Wing Commander Rocked Before High Def

The very first game in the series had some really excellent features that were miles ahead of their time. The most notable was the branching narrative. As you fight the Kilrathi, your victories and losses affect what system you will journey to next. Your conduct in space as well could mean the difference between whether your wing man lives or dies and you could face their funeral when you return if you perform badly enough. This meant, for the first time on a basic level, several players could play through the game and have different narrative experiences based on their abilities as pilots and their choices in the heat of battle.

...

Wing Commander II is arguably Chris Robert’s finest work as he manages to put together an amazing storyline packed with twists and turns. The story puts much of the Star Wars series to shame and was definitely one of the defining moments of early ninties PC gaming.

Confed Tank Ready to Shoot

As promised here are some shots of the details I've added to the hovertank. I've tried to stay true to the WC4 version, however I've added a couple things that weren't on the original model that I think would probably be on there, such as the computer terminal for transmitting messages and such. I've also re-done the main guns to make them more efficient in terms of polygons and hollowed them out so the projectile can actually come out. Next additions will be 'boxes' on the sides of the turret and adding some more detail to the body as well as some basic textures. If anyone can help me figure out what use those 2 boxes could have that'd be awesome, so far I'm thinking chaff and missiles but any input is greatly appreciated.

UO Producer on New Summer Story Arc

From my perspective no game is anything without substance. Ultima Online, in my opinion, has more substance than many interactive worlds with which I’ve been involved. In the next several months, we ask you to look beyond the surface of what we’ve given you, and what the purpose is. We are nowhere close to the middle of this saga. This is just the beginning. You will be going through many stages of battles. Evil is always the same, it just changes its face from time to time.

July, we are putting together a small present for new players, and those who wish to reactivate some of their under-developed or forgotten young accounts. There are some minor tech hurdles we are working through, but right now we are planning to press the visibility and accessibility of Ultima Online from multiple fronts.

Fan Fixes Fighter Feast

Just playing with my models again.

An Officer's Beginning Rocks Vega Sector

TCS Hibernia
Command Bridge
Far away from the conflict

Colonel Parker and Captain Lang were listening to the battle through the communication channels at the same looking at the progress of the battle at the tactical map.

Looking intently at the tactical map, Parker was rubbing his chin with one hand, while the other was squeezing a stress ball.
“Not good” said Parker, “not damn good”
“Colonel, Gamma Lead asking if they could join the fight and assist?” asked Lieutenant Jessica. Parker and Lang looked at each other uncertain of releasing Gamma Flight.
“We can ready the Wild Aces Squadron?” said Lang
“This was not part of the plan” said Parker. Looking at the tactical map Parker squeezed his stress ball tighter and took a deep breathe “Lieutenant tell Gamma Lead they are free to engage and assist. The Aces are on yellow alert. Tell Major Brady I want one flight launched and second flight on standby status”
“Yes Sir”
“A tad bit nervous David?” asked Captain Lang
“Shouldn’t a wing commander be?”
“Maybe”
“I’m sure your boys are will do well”
“That is what I’m afraid of”

Academy Opening Storyboarded Out

DarkStar One Ad Seeks WC Cred

There's Always (A New) Hope

Launch the Attack

Just Add Stars and Go

I'm trying to create a small Wing Commander "game" using Macromedia Director 8. I have made slightly simplified model of a Hellcat V, but I'm having a bit of a problem with texturing. I have a background in programming, but not in art/media. Do you people have any advice to create a (semi-)realistic metal texture? Also, does anyone have a good reference for all the metal seams/other texture objects on which people base their models on?

Wing Commander Shockwave

Click once in the opening screen ( yes I'll replace it at some point, but I needed a suitably low-compression ratio image to prevent a bug in Adobe Shockwave player for Firefox )

Controls:
Q,W - Roll
Arrow keys - Yaw, pitch
Z,X - Speed
Home - Return to opening screen

Thanks in advance :)

EA Rocks iPhone Launch

On the day of the Apple® iPhone® 4 launch, EA Mobile™ − a division of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) − dominates the Apple Top Grossing App chart for iPhone with 12 of the top 20 titles. EA Mobile also welcomes iPhone 4 with the release of NCAA® Football which has been specifically designed to maximize the power of iPhone 4’s new Retina display.

Since the inception of the iPhone, EA Mobile has been a definitive player with the rise of iPhone and iPod touch® devices as gaming platforms. Popular games include SCRABBLE, Tetris, MONOPOLY and BATTLESHIP, which have consistently ranked among top sellers and, in 2009, The Sims® 3 was the #1 best-selling game on the App StoreSM. For more information about EA Mobile, please visit www.eamobile.com.

