News Collection: On This Day in WC News

2018.319 (November 15, 2018)

Japanese Advertisements Highlight Intriguing Ports

Here's a couple of really cool Japanese advertisements that LOAF recently came across. As is common in the country, they're chock full of text and liberal with the exclamation marks. The first is a small embedded ad for the Mega CD port of Wing Commander 1, which was the only version that got full speech as it was transferred to the disc-based format. We also get to see a sell sheet for the Japanese Armada, which was ported to a surprising number of platforms: PC-98, FM Towns and DOS/V.

2017.319 (November 15, 2017)

A Localization Interrogation

Most Wingnuts are familiar with all of the cool contents of a basic Wing Commander Prophecy box... but this one's a little different. Can you spot everything that makes this setup unique? Thanks to Andi Green for posting this!

2016.320 (November 15, 2016)

Confed Bases Dot The Solar Empire

After adding all manners of capships and fighter craft over the past year, Nomada_Firefox has made a serious push for bases to be added to the Wing Commander mod for Sins of a Solar Empire. There's several old favorites from WC3, WC4 and Prophecy, plus there are several shipyard structures that have been put in place to build those aforementioned capships. A new video preview has also been put together that shows off how these bases work in operation. Lots of nice real estate - now it's on to Kilrathi structures next!

2015.319 (November 15, 2015)

German Edition Of WC Saga Coming Soon

Luke has announced that the long-anticipated German language conversion of Wing Commander Saga will be released November 28. It was originally planned for development shortly after the original game's 2012 release, but a decade of mod development left the original team weary of tackling such a major project. Fortunately for the large audience of German Wingnuts out there, Luke assumed the mantle and ran with it. We see the fruits of his labor through frequent updates to the WC Saga Plus tools that he has made, but the intent of these new programs and features has been closely associated with getting the game for German speakers off the ground.

2014.319 (November 15, 2014)

Aussie Site Takes Gamers Back

AusGamers just threw a Throwback Thursday shout out to Wing Commnder 3, but rather than splash a one-liner across social media, they've put together a nice review of the game as well. The author does a good job trying to set the stage for an audience whose members may have grown up in the 21st Century. It's important to grasp how revolutionary full motion video was for the time and how the Wing Commander series was pulling off green screen special effects better than some movie studios. It's common for reviewers these days to say the space combat is hard to get in to, but I think that's more a commentary on space sims at large.

2013.319 (November 15, 2013)

This Stiletto's Still Sharp

ScoobyDoo's latest concept ship is a ruggedized but still sleek Stiletto. The fast light fighter now has more prominent fuel intakes and an additional set of underslung guns. It accurately maintains the Privateer ship's slightly downward swept wings and numerous stabilizing fins. For comparison purposes, the final shot below is a high quality Red Baron render made from the original 3D models.

2012.320 (November 15, 2012)

BREAKING: IGN Posts Images of The Constellation

IGN has posted a story with Chris Roberts and Lead Conceptual Artist Ryan Church revealing 16 new images of the Constellation. Wingnuts can read the full story here. The article talks about the motivation for designing the Constellation and where some of the inspiration came from.The design brief for the Constellation was that it has a crew of three, is heavily armed and has an 'iconic' shape.

Meet The Team And More System Unlocks

Yesterday, RSI ran a piece introducing Dave Haddock to fans. He talks about his role at Cloud Imperium and writing the fiction updates that have been running on the site.Donations have continued to pour into the Star Citizen site. (At the time of this update the total had just crossed $3.

2011.319 (November 15, 2011)

You Cannot Defeat the Drakhri!

The latest Enigma 2666 shots show off the Kilrathi fleet. Some of the designs pictured below were provided by the Standoff mod, and they've turned out well with new textures. The Snakeir and Fralthi look suitably scary, and the fighters have a cool metallic quality to them. It's nice to see a Drakhri once in a while!

XBox Console Turns Ten

Happy birthday to the original XBox, which turns ten years old today! Many Wingnuts consider the system their video game platform of choice, but the brand's biggest contribution to Wing Commander was the addition of WC Arena in 2007. The game was one of the earlier releases for the revamped Live Arcade service on the XBox 360, and it was limited by some of the early restrictions on downloadable titles. Nevertheless, Arena pushed forward in the WC tradition by its superlative features: most simultaneous players on XBLA at the time, most game modes/ships among its shooter genre and most amazing manual for any game ever.

