Wing Commander Cover Paintings Detailed Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Here's a little treasure: six pieces of rarely-seen Wing Commander cover artwork without the trade dress! These stunning paintings were created by sci-fi and fantasy artist Jan Patrik Krásný for the Czech language translations of six Wing Commander novels. The books were published between 2001 and 2005 by Poutnik Knihy. Most interestingly, they were published not for the Wing Commander IP but because Dr. William Forstchen is particularly popular in the Czech Republic! The resulting cover art is a kind of what-if scenario where the novels are imagined on their own without the associated games!

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Take an Amiga WC Break Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Here, enjoy some Amiga WC1! This is far from the first time that we've posted an Amiga playthrough, but it's always fun to watch. Plenty of people got their first look at the game on PC or Super Nintendo, so for those folks, it's fun to see something like this to pick out the many small differences. Check out LOAF's comparison of the TrainSim and Barracks as an example!
The original Amiga version of Wing Commander had just 16 colors. It was released right before the Amiga 1200, which introduced the 256-color AGA version. Wing Commander is a computer game series from Origin Systems, the series creator is the American game developer Chris Roberts. The series is about humanity's fight for survival in the 27th century against aggressive alien races, particularly the cat-like Kilrathi.

Wing Commander Movie Night: Top Gun Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

I'm happy to report that our second Wing Commander movie night was a success! We had a great group of fans who enjoyed seeing–and lightly roasting–The Dam Busters together this past Friday night. You can find the complete after action report later this week. So next we're going to be watching a movie that's a little more modern… with some more obvious connections to both the original Wing Commander game and the 1999 film. That's right, on Friday you are welcome to join us for a group watch of Top Gun (1986).

Top Gun is a 1986 action film based on the United States Navy's elite program that teaches top fighter pilots skills that they in turn pass on to their compatriots. It helped usher in lead Tom Cruise's ongoing superstardom and is one of the prototypes of the modern blockbuster. My generation loved it for mixing pulse-pounding air combat with engaging characters we couldn't help but root for… but does it hold up compared to the mega-films of today?

… and more importantly, how does it connect to Wing Commander? Let me count the ways! For the 1999 film, Top Gun naturally influenced the shape of the dogfights. Visual effects supervisor Chris Brown talked about it in an April 1999 Cinefex interview (full article):

The bold, hand-held look of the live-action was carried through to the digital space exteriors. "Top Gun had some terrific aerial dynamics, which served as inspiration," said Brown. "We decided to let the smaller ships blow right into camera while adding camera shake, as if a shockwave of air has buffeted the camera operator. Of course, there's no air in space; but the visceral nature of this approach served the story best. Adding heat-ripple when a ship's engine passed close by was another thing we lifted from that film."

FOX's home video marketing department also made heavy use of Wing Commander's similarity to Top Gun. Advertisements at both the distributor and the consumer levels promised that the film was “‘Starship Troopers’ Meets ‘Top Gun’ in this no-holds-barred battle on the far reaches of space.” Hey, at least it's better than all hell breaking loose at the edge of the universe!

Of course, Top Gun and Wing Commander go much further back. Val Kilmer's Iceman is, of course, the inspiration for the taciturn Michael "Iceman" Casey introduced in the original game. And Chris Roberts himself took his callsign, Maverick, from the movie… and it eventually became the canonical callsign for Blair (used most frequently on Wing Commander Academy, avoided altogether in the film! An early Point of Origin even bragged about the December 1991 issue of Omni calling Wing Commander II "Top Gun 2001". Now there's an idea for a movie!

There was even a business partnership at one point! In 1996, Origin signed on to help promote Thrustmaster's line of high quality flight sticks and other equipment, going so far as to include advertisements in copies of Privateer 2. And then Thrustmaster, for their part, added one of Privateer 2's Heretic fighters to the box of their best selling Top Gun-branded 'stick!

The general idea for Wing Commander Academy, with pilots attending a special flight school that offers additional command instruction for the most promising fighter pilots, comes straight from Top Gun.