Night Owl Gets the Pilgrim

Wing Commander
Sci-fi film based on the successful record-breaking computer game. The action takes place in the year 2654. Three young pilots from a squadron of elite interstellar pilots fight an alien race who are preparing to invade Earth. Their commander is a beautiful woman, endowed with extraordinary intuition and charisma ...

Early Bird Gets the Kats

Earth year 2564. The Confederation is engaged in a brutal war with the bloodthirsty alien race the Kilrathi. The Kilrathi have captured a computer navigation device, which they plan to use to jump behind enemy lines and attack Earth. Only three young space pilots and their elite fighter squadron stand in the way of the planet's destruction. Blair, Maniac and wing commander Deveraux are very different, but all are rebellious and talented, and must come together to fight a common enemy.

FMV Defined a Video Game Era

The Wing Commander games are arguably the only ones where known actors have emerged smelling of roses. It helped that unlike many, these games had a real budget – a then-insane $4 million for Wing Commander III, which used the standard bluescreen technique, and $12 million for the fourth game, which finally allowed for actual sets and physical special effects. Mark Hamill’s performance as world-weary space hero Christopher Blair grounded the series in a way that surprised everyone who thought Origin had just hired Luke Skywalker as a gimmick, while Tom Wilson (as the arrogant but insecure pilot Maniac) was pleased to be recognised as something other than Biff Tannen from the Back to the Future movies. Malcolm McDowell and John Rhys-Davies also showed up and gave excellent performances, to the point that the fourth game’s most exciting moment wasn’t the last space battle, but the FMV debate that followed it, where you had to talk a council chamber full of diplomats into acknowledging the bad guy’s naughtiness.

Blast From The Past

Saga Blasts Off Into The Wild Purple Yonder

This week, the Saga Team would like to show off another vessel: the Confed frigate. Our frigate is the 2669 variant of the post-War frigates seen in service with the Confederation and Border Worlds Fleets during Wing Commander 4.

More WCPedia Help Needed

I've finished with the conversion of the general capship and fighter articles to the new fighter infobox. All that remains in the Confed category is the individual ship articles (Tiger's Claw, Concordia, Victory, Princeton, Eagle's Talon, Mount St. Helens, you get the picture). If someone would like to tackle this small project, please do! It's an easy project, it will just take a bit of time. It is made easier though because you can copy and paste much of the infobox for individual ships from the general ship article saving quite a bit of typing.

The other ship categories are still in need of conversion. Aeronautico has done a few Kilrathi fighters, but otherwise that category is untouched.

Missions are my next priority. I only have a few to add basic mission script information to before I am done. There is still a need for someone to go back through the WC1 script and add in all the alternative briefing/debriefing/rec room conversations in the articles. I can explain to anybody willing to take on the project how to understand the WC1 script. I've also got the SM1/2 scripts ready to go thanks to LOAF. Once the WC1 mission articles have the basic stuff in I'll move on to doing SM1. It would be great to, again, have someone going over the articles after me and adding in little things like missing images and text. Just let me know.

If anyone has any suggestions or is looking for something to do on the project, but not sure what, just let me know. I've got tons of things that people can do to help out!

Buy PSN Wing Commander IV from the Web

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DOSBox 0.74 Released

Tanks for the Pictures

I decided to model the hovertank from the Circe missions of WC4. Thinking about making some more ground vehicles and perhaps making a mod for MW2 or some such. No textures yet as I'm just getting back into modeling and still not very good at textures yet. Any comments and suggestions are welcome!

Tiger's Claw Barracks Lit and Lengthened

I mirrored the room so that more beds exist on the other side of the camera. There is a beam splitting the two rooms which cuts the image horizontally where the black line in the original image originally was, this helps add more surfaces to bounce light off of and gives more light overall since the lights were also mirrored behind the camera. I'm happy with the level of illumination and now the Status readout panel is a bit brighter.

Confederation on the Move

It's modeled on U.S. Navy archival photographs, hence the white bar with Times Roman on the top, to give it the feel of an historical artifact. The actual design of the poster is modelled loosely on early-war Soviet propaganda; the graffiti-like-writing-in-blood colors style that was popular with everyone in the Second World War; not so much in the First, oddly enough. It was a lot more popular with the Russians and Germans than it was with the British or Americans (though the Australians had something similar in the period immediately after Pearl Harbor).

