News Collection: On This Day in WC News

2021.145 (May 25, 2021)

Moongate II Softcover Ships, Hardbound Printing Now

There's an update on the fulfillment of the Through the Moongate, from Wing Commander and Ultima VII to Portalarium campaign! People that ordered the paperback version of the book should now have their item in the mail. Author Andrea Contato reports that the hardcover edition is printing now and almost ready, which means backers of the higher end tiers are another step closer to getting their items. This includes the fancy Denis Loubet bookmark and Manda cloth artwork.

2020.146 (May 25, 2020)

New Video Sample Experiments with 60 FPS

Earlier this weekend we reported on some collaboration to integrate ODVS' significantly enhanced video with the upgraded WC4 game engine that Pedro and team are working on. This was a test to see how 60 FPS video would work to sync with the high frame rate of the gameplay. I think it looks pretty good. Some people find the hyper real sensation off-putting, but I think it fits better here than in other places.

2019.145 (May 25, 2019)

Space Sim First Look: Rebel Galaxy Outlaw

We mentioned last week that we'd be spending a little more time introducing up and coming space sims, and there's a very big one that's been a glaring omission until now. Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is an extremely promising Privateer-style shooter sim by Double Damage Games, which includes huge Wing Commander fans Travis Baldree and Howard Day, among others. The team has been on our radar for a couple years thanks to their spectacular 2017 April Fools tease and easter egg blueprints, and now the game is approaching release. It will be available at the Epic Store for PC at around $30 with ports available on at least the Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch.

2018.145 (May 25, 2018)

Games that Rock: Wing Commander 3

Nerds that Geek has posted a quick flashback on the majesty of Wing Commander 3. The article's not long, but it captures the essence of what made The Heart of the Tiger great. The author credits the game for kickstarting FMV and next-level storytelling in games without compromising on the gameplay. He leaves off by encouraging people to pick up a cheap digital copy and relive the adventure.

Wing Commander Meme of the Day: Who Would Win?

2017.145 (May 25, 2017)

Better Red than Dead

It's Throwback Thursday, and today we're throwing two previously-unseen Wing Commander movie set photos into the archive! The first was recently posted to Instagram by one of the extras who played a Confederation Marine in the Wing Commander movie and the second comes to us courtesy of Etienne Braun, the film's set photographer. Both pictures show the Confederation C-524 Space Armor (and C-512 Combat Helmet) which were used for the 'boarding' sequence late in the film. If you are interested in learning more about the lore background for the space armor (and other boarding equipment) then the Confederation Handbook has you covered!

2016.146 (May 25, 2016)

New Version Of Wing Blender Accesses Exotic Files

Kevin Caccamo has finalized and released the latest version of Wing Blender. Version 1.6.2 adds support for additional file types that allow access to things like the unused Callisto Cruiser.

2015.145 (May 25, 2015)

Nimble KF-227 Harasses Vega Supply Lines

WC Vega's newest fighter is the swift Salthi light fighter. They've been added to Mike Peters' film project as quick little escorts to assist the larger Dralthi raiders. One of the sequences mocked up below shows off how they might work in tandem to take down a Drayman - before a pair of Scimitars come to the rescue! And if that's not enough to hold the kats off, the next Confed fighter is already in the works...

2014.145 (May 25, 2014)

Kotaku Reviews Wing Commander Academy

In the same vein as the recent Academy anniversary that 1up noted, here's a pretty neat review of the series that Kotaku posted a while back. They credit the show for all of the classic references dotted throughout and really highlight the writing as the star. We can definitely agree this time! Check the full article out here.

2013.145 (May 25, 2013)

Hellcat Prepped for Paint

Whiplash has pretty much finished the exterior spaceframe of his custom Hellcat fighter. His most recent additions finalized the engine intakes and mounted the ventral wingtip stabilizers. To get ready for the painting phase, some basic lines have been sketched on the hull. The intakes again got some good treatment in regards to this, and the cockpit was also marked up quite a bit.

2012.146 (May 25, 2012)

Technically It's Called The 'Lance'

It's been a great week for fan-made pictures of Wing Commander ships, but it's been even better for real space ship action! The SpaceX Dragon capsule successfully docked with the International Space Station today. It launched into space on Tuesday and conducted a variety of practice maneuvers before becoming the first spacecraft launched by a private company to dock with the ISS. Regular cargo flights could begin later this year and human passengers could come along a few years after that.

