

The amazing response to this weekend's release of Queeg's Heart of The Tiger Movie set a new record here at the CIC. The 680 meg file accounted for some 300 gigabytes of bandwidth transferred in just one day on the front page. At its peak, the file pushed out a solid 50 megabits (6 megabytes) per second for a short while. Fortunately there were no adverse effects to the site, and this gave us a good idea of the types of loads we can handle.

Big Month For Bandwidth

Despite chewing through some 500GB of bandwidth with the Heart of the Tiger movie project so far, we've once again reached the end of the month with a little allowance yet to spare. We still have plenty of other entertaining files that you may have missed in the past.

2005.211 (July 30, 2005)

Hellcat Searching For Old Remakes

HellcatV is trying to set up a comparison gallery between the various versions of the Privateer Remake. He needs help collecting certain older builds.Heya Wing Commanders-I'm trying to put together an exhibit of old versions of Privateer Remake, and I realized that I only kept PrivateerRemake 0.9b(maybe) and of course 1.

Large Object Found Orbiting Further Than Pluto

Various news sources are reporting the discovery of a potential new planet orbiting beyond the range of Pluto. Several similar announcements have been made about other objects over the last few years, but this one is the largest. It appears the body is at least as big as Pluto, and it orbits three times as far and at an odd 45 degree offset from the standard orbital plane. Debate over its status as a planet or Kuiper Belt object will probably go on for years, but whatever the outcome, this appears to be a noteworthy discovery.

Happy Birthday ace!

Today is the last staff birthday of 2005. ace turns another year older, and he's doing it in style. MobyGames just began to recognize his contributions to the Wing Commander Community back in 1996 and 1997. His system on the Prophecy Map was named for a pseudonym, and now he's getting wider recognition of that.

2004.212 (July 30, 2004)

Cyberion Releases His Hellcat

Following up on his neat Drayman work, Cyberion has put together a Hellcat for people to use. Not high on the poly count, so good for the fast rendering. :D Few details (nurnes) make it look very realistic from a distance. Originaly the model was created just to increase my modeling abilities.

Happy Birthday ace!

Who would have thought? A wedding and a birthday in the same year! ace turns exactly one year older than he was last year. Congratulations!

Nintendo DS Design Finalized

Nintendo has finalized the name and design of their next portable system. It's a bit sleeker than their E3 model and apparently a little more compact. The price and release date are still undecided, but Nintendo has reiterated the unit will be on sale in the next several months. The system features two screens, with the bottom screen acting as a touch pad and second monitor.

2003.211 (July 30, 2003)

Zohrath's Dreadnought Leaves Drydock

The Dreadnought that we reported about recently has been completed, and it looks incredible. Zohrath has put the finishing touches on it and released a variety of perspective shots. I just wish I could fly by it in a game.I've finally finished my Kilrathi Dreadnought 2.

Earth & Beyond Shaking Things Up

Despite rumors of its mediocre success, EA's massively multiplayer space sim Earth & Beyond has instigated the kind of sweeping changes to the universe that you'd expect from a persistent world with steady support. The aliens that provide the main antogonist for the game have successfully invaded key areas shaking up the balance of the game. You can read about the latest updates to the universe here.Humanity suffers a stunning blow as the V'rix draw first blood and seize the mighty Progen Citadel of Praetorium Mons.

Memories from DragonCon, 29 Days To Go

Wow, we're already less than a month away from the next Wing Commander Fan Gathering at Dragon*Con. Things are really coming together in one fashion or another. Even if you can't make it personally, this year we plan to put together some fun stuff at the convention to keep everyone entertained when we get back. In this photograph you can see us playing with our MechWarrior robot toys.

2001.211 (July 30, 2001)

Trivia 3, Week 40

This weeks trivia is the numerical designator for the Sabre, minus the numerical designator for the original Rapier plus the numerical designator for the Dralthi. I think.Welcome to Game Three, Week Forty Trivia. We play each week.

Lifting Speed!

The Wing Commander: Standoff site has posted the last of their Confed ships -- the Drayman. They also have available 1024x768 versions of all their other ships! Work on rendering other portions of the game now continues -- Kilrathi & civilian ships, landing scenes, briefing rooms and so forth.