Looking at it now, I probably made a mistake juxtaposing that phrase over what essentially is a serene image. It looks more like a peacetime recruiting poster than a wartime "BUY WAR BONDS" sort, and if I had decided on the text first I probably would have gone for a more muscular image. But the art was the part that was done first, and the text was literally slapped-on in the last few minutes. I'm not sure why I chose the text, I did, either - the idea here is that the battle for the Vega Sector is won (or at least in the balance), not that Confed is losing the war or on the verge of grave defeat. I think it was just mood - I'd just finished composing the image and was hysterically-exuberant; I needed a catchy phrase and I jumped to something hysterically-exuberant. I figured "LONG LIVE THE CONFEDERATION" was a good motto that would be on a lot of posters.

Kicking Back with Academy Storyboards

Complete Your Collection With Wing Commander Academy

Speaking of Wing Commander Academy, do you know what was hidden on Tortuga? Where the 2654 Sivar-Eshrad ceremony was held (not Firekka!)? How Krulan nar Ragitagha died? Or who commanded the KIS Agon Ra Sivar? If any of those questions don't ring a bell, it's time to brush up on the animated series! The thirteen episodes follow the TCS Tiger's Claw through an exciting year in Wing Commander history. First time watchers might want to check out the Viewers Guide to read about the difference between chronological and broadcast order. Grab all thirteen episodes, plus some special features, below.

NOTE: Wing Commander Academy episodes are no longer available for download. Please support the franchise by buying the complete DVD set through the link above.

	Opening titles 1 (8.4 MB) Opening titles 2 (8.4 MB) Saga of the Warrior King Story - Download
Original Press Kit Series Bible & Scripts Viewers Guide History of the Warrior King Ships Guide Background Artwork Production Jacket

No Kilrathi Aboard Here

The first in a series of World War 2 style propaganda posters set in the Wing Commander universe and made by yours-truly.

Internet Archeology Unearths Old Interview

Tell us about the Origin years.

It was more hands-off. I was less involved with music than I used to be. There were those that had composed for longer than I had and were simply better at it than me, for example George Oldziey. I can't get that "orchestral sound". All my music is minimalist, I think it's because I learned my trade on the SID!!! In the future I think there will be an outlet for my style though, we'll have to see.

I became more involved with dialogue, which simply didn't exist in the 80's. From scriptwriting, to directing actors, to editing the dialogue later and processing it to get a good clear sound in the game.

Why was Digital Anvil built up?

Because Electronic Arts, who owns Origin, wouldn't give Chris (and by implication the team) the flexibility we needed to produce the kind of games we wanted to. Several new game ideas got canned. The Wing Commander feature project is a case in point, they weren't interested in doing it there. So we all left. We just secured the rights from them do to it ourselves and we're working on it now (for December 1998 release), because that's what we wanted to do. I understand one of the other games that was canned is one that we may acquire to complete later. It's about doing what we want. Origin employees are faced with such projects as Ultima Underworld 3, Privateer 3, Wing Commander 6, Ultima 9... Can you see a pattern there?

Tell us who's employed and such things.

In addition to all that corporate blurb on the web site, all the best staff from the Strike Commander, Wing Commander and Privateer teams all moved over to DA to continue making kick-ass space fantasy games. In addition, Tony Zurovec and the best of the Crusader team moved over here, and they're still into guns, explosions & carnage, except that this time it involves cars too, something we're all into!

Relaxing Rec Room Rendered

Good 'ole Shotglass dispenses more then just fine drinks, as his subtle nods coach you through yet another _______ conversation with _______.

I've noticed that nothing in the image shows any depth, I assume for simplicity. The table tops, chairs and bar top show depth but more for the players benefit. The simulator has a bit of forced perspective to show the screen a bit more then it should. The floor is the only clear reference for perspective.

New XBox 360 Announced

Epee Attacked by Wedge

From an artistic point of view, Wing Commander II is probably my favourite out of the whole series of games. The saturated colours makes everything so bright and lively and the colour schemes make it easy to distinguish between friend and foe.

This is an Epee light fighter, often derided by players for having thinner-than-toilet-paper armour, at rest on the flight deck of the TCS Concordia. Compared with my previous drawings, I worked out how to filter scanned sketches so that the resulting black-and-white starting point is much cleaner. Consequently, the colour palette used makes the final image look rather cartoony, but then, the original game had a cartoon feel about it anyway. My colouring technique is rather basic, admittedly, but after doing some research, I realise this is probably the best I can manage without spending money on a tablet (which would be a rather extravagant waste of money given that I don't draw very much).

Materials: Paper, mechanical pencil, fine-tip black ink pen.
Software: GIMP 2.6.
Time: About one and a half hours sketching plus two and a half hours colouring.

