News Collection: On This Day in WC News

2024.068 (March 8, 2024)

Richard Riehle Reflects on Iconic Office Space Role

Today we have an interview from the Hollywood Reporter with the cast of Office Space on its 25th Anniversary. Richard Riehle has a lot to say, and I thought it was fun to hear his perspective on various things even if there's no direct connection to Wing Commander. I was surprised to see that Mr. Riehle is 75 years old now, which would have put him in his early/mid 40s when portraying the role of Pliers in WC4.

2023.067 (March 8, 2023)

Short Shrift Reviews for SWC and Armada

Today we've got a pair of tiny reviews from vintage mid '90s magazines. They're arguably less exciting than the big spreads that the main story games would usually get, but my take is that these are still important in the context of Wing Commander history. Both are short, but that's why I dug up two to share. Print real estate was valuable back in the day, so sometimes the only information you'd have about certain games would be a few sentences like this here and there.

2022.067 (March 8, 2022)

Tractors for the Memories

Well folks, it looks like like 100% of people are eager for some tractor content... which I assume is representative of all 200 million Twitter users! Let's talk Wing Commander's tractors... and other deck vehicles!

2021.067 (March 8, 2021)

1994 CGW Teases Rumors of Wing Commander 4

Today's update is a brief one, but this tiny column off to the side of a December 1994 CGW page brings back some huge memories. Many fans had yet to even play Wing Commander 3 at this point, but early signs were that it was a huge hit, and Origin/EA were ready to strike again with a blockbuster sequel. Although WC4 ultimately did slide out from Christmas 1995 to February 1996, it was still a very fast turnaround. The Wing Commander franchise was firing on all cylinders at this point, and anything seemed possible!

2020.068 (March 8, 2020)

Wingleader Code Shows Off Kilrathi Pilot Logic

Anatoly Shashkin has posted another awesome bit of WC history. He's shared several pages of preliminary programming for Wingleader, which was the intermediate name for Wing Commander before release. The depiction includes some of the methodology behind how the Kilrathi approach a target, maneuver / evade and retreat for home. It's pretty cool to see what eventually turned into the pilot behavior that we all know and love!

2019.067 (March 8, 2019)

Scandinavian Wing Commander Concerts Explained!

We've reported on several instances over the last few years of Wing Commander music being performed live in concert in and around Sweden. Super awesome, but also pretty unusual, so what's the story here? Orvar Safstrom, the CEO of Underscore Productions, dropped in to explain what's up! It's very cool that the musical arrangements are set up to mimic a typical Wing Commander mission profile.

2018.067 (March 8, 2018)

Future Flat Universe Plans Teased

The Flat Universe team has produced an impressive top-down Wing Commander fan shooter with exciting multiplayer, but they're nowhere close to finishing the project! Provided that the player base continues to grow, the Maslas Brothers have ambitious plans for the future. They envision a single player component that takes place in an open world that has a parallel environment for multiplayer interaction. There's an enormous amount of work to make this a reality, but they've already accomplished quite a bit.

2017.067 (March 8, 2017)

Action Stations' Cover: Mysteries Revealed

If you purchased the recent eBook release of Action Stations, you may have noticed that the cover is wrong. Exactly how wrong, though, is a matter of opinion! There is one obvious problem: the eBook uses an incorrect, pre-release version of the cover. It has one clear problem: a tagline that reads “From Wing Commander V: The New Release!

2016.068 (March 8, 2016)

How To Build A Ralari In Five Steps

NinjaLA has a fantastic new Wing Commander sketch, and this time he's shared the step-by-step development process withe everyone. The first shot gets the overall shape down, and while it's a great representation of a Ralari on its own, the second image takes the detail up a notch with some great artistic flourishes. The third image makes it even more familiar with the capship's iconic coloring in place, and the fourth version sets it in space. Finally, step five adds in stars and shadows to complete the project!

2015.067 (March 8, 2015)

Hakaga Under Construction

Some time ago we got a first look at NinjaLA's latest undertaking, a sketch of what we thought was a Ralari class destroyer. It turns out it's really a much tougher target: the massive Hakaga carrier from Fleet Action. It's still early work, but check out an updated sketch below.

2014.067 (March 8, 2014)

WC vs History: Ships of the Victory Battle Group - Part IV

After a bit of a hiatus, we present the final chapter in our Ships of the Victory Battle Group series. The best, of course, saved for last. The TCS Victory is a Yorktown-class light carrier. Affectionately known as "Tin Can Sally" to her crew, the Victory is a prewar design that was scheduled for decommissioning in the 2660s.

2013.067 (March 8, 2013)

Lord British Unveils Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues

Origin founder and space explorer Richard Garriott has unveiled his newest game, Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues.

