A festive open letter of thanks to the CIC.

-danr-

Vice Admiral
A slightly tipsy Christmas thank you. Do excuse the rambling.

In February, Wingnuts voted in the annual poll: 'What kind of year will it be for Wing Commander?'

I've noticed in years gone by, a certain growing trend of pessimism in the annual 'morale check' but, thanks in part to the announcement from Chris Roberts that something special was on the way, this year's turn out was remarkably cheerful:

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Now compare that to twelve months before:

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...and I would say that this year we really hit the nail on head. It has been a superb time to be a fan of Wing Commander, and I think we were definitely too negative in the previous vote.

Since 2012, a lot of good has happened. All Wing Commander titles became available on GOG. This in itself is outstanding given the years that have gone by where it was only available to buy secondhand, and not before time! Then of course, the arrival of Chris Roberts in our very own IRC client to chat about a special forthcoming project, followed by the announcement of a new, massive open universe style space sim from the man himself; obviously heavily influenced by our favorite games. We've had the fanmade Wing Commander Saga Freespace mod released. Not to mention, Wing Commander Academy made available on Amazon and the Wing Commander movie released on Blu-Ray. In addition we've had the normal swathes of fan art, mods, fiction, RPG and add-ons.

I guess what I'm getting at, is that it's been a really good couple of years to be a fan of the series. Like many of you, having had the games in my life for nearly a quarter of century has been a privilege and I can genuinely say they've had a positive presence in my life.

There was a sense though, after the non-follow up to Secret Ops and the cancellation of Privateer III, that as fans we were in the wilderness, not just as fans of Wing Commander but of the Space sim genre in general. The Wing Commander CIC has relentlessly worked to keep us well and truly out of the vacuum. I honestly can't emphasize enough just how lucky we are to have such a dedicated group of enthusiasts working endlessly to bring us news from the exciting and groundbreaking, to the leftfield and obscure. As a reward for their efforts, we get goodies we'd otherwise not have had a hope in hell of coming near; the downloadable WC1, the archive documents, behind the scenes pictures, interviews, models. I dare say (and perhaps it's conjecture) that if the CIC had never existed, Roberts wouldn't have been inspired to create Star Citizen. Who knows?

Nevertheless we should be grateful, this place is awesome - even during the quiet times there all kinds of curiosities trickling through on the front page, works in progress by fans, projects and ambitions to keep Wing Commander alive in various ways.

I'm not going to reel off names, all the staff are fantastic; but I'm sure the others wouldn't mind me paying tribute to the walking Wing Commander encyclopedia that is Ben 'Bandit LOAF' Lesnick, who is a library of information and insight, and frankly we're damned lucky to have him around. Without the CIC, a lot of talented enthusiasts might not have met, we may never have had the likes of Unknown Enemy, Standoff, and a hundred amazing mods from the the likes HCl and other talented programmers.

In short, thank you CIC! You've kept Wing Commander alive and continue to do everybody proud, in the quiet times and exciting ones.
 
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I concur. Never thought the WC times would be so good again, but there you have it. I think it's fitting that thanks to the man himself making such a great comeback, more people are aware of and talking about (and hopefully playing) the Wing Commander series now than for many a year.

A big thumbs up to this incredible site for being such a treasure trove for us wingnuts. It's truly amazing how much dedication and passion goes into the CIC, and I think I speak for everyone in saying how much we appreciate it.

Long may it continue!
 
I concur. Never thought the WC times would be so good again, but there you have it. I think it's fitting that thanks to the man himself making such a great comeback, more people are aware of and talking about (and hopefully playing) the Wing Commander series now than for many a year.

A big thumbs up to this incredible site for being such a treasure trove for us wingnuts. It's truly amazing how much dedication and passion goes into the CIC, and I think I speak for everyone in saying how much we appreciate it.

Long may it continue!

