As we celebrate Wing Commander III's first widespread retail availability since the late 1990s, we would like to mention for anyone that we have the game's source code in our offline archive. We know it's frustrating for fans, who could do amazing things with this, to read these updates... but it's also in everyone's best interests to remind EA that we have the raw material from which they could port Wing Commander III to a modern computer or console. Just let us know!
2013-12-01 -- Here's a peek at the absolutely badass Dralthi IV cockpit that Howard Day recently put together. The plan is to integrate this with the Academy mods that HCl has been experimenting with for Wing Commander Academy. It bears a very strong resemblance to the Dralthi II layouts that we see in Secret Missions 2 (pictured first after the quote below), but it also packs in some really great asymmetrical features.
2013-11-30 -- Escapist Magazine has continued its serial review of the Wing Commander series available on GOG. Wing Commander 3 and 4 are both covered in the latest article, and boy, the author did not like them! In regards to descriptions such as "awkward 2D ship animations and anemic audio utterly fail to generate any sense of excitement," Delance comments: "I wonder if he even properly played Wing Commander III at all, considering that the game is in full 3D and has (like all Wing Commander games) a great soundtrack.
2013-11-29 -- Anyone with an interest in modding or game development in general will want to take a closer look at this. FekLeyrTarg noticed that Wing Commander Saga's source code is now available for download. The game was built on top of a heavily modified Freespace 2 engine that contains extensions and modifications contributed by the Freespace community at large.
2013-11-28 -- The CIC would like to wish our American visitors a Happy Thanksgiving and a good day to Wingnuts around the world! The CIC staff is mostly laying low Thursday, but we would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone about Wing Commander Pilgrim Truth. After the WC Movie novelization and Pilgrim Stars books were released in 1999, the conclusion to the trilogy was never published.
2013-11-27 -- ScoobyDoo has put together a new fighter, and once again it comes from the ranks of Tri-System ships that are underrepresented in the universe of fan modeling. This one's based on the Faldari, and after closer inspection, it might appear to be different from the heavy fighter that many of us flew in Privateer 2. That's because - in addition to the civilian Faldari Mk II - there was also a Military CIS Faldari that sported sleeker lines and engine nacelles!
2013-11-26 -- Whiplash has completed the forward portions of the engines on his intricately modeled Hellcat. Narrow vent fins have been installed over glowing intake patterns to really up the detail factor. Each update brings the ship closer and closer to the 'real' thing!
2013-11-25 -- Howard Day's latest update to the Concordia Hangar really makes the place feel like home! Floor markings that denote elevators and staging areas have been added, and they significantly enhance the Wing Commander 2 atmosphere. It's like you're looking out from Flight Control with Angel & Hobbes, and Howard's planning to make it even more familiar in future updates.
2013-11-24 -- In order to preserve the highlights of what's likely to be the last Wing Commander product added to GOG's library (we'll be the first ones in line for Origin FX!), here's a look at the screenshots and flavor text that they put together for Armada. We're also still running into Wingnuts who haven't heard about the latest release and want to make sure the word gets out!
2013-11-24 -- The team behind Roberts Space Industries has hit another ridiculous milestone with $30 million in crowd funded funds. This caps off an explosive week that netted nearly $3 million due to special spacecraft sales. With another week still yet to go, November has produced more than $5 million for Cloud Imperium Games so far.
2013-11-23 -- With the completion of the core DOS/Windows Wing Commander lineup on GOG Thursday, this may be the last time we see the series own the sales charts like they did by Friday. The release of Wing Commander Armada combined with a 50% off sale pushed WC to claim 7 of the top 9 spots. As there are 8 different WC packages on GOG, which one didn't make the cut?
2013-11-22 -- A brand new console cycle has officially kicked off with today's release of the XBox One and last Friday's Playstation 4 release. While the most popular aspects of the Wing Commander universe originated on PC, there have been a great many console ports and exclusives over the years. Noteworthy additions from the last round of hardware include Prophecy on the Game Boy Advance, WC1 & SM1 on the Playstation Portable, Arena on the XBox 360 and a digital WC4 rerelease on the PS3/PSP.
2013-11-21 -- The last PC Wing Commander game has finally been released via GOG! Wing Commander Armada, the multiplayer installment of the saga that was years ahead of its time, is now available for purchase for just $5.99.
2013-11-21 -- To celebrate the release of Wing Commander Armada, five copies of the game are available to CIC readers who can answer these questions! The first Wingnuts to answer correctly today win! Send entries to news@wcnews.
2013-11-20 -- AAN is back with new pictures of his Dralthi IV-inspired miniature model. It's sized well for 15mm tabletop gaming, and there's even a nice shot below of the fighter providing close air support for a handful of Kilrathi troops. The Dralthi was one of the very first mini ships that AAN posted, but the images here reveal how his painting techniques have continued to get even more gorgeous over the years.
