Some fans of the Wing Commander series are looking to drum up interest in a possible Wing Commander convention. The "Wing Commander Home Sector" fan site has put up a questionnaire asking readers a number of questions, including whether they would be interested in attending such a convention, and if so, where.The link is no longer valid, but we still have that survey up on the CIC. It's one of those forms that is submitted by e-mail, so it may not work for you. The Strategy Plus page also links to a couple of other ancient articles, and this one caught my attention:
[...] Origin decided to delay adding these multiplayer options until the release of another Wing Commander product next year. That product would also include Internet play as well. According to an Origin spokesperson, "Origin guarantees there will be multiplayer Wing Commander down the road."If Prophecy GBA includes a four player link, then they weren't lying.
Dear Wing Commander Community,
After many fan requests and less activity on the mailing list I have decided to "open" the vega strike forums. For the uninformed 99.99% of the fans (probably including myself) the Vega strike Forum has been open for over a year... with about 20 posts. However it was not maintained and I hardly knew it was up... this is changing as of TODAY :-).I am taking active controls of the forums and they are linked from the sidebar as well as the news of vegastrike. I encourage you all to post any problems you have or help each other out on the gameplay of Vega Strike itself. There's also a Open Discussion section and a future section where people can discuss future networking or modding projects for Vega Strike and hopefully build enough momentum to keep the projects going!
Anyhow I'd like to ask anyone who loved/hated Vega Strike to please post here to just add a comment about Vega Strike or post some help or advice, etc :-)
Thanks so much and it would be great to see these forums open to a blossoming start! And be sure to download the latest Vega Strike (0.2.9.4 at vegastrike.sourceforge.net)
DVDBoxOffice has a pre-order page up:
Arrival Date: Friday, August 30, 2002
Studio: Bam Entertainment
That's interesting how it says the studio is BAM Entertainment. Maybe the game will be published by them instead of Destination Soft Inc. The latter's website has been "under construction" since forever.
And LeHah found that KB Toys is also taking pre-orders. Their page lists a 09/05 release date instead. They also has a box shot up:
Pre-order: Available 09/05/02
Destination SoftwareWing Commander Prophecy, one of the defining sagas of the last decade, is landing on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance. It already won a runner-up award in Pocket IGN's Best of E3 2002 Awards. Just wait until you see this game in action. The 3D engine does the game extreme justice on the small screen. And it features all the missions of the PC game with a four-player link.
Hey all, Raptor here.You can also give them some feedback on their forum.HTL continues with "No Rest For The Weary." As you saw in past chapters, the crew of the TCS Endeavour had tracked down and destroyed an enemy carrier group with the help of the 8th Cruiser Squadron. During the battle, they lost one of their escorts and a destroyer from the 8th, along with several pilots. Now, the crew and pilots of the battlegroup are hoping for a chance to rest up and mourn their dead, but it's not going to be that simple. This chapter was written by Shaun "Iceman" Rashid, so please send any and all comments to him velacia@rogers.com, not to me.
http://htl.solsector.net/loki45.htm
Best, Raptor
"Privateer 2: Darkside" will be the next installment in the Privateer series. The project, headed by Erin Roberts (Chris Roberts' brother), is currently in the initial planning stages. Like WC3, it will utilize live acting for all of the cinematic sequences, and will use an updated version of the WC3 engine for the actual gameplay.
The second novel will jump back in time and focus on Hunter [...]. It is being written by Ellen Guon (co-author of _Freedom Flight_ and lead writer for Wing Commander II). The third novel has been contracted, but the content has not yet been decided; it might be take place over on the Privateer side of the galaxy...
CompuServe: 71333,136
America Online: OSI
GEnie: origin.mkt
Internet: osi@aol.com
while(1) doMeanwhile UE is creeping closer to its release, with only a few missions and FMV scenes left to do. You can talk with the designers in the UE Forum on Crius.net.
