Point of Origin: Vol. II, No. 11

February 14, 1992: the delays of Strike Commander, Ultima VII and Underworld have forced Origin to push ahead several budget 'collection' releases. Here we see that plan put into practice, plus some frank (and cautiously positive) discussion of the company's future. Of course, there's plenty of Wing Commander in the mix...

A very special thanks to Joe Garrity of the Origin Museum for making this resource available and to Electronic Arts for sending them to him in the first place!

Here's the breakdown for Wing Commander:

• Rollout!!! details the release of three games to make up for the Ultima delays - including the deluxe edition of Wing Commander I. It tells a pretty interesting story about some games that you probably thought were just routine 'shovelware':

In a budgetary game of beat the clock, three products will be heading out hte door before the fiscal year ends February 29: the Wing Commander Deluxe Edition, which includes Wing and both Secret Missions; ULTIMA The Second Trilogy (you can figure that one out); and Ultima VI for Amiga.

The former two products were originally scheduled for 2nd quarter release, but the Christmas dry spell prompted a bump. That sent Marketing and Operations into their own 'crunch modes,' trying to get boxes designed, manuals printed and shipping scheduled. Some extra in-house effort from Mike Harrison, Debbie Nettingham, Craig Miller and Curtis Wood shaved two weeks from the normal five week process, so everything will be at STARpAK in time.

Fred says these releases will put us 'back into business and helpend the fiscal yearon a decent note.'... The Sales staff is optimistic about all three products. 'The retail channel s till has a very high confidencein ORIGIN. It's really incredible,' Marten says. He adds that there is a virtual vacuum of competition out there, leaving a window of opportunity wide open when Underworld and U7 follow suit. The optimism'sbeen bolstered by good news from Software Toolworks, which released the CD-ROM version of Wing Deluxe and U6/Wing a few weeks ago. Sales have been even stronger than expected, indicating that the installed baseof CD drives is getting established.

• The Envelope, Please reports on yet more honors for Wing Commander 2. These upcoming awards will be a recurring issue in the next several newsletters:

Still more congratulations are in order for the Wing Commnader II team. On Tuesday, we got word that Wing 2 has been voted a finalist in the 1991 software Publishers Association Exellence in Software Awards in not one, but two categories: Best Entertainment Program (the bigone) and Best Action/ArcadeProgram (big in its own right). 880 SPA members voted in the preliminary balloting; the same 880 will make the final dscision. Here's how the competition stacks up:

Best Arcade/Action Program
* Wing Commander II
* Lemmings (Psygnosis)
* Sonic the Hedgehog (Sega)
* Super Tetris (Spectrum Holobyte)
* Spectre (Velocity)

Best Entertainment Program
* Wing Commander II
* Sherlock Holmes (ICOM)
* Civilization (MicroProse)
* Lemmings (Psygnosis)
* Jet Fighter II (Velocity)

Point of Origin
Vol. II, No. 11 - February 14, 1992 Contents My Funny Valentine...
Rollout!!! Collections & Conversions Hitting the Shelves
The Envelope, Please
Dear Point Man
Milestones
Growing Pains
Buy: The Way
Comings and Goings