2012.068 (March 8, 2012)

RPG Race Review Requested

capi3101 continues to make steady progress on his Wing Commander RPG. In his comprehensive plan, status has gone from about two-thirds to three-quarters complete over the last few weeks. Subjects that have been fleshed out further in the rules include trading, commodities and environmental effects. The warship "creation system" that defines how players choose a balanced ship is being tested, and faction race profiles have also been typed up.

2011.067 (March 8, 2011)

WC Saga Beta Begins

Lars reports that WC Saga has reached a major beta milestone. Some 300 fans have applied to test the game, and those who were selected have been notified. Good luck on the bug hunt! Thank your all for your interest and support, it has been nice to see your enthusiasm.

Russian Article Translated Better

akula65 noticed that the Google translation of the Russian Wing Commander overview posted last week was somewhat lacking. He took it upon himself to send over a new translation in English. You can check it out here! Film Adaptations of Games: Wing Commander - Space Enough for All The history of the vast universe of the space simulator Wing Commander has its origins in 1988 when a young game designer Christopher (Chris) Roberts wrote a design document in which he set forth the essence of a game codenamed "Squadron.

2010.067 (March 8, 2010)

Brush up on your Firekkan History

Research & discovery continue this week with the second chapter of the group read-along of Wing Commander Freedom Flight. This week our bibliophiles are reading pages 23 to 48. It's really easy to catch up, and there's plenty of room for people who start late to contribute, so join in the discussion! DISCUSSION POINTS Are there any changes between the excerpt included in Wing Commander II and the finished book?

Sneaky Games Wants You!

Veteran Wing Commander developer Billy Cain has helped start a new game company in Austin, and they're looking for players of their first game! Sneaky Games has just launched Strife of Sevens, and it's now free to play on Facebook. In addition to the new title, the company is looking for people to try out new games before they're officially released. Join the Vanguard Program here.

2009.067 (March 8, 2009)

Standoff On Winning Path

As Standoff's fifth and final episode draws closer, the team has committed to more frequent status reports. Last week their mission department made significant progress and they also have three new screenshots for us. Here is Eder: Yes, we do have some progress this week :-P. Quarto has been working away on his mission, and reports that it's close to finished.

Making the Game: Mission B2

B2 is Hrekkah 2, the Black Widow rescue mission. Here's one interesting cut noted in the mission: "If the player chose to modify his fighter after B1 he will be flying in a modified fighter.. no cloak.. increased gun and shield power.

2008.068 (March 8, 2008)

High Def Wing Commander More Than Higher Resolution

Wedge made a great observation after comparing the Wing Commander Movie on DVD to its recent high definition broadcast in Australia. The adjusted aspect ratio means more of the frame is visible compared to the original release. A shot of the universe map shown in the intro highlights how neat this is. An ornamental border is revealed on top and an additional object is visible in the bottom left.

Space Sim First Look: Abyss Lights: Frozen Systems

AD stumbled on a new space sim "in the style of the legendary told titles Freespace and Wing Commander." Abyss Lights' Frozen Systems is the first game to take place in the Abyss Lights Universe. It takes place long before humanity exists and takes place from the organic-silicon Aspirogues' point of view. Your race must repel the Shaark hordes from enslaving and exterminating everything in their path.

2007.067 (March 8, 2007)

Resin Ships Enter New Era

Kiyara has completed three more impressive resin models based on Wing Commander ships. Today's trio are all large capital ships from later in the WC series. The detailed Midway, Vesuvius and Hades class models are roughly fifteen centimeters in length. Like Kiyara's other designs, these were built by feeding a 3D model into a specialized casting machine.

CIC Forums Reach Milestone

Our Forums (formerly Chat Zone) have recently reached 300,000 posts. We're on track to hit the next major milestone, 20,000 threads, within days and 5,000 members soon after that. The Y2K bug ate our 1998 & 1999 forums, so these statistics count from 2000 on. As a result of the recent announcement of Wing Commander Arena, things have rarely been busier and there has never been a better time to jump in and discuss the future of the series.

2006.067 (March 8, 2006)

Classic Poster Becomes A Little Less Secret

There have been quite a few amazing Wing Commander posters made over the years. Some are more rare than others, and a few were never even mass produced. One of the earlier designs (the earliest being the blueprints included with WC1) was included with the Super Nintendo version of The Secret Missions. It features a super stylized Hornet chasing an exquisitely detailed Salthi.

Holding The Line Chapter 208

Just over a month since the grand opening of HoldingTheLine.net and the project's seven year anniversary, the HTL site has received its first new chapter. It has been a little while since the previous chapter, but I'll let Raptor explain the reasons behind the delay. Hey all, Raptor here I realise that it's been a good long while since we last had an HTL chapter published.

