Pioneering episodic games Wing Commander: Secret Ops (1998) and Majestic (2001) were both cancelled before completion; the former was too large a download in the pre-broadband era, while the latter simply failed to attract enough players.So, before anyone asks -- no, Secret Ops wasn't "cancelled"... all seven episodes were released as planned, and no others were ever considered.
One of the new features we rolled out for Arena is Xbox Live Gamertag support for the CIC Forums. The new Arena board displays your GamerCard next to your post. Elsewhere on the forums you can view someone's card by clicking the small Xbox icon.
Here's how you link a Gamertag to your Forums account:
- Go to your profile.
- Scroll down to "Additional Information".
- Enter your GamerTag.
- Save changes.
Check out the automatically updated Gamertag directory to find out what other games Wingnuts like to play. Remember that you can register a free, Silver Live account even if you don't yet own an Xbox 360. You will need one to view the profiles.
I think the video compression is all sorted now. I have made a 1 minute and 30 second clip of the intro into an AVI. The AVI uses the compression I plan to use for the final movie, which has an estimated file size of 1.3gigs (I know a bit big, but it is a movie and quality takes space).Download the new clip here (15 megs) and tell Queeg what you think in this Forums thread. Try the VLC movie player if you can't get the file to work.The video details are as follows:
Video - Xvid Two Pass (Average bit rate 1200kb/sec)
Audio - AC3 dolby digital 5.1 channelPlease tell me what you think and if you experience problems viewing it. Any kind of criticism welcome. Thanks in advance for any feedback.
Domain Name: WINGCOMMANDERARENA.COMEA also owns wingcommander.com, but the domain is still registered to the now-defunct Origin Austin studio.
Name Server: SEDNS.EA.COM
Name Server: SWDNS.EA.COM
Updated Date: 30-oct-2006
Creation Date: 30-oct-2006
Expiration Date: 30-oct-2008
Just fair warning, the AI in skirmish missions is as dumb as a brick. I'm working on trying to modify it to acting more appropriately, but I haven't had experience with the scripting language. Thus, for this release, don't expect much in the way of a challenge, unless you're playing against another human. This is just to show the ships in action, more or less, and give you a sense of what is to come.
Fast and fluid gameplay, a breakthrough single player campaign, the ability to transform online battles into a spectator sport, next-generation graphics, and an epic story with full-motion video sequences featuring top Hollywood talent, mark the return of the critically-acclaimed Command & Conquer(TM) series....Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars(TM): Kane Edition is a definitive collectible for any Command & Conquer or Real-time Strategy fan and will feature an enormous amount of exclusive content including a bonus DVD with a behind the scenes documentary, deleted scenes, a blooper reel, a series of gameplay strategy videos, and more.
Now if you install mpeg2dec and assign it a high merit, it should always be loaded instead of WinDVD/PowerDVD filters. You can leave PowerDVD installed (it will still function, since it loads filter directly, not by merit).
Electronic Arts has launched their official Wing Commander Arena forums! It's little remembered history that our own forums were first created because Origin Systems shut down their "Official Wing Commander Chat Zone" in 1996. It's a small thing for most people, but EA once again running an official WC forum is an important symbol for me.
We have become a close knit group of friends over the years... now let's go and interact with the rest of the world once again! I believe longtime WingNuts should make a special effort to be courteous and helpful to this new group of people who will surely become the next generation of Wing Commander fans.
You can find the new Wing Commander: Arena forums here!
It's a Wing Commander holiday! March 23rd is the day celebrated by Pilgrims as the anniversary of Ivar Chu McDaniel's ascension to a higher form of being. The Protur, head of the McDanielist church, will spend the next seven days praying and fasting in isolation. The Holy Day of Acclivity was introduced in the novel Wing Commander: Pilgrim Stars by Peter Telep.
The ship I'm flying is a Pegasus -- one of the 'capital' ships available to the player for a steep price. I'm running away from a Kamekh while firing the rear turret at it (equipped with two mass drivers and a particle cannon). As you can see, the lower left MFD displays the rear turret's status (all guns are green and thus not damaged), just as it would show the front guns and missile launchers when in the cockpit. The colored '+' around each ship shows which way the ship is pointing. As I'm currently using the turret, the forward pointing '+' is dark grey, while the '+' that indicates where the turret is pointing is the usual green. You switch between the cockpit and turrets with the F1-F4 keys. F1 is the cockpit, F2 the rear turret, F3 starboard turret, and F4 port turret.Another thing I don't think I've mentioned yet is the colors of the ships, both on the main screen and on the scanner. These colors depend on the kind of scanner you've got installed. Just as in Privateer, there are three series of scanners: B&S, Hunter AW and Iris. Each series differs in how ships are displayed. The B&S scanners display all ships in a light grey color (both on the main screen and the scanner), Hunter AW shows friendly ships as blue and hostiles as red, and Iris uses colors to indicate which faction the ship belongs to: Kilrathi are yellow, merchants grey, pirates red, and so on... As you can see, I've currently got an Iris scanner installed on my Pegasus.
