News Collection: On This Day in WC News

2023.131 (May 11, 2023)

Connecting the Dots Back to Wing Commander

Today I'm going to pop around on a thread that starts with author Diane Duane. She's a very well known sci-fi author who's written lots of Star Trek novels, various video game books as well as her own series. Of particular interest to WC fans: she also wrote the screenplay to the cinematic story of Privateer 2! And just yesterday, she had this to say on the topic: I was a busy girl on this one.

2022.131 (May 11, 2022)

Go to Sleep, You Pilots

Today we've got Scribbler's second ambiance video. This one takes place in the Tiger's Claw's barracks. As such, it's a little more peaceful than the bar scene. There's a more calming engine hum and an occasional water bucket drip.

2021.131 (May 11, 2021)

NYT Catches Up With Fat Man & Team Fat

Here's one from deep in the archives. AD found an interview with the Fat Man and Team Fat in an early 1995 article of the New York Times, before they even started posting stories online in 1996. This one's been turned into a digital story for completeness so future generations can learn a little about the state of early game audio. It goes a little bit deeper than your typical magazine blurb.

2020.132 (May 11, 2020)

WC3 Test Enhances Intro Movie Quality

ODVS has a new visual treat for everyone. Even though there's not currently a method to swap the videos into the game itself, he's taken a shot at upscaling the intro cutscene to Wing Commander 3. He recently had tremendous success performing a massive enhancement on the WC4 and Prophecy clips, and this builds on those techniques. Fortunately in this case, he did have the slightly higher quality Playstation clips to work with, although they're still only 320x160 res at 15 fps.

2019.131 (May 11, 2019)

The Warrior King's Saga Begins on Prime Video

There’s good news for fans of ridiculous space vikings: Amazon’s streaming service now has the Street Fighter animated series! What they have listed as episode 22 is the start of the insane crossover that ends in Wing Commander Academy. It's free for Prime subscribers. Check it out here.

2018.131 (May 11, 2018)

Fun with Super Wing Commander Cockpits

Friday night score! Happened across several pre-release Super Wing Commander screenshots. Note the older VDU graphics and the early cockpit that's more TIE Fighter than Hornet!A preview build seems to have been provided to magazines in early 1994...

Wing Commander Meme of the Day: Leonardo Dicaprio Cheers

2017.131 (May 11, 2017)

Back to The Awakening

Last month, we reported about the history of one of the 'inspired by' tracks on the Wing Commander Prophecy Original Soundtrack. Specifically, that the song 'The Awakening' by German electronic group Das Ich was an English-language 'Wing Commander' adaptation of one of their earlier songs. At the time, we noted the English version had only ever been available on the Prophecy soundtrack. Now, we've discovered that isn't true!

2016.132 (May 11, 2016)

Shrike Swoops Into Secret Ops Upgrade

DefianceIndustries has added another ship to the Cerberus' roster with the completion of the Shrike "Class B" torpedo bomber. Despite its mass, the ship has some pretty sleek curves, and its turrets help convey how much punch this ship packs. It'll definitely do some damage to any bugs trying to invade!And here's how it looks in the game!

2015.131 (May 11, 2015)

Flat Universe Preview Posted

Maslas has posted an exciting peek at the next version of Wing Commander Flat Universe. The screenshots below show off the enhanced visual effects that will soon be incorporated into the game. On top of the graphics, actual performance will be improved and there has been significant ship balancing incorporated since the last release. There will also be bug fixes relating to the game interface, joystick control and more.

2014.131 (May 11, 2014)

Screw You, Senses!

ScrewAttack has posted a new video titled The Best Studio EA Killed EVER! Several high profile developers are memorialized, and Origin Systems gets top billing in the first two minutes of commentary. At first, this clip inspires a "Hell, yeah! We miss Origin too.

2013.131 (May 11, 2013)

Wing Commander... In Iron Man 3?

Ever since I first heard that they had chosen "the Mandarin" to be the villain in Iron Man 3, I had been wondering if someone would throw a Wing Commander reference into the mix. Now after having seen the film I'd like to believe they did. The Mandarin character claims responsibility for a number of terrorist bombings in the film. In Wing Commander 2, a group of traitorous humans and friends of Zack Colson, known as the Mandarins, create havoc by using bombs to sabotage Terran forces...

RSI Approaches $10 Million Milestone

Roberts Space Industries has met another incredible milestone. The team recently hit a whopping $9.5 million in total crowd funding revenues since the October launch of Squadron 42. $10 million can't be far away.

2012.132 (May 11, 2012)

Kilrathi Destroyer Continues to Take Shape

Kevin Caccamo is once again working on a Ralari model. Since we last saw the ship, additional detail has been added to the window areas and secondary structure. It appears to conform to the Claw Marks schematic quite well. You can let Kevin know what you think at the CIC Forums.

2011.131 (May 11, 2011)

New Warships Bolster the Terran Fleet

Astro Commander has finished painting and photographing a new batch of miniature models, and the fabulous results are a very fine show of Terran strength! The Durango and Bengal class carriers are backed up by some stout Southampton and Gilgamesh destroyers. Some of these ships were previewed in a big tabletop fleet battle earlier this year, so it's great to see them up close. Fighters and other escorts are all ready to go, so it's time for war!