Kotaku Bets on Wing Commander

Prediction (Odds)

* Wing Commander reboot announced - for consoles (500:1)
* EA unveils Privateer: Steltek's Lament, an all-new adventure in the Wing Commander universe 30,000:1)
* Sony unveils a new PSP this one with two thumbsticks. (1000:1)
* We finally hear something official about a new Syndicate. (50:1)
* Steel Battalion is revealed as Capcom's core Natal game (16:1)
* Hulu comes to Xbox Live (1:1)
* Microsoft acts as if the Zune doesn't exist (2:1)

Ascii Sector Continues to Expand

- Fixed bug with a transfer procedure still completing even though it's interrupted by hostiles.
- Fixed bug with stunned NPCs acting as witnesses and calling for help.
- Fixed bug with EMP Torpedoes not homing in when fired from a capital sized ship.
- Fixed bug with Kilrathi ejecting from a mission ship.
- Fixed bug with a scooped ejected pilot being placed on the same tile as another NPC.
- Fixed bug with the equipment locker on a boarded Demon: Only the player's ship has an equipment locker now.
- Fixed bug with commodity items reappearing in the exchange if you save the game while still using the exchange terminal.
- Fixed bug that could cause the game to freeze when using the inventory (the game would think there was a quest being played and check for unexisting trigger events when picking up or dropping items).
- Fixed issue with the old Quine4000+ not being upgraded to the 5000 model when loading an old game.
- Fixed bug with a kill from a hand grenade not being registered if nobody saw you throw the grenade.
- Fixed bug with the weight of a grenade not being subtracted from your total weight when throwing it.
- Fixed bug with not being able to walk onto a tile with a corpse that was sitting on a chair.
- Fixed bug with a quest item not being removed correctly after a quest is done if the item is in the player's backpack or locker.
- Fixed bug with cargo being spawned on a retro Talon.
- Balanced the commodity market prices to make trading more profitable: When a commodity is produced at a base, the price will never go above the index price, and if a commodity is consumed at a base, the price will never go below the index price. Also increased price variations between imports and exports. And when you buy/sell in bulk, each unit is now priced the same. Had to remove the "Sell all" button or this could be abused.
- Added top imports and exports information in the Quine5000 for each base you've visited (under Sector > Trade).
- The Quine5000 is now the default computer in the game -- the old Quine4000+ has been retired.
- You can no longer delete a mission where you still have to collect payment.
- Added ShowImage quest trigger result for showing cutscene images.
- Added ASCII drawing program for making quest cutscene images (you can find it by selecting Quest Maker from the main menu).
- Added five new systems.
- Added seven new bases.
- You can now sell stuff from your locker at the equipment shop.

Wing Commander Goes Green

CIC Birthday Less Than Two Months Out

Next Prelude to Darkness Chapter Hits Halfway Mark

Part 11 contains three main scenes, I am pleased to say the first one is complete and I am diving into the next one, the third scene is one I’ve been wanting to make for awhile so I’m looking forward to that.

You may notice I am attempting to do a fan drive on the facebook page, with a little pushing from a friend :) . So spread the word and suggest your friends like the page, and let’s see if we can get some numbers up there.

Privateer 3 in Print

Last week, we posted some amazing Privateer 3 artwork from developer Ruben Garza's online portfolio. Mr. Garza's resume revealed one moer interesting fact: a piece of his Privateer 3 work appeared in "Spectrum 6", part of an art book series which collects a variety of sci-fi and fantasy artwork. We ordered a copy from Amazon and discovered the image scanned below--it belongs in a museum!

Spectrum 6 was published in 1999 and is currently out of print, but as luck would have it there will be a softcover reprint released in September! It's a neat chance to own a part of Privateer 3.

artist: RUBEN GARZA JR client: Origin title: Privateer--Black Star medium: Digital size: 17"x11"

Upcoming WC Movie Showtimes in France

Le sujet

En 2654, un vaillant guerrier intègre une force d'intervention spatiale qui s'oppose à une monstrueuse invasion perpétrée par des extraterrestres belliqueux.

Au XXVIIe siècle, la Terre entre en guerre contre le puissant empire Kilrathi, qui ambitionne de l'annexer et de la soumettre, comme le reste de l'univers. A l'issue d'une attaque-surprise, les créatures de Kilrathi, au physique proche de celui des humains, prennent le contrôle du système central de navigation. Les envahisseurs disposent désormais de voies d'accès directes à la planète bleue. Plus rien ni personne ne semble pouvoir freiner leur progression. Personne, sauf peut-être le lieutenant Christopher Blair et ses deux compagnons, le pilote Maniac et l'aventurier Paladin. Sous les ordres de leur «Wing Commander», la superbe Devereaux, il partent à l'assaut de l'empire Kilrathi...