Electronic Arts purchased its first outside development studio, Distinctive Software, in 1991. Based near Vancouver, British Columbia, Distinctive had previously worked on the Hardball and Test Drive series’ for EA’s competitor Accolade. After joining EA, they set to work on several of EA’s sports franchises and created the long-running Need for Speed series. Distinctive was later renamed EA Canada and is now one of the largest studios in Electronic Arts’ organization.
In 1992, Richard Garriott’s Origin Systems joined the fold. The Austin-based studio would go on to develop new volumes in Garriott’s Ultima and Chris Roberts’ Wing Commander series as well as the groundbreaking Ultima Online. Other important games from Origin included Crusader, Privateer, and Warren Spector’s System Shock. AH-64D Longbow, the first installment in the Jane’s Combat Simulations series, was also developed at Origin.
Despite its successes, Origin had difficulty integrating with EA and in 1999, after the release of Ultima IX, Garriott left the company. Later, several of Origin’s high-profile projects were canceled and the company was dissolved in 2004.
Soma has a strange story for us -- apparently thieves recently broke into a cabin owned by Origin founder Richard Garriott to steal $5,000 worth of alcohol. What's more, the clever criminals left a digital camera full of pictures of themselves. Read all about it here.
They're offering a reward, in spite of the fact the man behind Ultima VIII must understand that sometimes you need to stray from the path of the Virtues. Also, the next time you're wondering where those purple horses in Tabula Rasa came from, just remember that Richard Garriott owns a series of uninhabited cabins containing thousands and thousands of dollars of alcohol...
One of the coolest (and rarest!) types of Wing Commander memorabilia is dev team shirts. Origin used to hand out special shirts to everyone who worked on a particular game... so only a few examples of each ever existed. They often feature interesting new art, and can even sometimes add a little bit of information to the Wing Commander canon (like this one, which created a squadron designation).
Here's one that really takes the cake, though -- the dev team shirt for the original Privateer, featuring a very cool blueprint of the Centurion heavy fighter! This artwork doesn't appear anywhere else... which is a real shame, because it's very cool. There are high resolution images linked below -- anyone want to take a shot at figuring out the specifications?
I've been working on getting the Hunchback up to the new graphical spec - the old one was just too rough and... blech for it to pass muster amongst it's newer brethren. I've also been working on the the engine upgrades - the external modules they will attach to the engine hardpoint on your ship. This is another area where I just didn't like the quality of art I'd made previously, and even if I did... it simply doesn't fit in with the new stuff.I've also put together a rather minor in-cockpit effect. It's a kind of scum - dirt and just residue, I guess, that builds up on the outside of your cockpit windows as you fly about. It collects slowly, and only gets removed when you do a full/complete repair. I guess they throw the window wash in for free. There are also scortch marks planned using the same basic system. Ideally, these would only show up once you've flown through an explosion at close range.
The hardest part of the modeling thing is getting pictures of the original ship mesh into a 3D inverted box with the left side at the back face, front on the left face, back on the right face, top on the bottom face and bottom on the top face in order to properly make the model. The pictures must all be the same size to line up in the box correctly..A lot of these ships dont have very good pics, so doing them by eye and ending up getting hard-to-fix errors. Some of my models have errors that I've been working for a week to fix.
Morning all, now that my first project 'Heart Of The Tiger' is finished I'm eager to begin a new one, and what better than its popular sequel 'The Price Of Freedom'. I realise there are already plenty versions of Wing Commander IV already being / have been made, but in that case, what is the harm in one more?As you probably already know, WC4 has significantly better video quality than WC3. Since it has been released on DVD, you can't get much better without going High Def. Now my software allows me to edit the VOBs directly from the discs (ripped to my hard drive) so there should be no quality loss. Also the software allows me to make use of all 5.1 audio channels from the VOBs so the end result should be a true movie experience.
