Wing Commander Blu-ray Released!

The Wing Commander Movie is now available in high definition on Blu-ray disc! Today's release was finally made possible by Anchor Bay, which republishes cult favorites that may have been overlooked by the major publishers. Many major retailers carry the package online, and specialized entertainment or electronics stores in North America should have physical stock now.

After Wing Commander came out on DVD, VHS and DIVX in July 1999, it looked at first like the film may have had its run and then was done. Although initially not available for purchase, various high definition broadcasts provided a glimmer of hope that a sharper version would someday be released though. And fortunately, strong sales and rentals throughout the early 2000s pushed Fox to kick off a series of budget price reprints. Several online vendors eventually offered the movie for streaming as that technology matured. The first purchasable high definition version appeared in 2010 on the iPad's 1024x768 screen. This was eventually expanded in 2011 to more services and in 720p resolution. The first 1080p versions only recently appeared in 2012. Also in 2011, Fox reprinted the film on DVD again with a new cover.

Anchor Bay also put out a version of the film on standard DVD today. It's very similar to Fox's 2011 copy, but note that the back now calls it out as 'anamorphic'. The text on today's iteration is a bit bolder and the Anchor Bay/Starz branding has been added. The Blu-ray is officially categorized as Region A, which means it will play in North and South America, Japan, Taiwan, Korea and a few other Southeast Asian areas. Occasionally such discs will still play in other regions, and this will need to be tested out. Today's releases don't have any new filmed content, but there is yet again hope for an enhanced edition in the future. In 2015, film's distribution rights revert back to Chris Roberts, and he has said that he would be interested in someday producing a 'director's cut' with digitized Kilrathi and the uncut story.

Today's historic launch parallels last year's improbable release of Wing Commander Academy on DVD. Once again, what was once thought impossible has happened. Diehard Wingnuts always have faith that even greater Wing Commander products are coming, and days like today reaffirm that we are on the right track. Please enjoy the fact that a brand new boxed WC product is again sitting on store shelves right now!

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Official news, fan projects and topics of particular interest to Wing Commander fans.

A Christmas Party - Richard Garriott Style!
2013-12-24 -- Wing Commander fans are well aware that Origin founder Richard Garriott de Cayeux is an outspoken supporter of space exploration. His trip to the International Space Station on a Russian Soyuz has been well documented, but it's a lesser known fact that he's actually worked directly with NASA in a consulting role. They wouldn't hire him as an astronaut decades ago, but he was a perfect fit for the Education and Public Outreach Committee of the NASA Advisory Council.

Last Minute GOG Sale Puts Wing Commander 75% Off!
2013-12-23 -- 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.

Wing Commander Contest: Foundry Flair for Fans!
2013-12-23 -- 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.

It's Nomination Time Again
2013-12-22 -- Incredibly, this year is already winding down and a new one is nearly upon us! That means it's also time for our fifteenth annual Wing Commander Web Site/Fan Project of the Year awards. The CIC doesn't rely on original content to keep the news page full - it's the daily activities of thousands of Wingnuts, dozens of active projects and a network of other dedicated websites that keeps everything going.

Lord Vader Texts Admiral Tolywn
2013-12-21 -- Wulf tipped us off about a series of new Sprint commercials featuring none other than James Earl Jones and Malcolm McDowell. These two sci-fi greats have been paired together to honor the important things people do with their cell phones. There's oven a dozen you can find on the Sprint YouTube channel.

Time For Some Gemini Shore Leave
2013-12-20 -- Wing Commander From the Ashes has kicked off a new chapter. Silent Hunter reports that the forum-based WC RPG has zeroed in on the Jolson pleasure planet in XXN-1927 for its latest activities. If you enjoy the Gemini Sector but always wanted to fly there on behalf of the Confederation, this one's for you!

Scooby Sharpens His Blade
2013-12-19 -- ScoobyDoo has extended his lead as the most prolific modeler of Privateer 2 ships. His latest addition is the Blade, a fearsome Kindred ship. Its heavy weaponry and unique design made it a scary sight in the Tri-System.

GOG Adds Armada to Mac Compatible Lineup
2013-12-18 -- Good Old Games has upgraded several of its Origin games with Macintosh OS X compatibility! In theory, it's possible to take any of the games' files and get things running with DOSBox, but not all players are interesting in going through the effort to set it up just right. We've previously passed word back that people really like the ease and convenience of the Mac installers, and GOG has responded that it can be tricky to come up with a customized solution that runs well automatically on the vast majority of machines.

Super Wing Commander Crew All Lined Up
2013-12-17 -- Hopefully this attractive cast of characters is familiar to you - they're the faces of Tiger's Claw heroes in Super Wing Commander! We've mentioned this Mac/3DO port many times over the years, so even if most Wingnuts haven't played it, they recognize the general look and feel. Some have questioned why the Asian characters look so white, why Shotglass is suddenly black and even why Paladin is sporting an eye patch...

Raiders Resort to Assaulting Rapier Under Repair
2013-12-16 -- AAN's latest miniature model mockup features one of Klavs' fantastic Rapier 3D prints anchoring a Confed base under attack from the Kilrathi. The poor Terran soldiers are caught off guard by a kat onslaught. AAN's unpainted models start life at the Dream Foundry and the colored Rapier is made at Terran Fleet Supply.

GOG Bundles Prophecy in Space Sim Pack
2013-12-16 -- Fans who still need a copy of Wing Commander Prophecy & Secret Ops have a short window of opportunity to grab them for 66% off. Both games are a part of the Space Sim Succession pack for just $1.99 total!

WCWorkShop Develops WC1 Cutscene Generation Technique
2013-12-15 -- delMar has continued to make excellent progress over at WCWorkShop.net. Some of the recent additions relate to programming methodology and savegame generation for the original Wing Commander.

