News Collection: On This Day in WC News

2023.132 (May 12, 2023)

New Modeler Cutting Teeth on Tiger's Claw

Here at the CIC, we're super lucky to have quite a few fan artists who are also professional 3D modelers in their day jobs. But everyone has to start somewhere, and we're also big supporters of Wingnuts who are just dabbling in these types of subjects. On that note, here are some early attempts at the TCS Tiger's Claw by Rictheron. He only first started learning to model last month, so I'd say these are a pretty cool first effort!

2022.132 (May 12, 2022)

Custom Emulated Cabinet Depicts Arcade Wing Commander

Here's an unusual oddity. AD found an emulation cabinet that purports to play the Sega CD version of Wing Commander. Upon further investigation, it's not really clear if Wing Commander is actually included. Due to the dubious legality of these types of setups, the mix of games is always a little questionable.

2021.132 (May 12, 2021)

From Russia, With Dazzling Space Art

Look at this amazing slush art ship that AD found in a Russian Wing Commander article. In Russia, tiger claws you!

2020.133 (May 12, 2020)

Unbox Amiga WC1 with Matching Cutscenes

UnboxingHands has done an unboxing video for Wing Commander. I like these types of videos because Wing Commander arrived before modern YouTubing, and these are such fun games to open up! A couple things caught our eye in this case. It's the Amiga version of WC1, which isn't vastly different than more common iterations, but there are a few unique elements such as the styling on the floppy disks.

2019.132 (May 12, 2019)

New Info on Upcoming Musical Projects!

There's exciting news about the next phase of composer George Oldziey's musical works! He's now working through the bidding process to price out what it would take to create a second album of live orchestral recordings. To recap: way back in early 2014, Mr. Oldziey kicked off his first campaign to record a live album of his tremendous tracks from Wing Commander 3, 4 and Prophecy.

2018.132 (May 12, 2018)

CGW Preview Stokes P2 Hype

FredDude posted this nifty sneak preview of Privateer 2 from the October 1996 issue of Computer Gaming World. You can see they're pretty excited. The author spends quite a bit of time talking about the dark and cutthroat environment that the game exists in. There's also some hints of the devious storyline highlighted by a number of star actors.

Wing Commander Meme of the Day: High Expectations Asian Father

2017.132 (May 12, 2017)

GOG Weekend Sale Runs the Series

Still holding out on picking up digital copies of the greatest games ever made? It seems unlikely, as you're visiting the Wing Commander community hub in 2017 AD... but just in case, GOG are having another weekly sale that covers the entire Wing Commander series! Buy one for yourself!

2016.133 (May 12, 2016)

Brazilian Gaming Site Posts Arena Video

The Video Game Database website posted an interesting video of Wing Commander Arena in action. Since the game was released in 2007, it came a bit before recording and streaming things like this became common. They start the game, briefly peek at the modes, pick a ship and launch into space combat. It's not a particularly comprehensive overview, and the clip is actually about a year old, but new Arena movies are so uncommon that this is still a noteworthy sight.

2015.132 (May 12, 2015)

Majestic Vesuvius Sets Sail

LC4Hunter is getting back into Wing Commander modding, and he's chosen the Vesuvius to return in a big way. The carrier looks sufficiently massive next to a carrier or destroyers below, and it has a well detailed hangar deck for launching fighters. There are also plenty of heavy turrets dotting the superstructure. It's built similar to the WC Saga design with Scooby's classic textures, but it's intended for a future update to the Homeworld mod.

2014.132 (May 12, 2014)

German & Spanish Novels Round Out The Set

Last week's post about the Czech Wing Commander novels generated a lot of interest in the series' books - especially the non-English translations. The two other places that got proper novels were Germany and Spain. Thanks to Tirnel, LOAF was able to get a new set! Clockwise from the top left below, pictured are Action Stations, the Movie Novelization, Freedom Flight, End Run, The Heart of the Tiger, Fleet Action and The Price of Freedom.

2013.132 (May 12, 2013)

Time to Think Outside the Box

Wing Commander games are well known for their amazing manuals and other boxed goodies, but the boxes themselves are a treat too! They all feature iconic art, and many even include snippets of bonus fiction, deleted scenes and pre-production graphics that provide an even larger window into the universe. The new poll asks about your favorite. In order to keep the number of options manageable, assume all versions of the particular game box fit under one selection.

2012.133 (May 12, 2012)

Va ka Garga ka naru ha Garga

NinjaLA has sketched a new fearsome Kilrathi. With his latest warrior, Ninja has done a good job of introducing menacing facial features, and this sinister look goes beyond just drawing a humanoid tiger. The armor is inspired by the classic WC2 style with a WC Movie headpiece. Hit the discuss link to let Ninja know what you think!