Feel the Wind Blast By

As a near daily regular and occasional contributor to the CIC for over 10 years, I paged through the archives to catch up on everything Wing Commander related and came across G_Starkiller's new Hornet model that you posted a few days back. His work, along with my own guilt at having unwittingly neglected wcnews.com for so long, inspired me to blow the dust of Howard Day's excellent Hornet model and render up a new wallpaper to share with you all.

I hope people enjoy the render as much as I did making it.

GoG Adds More Space Sims

A guerilla war has been raging in space for centuries. Human colonies are breaking away from Earth's control, declaring independence from the Commonwealth. As a Commonwealth Navy commander, your mission is to stop the Indie rebels and their attacks of terror and random piracy. It's a sophisticated, interstellar battle for life, and you must fight your way along the path between duty and justice. With luck and skill you can secure a victory for mankind.

Have Fun Exploring the Sega CD Claw Marks

Everyone Should Have a Wing Commander Weekend

I had planned to be productive this weekend. I was going to do my blog posts for the week, tidy everything up, sort the bills, reply to outstanding emails, do some more XNA tutorials etc.

Yet, for some reason I felt compelled to play Wing Commander II. I had it on an old Creative Labs OEM CD and thanks to the magic of DosBox I was able to play it again for the first time in perhaps a decade or more.

Windows Compatibility 'Superpatch' Updated

This is a collection of Application Compatibility fixes for various Wing Commander games for Microsoft Windows XP. It should save the player from having to manually configure compatibility settings in order to play.

At the time of release of Windows XP, Microsoft has built-in some compatibility fixes, but they were either incomplete or do not sucessfully cater to the myriad of system configurations in existence.

Always try playing without any compatibility fixes first. You might not need this at all!

Remembering Our Fallen Wingmen

What made it real, though, was the fact they could die. One stray bullet, whether by accident or some careless command from you, the player, and they were dead. And not video game dead, where you could magically revive them, or they'd be "unconscious" and would return for the next mission. Actually dead. They'd be stricken from the game, their progress lost, and to replace them, you'd need to get a fresh young soldier and do it all again.

To lose a player like that is heart-breaking. And because of that, you remember it. You remember the characters you liked most, the ones who helped you out in the most important missions. And each time you enter a new battle, those old characters are still with you, their loss serving as an example, making you more aware, more cautious of what's around each corner.

Fancy 3D Trick Jump Starts Barracks Modeling

I enjoy walking the corridors as much as I do piloting spacecraft, so I decided to do some interior modeling. I did a quick search and found that someone else did in fact make a barracks model. It's very nice, and further inspired me to work on my model.

Privateer 3 in Motion

Privateer 3 at Rest

Southampton Turns Towards the Sun

Wing Commander Ripens on the Vine

Ever since Space War! and other titles entertained forward thinking minds and delightfully nerdy fingers over fifty years ago, video games have become a staple of modern entertainment. And over the past two decades, Hollywood has been trying to successfully translate the platform's biggest successes from arcade, television, and computer screens to the silver screen (and not just for gaming competitions).

With casual, MMO, and social gaming expanding the audience of gamers today (we see you and your needy cows, Farmville players), there is no doubt that Hollywood will keep trying to bring the active experience of gaming to the passive comforts of your local multiplex. Critically, despite its best efforts, well, Hollywood appears to have a ways to go.

New Hornet Joins The Swarm

I was playing Wing Commander for the first time in over a decade, yeah, I know I'm dating myself here. I figured it'd be cool to try to do high detail models of these ships.

I started with the ship I flew in the first few missions, the F-36 Hornet, Confed's top light fighter at the time of the first game. I just finished detailing and assigning materials to the laser cannons and missles. I also just finished the armour plating.

Destiny Is Not Our Destiny

Mark Hamill Taking Command of Shooting Things

Considering that Hamill’s writing career encompasses some stories for “The Simpsons” comics, an introduction to a Batman anthology and one major comic miniseries, “The Black Pearl,” the clues made it clear that he’s talking about the latter, five-part story, which he’s said he wants to direct ever since its initial publication in 1996.

The story of “The Black Pearl,” Hamill told the New York Daily News at the time, is "a crime thriller, fairly raw in terms of violence … about tabloid journalism and sensationalism and all the things that thrillers come from."