AI_WaitSeconds(5);
end;
Wing Commander: The Television Series: Chris Roberts (a.k.a. "gaming God") does it again. In your face action and incredible special effects -- TV style.Information is still very sketchy. We only know that it's going to be a live-action show.
Starshatter in action
Thanks to the recent spurt of E-mails sent because of the WCNews article a new version of vegastrike has been uploaded! Yes Vega Strike 0.2.9.4 (http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net) !This one fixes a potential problem with purchasing ships (not reported however). And also it adds a few goodies like better sound support (with volume control) and more beautiful weapon and shield hit sounds. Luckily this time I offer a 2.5 megabyte patch from vegastrike-0.2.9.3. Yet users are encouraged to use the auto updating tool to grab the latest version if they had downloaded 0.2.9.3. So if you wish to upgrade your lowly wayfarer starship to something sleek and hot--download Vega Strike 0.2.9.4 and prepare to fly. Also remember if you want to have MUSIC in this release please go download the WC2 Collection and the Privateer-RF Collection from http://aslp.gallaudet.edu/jjg/wcrm/Vault_Room/vault_room.html
All too many people ask me where the music is.... it's there folks! If you install to a DIFFERENT directory you have to move your old savegames by copying both the save folder as well as the serialized_xml folder in your .vegastrike subfolders.
That's all for now...this is HellcatV signing off.
Each room consists of at least two files - a ROM file inside the \mission folder, which defines all the "hotspots" inside the room, the background graphics, and the animation graphics. The second file is an IFF file containing the background image to be used by the room.You can read the whole thing here. KillerWave's is a good place to start if you want to modify WCP or Secret Ops. Here's what typical mission code looks like. If you'd like to know more about coding missions and need more guidance, ask Pedro about his WCP Pascal lessons.
- If Vegastrike does not work we will make it work: mail me at vegastrike-users so we can work out any issues.
- If you still have loading problems try right clicking on the .vegastrike folder and give world writable permissions to that folder (if you run XP or 2K... I couldn't figure out how to modify permissions in 2k). .vegastrike (dot vegastrike) is the only folder that needs write permissions.
- Please report any other errors that you may encounter. No other errors have been reported--and hence none will get fixed.
Hey all, Raptor here.HTL continues with "A Gathering of Forces". As you've seen in the past few chapters, the Border Worlds fleet carrier groups have been drawing the attention of the Nephilim super carriers, and paying a heavy price for it. However, by drawing most of the Nephilim fighter cover and bomber support down on themselves, the Border Worlders have forced the enemy commanders to leave their own capital ships vulnerable.
As set in Admiral Hanton's plan at the start of the Tiger Hunt, this leaves the enemy carriers and dreadnaughts wide open to attack by the remaining elements of the human Combined Fleet. You saw in past chapters that the carriers Valley Forge, Endeavour and Yorktown have already attacked and destroyed their targets. Now, a mixed force consisting of the fleet's destroyers, corvettes, and torpedo boats go after their targets. This chapter is jointly written by Dan "Death" Poore, Alex "Ninja" Crislogo, and Greg "Sandman" Sands.
http://htl.solsector.net/loki44.htm
Best, Raptor
Check out dvdboxoffice.com where Fox has a promotion running... if you buy four Fox movies apparently you can get one of fifteen movies free, one of which is the Wing Commander movie... If you don't have it and didn't really want to pay for it maybe now's your chance.You can read more about this promotion here. Be sure to read the fine print: All four DVDs must be part of the same order, and you have to e-mail them to collect your free movie. Also, no Québécois!Only draw back is they don't always have the best price... but they have free shipping world-wide.
