|
For Immediate Release
ORIGIN Ships Wing Commander: The Kilrathi Saga
Special Collectors Edition Brings Windows 95 Experience to
Award-Winning Wing Commander Franchise
AUSTIN, TX, October 15, 1996---ORIGIN Systems®, an Electronic Arts®
company and a developer of world-famous entertainment software,
announces the shipment of Wing Commander®: The Kilrathi Saga(tm). This
special collector's edition game takes the award-winning Wing
Commander franchise to the next level by offering players the first
three Wing Commander games in a native Windows® 95 environment.
Additionally, ORIGIN is including a Windows 95 upgrade in the game for
the recently released Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom(tm), the
latest groundbreaking chapter in the Wing Commander adventure. The
upgrade also is available for download from the ORIGIN web site. Now
more people than ever can enjoy the Wing Commander series with Windows
95 ease of use and attractive holiday pricing.
Wing Commander: The Kilrathi Saga is a collection of the first three
Wing Commander games, comprising the entire Galactic War between
Terrans and the evil, catlike Kilrathi. Players will experience the
ahead-of-its-time animation and 3-D gameplay of the early Wing
Commanders and the groundbreaking multi-million dollar interactive
movies introduced in Wing Commander III.
Wing Commander: The Kilrathi Saga is now frame-limited so the first
two Wing Commanders, released in 1990 and 1991, can once again be
played at their intended speed on today"s super-fast personal
computers. The disparate gameplay controls throughout the series have
been streamlined to provide more uniformity. Brand-new features are
added to all three Wing Commanders---the choice to play with or
without the cockpit for Wing Commanders I and II, and flight pedal and
throttle control support for Wing Commander III. Kilrathi Saga also
features re-orchestrations by Wing Commander III and IV composer
George Oldziey. The music and sound effects in all three games
are converted from MIDI to state-of-the-art digital sound. The games
also include an intuitive menu interface allowing players to install,
play and uninstall each game for an effortless Windows 95
experience. Wing Commander: The Kilrathi Saga, includes an exclusive
1997 Wing Commander limited edition calendar and is attractively
priced for the holiday gift season at under $40.
"This project began when several members of the development team
realized they could no longer play the early Wing Commander games on
their personal computers," said Kilrathi Saga Producer John McLean.
"You"d try to fly a mission and get killed within about 5 seconds!"
The decision was soon made to port the fantastic story of the epic
Galactic War to Windows 95. Co-Producer and Director Jeff Everett
added, "We figured as long as we had the hood open, so to speak, we
might as well go all out. So we added digital music and enhanced
controls and, my favorite, the no-cockpit option." The end result
surpassed everyone"s expectations. "Our goal," McLean said, "was to
provide both our customers and ourselves with the ability to recapture
the wonderful experience that brought many of us into this industry,
whether as game players or game professionals or both---the Wing
Commander saga."
The Kilrathi Saga includes a Windows 95 upgrade for Wing Commander IV,
released earlier this year. The same upgrade also is available for
download from the ORIGIN web site at http://www.ea.com/origin.html.
Also available for download completely free of charge from the ORIGIN
web site are Secret Missions I and II. These mission disk packages
(originally released for the first Wing Commander game) are also
optimized for Windows 95 and add an additional 36 missions to the
Kilrathi Saga package. They are playable only with Kilrathi Saga.
ORIGIN Systems® develops and publishes state-of-the-art entertainment
software. To date, the company has released more than 50 titles,
including the award-winning Ultima®, Wing Commander and Crusader
series of games. The company also develops titles under the Jane's®
Combat Simulations brand. ORIGIN is based in Austin, Texas, with
additional offices in Hunt Valley, Maryland, and is a wholly owned
subsidiary of Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS). More information on
ORIGIN products is available on the ORIGIN home page at
http://www.ea.com/origin.html.
ORIGIN, ORIGIN Systems, Ultima and Wing Commander are registered
trademarks and The Price of Freedom and The Kilrathi Saga are
trademarks of ORIGIN Systems, Inc. Electronic Arts is a registered
trademark of Electronic Arts Inc. Windows is a registered trademark of
Microsoft Corporation. Jane"s is a registered trademark of Jane"s
Information Group Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.
| 