2005.067 (March 8, 2005)

Wallpaper With The Majestic 'Claw

Atekimogus has created a wallpaper featuring the TCS Tiger's Claw and its escort traveling by a beautiful blue cloud of some sort. The oldest capital ship design in Wing Commander is still a favorite among modelers and artists. This scene is an evolution of a preliminary model shown off some time ago. The wallpaper is scaled to 1280x1024 and comes in at about half a meg.

Wing Commander Galactic Conflict Recruiting

The Wing Commander Galactic Conflict is a role playing group that has recently relaunched itself to take advantage of the recent buzz concerning fan RPGs. WCGC plays out on a set of Forums where characters create interdependent stories with eachother. How is Galactic Conflict differant from other Wing Commander Role-playing Games? WCGC is set more on the Command side of the Wing Commander Universe.

Game Developers Conference This Week

One of the spring's big gaming conferences takes place this week. Slashdot has an article about Raph Koster's keynote comments. The former Privateer Online lead always has an interesting take on game design philosophy. The console manufacturers are currently recommending 8 hours of gameplay rather than 40.

2004.068 (March 8, 2004)

The Agony of Choice

Our new poll asks which Christopher Blair was your favorite: Thanks to Matt Breslin for the poll suggestion. Yeah, we know Super WC is Armstrong. Last time we asked which novel character you would like to see return. Jason Bondarevsky took the lead, with both Doomsday and Kevin Tolwyn coming in a strong second place.

First DragonCon Guests Officially Announced

The first 43 guests to appear at DragonCon later this year have been announced. Each year DC is where we hold our Fan Gathering in Atlanta. The finally tally typically rounds three hundred guests with several having links to Wing Commander. Among the first batch, Bill Fawcett is confirmed for 2004.

2003.067 (March 8, 2003)

Concept Art Revisited

After reading our update from a couple of days ago about Jan Brockmann's Privateer 2 concept art and my failure to shrink the thing down, people decided to give me a helping hand. First off, Jan got back in touch with us to send a 3MB 150DPI PDF version of the scan and a thumbnail (below). If this is still too big for you or you don't like PDFs, Rick Salemi sent us a copy as a 700k JPEG. If that's still too big, you can look at Karl Frank's 150K JPEG version.

WCPolaroids: Hawk (6/7)

If I was the guy holding the camera, I'd be scared about now. His stare scares me.

2001.067 (March 8, 2001)

Ginger and Space

It's the sequel to last month's Stiletto and Flint update -- agency photos of Ginger Allen and Barbara Niven. Allen starred as Rachel Coriolis in Wing Commander's 3 and Prophecy, Niven played Barbara Miles, the Kerri-Lee of space. You can check the original eBay auctions here and here.

Prophecy-ize in Style

We generally do not post information about auctions in progress -- however, Captain Johnny (WCP/SO designer) has been nothing but a help to Wing Commander fans everywhere for years now... and he's auctioning off his Prophecy Design Team jacket here. There are very few people more deserving of your hard-earned cash!

The Base Below Space

Here's a keen screenshot I took showing off the WCZone's beautiful new Wing Commander themed SubSpace map! (I have absolutely no idea what the update title means -- but it'd make a great Dr. Who episode title!

WingNut Scores

LeHah sent us this announcement about an interesting Wing Commander fan project he's decided to undertake...Yeah, I know, I never delivered on the Wing Commander: End Run goods, but someone beat me too it when I was 2/3rds done and THEY did as good of a job.However, I've begun writing music on my computer using various programs like acidburn and whatnot. I've begun early writing on a peice of music (or score) to the well-known scene from FLEET ACTION, where Ian St.

2000.068 (March 8, 2000)

Wing Commander Article at CGO

Well, not really. CGO has put up their Starlancer preview, but it's mainly about Wing Commander. The author made a few mistakes here and there (like calling the Starlancer setting original, insinuating Erin Roberts is developing it, etc...), but it's a good read.

More Conversion News

Scheherazade has sent us another development picture of his Homeworld WC Total Conversion project. A Strakha 3D model.

Crappy Craft Crock Company

Transport correspondent Perry Patetik reports from Crius. Spacecraft manufacturing titan Despro has folded, following a series of massive insurance pay-outs. The blame for the disaster, which has rocked the whole industry, can be laid at the feet of one man: materials clerk Augustus Higgins. It was Higgins' job to procure Iridum, a powerful anti-corrosive substance used in the manufacture of hulls for space-going craft.

1999.067 (March 8, 1999)

Check Him Out

The master of being in the right place at the right time, Jeff Cope, sent us this in regards to a television interview with Freddie Prinze on Monday.Just saw a commercial for, of all things, Donny & Marie's talk show. Freddie Prinze Jr. is going to be on the show tomorrow so check your local listings!