2013-11-20 -- Jacob tipped us off about a Wing Commander sale at Best Buy. The new Anamorphic DVD is just $5 and the Blu-ray should be $13 in store or online. Amazon lists the same BRD price, but $5 is a great deal for fans who haven't yet stepped up to high definition discs.
2013-11-19 -- Escapist Mag has followed up on their recent Prophecy Review with a profile of Wing Commander 1&2. They're currently in the midst of a re-review of the series thanks to the nearly-complete library of WC games now available on GOG. The author starts with a thought that I think will resonate with the vast majority of Wingnuts: "There are the games that you play and then there the games that you fall in love with.
2013-11-19 -- As a new generation of gaming consoles kicks off, a recent post by Chris Roberts has clarified his position on the various systems. Some fans of Star Citizen were dismayed to see Playstation 4 dev kits pop up in photographs around the Cloud Imperium Games offices. There was concern that development could shift away from cutting edge personal computers.
2013-11-18 -- Howard Day has a new update for the Concordia Hangar, and this should help the app run more smoothly on a wider variety of machines. The program is already relatively lightweight as it runs on a web browser, but it has been optimized behind the scenes for even smoother function. From a visual perspective, walls have been added to the sides of the bay.
2013-11-18 -- Congrats to NASA and team on the successful launch of the MAVEN spacecraft today! Its mission is to travel to Mars and intensely study the planet's atmosphere to understand how it's changed over time. The results should help provide answers regarding past and future habitability.
2013-11-17 -- HCl is up to his usual tricks again. This time he's managed to extract ship models from Wing Commander Prophecy and convert them to Wing Commander 2/Academy format! See what the Prophecy Dralthi and the Nephilim Manta both look like in the Academy game engine in the exciting screenshots below.
2013-11-16 -- This week we look at the last ship to comprise the Victory's battle group. TCS Sheffield cruised alongside the other two ships of Destroyer Squadron 67 and TCS Victory. Like the other ships, the name Sheffield comes from the Royal Navy and in this case named after the city of Sheffield, England.
2013-11-15 -- ScoobyDoo's latest concept ship is a ruggedized but still sleek Stiletto. The fast light fighter now has more prominent fuel intakes and an additional set of underslung guns. It accurately maintains the Privateer ship's slightly downward swept wings and numerous stabilizing fins.
2013-11-14 -- Chris Roberts is hard at work building Star Citizen, yet still finds time to discuss things like the game's physics with fans on the RSI forums. Chris was actually studying physics at Manchester University when he decided to switch paths and make games full time. In a series of recent posts, he also had some interesting revelations regarding the Wing Commander engine and its physics implementation.
2013-11-13 -- The third issue of Destiny's Way has been released! This month's cover features Howard's slick Hornet and tons of great in-jokes. There is also an interview with WC4's Pliers on his fascinating new role in the post-war era.
2013-11-12 -- This time Prophecy had to compete with the Far Cry and the Tom Clancy series for the top spot on the Good Old Games shooter best sellers' list. Despite the stiff opposition, WCP shot to first place. Privateer 2 also significantly increased its position in the rankings, and WC1/2, WC4 and Privateer helped the Wing Commander series make a good showing in the top ten.
2013-11-12 -- Delance spotted a timely review of Wing Commander Prophecy over at the Escapist Mag. WCP is the latest in a line of Good Old Reviews that follow up on GOG releases. It's not uncommon for series retrospectives to still pop up here and there, but classic reviews are a less frequent event.
2013-11-11 -- The Wing Commander Combat Information Center extends a huge heartfelt thanks to all those who serve in uniform around the globe. We hope you are safe this Veterans' Day and that you enjoy the freedom you have helped secure. Also, make sure to take a moment today to remember those who gave the last full measure of devotion in the line of duty.
2013-11-10 -- As soon as Wing Commander Prophecy was released on GOG last week, fans immediately got to work testing out the various upgrades and improvements that Wingnuts have developed over the years. WC4 on GOG is especially noteworthy for including the high quality cutscenes from the DVD version, but this was not the case for the new WCP that just went on sale. This has to do with the fact that WC4 DVD was commercially available via a late '90s Creative Labs DVD-ROM bundle, but WCP DVD movies were only distributed via the CIC.
2013-11-09 -- dczanik has been experimenting with his Christopher Blair modeling project and has a neat mockup to show off. The perspective shot below shows what WC2 Bluehair might have looked like head-on. Due to space constraints of the early '90s, we don't ever see much variety in head tilt or positioning, so even a very slight twist such as this is somewhat striking.
2013-11-09 -- Terrans don't get all of the love at the CIC! Emil has penned this smokin' kat. The 'Kilrathi Commander' looks like he'd fit right in with the pilots of the Wing Commander CCG.
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