News Collection: On This Day in WC News

2024.358 (December 23, 2024)

Wing Commander Movie Night: Das Boot - Part One

The Wing Commander movie club gave our collective heart to a Starship Troopers! With all due deference to the one guy that was still mad that the movie didn't have the power suits from the novel, it's a heck of a movie! Now we're going to end the year by running silent and also deep with a movie you've absolutely heard of spoken in the same sentence as Wing Commander: Das Boot. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

2023.357 (December 23, 2023)

New DOSBox Spinoff Set Stage for New Features

Master O dropped by to spread the word about a new alternative to DOSBox. DOSBox has been a tried and true workhorse of the retro gaming community for nearly twenty years, but updates have been very sparse since about 2010 or so. Although the program works fairly well to get games like Wing Commander running on modern systems, technology has continued to evolve and there's an enormous opportunity to add modern quality-of-life improvements. That's where DOSBox Staging comes in.

2022.357 (December 23, 2022)

Starfield Designer on Origin Influences

Emil Pagliarulo, the lead designer of Bethesda's upcoming space RPG Starfield, has posted a thread about the inspirations that help shape the direction of the his current project. There are several classic Origin games on his list, including 2400 AD, Space Rogue and Privateer. Starfield is due out next year and looks very promising, and it's nice to see how Wing Commander games continue to influence the industry! You can see the full list with other great space sims on it here.

2021.357 (December 23, 2021)

Second Verse, Same as the First

Here's an early Christmas present for Wingnuts with high res monitors! In response to popular demand, Mac has rerendered his recent End Run wallpaper in dazzling 4K. This version is also uncompressed and the detail is just dazzling. Everything from Klavs' Dralthi fighters to the explosions to the lines on the foreground capship are super crisp.

2020.358 (December 23, 2020)

Hermes Assault Shuttle Finalized for Remake

DefianceIndustries has completed another slick little ship that is destined for the WC4 Fan Remake. We got a little peek last month, but the assault shuttle has since been fancied up with a battle worn Border Worlds texture. Little details like the doors and turrets look much sharper now, which makes the whole package nicer to look at. You can read more about how the Hermes was developed and what it will be used for in the months to come here.

2019.357 (December 23, 2019)

Spiegel Online Highlights Wing Commander Milestone

Spiegel Online has posted a nifty 25th anniversary look back at Wing Commander 3. For the non-German speakers in the audience, SPON is an extremely popular and widely read news site, so it's a pretty big deal for the WC series to get such a mention. As you might expect, the article goes into detail about what set the Wing Commander games apart. The author is well versed in the franchise's history and has fond memories about the switch to live actors and 3D space combat.

2018.357 (December 23, 2018)

Wing Commander Meme of the Day: Close to Home

2017.357 (December 23, 2017)

Squadron 42 Relaunches With New Preview Videos

It's been a big week for Chris Roberts and the team behind Star Citizen. In addition to the big 3.0 alpha for the playable Star Citizen preview, they've posted the biggest reveal so far for the Wing Commander-style single player spin-off campaign, Squadron 42. Below we've posted both the two minute trailer that features Mark Hamill and the hour long gameplay walkthrough.

2016.358 (December 23, 2016)

Only in Japan: Standalone WC3 for Windows 95

The easiest way to get Wing Commander 1-3 going on a modern system nowadays, is to buy the original DOS versions off GOG. Before the days of DOS emulation, players looked to Kilrathi Saga with its Windows '95 ports of the classic trilogy for their Windows 95/98/XP computers. The bundle was met with mixed reception; there were several small enhancements, but also a few changes and minor glitches. Those Windows ports were never released individually or in any other shape or fashion, apart from...

2015.357 (December 23, 2015)

Have A Pink Dralthi

But what could fly the pink Dralthi? Why, a pink Kilrathi, of course!

2014.357 (December 23, 2014)

Star Citizen's Arena Commander Hits 1.0

Another milestone for Chris Roberts and the Cloud Imperium team: Arena Commander, the space combat simulator module for Star Citizen has reached 1.0 status. Everyone that backed the game's funding campaign can download the simulator and try a variety of single or multiplayer game modes. Version 1.

2013.357 (December 23, 2013)

Last Minute GOG Sale Puts Wing Commander 75% Off!

It's coming down to the wire - have you finished your Christmas shopping? If not, GOG is giving Wingnuts one more opportunity to download Wing Commander at a discount, and this one's a killer deal! Virtually the entire series: ten games and six expansion packs plus numerous bonus features are just $11.92.

Wing Commander Contest: Foundry Flair for Fans!

To celebrate the addition of Erin Roberts' team, Foundry 42, to the Cloud Imperium Games fold, Roberts Space Industries is running a contest for some amazing Wing Commander merchandise! The top prize is Chris Roberts' original leather crew jacket from the development of Wing Commander 3. There's also an incredible 3.5 foot long Heretic model made for Privateer 2.