Hey all, Raptor here.In the past few hours, the Yorktown's pilots had crippled one of the two Nephilim super carriers they were fighting. The Nephilim are far from finished however, and the Yorktown crew, in conjunction with the Border Worlders from Battlegroup Valkyrie, have to find a way to destroy the two super carriers and their escorts without suffering devastating losses in the process. This chapter is jointly written by myself and Joe "Wraith" Guida. Please send any and all comments to me or to Joe at captpowell1@yahoo.com
http://www.holdingtheline.net/800/8ch215_3.html
Best, Raptor
Hot on the heels of Marc's Dorkathi release, there's a new update from Ironduke. He's released a "Kilrathi Escort Pack" for his Wing Commander war game, Tactical Operations. The download includes markers for 3 Dorkathi, 1 Kamekh, 2 Sartha and 2 Drakhri. Grab it here.
At the risk of editorializing, this is one impressive project -- a working paper game that also manages to retain the style and flavor of the early games.
No Gravity is a space shooter in 3D ' a la Wing Commander'. The player is controlling a space ship view from the first person. In each mission, the player need to accomplish some objectives, like shoot and destroys enemy ships or base, escorting some ships, clearing mine field, etc...You can even download a demo at the official site!
Its main plotline surrounds the stories of 8 people who discover abilities they've never had before. Some of them immediately embrace them, others fear societal judgement and keep them a secret. Some of them discover a prophecy that will result in a possible cataclysm, others will use their powers to change their lives and the lives of others.McDowell's character Mr. Linderman is the owner of the Linderman Group, and runs a hotel and casino in Las Vegas. He also appears to have mafia connections. It's quite likely that McDowell's character will appear in future episodes but as the show is currently on hiatus until April 23, so we have a little wait before we find out. McDowell can be seen below enjoying a spot of cooking in his hotel's restaurant kitchen. Thanks to Rick Salemi for pointing this out.
Fry's Electronics has reduced the price of EA Replay to $15 from $20. The adjustment appears to be the new fixed price rather than the result of any sale, and it's not listed on the company's website. If you missed out on Wing Commander for the PSP and are lucky enough to have a Fry's near you, now's the time to stock up. The cheapest internet price we can find is at J&R's Electronics. It's $18 plus $3 shipping there, so you might just be better off with Amazon's $20 and some form of free shipping if you're ordering online.
EA Replay also looks like it's finally set for release in Europe next week. The EA Press Site and various online retailers indicate a March 15-16 ship date in the United Kingdom, Germany and France.
Using the footage from the DVD quality video packs for Prophecy, I decided to explore the fears and anxiety associated with war. Framing the music video with Dallas' reactions, I've attempted to express visually his thoughts by cutting scenes of action and violence between. The video starts with the audio from Dallas' own funeral and is followed up with the song Dead, performed by My Chemical Romance. I feel the song suitably meets the needs of the visuals and its fast pace mimics the adrenaline associated with the anxiety faced by Dallas while lyricly punctuating the irony of his worry about death when inevitably that is his fate in the game. While admittedly the harder nature of the song may not be everyone's taste, I hope you will all enjoy the effort.
Download the file here (37 megs). You can find more music videos in the Holovids section.
Origin has been gone for a long time. I left Ion Storm before EIDOS shut down that studio, but once it did shut down, Ion Storm's dispersement seeded the growth in the Austin development community. I got about 10 people from Ion Storm who I really wanted to work with. Midway Austin picked up a bunch of people. There was a studio called BreakAway, that recently broke up, that had a lot of Ion Storm people. Ion Storm's development seeded new development. It was sad to see it go since I built it, with the help of a lot of other people, but I picked up some people I really wanted to work with again.Read the whole thing here.
Call to Glory is a Wing Commander RPG being built in the tradition of old games like Final Fantasy III (VI for the Japanese), Chrono Trigger, and the Dragonquest series on the antique Super Nintendo.It currently is being developed using the open-source RPG Toolkit.
The player assumes the roll of a Confed Marine in a Secret Ops mission gone wrong during the bloody Kilrathi offensive of WC3. As Confed is forced to pull back, the TCS Valhalla is pinned between a panic stricken colony and an invading Kilrathi force hell bent wiping you and the Valhalla out of the system for the glory of Sivar.
It'll be ready the day furballs die.
