Welcome and Happy Birthday!

Twenty six years ago our team launched the Wing Commander Combat Information Center and somehow after all those years… we're still here! Whether you've been with us all that time or you're just discovering the Wing Commander universe, welcome to the party!

I've been a part of a lot of communities–I even built a pretty notable Wing Commander-adjacent one!--but there's nowhere I'm ever happier to come back than our group. Will we ever get a new Wing Commander game or book or cartoon or movie? I don't know… but I do know that I'm happier talking about anything with my Wing Commander friends on Discord and the forums. It's so exciting to see new people come along and discover the series and it's equally thrilling to see people find out that beyond an old space sim we're a pretty chill group of folks to spend time with. I'd like to thank everyone who makes that possible every day; whether you're making new fan games or geeking out about Origin history or posting to the forums to chat about the briefest references in the novel… you're part of something pretty neat and I'm happy to know you. I also need to thank Chris Reid, Aaron Dunbar and Kris Vanhecke specifically for their stewardship of the CIC itself. You wouldn't see updates without the work Chris and AD do… and the site just plain wouldn't work without Kris.

This year, we're taking a slightly different approach to the birthday offerings… by taking a page from the original Wing Commander and giving you something new to play! Read on to learn all about how we've uncovered an alpha build of Privateer, a beta copy of Privateer II and even some never-before-played Wing Commander Academy missions straight from Origin Systems! We'll never stop dreaming about a new game… but we're hoping some folks will have some fun with a couple of slightly different ones for now!

Here's to a great year that for me was full of thinking about Wing Commander in as many new ways as I possibly could… and here's to many more to come with more worlds to create and history to explore.