Point of Origin: Vol. V, No. 4

With the Arena artwork finished it looks like we're going to have to do one of these every day until the collection runs out! This is the April 7, 1995 issue of The Point of Origin -- and Wing Commander III is still on everyone's minds.

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!

• In Ink has even more about WCIII:

Meanwhile the Wing Commander III juggernaut keeps on rolling. On March 22nd, WC3 was featured in a 4 1/2 minute story on NBC's Today Show. Jim Brown, Our Man in Austin (as he's called on the show), put together a nice piece that included interviews with Mark Hamill, Malcolm McDowell and John Rhys-Davies. Jim spent a day-and-a-half on the set of WC3 last spring and finally put his story on the air. Better late than never, especially when you're dealing with the millions who watch The Today Show. If you haven't seen the program, drop by media relations in the marketing area and check out a copy.

And the WC3 report card continues to show high marks. In Multimedia World, Vince Broady gave Wing Commander III a grade of 5 out of 5. 'Wing Commander III is one of the most addictive games I have played. (It's) a triumphant achievement that delivers a gaming experience that will enthrall you for weeks. Awesome on every level.'

Julie Cohen gave WC3 a rating of 3 1/2 out of 4 in the April edition of Home PC magazine. 'Heart of the Tiger,' she exclaims, 'quickly earns its stripes-and raises the state of computer gamer's art. A fully orchestrated soundtrack makes John Williams' sweeping film scores sound like elevator music.' Kudos to George Oldziey.

What's this, a couple more honors for ORIGIN products??? Throw 'em on the pile. This month Computer Gamine World inducted Ultima Underworld into its Hall of Fame... Underworld joins Ultima III, IV, VI and Wing Commanders I and II in the CGW Hall.

And at ECTS in the UK last month, Wing Commander III received Login Magazine's Game of the Year Award. Login is a Japanese-based computer gaming magazine that is widely distributed in Europe.

• The 1995 SXSW Multimedia Conference, ORIGIN Style! is an article by Wing Commander vet Adam Foshko!:

The crowd gathered around the phosphor screen upon which the multi-colored images danced. Their gazes were transfixed on the characters on the screen, compelling them to follow stories that, like most well-presented productions, took them through a whole series of emotions. In short, they were entertained -- but more than that they were involved. However, this involvement went much farther than the passive watching of, say, the newest television rage or film release. These people were participating in an interactive movie, playing on an IBM -- and they loved it. This was the scene at the 1995 South by Southwest Multimedia Festival that was in action March 14th-15th at Austin's Hyatt Regency.

The scene described above was particularly evident at the booth that ORIGIN had set up in the exhibitor's room, where Wing Commander III and BioForge continued to attract curious conference attendees thirsting for an interactive, yet cinematic, experience. In fact, it was obvious from the onset of the conference that ORIGIN dominated the event, even though many other Austin and other nationally based companies were represented. From the keynote address by Richard Garriott to panel discussions led by Chris Douglas, Randy Buck, Jennie Evans, C.J. Taylor and myself, with topics that covered everything from digital music and interactive movies to marketing strategies for multimedia products, ORIGIN's presence was strongly felt.

As if this wasn't enough, another first for SXSW was the presence of an interactive movie panel at the film potion of the conference. ORIGIN once again let its presence be felt with the attendance of several members of the Wing Commander III team. Throughout the presentation (which, by the way, drew a fairly good crowd) Chris Roberts, Chris Douglas, John McLean, Frank Savage, Galen Svanas and Mark Day fielded questions that ranged from the scripting of Wing Commander III and the rigors of developing interactive products to the potential future of interactive production here and in Los Angeles.

All in all, it is apparent that Austin is quickly becoming a mecca for interactive and multimedia development. It is also abundantly clear from our presence at this conference, and from the response of a public that thirsts for creative and cutting edge entertainment, that ORIGIN stands on the pinnacle of this mecca, poised to take the next big leap forward.

• New Hires adds three familiar names to Wing Commander's roll of honor: "Jason Hughes has just signed on to Chris Roberts' group as a Software Engineer/Gameflow Programmer on Wing IV. Jason comes to us from Motorola, and prior to that studied at UT. His favorite color is 'Nine' [sic], and he's interested in collecting medieval weaponry, so we should all be very careful around Jason (just kidding!). Eric Peterson has also joined Chris' group as an Associate Producer on the Privateer II team. Eric is an avid gamer, who also loves sports, and in a prior life sold computers to the government (is that like being a 'greeting card salesman'?) and was also a stand-up comic for 2 years, hopefully not at the same time:-). We all look forward to hours of laughs with Eric! Pauline Saab is the third addition to Chris' group: she is working as an Advanced Graphics Specialist on Wing Commander IV, and has recently graduated from William Paterson College. Pauline not only loves art, but also sports, and is hoping to get her own horse soon (any pointers, Michelle C.?)."
• A letter in Point Man asks a rhetorical question that will soon be more real than anyone imagines: "What if someone had felt that Chris Roberts was replaceable because Strike was getting a bit late? How would Wing 3 have turned out if Chris wasn't around?"
• The EOM goes to one of Wing Commander's most-loved developers: "This month's nomination for top honors at ORIGIN goes to Anthony (Andy) Sommers, for his tireless efforts in both tracking and solving problems with Wing Commander III, and for providing top-quality customer support for the game. Andy is an extremely versatile performer in QA: he's not only responsible for telephone support, but has also taken on bug tracking and reporting, troubleshooting hardware problems, assisting in creating patches for the game, and working on a team to get Wing III running under OS/2. As you can imagine, a lot of this work was done in Andy's spare time: a true sign of commitment to quality... Andy has been here at ORIGIN for just under a year and has either supervised or assisted testing on an impressive lineup of games: Armada, Wing III, Wing III 3DO, and soon, Wing IV."
• Last, but certainly not least, a photo caption reveals that SWC Mac has shipped: "It's a bouncing baby INIT file! The proud parents of Super Wing Commander for Macintosh celebrate their baby's ship date."

Point of Origin
Vol. V, No. 4 - April 7, 1995 Contents
Spotlight: Geeks o'Plenty! Our Wild Robofest Weekend
In Ink
Off the Clock
EOM
Another little ORIGINite
Point Man
ORIGIN Goes to the European Computer Trade Show
30 Fun Things to Do in an Elevator
Ticker
The 1995 SXSW Multimedia Conference, ORIGIN Style!
New Hires
The Future