Finally, Top Gun is the rare film that we can authorotatively say is still watched in the Wing Commander universe! Peter Telep's Wing Commander novelizations include an exchange between Blair and Angel about his callsign in which he reveals that he has, indeed, seen Top Gun.

"Comm established," she replied, flashing him a thumbs-up on the left VDU. "Lieutenant, your call sign is Maverick? Where'd you get that? From some old movie?"

"Actually, ma'am, it's been a standing joke for a while now. Back at the academy, I had a rep for being a by-the-book flyer. So, of course, they called me Maverick. And yeah, I did see that old movie. They flew those big, heavy atmospheric fighters. Must've been fun back then."

"We'll never know," she said curtly. "All moorings are clear. External power disengaged. Internal systems nominal, roger."

All of which is to say we're going to have a LOT to talk about this time around!

Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?

Top Gun is currently streaming on Paramount+ in the United States and is available for rental or sale digitally at all storefronts. If you're interested in tracking down a physical copy, a UHD version was released in 2020 which remains in print. If you are unable to track down a copy please ping a member of the WCCIC staff on the Discord in advance of the watch.

How do we watch the movie together?

It's pretty low tech! Simply join the Wing Commander CIC Discord on Friday and we will be chatting (in text) along with the film in the main channel. Everyone who wants to join in should bring their own copy and we will count down to play them together at 10 PM EST. Everyone is welcome and we encourage you to join in the conversation; sharing your thoughts helps make the experience better for everyone!

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Super Wing Commander & WC3 Added to Cockpit Reference Page Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Tonight's project: added the Super Wing Commander cockpits to the WCCIC's cockpit reference page! Don't forget the SWC Dralthi! I do three versions: no alarms at 100%, all alarms active and then one with damage states: I've also added Wing Commander III and I'll start looking at the console ports at some point. Find all of these and more in the WCPedia here!
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Retro PC Games (DE) Deep Dive Highlights WC Armada and More Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Today we've got a different kind of video to share. PixelPusher Mailman is going page-by-page through a thirty year old copies of PC Games. I just like the concept of someone lovingly paging through a vintage magazine like this. There is a section in his latest issue on Wing Commander Armada that actually makes the game look really cool. Unfortunately the narrator here wasn't into it, but both the strategic gameplay portion and multiplayer are very special. Anyhow, this clip is in German, but you can turn on YouTube's automatic translation feature to get real time captions in your language of choice. Jump to 17:41 if it doesn't auto start in the right place.
Come with me back in time again – to 1994, to be precise! In this video, I flick through the 09/1994 issue of PC Games. Star Wars is on the cover, unfortunately not quite as present in the inside pages. There is only a small preview box for Dark Forces. And Full Throttle has also only been given a small space. But there are more great previews of upcoming games from CES, such as NASCAR Racing, Descent, Deadalus Encounter and many more.

Theme Park from Bullfrog is game of the month. A top-notch fun game. We take a look at Star Wars TIE Fighter from Lucasarts, the quasi-successor to the ingenious game X-Wing, and I have more nostalgic pictures from my buddy CaesarC0mm0dus. Further tests of Pizza Connection, Pinball Dreams 2 and its unspeakable copy protection, Wing Commander Armada and Overlord. The current game charts for this month and, of course, another look at old hardware and Rainer Rosshirt's letters section, as well as his infamous ‘Down the Drain’ section.

Together we browse through the magazine and experience a piece of PC gaming history up close!

Upon looking through his library of clips, it also looks like he's got other issues that extensively cover WC3 and Privateer!

Reminder: #Wingnut Movie Night Tonight! Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is The Dam Busters, which Chris Roberts credits as inspiring the WC Movie's fantastic score. If you don't own a copy, a version is hosted by the Internet Archive. The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST, but feel free to drop by and hang any time!
When I set out to make "Wing Commander," I envisioned a classic World War II film as its model. Except that it was set in space, 500 years from now. This motif played strongly in the design and look of the picture. I also wanted it to play strongly in the score. I wanted the music to evoke some of the glorious old war film scores; full of heart, melody and heroic acts. "633 Squadron," "The Dam Busters" and other such classics came to my mind. When I first talked to David and Kevin about the score, they were in tune from step one.