Glory Be

SX Glory, who we hope is back forever, posted to alt.games.wing-commander to ask the following...What does anyone out there think would be the interest in an online comic book based in the WC Universe?

Engage!

poopnoodle@myexcel.com is looking for anyone with experience modding Star Trek: Away Team... he's interested in starting a Wing Commander Total Conversion of said game, but has been unable to find any editing information. If you're in the know, drop him a line here!

Mod Wallpaper

WingCenter.De has created wallpaper for the Wing Commander: Standoff project... You can find both 800*600 and 1024*768 versions in their downloads section!

UE Interview

The WCDC has posted an interview with Pedro, who talks about the state of the Unknown Enemy mod for Secret Ops (well, duh).

Old Quotes

LeHah sends in a bunch of old quotes from Malcolm McDowell and Mark Hamill...Quotes from Mcdowell on WC3 and 4:"That was very interesting. People were always talking about these CD-roms and I honestly don't understand it. When I was offered the part, with Mark Hamill and John Rhys-Davies, I thought, 'I'll do it.

From: CIS Headquarters, Special Ops. Div.

We have a rather unpleasant situation on our hands. The Jincilla clan has discovered at least two of our undercover operatives and are holding them at Nav Point 149. The hostages are being held in cargo containers while their fate is being decided. Whatever that fate is, you can be sure it will be extremely unpleasant.

2000.212 (July 30, 2000)

Interactive Update

Have you stopped by WC Interactive lately? The last time we mentioned it the story was just getting started and was growing. If you've never been there, it's a choose-your-own-adventure type website written by Wing Commander fans. The story revolves loosely around Wing Commander 3 at the moment.

Fan Directory to be Overhauled Soon

Turns out I misunderstood how my email program stores certain emails, so a number of Fan Directory submissions that have not yet been added to the Directory are now stuck in the ether. I'll be working on a relatively big update to the section soon, so if you sent in your information more than a couple weeks ago (I have the most recent stuff) and would still like to join us, I'd appreciate it if you could resend your original submission email here. Same goes for the ICQ List. If you're already in the Directory and would like your profile updated, this is also a good time for that.

1999.211 (July 30, 1999)

Happy Birthdace

Today just happens to be the birthday of the CIC's own ace. Ace is one of the greatest guys I know, and I wish him all the best...

When at Ten...

According to last week's Washington Post TV Book Wing Commander was (locally) the 10th most rented movie during its first week of release.

Buy-ed Out

Buy.com no longer lists Kilrathi Saga! Is this because they're not going to get any in stock or because some jerk bought lots of copies to sell for a higher price? If it's the latter, I must kindly inform you that you are indeed the very worst kind of scum.

Ship Toys, We Hardly Knew Ye

I guess we all knew already, but we didn't want to admit it before it had been confirmed. According to Previews' August cancel list the two Wing Commander movie ship toys (the Rapier and the Dralthi) will not be released.

Origin Movements

PrivateerOnline.de reports that former Ultima Online team members Raph Koster (Designer Dragon), Christopher Mayer (Faceless) and Rich Vogel (Dupre) have all been reassigned to an as-of-yet unannounced online project not based on Ultima. Could it be what we all think is next?

Make a Splash with WCUE!

Here's a another status update and request for help from the Wing Commander: Unknown Enemy team... (thanks to Pedro).Our splash screen competition is drawing to a close, all entries must be sent by Friday in order to be taken into consideration as we have already received enough to offer a good choice. On Saturday the poll will be altered so that you can decide on your favourite splash screen and we will use the winner.

Die Befreier Cover Scan

Bjoern Hellebrand was kind enough to scan the cover of Die Befreier, the first Wing Commander novel. That's Freedom Flight to those in English speaking countries. In Germany, Die Befreier is published by "Bastei Luebbe" and costs DM 8.90.

Tragedy Strikes Rocket Derby

Sevastian Hague reports. A veil of sadness hangs over the famous track here at Volsen on Hermes, following the tragic death of Rocket Bike veteran Vlotr Karstein. It was in the 18th lap of the Opi-Ola Derby that Karstein, who had led the race from the outset seemed to suffer a loss of power, and plowed his Wakashiri 5000 into spectator stand D. 27 people were killed and 150 injured in the crash, which saw Karstein's body shatter into hundreds of pieces at the force of the impact.