2012.358 (December 23, 2012)

Wing One: A Wingnut's Trip Down Audio Memory Lane

With the recent rerelease of the Wing Commander expansion packs on GOG, there's been a lot of people playing the early Wing Commander games. For those who've been hooked on those classic tunes, original composer Fat Man has made the soundtrack available to purchase and download here. Twenty-seven tracks are available for $9.98 in the "Wing One: Music from Wing Commander" album.

2011.357 (December 23, 2011)

Fat Man's Highly Rated Book E-Released

The CIC is here to help with another awesome e-gift. Wing Commander musician George Sanger's book, The Fat Man on Game Audio: Tasty Morsels of Sonic Goodness, has been out of print for a while and is still highly sought after. Used copies in good condition can fetch $100 or more. However, The Fat Man himself tweeted today about the new Kindle edition that's recently been made available.

Wing One is Available Too

Also don't forget that Fat Man's official rerelease of the original Wing Commander soundtrack was recently made available again. Purchase and download Wing One from Vibedeck for just $9.98. I was asked by the game's producer, Chris Roberts, to write something that sounded something like Star Wars and Star Trek the Motion Picture.

2010.357 (December 23, 2010)

A Hostile Landscape Takes Shape

Here's some shots of Hostile Frontier's new cockpit layout. The Rapier cockpit depicted below is fairly accurate, and the superimposed Freespace 2 HUD fits decently well. Kevin Caccamo has also provided a list of recent updates relating to missions, graphics and artificial intelligence. Cockpit update: The cockpit rendering bugs are fixed.

2009.357 (December 23, 2009)

BREAKING NEWS: Wing Commander IV on PSN!

Holiday surprise: Electronic Arts and Sony have made Wing Commander IV available as a digital download from the PlayStation Store. The game is a 'PSOne Classic' which can be played on both the PlayStation 3 console and the PlayStation Portable handheld! The cost is $5.99 and it is currently only available through the US store--we'll let you know when other regions add the game.

2008.358 (December 23, 2008)

New Ascii Sector Released

Chris Knudsen has released version 0.4.5 of the incredible Privateer: Ascii Sector. The game is available for Windows, OS X and Linux.

Tabula Rasa Now Free

It was announced recently that NCSoft would be shutting down Origin founder Richard Garriott's massively multiplayer title, Tabula Rasa, after a period of free play. Now everyone can play the game for free until the servers are shut down on February 28. Players still need to register a PlayNC account, but no subscription fees are collected. The official website has information on registration and gameplay.

2007.357 (December 23, 2007)

Possible Deleted WC Movie Scenes Analyzed

AD has been doing some research on the Wing Commander Movie, and the result is an interesting article on the differences between the shooting script and theatrical cut of the film. He's carefully compared the final draft script to the movie's DVD in order to highlight scenes that were probably filmed but cut in editing. He's managed to uncover quite a few interesting deleted scenes and alterations. Head over to Crius.

The Art of Wing Commander Arena - Part Forty-Four

This is the third of three 'environment' concepts which seem to draw on the background imagery of the classic games. This one offers a black hole capable of sucking in ships and a quasar-style anomaly which would have had an unknown effect. This is part of a series of beautiful Wing Commander Arena concept images graciously provided by Gaia Industries. You can find the original article here.

2006.357 (December 23, 2006)

Gemini Gold Profiled At STN

The Station Network has conducted an interview with Gemini Gold lead John Cordell. The article is in German, but criticalmass has translated it here. Most of the questions are pretty standard, but it's good exposure for the project to a wider audience. John also sent along a higher res picture of the Demon shown off in the piece.

Roberts Spotted At Work Again

AD has managed to find another picture of Chris Roberts on the set of Outlander, the medieval sci-fi epic he is currently producing. Aside from an interview posted recently, Roberts hasn't shown up in many of the numerous photos that AD has collected at outlander.solsector.net.

2005.357 (December 23, 2005)

Standoff Episode 3 Coming January 8

To celebrate the one year anniversary of Standoff's Episode 1 release, the official release date for Standoff Episode 3 has been announced. The big wait will be over in two weeks. Although the internal team target was Christmas, Standoff's developers held off on speculating about a date until they could give everyone a firm time to look forward to. The January 8 release promises a polished product with even larger battles, new exciting missions and the continuation of Standoff's gripping story.

Catch Up On Your Voting

The end of the year always brings about many "[Something] of the Year" awards. Many are a chance for you to show your appreciation for various things. We're no exception - the CIC's community awards are designed to celebrate the Fan Project and Web Site of the Year. Meanwhile eddieb is holding a vote for the Flight Commander mod of the year award.

2004.358 (December 23, 2004)

Get Standoff Now

The big day has arrived - the Standoff prologue episode has been released! Before going on with the details, here is the important bit: DOWNLOAD LINK. Still with us? Good.

