Point of Origin: Vol. 1, No. 5... Again!

This is part six of our series highlighting archived copies of Point of Origin, Origin Systems' internal newsletter (more than 300 foisted monthly). Your eyes aren't deceiving you - for whatever reason there are two different Point of Origin Vol. 1, No. 5s. This one comes on November 8, 1991 - two weeks after the last Vol. 1, No. 5. Origin is getting ready to launch Special Operations 1 and Wing Commander II is still getting a lot of press!

A very special thanks to Joe Garrity of the Origin Museum for making this resource available and to Electronic Arts for sending them to him in the first place!

Here's the breakdown for Wing Commander:

• Euro-Press Wowed on Whirlwind Tour is a checklist of Origin successes in the European media. Wing Commander 2 takes the most credits:

  Dany brought over the latest issue of Joystick, in which Wing Commander II gets a 100% rating. It's only the second time in the magazine's history for a game to receive that mark. What's the first, you ask? Wing Commander, of course!

  ...PC Review is a brand-new publication in England. In its premier issue, it called Wing 2 a 'computer event.' There were a few technical glitches, however, in terms of layout and typos, so Christina says Wing 2 will get another mention in the next issue.

  ...Jennie Evans, our Brand Manager with Mindscape in England, took the tape demos of Strike, Wing and U7 around to W.H. Smith, one of the U.K.'s biggest boo/stationery/record/software stores. 'They don't usually carry software for the PC,' Jennie says, 'but after I blew up some Kilrathi fighters, they were completely baffled (impressed).' Could this be another major product pipeline? We'll keep you updated.

  ...PC Format is another new publication in England. In its second issue, the only game to rank higher than Wing 2 was Might and Magic.

• Phone Sects updates everyone on the Customer Service and direct sales: "A couple of weeks ago, Mike Rundell had a conference on CompuServe with Ellen Guon and Steve Beeman for Wing 2. They did a terrific job... Orders are pouring in for U7, Strike, and Special Operations. Last month, sales hit $17,000 (not bad, considering most of the orders were $18.95 for the Wing book.)"
• Prints Valiant finds three reports of Wing Commander in the press: "PC World's readers named Wing Commander one of the 'Best 220 Products of 1991.'", "Dragon Magazine is giving Wing 2 five stars. You may recall that Wing got the magazine's first six-star rating ever. Have we slipped? Not according to Editor Hartley Lesser. 'We took some heat for the six stars. People would call and say, 'Yeah, it's the greatest game ever, but look how we have to enhance our systems to run it.' So we've given (Wing 2) five stars, which is still our highest rating possible.' You know what they say: once you've been spoiled..." and finally "If you've been looking for a reason to buy Penthouse, Wing 2 gets a mention in the 'Power Plays' section of the December issue." (We'll have to track that one down.)
• Bytes to Chew On reports good news for WC2: "Marten has applied for SPA accreditation for Wing 2 to go 'gold.' According to our calculations it surpassed 100,000 copies in less than 60 days!"
• The $6 Million Quest delivers bad news - three of Origin's largest projects will miss the Christmas release. The good news? Special Operations 1 will be out as planned: "WCII Special Ops I looks promising for release on schedule in mid-November (congratulations to Ellen Guon & Team!)."
• Serious Playtime, updates from Quality Assurance, says SO1 is going well: "Special Ops is running smoothly informal beta." It also hints at Wing Commander's involvement in the rise of the CD-ROM: "And the gang has its hands on new CD-ROMs to test the Wing Commander/U6 bundle from Software Toolworks."

Point of Origin
Vol. 1, No. 5 - November 8, 1991

Contents
Euro-Press Wowed on Whirlwind Tour
Phone Sects
When Joey Comes Marching Home
Prints Valiant
Book Him, Danno!
Bytes to Chew On
More from the Freditor - CES Closing in Fast
The $6 Million Quest
QFC IV Hits the Streets
Serious Playtime
Top Ten Reasons to Become a Game Designer