Lunar Rover Lands, SotA Preview Released, Busy Weekend!
2013-12-15 -- The first new lander and rover vehicle since 1976 successfully set down on the moon and began exploring this weekend. China now joins the USA, Russia and Origin founder Richard Garriott as the owners of such equipment on our natural satellite. While the outspoken space exploration promoter is no doubt excited at the news, Mr.

Let's Watch Wing Commander: The Secret Missions
2013-12-14 -- centaurianmudpig has kicked off a series of video walkthroughs for Wing Commander: The Secret Missions. Each mission in the game has been recorded in 'long play' format with complete commentary. Keeping the audio track in a documentary such as this from being overly repetitive is no easy task, but Mr.

GOG Sale Slashes Wing Commander Prices In Half
2013-12-13 -- Good Old Games has kicked off their annual holiday mega sale, and there are some great savings out there! For starters, almost their entire catalog is 50% off, including all eight Wing Commander releases. Each is just $3 now - less than $25 for the entire DOS/Windows series!

Alternate Hornet Design All Tricked Out
2013-12-12 -- Scooby's latest ship is the Hornet from Super Wing Commander. He's spiced up the design with some aerodynamic improvements and more weaponry, not to mention his characteristic hull textures. The cockpit proportions help convey the size well and combine with the rest of the styling to get across a strong light fighter feel.

Blair Survives a Very Bad Day Aboard the Tiger's Claw
2013-12-11 -- sgupta managed to record a video of a quirky WC1 bug that alters the game's funeral sequence. He expected to see Spirit's funeral after a particularly tough mission, but the game instead played Halcyon's eulogy and Blair's remembrance for every single pilot! Fortunately, only Spirit was KIA on the killboard back in the bar.

WC Saga Enhancements Coming Along
2013-12-10 -- Last week, we reported on Wing Commander Saga's source code getting released and we now have more details on the work being done to enhance the game. Forums member Luke is part of a group of people working to improve the game on both the technical level and on the user experience side. Players will get a better fiction viewer, mission briefings will be made available in text format for easy reference, video from the WC Saga Prologue will make an appearance in the movie room and there will be easier access to the mission simulator.

Wingman's Hangar Profiles Sean Murphy
2013-12-09 -- Roberts Space Industries has published a new employee interview in the latest episode of Wingman's Hangar. Cloud Imperium Games Austin has recently hired Sean Murphy, who has a long and extensive history building Wing Commander games and supporting the WC community. He'll be involved with coordinating their international teams of artists.

Armada Review Rounds Out Series Overview
2013-12-08 -- Escapist has finally concluded its monthlong series of Wing Commander reviews by covering the GOG release of Armada. After ripping WC3&4, the author took a conciliatory tone with his latest piece. For the most part, the lack of storyline cutscenes is overlooked and there's just a brief overview of the spaceflight and strategic portions of the game.

For Reference Only: Wing Commander Armada
2013-12-08 -- Here's the reference card that originally came with Wing Commander Armada. GOG included the Voices of War manual for background story and went above and beyond to digitize the game's Playtesters' Guide as a bonus feature, but people who never played the game before were missing a few bits of information. This sheet includes the games' basic commands, orients pilots to the cockpit and explains how the strategic sector display works.

Kilrathi RPG Expansion Bases Completed
2013-12-07 -- After six weeks of powering through base creation, capi3101 has finished creation of the specific places that populate the sixty-some star systems of the Elegy of Sivar RPG module. Each location got a name and set of commodities available, but they also got even more detailed info such as amenities on site, corporate affiliations, Kilrathi clan representation and plenty of fictional back story. The next task capi's going to tackle will probably revolve around data tables that document the chance of encountering various enemies at each place.

Community Patch For (GOG) Wing 4 Video Issue
2013-12-06 -- Forums member Silverhawk was affected by a rare glitch in the Good Old Games version of Wing Commander IV where the movies would play without picture and the standard workarounds were ineffective. HCl put together a DirectShow filter hack for him that seems to solve the issue on both Windows Vista and Windows 7. You can grab the patch here and follow these instructions:Ok here's a new DLL with two couple of options configurable via videoRenderer.

On The Straith & Narrow
2013-12-05 -- ScoobyDoo's latest wallpaper is a majestic spacescape featuring Privateer 2's starter ship, the Straith. The high resolution image below features three of the little flyers rolling past a planet. Each ship includes his characteristic WC3/4-style engine intakes and steely hull plates, plus there are some other nice touches such as refuel port markings.

Landing Pad Supports Kilrathi Takeover
2013-12-04 -- AAN has revealed more pictures of his miniature painted Dralthi model, and this time the ship has a cool planetside dock to land on. It sounds like there was actually quite a lot of attention to detail put towards construction of this Kilrathi platform. The whole scene also gives off a very Lords of the Sky vibe - where's the Dolosians?

Strategically Select the Sector's Ships
2013-12-03 -- In honor of the rerelease of Wing Commander Armada, we're asking about your favorite fighter from the game. There are ten to choose from from both the Confed and Kilrathi sides! Unlike previous polls, this one isn't just asking about which is the best to fly.

New WC Editing Resource Comes Online
2013-12-02 -- delMar has recently gotten into the exciting WC modification discussions at the CIC Forums where Wingnuts from all over are digging into what makes the first couple Wing Commanders tick. He's decided to help contribute by building a set of web apps to allow modification to Wing Commander 1&2. WCWorkShop.

Prototype Dralthi Cockpit Looks Great
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.

Escapist Pans FMV Wing Commanders
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.

WC Saga Source Code Available
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.

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