Really Quick Standoff Troubleshooting Update

Here's a quick list of known problems and fixes for the Standoff prologue - Game performs an illegal operation upon launching - This is a Windows 2000/XP problem. The game won't run in Windows 2000, but in Windows XP, right click standoff.exe in your Secret Ops folder and select properties, then from the Compatibility tab, set the file to Windows 95 compatibility mode. Game gives the error "gl_d3d_5::createzbuffer attach failed 87" - Go in to the Standoff launcher options, and select "16 bit".

2003.357 (December 23, 2003)

Book 'Em!

Interested in collecting Wing Commander merchandise, or perhaps just the history of the franchise? We can help! You can find the CIC's new guide to American Wing Commander books here and the guide to German Wing Commander books here. We've provided author names, cover art, ISBN and history for every work of Wing Commander literature that we know of - including official guides, unofficial guides and novels!

More From Johnny

Captain Johnny has posted another model to the Forums. If you can't name at least two Wing Commander products that this ship appeared in, you need to check out the discussion at Crius.net.

2002.357 (December 23, 2002)

LOAF Returns

LOAF spent a few days last week at Digital Anvil checking out Freelancer in it's current form. Many questions were asked on your behalf about the game, so what did we learn? Read the report and find out!

Movie of the Day - WC Movie Preview Trailer

Long before the final movie trailer was made, there was a three minute long preview trailer which even contained one or two scenes cut from the movie. It's been offline for a little while, but now for your viewing pleasure we have it back online! This is a Divx version of the original trailer so it's much lower quality than the other almost DVD quality trailers, but it's only 10MB in size so it's not all bad. You can grab it here.

WCPolaroids: Casey (24/24)

"Alas, poor Dallas. I knew him well." It's the last Casey photo!

2001.357 (December 23, 2001)

Holding The Line Chapter 114

It's the weekend. Time for another Holding The Line chapter! So here's Raptor.HTL continues with Part Five of the Tiger Hunt series, "Hammer and Anvil".

Another Word About Awards

Black Joker from the WC in Russia website sent along this word of thanks:On behalf of all crew members of WC in Russia project I want to thank all devoted fans who voted in the recent Fansite/Project of the Year contest. Also I want to thank and greet the CIC for their efforts to keep WC community alive and united. And of course I want to offer our special gratitude for all fans who voted for our site. We are deeply honored.

Random Links(tm)

I'll play a bit of catch-up here.. A cardboard Excalibur - Work in progress made by Technician from the CIC Chat Zone. Gamespot's Origin Fanfest news - Word on Origin's Online Worlds Fanfest due to take place next month. Earth & Beyond is being shown off there.

2000.358 (December 23, 2000)

Heathen, Convert!

The Lancers Reactor has started the first portion of ther CapShip Model Contest for StarLancer -- model downloads and more information can be found here. WC ships make up four of the seven options, with models of the Midway, Plunkett, Hades and Ella. In related news, HCl and Fuzzball have finally solved the problems surrounding capship relacement in SL! Expect more information from them soon...

Voting Ends Today!

Voting for the Fan Project of the Year Award ends tonight at midnight EST! Send your vote for one of the below projects here ASAP. The winner will be reported on Sunday.

1999.357 (December 23, 1999)

Best Space Sim Ever

pc.ign is holding a 'Simulation of the Millennium' poll... Wing Commanders 1 & 2 are both choices. The voting ends tonight, so go vote quick!

Germany's Got It

Wing Commander has finally hit the big screen in Germany! Here's to hoping that it "find the...glory...that he seeks".

Aye, There's The Reference

Here's all the asommers references we could find. Enjoy...Victory Streak: On page 45 there is a letter to the editor from asommers@victory.nav.

Zak Arrives on Hermes

Music reporter Tony Knox writes. Well, Zak Skintight and his band, the legendary Buttock Men, have just arrived on Hermes to play their latest gig. The excitement on the planet is palpable, with everyone thrilled to bits at the prospect of seeing the system's most famous musicians. There is a significant police presence, however, due to Zak and his retinue's notorious taste for Talcum Powder, Bex Beer and Pleasure Borgs.

1998.357 (December 23, 1998)

Trailer in January?

Brain reports that Daily Sci Fi has an article on the Wing Commander Movie. According to the article (below) the trailer should be in theaters next month. As far as I know, however, the article's assertion that the Kilrathi will be seen in the trailer is NOT true. Read on...

3D0-rific

Gamecenter is running a retrospective article on the 3D0 gaming system -- adored by truly obsessive WingNuts for featuring both Super Wing Commander and a very different version of Wing Commander III. The article goes through the good and bad 3D0 (or is it 3DO?) games, and as expected Super Wing Commander is on there. Read the little description below.