Point of Origin: Vol. IV, No. 54

The March, 1994 issue of Point of Origin is full of interesting Wing Commander references, including a mention of 'trial' versions of Academy and Origin FX that I had not heard of before. The most interesting thing, though, is another passing mention of 'Bounty Hunter' -- here called "our most futuristic product." What was it?

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!

• Butt-Clenchin' reports bad news for SWC3DO: "And, as if the plot needed another twist, there's been a snag with SUper Wing. 'The joystick file didn't get encrypted at 3DO,' he says. 'We're getting a new ersion Friday. We hope to have it tested by Monday. It will go to duplication Monday, and I'm asking for a three-day minimum turnaround so we can ship it on Friday next week.'"
• EOM Whitney Ayres celebrates another great Wing Commander veteran: "Whitney has had a more than a decent two year history at ORIGIN as a lead artist on Wing Commander Academy (the only artist actually) and as an artist for both Privateer and ORIGIN FX."
• On the Clock welcomes aboard a man we all know and love: "As a new composer, George Oldziey will be working on the score for Wing Commander III. He's a faculty member at Southwestern University in Georgetown and has played trumpet in a few bands over the years. George's lit of credits include a New York salsa band called Ricardo Marrerro and Group which featured vocalist ngela Bolfil and jazz flutist David Valetin. This band also performed at Madison Square Garden in N.Y. George is currently playing with the Brazilian music band from Austin, Susanna Sharpe and Samba Police, which releaed a new CD in Dec. of '93."
• Off to Market has some unique new ways to sell Origin games: "Wing Academy and ORIGIN FX will be our first forays into electronic distribution. That's where somebody gets a slew of titles on a single CD, tries a program for a limited time, and then calls an 800-number for the code to "unlock" the program and d rop it to the hard drive. The company we're uisng is CD Select. It's sending 200,000 CDs to customers who have purchased through electronic distribution before. Both FX and Academy will also be on a separate disc, primarily filled with business applications, that will go out to corporate customers (they need entertainment, too)... Since there's no real 3DO bandwagon yet, we're also finding unique ways to get out word about Super Wing. We started by making sure it was fully represented with info and screen shots in the 3DO press kit at CES. Now, we're supplyin copies of the game to go out with loaner players which 3DO is supplying to major press like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Next: direct cross-marketing with Panasonic itself to see what can be done to establish Super Wing as the premier 3DO title. We'll also see what we can do with CH Products to cross market with their 3DO joystick coming out this June."
• In Print only has a few Wing Commander mentions: "In other news from around the globe, you might want to pick up the April edition of CD-ROM World when it hits the stands soon. You'll find a feature article on CD-ROM flight sims. A good portion of the report is devoted to ORIGIN's Wing Commander line. Christopher Forrest Grover calls Wing Commander, '...a runaway hit which includes plenty of flight sim comba fighting and a compelling story line.'... And two ORIGIN titles have been nominated in CGW's Game of the Year awards. Privateer and Shadowcaster are among five games nominated for Action Game of the Year."

Point of Origin
Vol. IV, No. 54 - March, 1994 Contents Butt-Clenchin' Time
Off to Market
EOM Whitney Ayres
On the Clock
Dear Point Man
Ticker
In Print