I've recently come into a determination to create something new to add to the WC community. After tinkering around and working on several other things, I ran across and reference page for Gundam (one of my other favorite things). The page was "The Gundam Project" The thing that kept me coming back for more at this page, was that the creator didn't give you the basic "Here's this mechs stats and here's what this guy did with this mech" bs. Yes that was part of it. But he also gave you the history of the universe it took place in. He explained why things worked the way they did. He explained who made the first move during the battles.For more information you can visit their website.And now I want to make something similar to that, but for Wing Commander. So, I am asking for people to help me create "The Dinifinative Interactive Fan Guide To Wing Commander." By interactive, it will be a series of Microsoft Power Point Presentations that will work like a Web site. You will be able to explore the "World" of Wing Commander and see when the wars started. You can look at specific profiles and see when Christopher Blair was named the "Coward of K'tithrak Mang" and much more. I'm also planning on including alternate sections to cover the Movie and such. I'll be doing most of the end case production work of it. By that I mean compiling it into the final project as I see it. However, it's the stuff up to that point that I will need help with. Below is a list of things I need for the project. Specifically people.
1) I need people who have knowledge of the all the Wing Commander games, including Secret Ops, Privateer and Armada. If possible, have the manuals for the games.
2) I need artists to draw the images of ships, people, weapons, star systems and the like. CG skills are not required but they are appreciated.
3) Writers. I intend to include "essays" about how the war with the Kilrathi started, Why the Battle of Repletah went the way it did, and why Tolwyn did what he did with the Black Lance and all the rest of it as well.
We're still recovering from the birthday party here, but before it gets to be too late we need to work out present claims. Below are the prizes with winners along with unique pictures of each of the five WC4 Patch Plaques.
I'm taking a personal undertaking of conducting group training sessions in WCP Pascal, originally an idea I came up with when it became apparent that in order to make a sequel to Unknown Enemy of the length we had in mind we would need twice as many mission programmers if we were to have a shorter development time than the first game. However talking with members of other Secret Ops projects they have people willing to help but as of yet unskilled so I've decided to make this an open event.
Anyone wanting to learn how to programme Secret Ops missions for UE2, any of the other mods or even just to make their own personal missions should contact me at pedro_ue@yahoo.co.uk with the times (GMT) and days they will be available each week so I can attempt to arrange one which will accomodate the most people. For anyone unable to attain these sessions which will be conducted on mIRC I will be keeping a record of the logs and example missions.
Hey all, Raptor hereHTL continues with part 14 of the Tiger Hunt series, "Even Angels Fall." As you saw in previous chapters, the Border Worlders were throwing everything they had into stopping the Nephilim attack, even resorting to suicide attacks. These strikes have seriously weakened the Nephilim attack force, especially their bombers. However, the sheer mass and momentum of the enemy attack wave keeps pushing the Border Worlders further and further back. Now, they're right back to where their carriers are, fighting the engagement that'll determine if the Border Worlds Navy survives as a fighting force. This chapter is written by yours truly, so please send any and all comments to me.
http://htl.solsector.net/loki43.htm
Best, Raptor
It's been a long and crazy ride for all of us, but we've made it to another major milestone. We'd really like to thank you all for your support. As we mentioned last year around this time, wcnews.com is preserved for the rest of the decade so we're not going anywhere anytime soon. Though we've seen some good times and bad times, the future of Wing Commander is once again looking up. WCP GBA is on the way and we hope to have some new information in the coming weeks ahead. We're also still very optimistic about the Chris Roberts Wing Commander television show expected next year. The fan projects and fan fiction under development look better than ever and have been paying off with fun and exciting products for a long time now. We're going strong and anxious for our second WC community Dragon*Con convention meeting later this month. Hopefully you've made it to our birthday party on irc, but if not, we've tried to put together a list of various site improvements to set off the next year.
When we have these events we don't just think of today as another birthday for us. August 10/11 is a birthday for the thousands of you who visit our site on a regular basis. It's another year that you've demonstrated your commitment to our community and the Wing Commander universe that has been established for us. I truly believe that the best is yet to come. Happy Birthday!