Long may it continue indeed! I hope those of us with children will strive to get them into the glory of Wing Commander so that down the line it's still going strong. Funny you posted actually, I almost added a few pics of various mod projects from this year and was going to include your Hellcat - it is exactly stuff like this that I'm talking about keeping the magic alive.
 
Getting the movie bluray and the Academy DVDs were certainly the wc highlight of the year for me. The GOG releases are equally as awesome but ultimately were already available if you had your original copies and dosbox, so really, they were the main releases that was previously unavailable.
 
It's kind of amazing. It'd been quite a few years since I was active on this site (I think back in the days of Kilrathi Saga, but my memory is fuzzy as to the when [and the Kilrathi are just fuzzy]). I ended up with an old computer a while ago and decided it'd be fun to get a vintage(-ish; still needs SlowDOS) computer running, complete with ISA Sound Blaster Pro and a CH Flightstick 2 button joystick that was the same model from when I played some of these games as a kid (though not the very same stick). First game I wanted to play when I got the rig running, Wing Commander I (other candidates were System Shock or MechWarrior 2). But the Kilrathi Saga version I played way back didn't work quite right so I never finished (planets and background graphics didn't display). It was only AFTER I started playing Wing Commander in native DOS this time that I learned about Star Citizen and am a very excited backer of that.

I remembered back in the day LOAF being very active here, and I got really excited watching Wingman's Hangar (Star Citizen weekly webshow) when I realized it was him! (And I'm sure it's so exciting to be part of the project when you've been a fan for so long...though heading up those SC community message boards...that takes commitment, bravery, and a giant hammer =oP).

It also brought me back here, and a lot of memories. I now plan to try to play almost everything WC-related leading up to Star Citizen, relive the games I'd played before, and play some new ones I hadn't gotten a chance to before. I also got the Wing Commander Academy DVD as I remember really liking the series years ago and want to relive that at some point too. Wing Commander truly holds a special, nostalgic, wide-eyed place in my heart. I sometimes hope when Chris Roberts talks about seeing Star Wars as a kid and being wide-eyed, he realizes that some of us got that experience playing Wing Commander (which is honestly more special to me than Star Wars, though I like it too.)

Both back when I first found this site, and now, it's been an amazing resource and I'm so happy that it's getting so active again and Wing Commander shows it's the legend it's always been. It's a real testament to Chris Roberts as well as the people here responsible for the site! Congrats, CIC! And can't wait to see some of you in a whole new, but very nostalgic, 'verse soon. ^.^
 
Long may it continue indeed! I hope those of us with children will strive to get them into the glory of Wing Commander so that down the line it's still going strong. Funny you posted actually, I almost added a few pics of various mod projects from this year and was going to include your Hellcat - it is exactly stuff like this that I'm talking about keeping the magic alive.

I'm only too grateful to contribute; if not for the CIC I wouldn't have anyone to share my project with!
 
The reason the CIC has endured so long is that, like all of you, the staff is first and foremost fans. Chris and Kris work wonders to keep things humming along while the rest of us are always ready to dig into some other WC lead we've come across. Along with being fans ourselves, we are surrounded by one of the best communities out there. It's been years since we've seen a major release, and unlike other similar brands, we have continued to endure. That's the mark of something special.

If anything we owe a big thanks to all of you. You are the reason we keep things going and continue to grow them.

Long Live the Confederation, indeed.
 
I agree with danr: Thank you, CIC and its staff and all the wonderful skilled people with their fan mods, software-, model-crafting- and sketching- skills for keeping Wing Commander alive and in such a good shape as it is! Even though I come here less seldom and have even less meaningful things to say than before, I like coming back here. And as much as I am looking forward to Star Citizen/SQ 42 as a game, I am much more looking forward to the possibility what it might do good for the WC franchise.

Hooray for all of you!

P.S.: For me, the GOG-release of the games was the best in the year. It gave lazy people like me the possibilty to re-enjoy my favourtite games. And my love for Wing Commander 1 and 2 and for Privateer did not diminish over the years.
 
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