2011.132 (May 12, 2011)

Wing Commander on French TV

The Wing Commander Movie will be airing on Le Nouvel Observateur in France over the next few days. Specifically, it will be carried on the Canal+ Family channel. There are five fantastic showtimes scheduled for the remainder of the month: May 17 @ 20:50, May 18 @ 13:15, May 22 @ 10:00, May 23 @ 13:15 and May 26 @ 22:30. The film has seen increased play time in France since the French version was released on DVD last year.

2010.132 (May 12, 2010)

New MUSH Drops Players into Gemini

Gemini Sector is a new player in the Wing Commander MUSH world, and it sounds pretty neat! This text-based RPG allows players to assume the role of pilot, marine or crew member on a Bengal class carrier. The story involves Confed's resistance to a surprise Kilrathi assault that occurred in 2657. Players can connect to omen.

Complete Your Collection With Wing Commander Academy

There haven't been as many super sized file downloads in the news lately, so we're underrunning our bandwidth for the month. The Wing Commander Academy series is one of our biggest items, and it's a critical part of the franchise. The thirteen episodes follow the TCS Tiger's Claw through an exciting year in Wing Commander history. First time watchers might want to check out the Viewers Guide to read about the difference between chronological and broadcast order.

2009.132 (May 12, 2009)

Specialty Kat Ships Invade EAW

In addition to the impressive armada of familiar Kilrathi ships to be featured in the Wing Commander Invasion mod, Major Payne has incorporated a couple of special designs. The first is based on a piece of Feng Zhu concept art commissioned for an unreleased Wing Commander game. Payne has worked this one into the Empires at War engine as a type of cruiser. The other ship is an exotic asymetrical model based on a design by Lars & Scooby Doo.

Making the Game: Series C Overview

The 'C' series of missions became Prophecy's "G'wriss" series, which showed the first (... and basically only) other human capital ships and introduced Nephilim capital ships. Two notes: "• Player will have the first opportunity to dock with the refueling ship (it will survive long enough for the player to meet if, and it will give him full instructions as to how to do it. This is unprecedented in Wing Commanders.

2008.133 (May 12, 2008)

Final Assault On K'tithrak Mang

Wingnuts are playing through the whole series again and posting their battle accounts to the Forums. The community replay of Wing Commander 2 is now entering its final stage. This week covers the K'tithrak Mang series. Here's DaveO's screenshots and recollections from Enigma:In the Observation Room, I meet up with Hobbes and Jazz.

Making the Game - Part 7

Today's document is the April 30, 1996 version of the Wing Commander V/Prophecy org chart, along with job descriptions (dated May 7, 1996) for the various leadership roles. They don't sound too bad - I could have been a Producer! How does it all stack up compared to the team that finished the project? The obvious change is Richard Hilleman as Executive Producer.

2007.132 (May 12, 2007)

Alone in the Night

Gevatter Lars has a neat new Wing Commander rendering to show off. It's called 'Lone Bhantkara': "Working on the Bhantkara model for the Wing Commander Saga Mod I more or less accidentaly created this image. It was an interesting angle and I added a light and a random background I have found on the web and their it was. Added some effects and it was done.

Do Look Back

It's been a crazy few days here in the Wing Commander sphere - things are only now slowing down following Electronic Arts' Summer Preview event which showed off Wing Commander Arena. Here's a quick rundown of the new media posted in the last few days... or you can always follow recent events using our Arena mini-site, which is updated whenever news on the game is published here.Five new official screenshots (here).

2006.132 (May 12, 2006)

Wing Commander High Def Showings Begin Again Next Week

HBO has snuck in several showings of the Wing Commander movie in high definition over the next couple weeks. This is in addition to a ton of regularly scheduled showings on the various standard HBO channels. Your main opportunities to catch it are Monday morning next week and Wednesday morning the following week.Mon 5/15 08:00 AM HBO High Definition - EASTMon 5/15 11:00 AM HBO High Definition - WESTWed 5/24 07:30 AM HBO High Definition - EASTWed 5/24 10:30 AM HBO High Definition - WEST If you've seen some of those new HD DVD players in advertisements lately, it's not likely that we'll see Wing Commander on that format any time soon.

A Quick Peek at EA at E3

The 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo come to a close, and GameSpot has helped wrap up by posting quick summaries of each major booth. Electronic Arts has one of the very best locations at the front of the biggest exhibition hall, and they usually deck it out in an exciting way. A giant circular EA logo marked the entrance to a 360 degree theater projecting videos from their 2006-07 lineup. Spore, Superman, Battlefield 2142, Crysis, Battle for Middle-earth 2 and other major games were playable around the outside of this ring.