2010.319 (November 15, 2010)

Origin Named Best PC Developer Ever

Kotaku recently asked, "Who is the greatest PC developer of all time?" The question was quickly answered, "Origin, of course!" The author credits the company with its success in multiple diverse genres. He gets most of the history straight, but is downbeat on the lack of Origin franchises that continue to this day.

Wing Commander IV Storyboards - Scene 95

Scene 95 is another CGI sequence, showing Blair's capture by the Confederation. Check out his fighter--a cross between a Hellcat V and Privateer's Centurion.These storyboard images were recovered from a backup CD containing materials belonging to Origin's web development team. They were dated November 17, 1995 and were likely planned for a never-completed web feature.

2009.319 (November 15, 2009)

Ascii Sector 0.6.2.2 Released

Chris Knudsen has released a new update to Privateer Ascii Sector, fixing a number of bugs and gameplay issues. There is also a bit of a news on a cool feature that is coming in a future release: "I'm currently working on implementing the sector's casino on board a retrofitted Drayman floating around in an asteroid field. Already got video poker programmed in and making good progress with blackjack." Here is what's new in 0.

Why Don't You Have a Seat

Clive Owen is cast in a drama directed by David Schwimmer (Ross on Friends), on the dangers of internet predators. Owen is the star of blockbusters such as Children of Men, Elizabeth and Shoot 'Em Up, but is best known to Wing Commander fans for portraying Lev Arris in The Darkening.“I play the father of a 14-year-old girl who establishes a relationship on the internet with someone she thinks is a young boy,” he explains.“Eventually he comes to town and he’s a 45-year-old man,” says Clive, who is father to Hannah, 12, and 10-year-old Eve, “and he takes her to a hotel and it ruptures the family.

2008.320 (November 15, 2008)

Endeavor Embarks on an Important Mission

We've had a great run of beautiful Wing Commander ships in the news this week, but here's a real beauty! The Space Shuttle Endeavor successfully launched this weekend with 32,000 pounds of valuable hardware that will allow the International Space Station to support double its current crew size. Endeavor should dock with the ISS on Sunday and begin preparing for the first of four space walks. STS-126 is scheduled to last 15 days.

Making the Games: Piranha Artwork

Last but not least, here's the Piranha! In fact, it was supposed to be first. Read the following text as if it came before the last few news updates...Today marks the first in a week of Confederation fighter updates.

2007.319 (November 15, 2007)

Ironduke Switches to Manual Control

Singer/songwriter Ironduke has released a new release of the manual for Wing Commander TacOps. He says:This new version of the game manual covers some of the advanced and campaign rules, as well as enhancing, clarifying and sometimes changing the basic rules. There's still a lot of work to do, but at least we have Shelton Slides now!Grab manual 0.

The Art of Wing Commander Arena - Part Twenty-Five

Stepping back from the familiar, here's something outstanding - a new capital ship! This was an early concept for the Kilrathi flagship, before the 'battlecruiser' look was adopted. It looks like a heavy carrier... similar, perhaps, to the Snakeir from Secret Missions 2.

2006.319 (November 15, 2006)

Here, Here!

Reports from all time zones confirm that EA Replay is now available throughout the United States! Anyone should be able to find a copy at their local GameStop or equivalent store.On a personal note, I've got mine! I picked up Replay in the birthplace of Wing Commander, Austin, TX.

And The Winner Is...

The release of EA Replay has given many Wing Commander fans another reason to celebrate their favorite series once again. Earlier this week, we channeled a little bit of that excitement with a themed contest. A group of dedicated Wingnuts stepped up and shared what they were feeling at Crius.net.

2005.319 (November 15, 2005)

Gemini Gold Gets Overhauled

Gemini Gold has received its first upgrade since the project's initial release back in July. After a month of beta testing, the team has deemed the highly anticipated update ready for public consumption. Gemini Gold is a project that takes the fan made Privateer Remake game and makes it more like Privateer. A large part of the Gemini Gold 1.

Ships List Shaping Up

A new version of the Shipslist 2 work in progress has been uploafed to the server. Fellow Wing Commander fans have helped clarify a number of points and get the document to a more polished state. LOAF has fixed various minor issues and added class lists for the Border Worlds and Landreich factions. A captured ships subsection also appears in the latest update.

2004.320 (November 15, 2004)

Standoff Pounces On The Little Guy

Eder has released a couple of new Standoff shots that show your wingmates tearing apart a mighty Gothri. So often in Wing Commander the human forces are outnumbered and must gain the edge with technology and tactics. These shots show how the friendly AI reacts when the tables are turned and several Gladius fighters converge on a lone target.The pictures come from what will be Episode 2 in the upcoming Standoff campaign.