2011.145 (May 25, 2011)

WC vs. History: Tonight's the Knight

From Wing Commander II on, we are occasionally reminded that our commanding officer is, in fact, Admiral Sir Geoffrey Tolwyn--indicating that he holds a knighthood of some sort. But what kind of knight is the admiral? Is he some kind of future space knight... or is he part of England's long history of chivalric tradition?

2010.145 (May 25, 2010)

Dubai-based Satellite Channel Broadcasting WC

The Wing Commander Movie will be airing this week on the major Arab-language network MBC. MBC 2 Movies will be showing it at 1:00 PM KSA / 10:00 AM GMT on Friday, May 28. Satellite frequency information can be found here. Check out their plot description below.

Prophecy Movie Upgrade Reminder

If you haven't upgraded your copy of Wing Commander Prophecy to use the astonishing DVD quality movies, then now's a good time to start downloading! The month is almost out and we have plenty of bandwidth yet to use up. The files are available in three packs:Pack 1: Relive Dallas' funeral, the destruction of Eloy, Casey's promotion to the Black Widow Squadron and... the 'hundred percent speech'!

2009.145 (May 25, 2009)

No Time to Ralax

The Wing Commander Saga team has started a push to wrap up its capital ships as it makes progress towards an 'alpha' build. They've released new screenshots of their Ralaxath-class destroyer, featuring their most updated Kilrathi textures.The Kilrathi's newest and most advanced destroyer, the Ralaxath-class closes the gap created by technologically superior Terran capships. This "heavy destroyer leader" combines superior maneuverability and acceleration with enhanced firepower and armor.

Custom User Interfaces For Jumpgate Evolution

ZAM recently spoke with NetDevil President, Scott Brown, about various aspects of their upcoming space sim title, Jumpgate Evolution. JGE intends to "take the gameplay of a Wing Commander: Privateer or an Elite and set it in a massive, persistent universe". Find the interview here.ZAM: Where did the idea for the original Jumpgate come from?

2008.146 (May 25, 2008)

Tracking Down The Gettysburg

Last week, the community replay of the Wing Commander series made its way to the first WC2 addon, Special Operations 1. Now Wingnuts will have to deal with the situation on the Gettysburg. It's taken us four months to get here, so it's definitely not too late to start in at Wing Commander 1 and sync back up with everyone else later this spring. Here are DaveO's notes from Pembroke.

Making the Game - Part 20

Today we have another selection of emails. These are dated early July, 1996 and they cover the early development of Wing Commander Prophecy's weapons systems. Here you can see comments which lead to the creation of both the Dragonfly rocketpods and the interest in the ultimately unfinished shield-killing gun (here given to the player rather than the aliens).

2007.145 (May 25, 2007)

BREAKING NEWS: Arena Pricing Announced

Electronic Arts' community guru, EAJamesPond, has posted the long-awaited pricing announcement for Wing Commander Arena to the official message boards:Just to let you know!EA’s Wing Commander Arena, scheduled to go live this summer on Xbox Live Arcade, will be available for 800 MSFT points. That's $10 US, for those unfamiliar with the MS Point system. This is great news - EA had an opportunity to premiere some new kind of pricing scheme with Arena given its larger scope compared to previous original content releases.

Queeg Releases Wing IV Movie

Barely three months after releasing his third and final version of his WC3 movie and two months after announcing the project, Queeg has released the first complete version of his WC4 movie project. The project aims to create a full movie experience by tying together high quality FMV scenes taken from WCIV DVD, along with in-game spaceflight scenes. You can download the 2.1 gigabyte, three hour long movie via BitTorrent or alternatively from our local HTTP mirror.

Why We Fight

A reader named John Brown recently e-mailed us to ask: why are we so excited about Wing Commander Arena? Why are we so positive when there are fans who aren't happy about the release, and when other news sites insist that Wing Commander fans will be 'disgruntled' over the title? I wrote him back with an explanation... and he suggested that I convert it into an editorial so that everyone could understand our point of view on this issue.

2006.145 (May 25, 2006)

English Subs Added To German WC Dubs

A while back, the German magazine PC Player created several promotional videos for its cover discs. These took popular PC game cutscenes and dubbed them with dialogue about the staff of the magazine. It should be no surprise that several Wing Commander pieces were made. TomGaines has collected clips that were done for Wing Commander 3, 4 and Prophecy.