2005.132 (May 12, 2005)

Holding The Line Chapter 201

The partying over at the WC Aces Club seem to be winding down after celebrating both their tenth anniversary and the release of chapter 200 last month. Now that the dust has settled, here's Raptor with the latest chapter of HTL.Hey all, Raptor hereMy sincere apologies for being so late with this update, real life has beenrunning me into the ground lately. On much more pleasant topic though, theBorder Worlders are about to hit the Nephilim right where it hurts, as HTLcontinues with the second part of Nick Deane's story, Death Of A ThousandCuts.

Electronic Arts' E3 Lineup Announced

EA has announced their extensive lineup of new games being unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo next week. The Need For Speed, Sims, Medal of Honor, Battlefield, James Bond, Harry Potter and Burnout series will get sequels. Most of the annual EA Sports titles, The Godfather, Batman Begins and Marvel Nemesis will also be on display. Will Wright's Spore and a game called Black will be behind closed doors.

2004.133 (May 12, 2004)

Behind The Scenes At The EA Booth

We've managed to set up here in Los Angeles the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo. Although pictures of the construction phase of the show are generally prohibited, we've got some images of the Electronic Arts area being set up below. A variety of Origin and Wing Commander related personnel will be in attendance at the expo, and we'll remind them how many enthusiastic Wing Commander fans exist whenever we get the chance.Additional pictures can be found in our E3 2004 article here.

Electronic Arts Los Angeles Visited At Night

Last year we reported about the new EA LA compound where studios such as Origin would be consolidated in the future. While getting lost in Marina del Rey here in California, we happened across a surprising sight purely by chance. It was something of a shock because we were looking for Jack in the Box and not a major EA fortress. We were drawn to the area by some invisible force and had to stop to snap some photos.

EA Officially Confirms XBox Live Compatibility

Rounding out our EA news for the day is the information from the Microsoft Pre-E3 press conference. At the event representatives confirmed that numerous Electronic Arts titles would be taking the XBox Live plunge this year.The first game to include Xbox Live capability will be NCAA® Football 2005, scheduled for release in July. Madden NFL 2005, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 2005, NASCAR® 2005: Chase For The Cup, NBA LIVE 2005, NHL® 2005, and NCAA® March Madness™ 2005 will follow.

2001.132 (May 12, 2001)

SWC Ship of the Day: Snakeir

And now, Kilrah's standard carrier -- the Snakeir class. Just three more SWC Ships of the Day after this!

Untelated Peter Telep Update

For those following Peter Telep's career, his second Night Angel 9 book has been published, titled Playing with Fire. Buy it today, wherever books are sold... so, you know, like a bookstore.

2000.133 (May 12, 2000)

An Ancient Mark Hamill Interview

Twister dug this one up. In 1997 TheSite interviewed Mark Hamill. He mostly talked about Wing Commander and interactive movies in general. Here's an excerpt:We learned so much while we were making Wing Commander III, even while we were having this telephone conversation, new technologies, new breakthroughs are happening.

Starlancer Takes on Tachyon: The Fringe

The author of this article decided to do something original, and started off with a Wing Commander mention:The space shooter genre started on the PC a mere 10 years ago with Wing Commander. Today's space shooters remain remarkably similar to Wing Commander in many respects. But if you've been a gamer for long, the one thing we all yearn for is originality. Who is the new king of the space shooters?

New 'Virus Weapon' Worries Police

Gwyn Cannar reports. Law enforcement agencies are expressing concern at the commercial release of a totally new type of weapon. Known as the BSE (Binary Systen Eradicator), it is a high-level computer virus that can disable all a craft's systems within seconds. It is transmitted along with the attacking ship's ID to the victim, and once assimilated into the target's computer it goes haywire, instituting emergency shutdown procedures for all the ship's systems.

1999.132 (May 12, 1999)

MarkHamill.com Back Where It Belongs

The new and improved Mark Hamill.com is open for business. The details are at the site, but basically they're under new ownership and there's a nice mention of WC3, WC4 and Prophecy on the main page. Thanks to Herbie1968 for the tip.

News Flurry

Intwydamalu sent us a note to tell everyone that due to E3, there'll be an increased amount of Starlancer news in the near future. I recommend Lanced.net for your day to day Starlancer needs, however we'll also have notable developments here as well.Just wanted to let you know that the flurry has begun.

What He's Been Doing Lately

Chris Roberts had the following to say at Next Gen. Thanks to ATFW.Freelancer, my epic space opera set in an insanely detailed and massive universe, is behind closed doors in the Microsoft suite. That's because Freelancer is over a year off and I'm not quite ready to unveil it in all its glory to my competitors (and their videocameras).