Ok people, a few of us over at the Sci-Fi Art Forums are going to put together a Wing Commander 3D group. We aim to create the amazing ships from the Wing Commander universe in 3d in various formats. I know this has been tried before with not much sucsess and I myself have followed a number of these endeavours and have seen them die sadly due to lack of interest. Well, that's not going to happen this time. There's already a few very interested and motivated individuals who happen to be excellent 3d artists, so half the battle has been fought and won. We are looking for any other interested people to help out. We need texture artists, modelers, people who can provide good reference material... If you can think of any skills you have to offer the group, come on over to the Sci-Fi Art forums and get involved. The more talent we have, the better the end product will be. We already have an amazing quality Vaktoth fighter that is nearly complete. This is better than any Wing Commander mesh I've seen. So come and join in. Let's create worlds. :-) Any questions just send your e-mail to: comco@dingoblue.net.auSounds reasonable. With the success so far of Fleet Action, my faith in such projects has only been reaffirmed. So good luck.
The Fleet Action Homeworld fan project is making great progress. If you've got Homeworld or are into RTS type games, this one's definitely worth a closer look. The Thunderbolt has just been released for the game and it looks really sharp.
The Wing Commander Homeworld Modification Project (titled Fleet Action by its creators) continues to grow. The team responsible for the construction of the modification have just released the Confederation Thunderbolt. This ship is the latest addition to an ever increasing amount of already completed fighters, and the mod team reports that they are currently working on the Perry Naval Base and the Kilrathi Dreadnought (WC II: Fleet Action variant) for in game use as motherships for their respective sides. The current list of completed fighters includes:Wow, Perry. Further information on the project can be obtained from the mod team web site here. Thanks to Eric "Striker" Cook.Kilrathi:
Dralthi
Strakha
Vaktoth
Confederation:
Hellcat
Thunderbolt
Excalibur
The Wing Commander Engine Source Code Release Project continues it's quest for the Wing Commander source. This project, the goal of which is to secure the source for a Wing Commander game engine, is entering the next stage of activity - writing the letter that will ultimatly be sent to Origin/EA. The WCESCRP team is currently working hard on a draft letter, which we expect to be made public on Wednesday. As usualy, the best way to support the WCESCRP is by signing the petition for the release of the source code. We could also use any contacts at Origin/EA that fan may be aware of. We are dedicated to securing the release of the source for fan modification, and thank all those who have signed the petition. Those of you who wish to sign the petition or participate in our discussion and letter drafting process may visit the WCESCRP website at www.wcescrp.cjb.net or e-mail Jumper at Jumper@wcescrp.cjb.net.
Jumper, WCESCRP Founder
There's no thrill quite like this.. chasing down an enemy ship and blowing the ever loving crap out of him.Wow, ever loving crap..
I don't fully agree with that last bit. The article talks as much about Wing Commander and Chris Roberts as Starlancer. Check it out here.
- In my formative years, no game captivated me like Origin's Wing Commander.
- For all its bells and whistles, StarLancer is a very simple game. Kill bad guys, help the cause, advance in rank, and get cool cut-scenes and accolades. Rinse and repeat. And StarLancer executes this paradigm extremely well, making it the best true space combat game since Wing Commander.
- Put simply, StarLancer is the 21st century version of Wing Commander. It looks incredible, plays nearly flawlessly, and even has a story that you care about
For those who have ever played and enjoyed space shooter-type games, be it any of the Wing Commander or the excellent Freespace games or more recent titles like X -- Beyond the Frontier or Tachyon, StarLancer should be riding high on your list of games to buy right now.
I was playing Starlancer today, and I came across what I assume is an easter egg. On the Yamato carrier, there's a fish tank in your quarters. You have to follow a certain path to walk up to it. First, turn to the Simulation Pod. Then, turn left to the fish tank. Finally, walk over to it. There's a button on the wall that lets you feed your fish. Here's a screenshot:
There are a number of particularly memorable characters, including a Red Baron-esque German ace and a traitorous fellow pilot - of course, you couldn't possibly have a game produced by the creator of the Wing Commander series without a traitor subplot.
Last week, it was announced that Ultima Online 2 was a working title, and that we felt our game would be better represented with a different name. After much discussion and furrowing of brows, we have come to a decision and are happy to share with you the news that Ultima Online 2 will now be known as Ultima Worlds Online: Origin.There's more at the tentative website. You can also download a preview trailer here.What's that you say? Isn't Origin the name of the company? Yes it is. Won't that be confusing? We don't think so. By the time this game ships, we won't be putting the Origin (the company) logo on the box. This will be our first game going out under the new EA Games logo. We expect this to be a game with a lifecycle spanning for many, many years, so the Origin name can live on.
We learned so much while we were making Wing Commander III, even while we were having this telephone conversation, new technologies, new breakthroughs are happening. So that it's almost impossible to keep up with the pace of how this thing is growing. So, it's fascinating to me, really fascinating.You can read the lengthy interview or listen to it in RealAudio.
The space shooter genre started on the PC a mere 10 years ago with Wing Commander. Today's space shooters remain remarkably similar to Wing Commander in many respects. But if you've been a gamer for long, the one thing we all yearn for is originality. Who is the new king of the space shooters? After some serious scrutiny in simulated space, I think I found out.Tachyon won the fight, but having played both I can safely say Wing Commander still dominates the scene. Thanks to WildFire-.