On the winning path, you have 3 Sabre missions, and 2 Rapier missions. Apart from those, you also have 2 missions where you choose between Crossbow, Sabre and Rapier, and 1 mission where you choose between Sabre and Rapier. Of course, that includes all the alternate missions (in particular, the two Crossbow/Sabre/Rapier missions are alterates of each other, so you'll only get to play one of them) - alltogether, without playing alternate missions, you'll fly 6 times on the winning path, with 4-5 opportunities to fly a Sabre, 3-4 opportunities to fly a Rapier, and 1 opportunity to fly a Crossbow.If you're one of our new readers following the Wing Commander Arena announcement, then you should be sure and give Standoff a try -- it's a loving tribute to the original series built on the Wing Commander Secret Ops engine!On the losing path, things get a bit more confusing because there's more alternate missions. There are 5 Rapier missions and 4 Sabre missions. There's also 1 mission where you choose between Crossbow, Sabre and Rapier, and 1 where you choose just between Sabre and Rapier. All told, sticking to one path, you'll fly 5 or 6 times, with around 4-5 opportunties to fly a Rapier, 3-4 opportunties to fly the Sabre, and 1 opportunity to fly the Crossbow.
So, I think pretty much everyone should be happy with the choices provided. Unless of course you happen to like the Crossbow... or the Stiletto . All I can say is that they don't get many Crossbows on the Firekka, so they're used sparingly... and you haven't quite seen the last of the Stiletto, either. Definitely no more Gladius missions, though - on very rare occasions, you might see your wingmen flying a Gladius if there isn't enough Sabres to go around... but if that happens, you can expect to be grounded soon, since Commodore Reismann doesn't much like wing commanders who lose all their ships.
"As we prepare to launch our first Xbox LIVE Arcade game, 'Boom Boom Rocket,' we're able to see how dynamic and creative this platform is," said Chip Lange, vice president of Online Commerce for Electronic Arts Inc. (EA). "Having 'Wing Commander Arena' on Xbox LIVE Arcade allows us to take full advantage of the online play and bring to life a 16-player online arcade experience that delivers unparalleled arcade action."
Origin gave us something special in Wing Commander, a space shoot'em up with a story. Branching missions, where the outcome of one mission influences what happens in the next helped to create a sense of purpose, and that there was a real meaning to your actions. Classic titles such as Freespace 2, Freelancer and the more recent Darkstar One have followed in the footsteps of Wing Commander by combining space combat with an evolving plotline.The influence of this game was also felt in the hardware industry, with it commonly being used as a display title to show off the power of modern PCs such as the 386, utilising a whopping 8bit (256 colour!) palette. At the time of release, 1990, the Commodore Amiga had established itself as the home computer of choice for gaming, but Wing Commander was one of a new wave of titles which helped to drive the emerging PC gaming market forward.
After Super Wing Commander shipped, the team had some down time. We weren't sure what we were going to be working on next, so Glen Johnson and I started fleshing out an idea we'd been tossing around for a mech game. We wanted to see a Gundam-style game, with fast and agile robots leaping about the countryside, as opposed to the heavy, plodding Mechwarrior-style games we'd seen.
Thanks for the reminder!
If I'm not mistaken, our plan changed slightly in light of the fact that Dave's been quite busy with police work.
Our plan, I think, is at present, to go back to the idea of releasing the album as it sounded on the game--all MT-32 (with a little boost from Sound Canvas in MT-32 mode). The twist is that we'd release it both as a CD and as files on AmieStreet.
I'll double-check with Linda and see if that's what we landed on.
In the meantime, please do feel free to enjoy our other stuff here:
http://amiestreet.com/thefatmanandteamfat
Invite the guys to try it out and let me know if you think that would be a suitable outlet through which your group would enjoy getting their music.
The best in videogame music is now global, mobile and portable. Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced that starting today the chart-busting music from its best-selling games will be available for purchase from the iTunes Store via ea.com. Game players and music lovers worldwide can visit www.ea.com/eatrax/ and jump directly to an iMix of the music from their favorite EA(TM) game on iTunes. From Madden NFL to Burnout(TM) to Need for Speed(TM), every song that can be heard in the game can now be purchased on iTunes including exclusive mixes, non-album cuts and previously unavailable international tracks.EA will continue to add songs, scores, themes, beats and ringtones from EA game franchises past and present including NBA LIVE, FIFA Soccer, Command & Conquer(TM), Medal of Honor(TM), NASCAR(R), SSX(TM), Battlefield and more.
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