2010.131 (May 11, 2010)

iPad Gets High Definition Wing Commander

There's great news for Apple iPad owners! The Wing Commander Movie has been available for streaming or download on many different platforms, but it's now available in high definition for the first time on the iPad. Although there have been a number of broadcasts of the movie in higher resolutions, this is the first time an HD version has been available for direct payment. It's not a perfect solution however, since it's currently only available to rent, and the iPad is limited to 1024x768 pixels.

EA Sports Adding Multiplayer Access Controls

Electronic Arts has announced a new measure to control online access in their upcoming sports titles. Multiplayer over the internet will be accessible via an 'Online Pass' code that is included in new games. Used copies of these games will be able to obtain a pass for $10 or access a free trial that renters would take advantage of. Although seemingly a clear shot at the used game market dominated by GameStop, they have partnered with the company to cross promote point cards and downloadable content that will also be available.

2009.131 (May 11, 2009)

Malcolm McDowell, Videogame Star

Kombo.com is running a piece on Malcolm McDowell's videogame appearances. They mention the part of Admiral Tolwyn in Wing Commander 3 and 4, as well as his more recent work. McDowell can be seen in Red Alert 3's live action sequences and he did voicework for Fallout 3.

Making the Game: Series B Overview

The 'B' series of missions became the starting H'rekkah missions. It's interesting that discovering cloak technology is useless is one of the four objectives for this series. It was ultimately cut -- and it's a lot of focus on explaining away an unnecessary gameplay element.These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!

2008.132 (May 11, 2008)

Saga Shakes Down Its Superfighter

The WC Saga team has released an updated version of its Excalibur model. The latest incarnation was mocked up by limdaepl. Accuracy and faithfulness to the authentic design was their goal, and they've done a good job getting many of the details right.

Making the Game - Part 6

This is more like it! The Component Manager Meeting Agenda for April 26, 1996 has information from what each portion of the Wing Commander V/Prophecy development team is doing. One thing that should catch the eye of Wing Commander fans is that the team is developing an overall story arc and 'universe fiction' -- and that it's being shared with Erin Roberts, who is currently developing Privateer 2: The Darkening in England. There's also an interesting reference to planning for "Maniac [Missions]" with Mark [Day] - I wonder if any material on that project survives?

2007.131 (May 11, 2007)

More Arena Previews

1Up has posted a new preview of Wing Commander Arena. It sounds very positive and goes into some detail regarding several of the game modes:Never-ending single-player defensive missions like Meteor Storm, where you defend a space station from rocks and the occasional bandit, seem to be great time killers. And scores from all missions, except Proving Grounds (a very basic never-ending bot fight), will be posted to the leaderboards. Part of EA's summer line-up, Arena seems to provide some decent fun, whether you're a Wing Commander fan or not.

Blast Off With Another New Video

The internet's gone Arena video crazy since EA showed the game off at their Summer Preview 2007. Yet another new video has been released, and this time it comes from GameVideos.com. "Blasto" reveals the well-armored F-27 Arrow Guardian participating in a coordinated defense/assault.

Analysis: Gaia Concept Art

It's certainly been an exciting twenty four hours - if you haven't been following the news, we now have over a gigabyte of Wing Commander Arena preview videos in our archive! Today we're looking back at some other exciting news from the past week - the Arena concept art seen at the Gaia Industries office. First of all, GamerTag Radio has posted a YouTube video of the Street Trace: NYC preview event. It includes a few seconds of the 'Arena board', which we've cut out and put online here (584k, AVI).

2006.131 (May 11, 2006)

Space Pickles Collide: A Wallpaper That Really Stings

As promised, Sean Murphy has rendered a new Wing Commander wallpaper -- and it's a beauty! Pictures speak better than words, so check it out below. Sean has kindly made the picture available in several different resolutions.Not sure what you're looking at?

Standoff Turns Five Years Old

There's a neat birthday this week. If you dig through our News Archives, you'll run across a humble news bit from early May 2001. Buried in the middle of half a dozen other updates, we mentioned Eder's first preliminary Ferret model. His project didn't have a name yet, and he wasn't even sure which engine he was going to mod.

2005.131 (May 11, 2005)

DragonCon Prices Rising & New Guests Announced

DragonCon membership prices will be rising this Friday, so order now if you want to get them for $60. Four day passes will be $85 at the door. New guests have also been announced this week. Claw Marks author Aaron Allston will once again be making an appearance.

New Life For Viva La Resolution

PeteyG came across an interesting story involving The Fatman, the famous game soundtrack composer who pioneered the music for the original Wing Commanders. At one point there was talk about announcing the high definition XBox at this year's Game Developers Conference. The announcement eventually got cancelled, but Fat was originally responsibile for making music that would spice up the otherwise boring slideshow for the event. Viva La Resolution was the result.

