After a limited European release late last year, the action fantasy film In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale has finally opened in the US. Originally intended to be a two-parter, the release date was pushed back a few times. Uwe Boll's latest spectacle stars Wing Commander duo Matthew Lillard and John Rhys-Davies. The impressive cast also includes Jason Statham, Burt Reynolds, Ray Liotta, Leelee Sobieski, Ron Perlman, Claire Forlani and Kristanna Loken. A 90 second trailer is available here in handy Flash Video format.
On a related note, the Lancer's Reactor, the premiere community hub for Starlancer, Freelancer and Dungeon Siege, is back after a recent meltdown and a couple of server moves. Forum topics and site content are not up yet, but gamers can download essential files and see the site's fresh new look. MentalChaos asks that anyone with experience migrating a database from MS SQL to MySQL give him a call.
Issue 51 ("December") marks the end of 1993 for Point of Origin -- and marks the start of some changes. From this point on the newsletter will be published monthly... so there will be fewer issues a year from the point on. That's good news for those who are eager to see Wing Commander III and IV's releases. That said, this issue is interesting for a few reasons - including being the surprisingly early first appearance of the beautiful Wings of Glory box artwork. Who knew that incredible game was in development for so long?
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!
- Viva Las COMDEX! has a report on Privateer's appearance at the COMDEX show: "You may have noticed that during the week of November 15-19, the Sales team and our Public Relations department were not in the office (and then again, you may not have noticed). In any case, it was because we were at the monster COMDEX show in Las vegas showing the Strike Commander CD in the main convention hall, courtesy of the Toshiba Corporation, and showing Privateer in Yamaha's booth, also gratis... Over at the Yamaha booth, Lee 'Oh Why did I Have Foot Surgery a Week Before COMDEX?' Moore was wooing the crowds with Privateer and Strike Commander utilizing the Yamaha speaker system with its new General MIDI soudn card, but it was still in development right up to the first day of the show (sound familiar?0, so we just used our standard sound cards. Yamaha didn't mind, since Lee was being bombarded with people trying to see Privateer, which in turn drew larger crowds in the Yamaha booth."
- Print and Prizes has the usual selection of good reviews: "PC Entertainment has come out with its Ultimate PC Gaming Guide, an XMAS special. Three of our titles make the Editor's Picks List. Bernie Yee says Privateer has a 'state-of-the-art soundtrack, and the graphics are up to ORIGIN's high standards.'... Mike Harrison's Wing Commander Strategy Guide shows up on a list of Top-10 hint books. Japan's Pop Com has an ORIGIN product guide in which reviewer Toren Smith begins: 'ORIGIN, in my opinion, has never produced a dud game.' He tells all Wing Commander fans that they must have Wing Academy... Back home again, Privateer gets a good review (89%) in December's Computer Game Review. Editor Steve Honeywell takes to the high board to go off the deep end. 'Privateer is awesome,' he proclaims. 'It's one of those rare games you could see yourself playing years into the future and for twelve hours at a time. Truly cool!' In the same issue, though, Wing Academy gets a lukewarm review (80%). The writers basically say it's old technology and really best suited for already-hooked Wing fans. Academy fares a little better in the premiere issue of Electronic Entertainment (formerly PC Games). 'The Wing Commander juggernaut rolls on,' Bernie Yee writes, but he laments the lack of storyline and new technology. Usually, Bernie is a good reviewer, but this time, he just doesn't get it. The former editor of the former PC Games, Greg Keizer, includes Academy on his Christmas buying list in the December issue of Penthouse, cementing his reputation as a quality reviewer and solidifying our need to renew our subscription."
- 3DO News has, well, 3DO News: "Super Wing Commander figures to be a decent chunk of 3DO's CES plans. We're placing a SWC3DO press release in the 3DO press kit and providing an array of screen shots for reviewers who need them. Right now, there's still a dearth of titles for 3DO, so Super Wing could get a good bump in visibility."
Point of Origin
Vol. III, No. 51 - December, 1993
Contents
Viva Las COMDEX!
Print and Prizes
EA Hollywood
3DO News
Dear Point Man
NEWS.TXT
Ticker
Employee of the Month
New Hires
Most Popular Compuserv Cheat Programs
Changes in Store for Point of Origin
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