High Res Standoff Gladius Poses

If the action shot above got you excited, here's the actual high resolution Gladius model being used in Standoff. The in-game model isn't quite so detailed. This model is for prerendered scenes.

2003.319 (November 15, 2003)

Holding The Line Chapter 170

It has been a couple of weeks since the last chapter, but fear not! Raptor is back with the latest instalment of Holding The Line.Hey all, Raptor here.HTL continues with part one of Scraps Of Honour 13, "Red Sky At Morning".

2002.319 (November 15, 2002)

Prophecy Ign my Pocket

IGN Pocket has an article on Raylight's Blue Roses Engine. It claims that "The company's first GBA games will be released this holiday: Destination Software's Wing Commander Prophecy and Metro 3D and Cinemaware's Wings." That's great news! So, get the people you care about roses this Christmas...

WCPolaroids: Casey (8/24)

Casey forgot to zip up!

2000.320 (November 15, 2000)

Screamed Like a Banshee

Blitzkreig posted this preview of his Border Worlds Banshee conversion for StarLancer over at Lancers Reactor.

Chat 'Em Up!

The Chat Zone is back -- and better than ever! We've replaced our old UBB with a swanky new vBoard... and it's cooler than a squid in heat! Faster, prettier and more customizable, this new board is a thing of beauty -- lets put our hands together for Hades, Kris, Hadrian and Death who made the switch so painless!

Hadrian Movie Week - Day 8

Do I dare defy the sanctity of a week? Indeed! Hadrian Movie Week continues for a freakish eighth day with this scene of the Concordia destroying a Kilrathi starbase (1,2 megs).

Oh, I've Got Stories...

The Origin Museum posted a whole bunch of pictures to their 'Stories' section -- really excellent stuff from Origin & Digital Anvil -- so go check it out!

Zippity

Apparently people have been having trouble with the old files, so the Fleet Action team has posted a new archive of their mod. This is not a new release -- it's a new file for people unable to open the old one.

A Picture

And from the UO Faire, here's a picture of LOAF and Origin's LadyMOI. Ah, who am I kidding, I just want to get my picture on all those crazy Carly fan-sites.

1998.319 (November 15, 1998)

The Importance of Being Movie Adapted

Well, my friends, I offer you up the update of updates! HarperCollins's catalog for the next quarter has been added to their website, along with lengthy descriptions (and a picture!) of two of their three upcoming Wing Commander products... to read their articles is to learn of release dates, merchandise, and exciting details relating to the Wing Commander Movie and its companion books...

Bordersing on the Inane

Just last night my brother and I were arguing about which online bookstore is the best... Borders, he insisted, was best because they had low shipping rates and no annoying ad campaigns. I couldn't agree -- there's just something I can't stand about real Borders stores. So, this morning I decided to check out the Borders online store...

No False Start Here

Barnes and Noble's entry on False Colors has been updated! The uberstore reports that this next Wing Commander novel should ship out December 1, which seems to go with Baen's usual system of releasing everything around a month early. It's beggining to feel a lot like Christmas...

Roberts Speaks

Ignore what I said in that last update... Digital Anvil is DEFINATLY starting to promote the movie... check out the below article, about a press conference with Chris Roberts grabbed from Cinescape.Roberts Talks 'Wing Commander'During a press conference earlier this week, director and game developer Chris Roberts showed off the trailer and selected FX sequences from his forthcoming Wing Commander movie.

The Prince of Wing Commanders

Looks like Digital Anvil is finally ready to start promoting the movie of next-year! Ali Mattu was kind enough to send me this extract from EON Magazine. It's an interview with Freddie Prinze discussing the movie...THE PRINCE OF WING COMMANDERSFreddie Prinze, jr.

PC Gamer Figures It Out

The ultra-cool SpaceDust 4 was kind enough to copy this article from the latest PC Gamer for everyone. It's from a larger article talking about the 40 best games of 1998 -- naturally Prophecy was in there...Ever since the original Wing Commander hit store shelves in 1991, Origin has captivated gamers with its cinematic space combat series- but in recent years, many fans have felt the series has become less like a game and more like a movie.For Wing Commander: Prophecy, Origin chose a back to basics approach that restores the fast, engaging dogfights fans have been asking for, while cutting back on the FMV fluff.