Point of Origin: Vol. II, No. 13

Beware the ides of March - this especially interesting issue of Point of Origin, Origin Systems' internal newsletter, offers a fascinating look at the troubles the company faced in 1991. While reading through it, be sure to keep in mind that the company will be sold to Electronic Arts within a year. We'll get to that issue in the near future...

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:

• View from the Top is a fascinating and in-depth analysis of 1991 at Origin... and the news isn't all good - the delays of big ticket projects like Strike Commander and Ultima 7 coupled with failures of games like Worlds of Ultima endangered the company. What won the day? You guessed it! "It was a big year for the Wing Commander line. Wing I & II and their associated products accounted for 90% of domestic sales revenue. They also brought the company tremendous visibility and established ORIGIN's dominance in action/simulation as well as fantasy role playing... Given the limited success of some products and the slippage in schedule of others, hard work, Wing Commander and a certain amount of luck carried the company through what could havee been a very rough year."
• Bulldogs Take Flight describes a new push to sell Origin games at retail. It's mostly about upcoming titles, but Wing Commander gets some mentions: "Likewise, Fred Meyer, a 100 store chain, has picked up Ultima 7, Underworld and Wing Deluxe... Wing Deluxe is moving a little slower, but still sold in excess of 100 units in the first two days of release. Babbages has already placed a reorder for that."
• World Media Roundup talks about a whole lot of international magazines... and they're all honoring Wing Commander!

Wing 2
Build a new shelf for the trophy case; there's simply no stopping Wing 2. Germany's DOS International and Windows magazines have named it "PC Product of the Year." Our German rep will be picking up the award at the Cebit Conference in Hanover this week.

Through the wonderous technology of telephone, satellite communications and fact we've learned from our European Brand Manager, Jennie Evans, that Wing will be commanding a lot of attention at the upcoming European Computer Trade Show. Wing Commander has been nominated for "Best CD Game" (re-mastered onto CD-ROM by Software Toolworks), and Wing 2's been nominated for: Game of the Year, Best Action Game, Best Graphics, and Best Sound. The awards ceremony takes place April 12th at London's Limelight Club.

As reported in an earlier 'Point,' the Australian mag PC Games Plus gave Wing 2 its 'Game of the Year' and 'Technical Brilliance' awards. Well, that issue finally made it to the states, and guess what....Chris took top honors as 'Game Designer of the Year.' Congratulations to him and the team for all of this well-deserved recognition. There's really no way to describe the impact that the Commander line has made on the industry.

ORIGIN: On Top Down Under
In the same issue of PC Games Plus, Wing 2 was nominated for 'Arcade/Action Game of the Year' (edged out by D/Generation) and ORIGIN was nominated for 'Software Published of the Year' (edged out by Sierra). ORIGIN junkies had more-so much more-to enjoy in the same mag. Wing 2 gets a glowing two-and-a-half page review. Special Operations gets a thumbs-up as well.

Also... Look at the bulletin boards for these other articles: Wing 2's reviewed in PCM and Japan's PopCom, plus some playtips from VG & CE.

• On the Tube reports that Wing Commander 2 will be on TV: "Wing 2 will be part of a 'Reviewer's Favorites' episode of The Computer Chronicles, a national PBS show. Locally, you can see it in Austin on cable channel 30 on Wednesday, March 25, at 10:00 pm and again on Friday, March 25, at 6:30 pm."
• At Press Time gives status reports for two WC titles in the pipeline: "W2/German Final 1.3 Strong--could sign off late next week & Spc. Ops. Alpha 1.1 Early stages, but lots of fun."
• And, lastly: "In our next info-packed issue: An on-site report from the SPA symposium in Seattle, where Wing Commander II is up for awards in 3 categories. Don't miss it!"

Point of Origin
Vol. II, No. 13 - March 13, 1992 Contents A View from the Top
Bulldogs Take Flight
Multiple Choice
World Media Roundup
Over the Coals
Comings and Goings
On the Tube
At Press Time