2004.132 (May 11, 2004)

Save Enterprise

Let's take a step back from Wing Commander for a moment to talk about something almost as important: the latest Star Trek series, Enterprise, is apparently in danger of being cancelled. If you're a Star Trek fan, I'll personally vouch for the fact that the show has significantly improved in quality in its third season. If you're not, read on for details as to why this is important.Let me relate this to Wing Commander, through a hitherto secret tale of intrigue: Back in October, 2001 we received a phone call from a TV producer who was working with Chris Roberts to develop a Wing Commander television show.

Return of The King

Major Striker, Wing Commander fan artist extraordinare, has a new picture for everyone to enjoy. Here's his explanation from the forums thread: The Ralari and gratha are my 3d models of course, the guy on the left is me, the girl on the right is Jennifer Connelly and of course the guy in the uniform in the middle is Elvis, the King of Rock 'n Roll!!! Well, of course!

2003.131 (May 11, 2003)

And We're Off

Justin and I leave tomorrow for the Electronic Entertainment Expo. Prophecy publisher Destination Software will be exhibiting next to the US Army booth in the shadow of Sony and Sega's show floors. We intend to get some answers. There's an off chance we'll be able to meet someone from Raylight, which would be very cool too.

Holding The Line Chapter 158

HTL must be the only fan project that makes progress every week. Here's Raptor:Hey all, Raptor here.HTL continues with the second chapter of "Scraps Of Honour 12". As you sawin the last chapter, the reserve pilots were increasingly on edge as theywaited for the main fleet to jump into Nifelhiem in preparation for thefinal battle.

WCPolaroids: Stiletto (2/8)

Stiletto practices her chameleon skin effect.

2002.131 (May 11, 2002)

Animatronic Kilrathi Sells For $2,500

Last month The Propstore of London auctioned off a full size Kilrathi with animatronic head. The costume, standing nearly 7.5 ft tall, was used in the 1999 Wing Commander movie. We don't normally report on auctions before they end as to avoid influencing the outcome, but in this case it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference.

Holding the Line: Chapter 129

"Further Down The Spiral" continues here on the CIC. Here's the introduction to the latest chapter.Hey all, Raptor hereHTL continues with the second chapter of "Further Down The Spiral" part three.As you saw in the last chapter, retired TCN veteran Jed Wright had begun telling a journalist of the last hours of the TCS Valley Forge, and her fateful battle against an enemy dreadnought battlegroup.

2001.131 (May 11, 2001)

SWC Ship of the Day: Fralthi

And here's the latest recon photo from McLaren... it's like a smaller, faster 'Claw!

HOT SEXY WC4 MODELS

WildCat has extracted all of the Wing Commander IV ship models (minus the jammer transport, which is MIA -- please help) for the WC Invasion mod... but he's also posted them for download for the general public! Grab the pack here (4.76 mb).

A Healthy Grasp of the Insane

Hobbes checks in with another eerie quote pulled from today's headlines... this one is from an article at MSNBC."For now, the Air Force will remain the lead service responsible for space defense and warfare, but Rumsfeld and his fellow space commissioners held out the possibility that it would eventually make sense to create a separate branch of the military - the U.S.

Talkin' 'Bout JumpGate

Mark Asher's latest GameSpin at GameSpy is titled "Games You Will Want"; it includes this Wing Commander reference... (found by The Lancers Reactor).A game that sounds a bit like Privateer but is set in a massively multiplayer game universe and isn't Freelancer? Who'd a thunk it?

Final Not The Last

As the saying goes, you can't keep a good man down -- Rylex is back to the WC community and has brought a new Final Conflict homepage with him! You can find the site located as part of rylex.de -- it features "unreleased and secret" videos!

But Wait, There's More!

Here's even more ships from DRAsvitt -- this picture featurings the Behemoth and the SWC Dralthi! He reports that this will probably be the last update for a while -- he's going to be working on making molds so that he can sell replicas to the people who've shown interest therein.

Woo, HotT's Hot Today

HotT's site has been updated with lots of great Wing Commander themed pictures! But that's not all! He's also written some... (drum-roll, please) fanfic that deserves to be promoted!

Transparencies Bite Man

Here's the latest highly-technical changes to Vega Strike, by HellcatV...I just finished adding Transparency as an option to the mesh format (and the ability to specify a separate alpha file that would hold alpha (clearness) values in a 256 bit grayscale bitmap.I added a weak optimizer to find adjacent triangles and hook 'em up.ashieh finished a small converter that can transform from strippified(aka faster) .

Let the Fur Fly

Kalralahr Darkhath asks that we mention another part of the www.wc-rollenspiel.de RPG... the Kilrathi Empire Online Rolegame!

Zoned Out

What the heck happened to the WCZone? Here's the official line...The ExS billing server has been updated; but unfortunately profiles were corrupted in transfer. Many squad names were swapped with the actual squad - or something like that.

Our Daily Bread

I'm recovering from a particularly painful 36 hour essay-writing session... but there's only one final to go until I can get back to updating the CIC at my previous level of quality... Wish me luck!

1999.131 (May 11, 1999)

Movie Details After Nine Weeks

Wing Commander dropped to 80th place this week.The way the numbers stacked up, if Wing Commander made as much as it did in its opening weekend this last weekend it would have come in at fourth place in its opening weekend instead of seventh.