In fact, my first conversation with David had him citing classic war film scores as a jumping- off point - and that was before I'd even pitched him on my 'WWII' in space concept! From that point on, I am happy to say I was in good hands. From hearing the first temps to being blown away by the orchestra on the scoring stage at Air Lyndhurst, I was constantly surprised and impressed. The sound they've managed to capture evokes epic movies from the fifties and sixties. It's some of the best space music I've heard, right up there with the classics we've all grown up with. The film required many things of the score, bravery, guts, youthfulness, mystery, danger, loss and redemption. David and Kevin delivered all that and hummable melodies into the bargain! (I guarantee you'll be whistling the title cue as you leave the cinema.) The film grows as a result. Bravo! Here's to working together again.

Chris Roberts
Director

Prototype Art: Original WC3 Start Screen Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

The fact that Wing Commander III drops you in media res instead of having a start screen has long been cited as one of those brilliant immersive Chris Robertsisms. Well, here's the original start menu from an earlier build! Suggests you would've had the option to transfer your character from WC2.

The logo is pretty fascinating on its own! I suppose it's intended to be for the Victory but it reminds me of Blair's later (and similarly unexplained) nose art crest in the movie. I think we need to find a heraldry expert to think about both of these! Another fascinating and rarely seen Wing Commander crest: the Wing Commander Academy (game) team shirt! Designed by the late, great Paul Steed. I dream of having one of these in my collection!
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GOG Launches Preservation Program with Wing Commander Discounts Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

It's been thirteen years since GOG.com started selling Wing Commander games. Over the years, they've added the entire primary DOS/Windows catalog, but some of the packages are starting to show their age. The last WC game to be added was Armada in November 2013, and there hasn't been a whole lot of tweaking since. A few critical bugs were fixed here and there, but as hardware and operating systems change, glitches have started to arise. And that doesn't even count the occasional bug that's been around since the games were first listed!

To help combat this, the service announced a new effort today to shore up some of their top titles. There are 100 games in the initial rollout, including Privateer and Wing Commander 3. Both have gotten a handful of updates to ensure they continue to run on modern systems. And both are 50% off to celebrate! We hope to see many more improvements added and more WC games added to the program in the future, but this is a nice start!

Thanks to DesolationStone for the initial tip!

Nintendon’t Podcast Covers the Music of Wing Commander Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Today we're sharing a podcast that Mat Bradley-Tschirgi created and sent over way back in 2016. Look, it's been a rough eight years, and we're a little behind. Better late than never though, since this is a great episode that you should definitely check out. He's assembled a medley of tracks that does an excellent job of taking you on an aural journey through the series. You've got music from WC1-4, the Privateers and even Cobalt 60's techno Prophecy album. There's also an intro and conclusion that set the stage and give a little bit more context. Give it a listen at the KBOO website here!
Air date: Sat, 12/03/2016 - 9:00am to 9:30am

Combining the earnest plots of World War 2 films with an original sci-fi setting inspired by Star Trek and Star Wars, the Wing Commander games were a load of space sim fun. The Terran Confederation waged a years long battle against the evil feline Kilrathi alien race. Wing Commander’s music is equal parts bold, brassy, and tense.

So, climb into your spaceship and prepare for takeoff. It's time to listen to some of classic tracks from the Wing Commander computer games.

On today's program:

  • Patrol - Wing Commander (PC) (George “The Fat Man” Sanger)
  • Thrakhath - Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi (PC) (Dana Karl Glover)
  • Pleasure Base - Wing Commander: Privateer (PC) (Nenad Vugrinec)
  • Introduction - Wing Commander III: The Heart of the Tiger (PC) (George Oldziey)
  • Intense Combat Music 1 - Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (PC) (George Oldziey)
  • Introduction - Wing Commander: The Kilrathi Saga (PC) (George “The Fatman” Sanger; rearranged by George Oldziey)
  • In-Flight Music - Privateer 2: The Darkening (PC) (James Hannigan)
  • Tones from the Sphere - Wing Commander: Prophecy (PC) (Cobalt 60)

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