Get Behind Wing Commander Academy

It's a holiday weekend, so activity may be slow on the Wing Commander front... so what better way to keep the flame alive than to download and watch the Wing Commander Academy animated series? Use the links below to access high quality DivX versions of all thirteen episodes, plus the other three episodes in the 'Warrior King' crossover!Interested in learning more about the series?

2005.145 (May 25, 2005)

Going And Going To The Wing Commander Movie

AD recently found the website of the Pixel Bunny digital effects artist. The Pixel Monger company was responsible for various wire removal, roto-compositing & roto-matte in the Wing Commander movie. We previously reported on the company that was responsible for the scenes done on wires. The Pixel Bunny has a video compilation, but AD has trimmed down the clip to Wing Commander items to save their bandwidth.

High Res Joans Supplement Available

Dave has scanned in a high res version of the Joans Supplement and Secret Missions feature article from CGW back in 1991. You can grab the large PDF here (25 megs). LOAF also did some nice quality scans of the most important diagrams a while back.

2004.146 (May 25, 2004)

Spear'd By the Shrike

Sean Murphy, who's Thunderbolt VII appeared in the news just a few days ago, has put together a new image using the Wing Commander Prophecy 3D models! This fantastic artwork shows off two of his designs: the Shrike bomber and the TCS Midway megacarrier herself.

Formerly New Istanbul

Warzog has forwarded us screenshots of the New Constantinople model they're using in the Privateer: The Reckoning mod for FreeLancer. The mesh was built by Bob McDob and textured by LVXOCCVLTA. New Constantinople was the political capitol of the Gemini Sector... ignoring, of course, the mysterious Gemini System.

2001.145 (May 25, 2001)

SWC Character of the Day: Bossman

Sit down, Maverick. They call me Bossman. I've been watching you. You look good for a rookie.

Trailer Available!

RoboDan's previously mentioned Wing Commander teaser trailer is available -- the prelude to his full trailer! Think that sounds confusing? It sure as heck is -- but put it out of your mind and head over to his site (here) to download the video -- a 1:18 minute short (8.12 MB) which requires Windows Media 8.

Happy Birthdeath

A belated Happy Birthday to Death, who is as much of a CIC staff member as I am... my only regret is that this update has to be posted next to the one about monkeys in a tube. Anyway, wish him a happy birthday, people...

Monkeys in a Tube

And in related news, I've ordered a package of Monkeys in a Tube, thanks to Frosty. Will they live up to the hype? Only time will tell -- so we'll follow this story as it develops, bringing you up-to-the minute coverage of Monkeys in a Tube. (Not pictured: a tube).

1999.145 (May 25, 1999)

Counting Down

Thanks to Trelane we now have a nifty countdown thing... if there's any date that you need added, let me know! No dates are final, naturally...

Get it Cheap!

Vaaseulreports that the best way to get WC on VHS when it first comes out is to join the Columbia House Video Club. Here's what he says...If people really want to get the WC movie on VHS when it first comes out, an alternative would be to join the Columbia House Video Club. Their movies are a little more expensive, but you get the first 9 for something like 30 bucks and they'll probably have WC for about $25 within a month of its release.

Canadian Information

Harry Tse reports that House of Knives in Vancouver will have no problem selling the Pilgrim Crosses, but that it will take 6-8 weeks for delivery. As soon as contact information is available, I'll stick it up here...

Money, For What It's Worth

Wing Commander took in $10,055 dollars on 25 screens in this 11th week of release. The movie is up to $11,565,864 in the US -- but it's still sort of amusing to think that about 2,000 people saw Wing Commander instead of Star Wars this weekend... I wish the movie were still around here so I could have been amongst them.

Internal Details

Boomer posted the below over at the WOO chat board. Most of it has pretty much already been mentioned, but I personally am shocked that Neil Young isn't with Origin anymore. He was a great guy, and a big part of what got both the CIC and Secret Ops rolling... he'll definitely be missed.

Bargain Hunters

Jonathan Mark (let's forgo the usual distrust of people with two first names:) reports that the Wing Commander DVD will be cheapest if bought from DVD Express. It's listed as $20.99 plus about 2 dollars shipping versus Amazon's $24.99 plus three shipping.

Vote Movie!

Kris reports that DejaNews is holding a Wing Commander poll -- go vote here.

Our Daily Bread

Eeek! Sorry about that, people, my ISDN line has been out and I was unable to update yesterday. And right in the middle of finals... Oh well, my last English essay is due tommorow, and I've worked in the Wing Commander novel to an appropriate extent -- it should be interesting to get this one back...