Hello All,Vega Strike is an open source project. Their website is located here.In celebration of the CIC birthday I have decided to release Vega Strike 0.2.9.3.
This version of vega strike marks the first time that Vega Strike can literally do everything that Privateer 1 could do--of course in realtime 3d graphics through OpenGL. Now this doesn't say that indeed it DOES the whole privateer.... I only got about halfway finishing up the steltek drone but... but you can go ahead and fly to rygannon using the CIC's wing commander map and then go to delta, and eventually to delta prime and grab the "gun"... watch out for that narsty drone who won't stop following you after that... he's a baddie ;-)
Or you can stay in the homely Enigma sector and duel Commies in Defiance, Pirate militia...and even... who knows what in Axis... Axis is a dangerous place folks... the news makes that much clear...
Anyhow trust your instincts, read the news, and enjoy the new version of Vega Strike that has fixed all (reported) user complaints... many people didnt' speak up though...but those who did got their fixes in... stuff like a cross for radar -- autopilot being more generous around planetary rings... oh did I mention planetary rings... be on the lookout for one of those beauties:
aringscreen.png
aringscreen2.pngAnyhow the new release has all sorts of art for each and every base you land on... I recommend trying to find... let us say the dark side of any base :-) And with that... *poof* I run for the plane... off to a Vacation... drop me any complaints at hellcatv@hotmail.com
We'd like to to thank the Academy... and, of course, these people:
MNelson: for providing a bunch of cool prizes to help us promote this event... and, most importantly, for going above and beyond to support the CIC with file hosting at BlackLance.org. The Wing Commander community as a whole owes her a great debt.
Joe and Paula Garrity: For donating the radical Wing Commander IV patches that we're handing out tonight -- and for working to promote the continued existence of Wing Commander fandom through collecting. Surely a noble goal.
Adam Foshko: For providing the nifty Wing Commander IV patches to Joe that we're giving away tonight (and for producing Prophecy and stuff).
Hard Working Fans Everywhere: Groups like the Wing Commander Aces and the Unknown Enemy team are doing a wonderful job of keeping the Wing Commander fanbase alive! We salute you all!
Raylight Productions: They're the reason we'll all be playing a new Wing Commander game next year!
Captain Johnny: Because we can.
Hey all, Raptor here.HTL continues with part thirteen of the Tiger Hunt series, "Dulce et Decorum Est." As you saw in the last chapter, the Border Worlds pilots who were fighting to protect their carriers had tried to ambush and destroy the remaining Nephilim bombers. The ambush failed, forcing them into activating a last ditch plan that they had hoped they would never have to carry out.This story picks up from there. This chapter is written by yours truly, so please send any and all comments to me.
Like most of the Tiger Hunt series, this chapter was written before the September attacks last year. I thought long and hard whether to release it,both on the Aces list earlier this year, and on the CIC now, as it deals with a suicidal attack and why someone would carry out such an attack. In the end, I decided to go ahead because I feel an attack carried out by soldiers against a military target, suicidal or not, is a very different thing from a terrorist attack. Still, I think it's only fair to warn people in advance so that they can choose whether to read it or not.
Best, Raptor
Strategic Wing Commander
Spanning the WC1 - WC2 End Run Era
Command vast fleets of Confed Forces in the epic struggle against the hateful Kilrathi.Note: We aren't aiming for a 4X game...
Goals: Campaign - Wipe out the Kilrathi
Scenarios - TBA
Random/Fixed Events: Oh my yes.
We're already starting to see some of those old familiar faces popping up more and more in anticipation of the party. Don't hesitate to drop by #Wingnut early to get used to the interface and make sure your time syncs with ours.
Many of you have sent in updates for our Fan Directory that hasn't been updated in a while. If your update is not there or if you would like to change something, now's the time to resend your bio in. Pictures are especially welcome. If you are also working on a fan project or have something else to contribute to coincide with our birthday, please get in touch with us as soon as possible. We hope each and every one of you can make it!
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