Starlancer comes from the creators of the Wing Commander series, specifically the British team that developed Privateer 2: The Darkening (another forgettable game).And then, on the game engine:
The ships move with the same liquid slowness that we've seen in almost all the Wing Commander games. It's as if they're nosing though a syrupy ether rather than hurtling though a vacuum. StarLancer uses one of the oddest and most counterintuitive flight models I have ever seen: the faster you fly, the faster you turn.Ehh... the reviewer has some very good points, but the 5/10 score is a little harsh. You can read the review here.
There seems to be a definite lack of build-up in Starlancer, which is not a big surprise considering the small number of missions in the campaign. Although the plot works in a general sense, you cannot help but wonder how much better and more intense the game could have been with more thought put into the story and with the inclusion of a greater number of missions.We also wish ATFW a belated happy second anniversary. They're the best source for all space-sim related news.
Some of you even liked him because he pissed you off with his comments. Yet no one could deny that Maniac has to take top honor as one of the best companions in computer-gaming history.You can read more readers' opinions here.
Frankly I'm glad that it is nothing to do with WC, in this game there's no Kilrathi or any other sort of alien spacecat menace. I lost interest in the later versions of WC I have to admit, you can only be SO menaced by cats can't you. I always had visions of the Kilrathi home world having cat flaps instead of doors and Kilrathi lawyers, shopkeepers and businessmen coughing up huge furballs and knocking back cans of Meowmix in a restaurant whilst singing "I like fish and I like liver, I like chicken in my dinner". Not very terrifying really.At least they credit Warthog... Go ahead and take a look the review if you still think it's worth your time after reading the above quote.
I suppose If you had to level one criticism at Starlancer, it would be that it's a pretty linear kind of experience, (although the storyline does branch in several places depending on your performance) but that's would be a pretty harsh judgement since linear progression has always been the nature of the space combat beast.And anyone who's familiar with the Wing Commander series knows that isn't true.
Another group WAS going to take over (don't know what happened there) anyway rather than let what we have go to waste I'm asking for help with a new, less ambitious plot.If you would like to see what has already been done for UE, you can find a 25 meg preview which contains an intro and the first mission here.
We have a bengal class capship, a new bridge, splash, access to kilrathi comms, ships etc. What I need is someone to write a Secret Ops add-on using these things which should be of no more than around 8 missions, so really just a mini game. Additional details on request.
Try not to include anything too fancy so it can be completed in a short time. To save time and limit the help required, text, not voice overs will be used and fiction can be included at the writers discression. Don't forget to include ideas for a neat intro etc. Also if its any use a completed scene for UE was the Intrepid being destroyed by the bugs.
Any offers e-mail me at pedro_ue@yahoo.co.uk This is really so as to ensure some of what has been done gets put to good use.
The gameplay is nothing we haven't seen before as Starlancer plays almost identically to previous Wing Commander games. But why mess with a winning formula?Also, a mention of the characters:
There's no Maniac, Stiletto, or Blair here. Everyone's a talking head with little to no characterization, so there's no reason to care about the progression of the story.And to top it all off:
Starlancer might as well be titled Wing Commander 6, with the Kilrathi replaced by the Coalition.You can read the review here.
Week 73 (starting April 16, 2000):Submit your answers to ChrisReid@wcnews.com.Week 74 (starting April 30, 2000):
- Question 145: What disabled the TCS Concordia's flight deck in 2665?
- Question 146: What disabled the KIS Karga in 2669?
- Bonus 73: What disabled the TCS Lexington in 2673?
- Question 147: What was one notable thing New Detroit was known for?
- Question 148: What was one notable thing Crius was known for?
- Bonus 74: What was one notable thing Repleetah was known for?
The Wing Commander Engine Source Code Release Project (WCESCRP) is still collecting names for our petition to Origin, in which we will ask them to release the source code for the WC series. In order for Origin to take our petition seriously, we need a lot of names for our e-mail, to show that we have the support of the community. What we need from you is your name (first +last) and e-mail address.It'd be good if they hit the 500 mark. Signing the petition would take only a few minutes of your time, and there could be a huge return on investment.
The Project has been doing very well lately, gaining almost a hundred signatures in little more than a week. We now have 259 names. But we still need more... a lot more. If you haven't yet sent us your name, then we would really like you to take a few seconds to do so now. Remember, if we get that source code, there isn't much that couldn't be done. There's a lot of talented WC fans out there, and if they could use the source code then... well, the possibilities are quite endless.
Send your names either to me (mmajewski@usa.net) or to Jumper (jumper@wcescrp.cjb.net). Alternatively, you can fill out our online form over at wcescrp.cjb.net (where you can also find out more about the Project in general). And be sure to tell others to send their names too. Just another two hundred signatures or so, and we'll be ready to send the petition to Origin!
Quarto
"He was always making faces when I was trying to do a serious scene," says She's All That's Rachael Leigh Cook, 20. "He's there with his finger in his nose trying to make me laugh."
Starlancer feels like a gritty WW II carrier movie, with an atmosphere similar to that of the Wing Commander film.The game got a well deserved B. You can find the article here. Thanks to Rick Salemi.
It's fun, but it's not the dramatic experience provided by earlier Roberts games like Wing Commander 3.
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