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Last Line of Defense
now has a new Waterloo. It's an interesting translation of a WC2 design into WC3 styling. One of the most notable changes are the swap from flak cannons to designated gun and missile turrets.
Deathsnakeput together this nifty video of the ship fending off eight Dralthi with its updated weaponry. No problem for a heavy cruiser!
Wing Commander Saga Waterloo under attack
Dec
Display MoreThis is a new one for me: kyleisliving has posted a video of the SNES version of Wing Commander running on a Sony Mega Watchman. If it's the model I think it is, this one has a 4.5 inch black and white screen. It actually looks surprisingly good given the circumstances, and the music sounds great! Sony is also responsible for solving the need for something like this thanks to EA Replay on the Playstation Portable. We still love to see people finding new ways to play Wing Commander though!
Oct
It's easier to play your classic Wing Commander games today with DOSBox, GOG and compatibility patches like wcdx readily available, but there's also a certain magic to getting an old 386 or 486 running. Not everyone has the time or space to make that happen though, so Philip from RadioShack put together this video of the game running on a vintage Tandy 2500 SX/25. This would have been a pretty good system for getting the original Wing Commander going back in the day!
The planets aligned and I was able to get Wing Commander running on my Tandy 2500 SX / 25 Hard Drive model computer - a 25mhz 386 running DOS 6.2 with Sound Blaster audio. RadioShack pro tip - add EMM3686 to your config.sys file!He's got an in-depth review of the machine here that's also a fun watch!
My first computer was a 1987 era Tandy 1000 that ran at about 4.77 MHz, so I find this fascinating.
Jun
PeliKenraalihas put together a neat little video that chronicles the graphical progression from the Wing Commander 1 to 3. Most Wingnuts today would be quite familiar with these cuts, so there's nothing really new to see here, but there's a certain charm to seeing them presented side by side so you can appreciate how much the gaming world changed in just four years. The clip looks at characters, dogfighting, cutscenes and even the title sequence. Check it out below:
In this video, I will show how Origin's Wing Commander PC series (Kilrathi trilogy) graphics improved from Wing Commander 1 to Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger
Jul
…We've seen some tantalizing teaser images over the past six months, but
Pedrohas just dropped the first test videos for his
WC4 Remakefan project. Of particular note is the authentic Hellcat cockpit taken from the original game's FMV sequences. Pedro's paired that with the familiar green HUD to add back in realistic cockpits. On the outside, the chase cam point of view also shows off some very high quality models. There are lots of technical accomplishments that can be hard to see on one quick watch, so check out Pedro's more technical description of the progress made below!
Inspired by Howie Days amazing WC1 project Defiance Industries has helped me put together the first bit of a gameplay test of the WCIV remake.It's super early days; to be honest I hadn't done any gameplay work at all until now, but I was rather envious of having something playable to develop in, and whilst I've not put much
Apr
…PhilsComputerLab has another novel video that looks at the WC series from a new angle. The focus of this episode is to emphasize the evolutionary leaps that each iteration in the series made. It's a great topic to discuss, because it's probably harder for later generations to appreciate. It's easy to look at the four year gap between WC1 and WC3 and say, "Wow," but there was a lot of technological advancement happening that drove all that. The expected conventions of game design were ever-changing as well. Check it out below, and thanks to thp for the tip!
The Wing Commander games are a great example to showcase how the PC has evolved in the short span of just 7 years from 1990 to 1997.One correction: WC3 was 1994 (on PC), not 1995, and I definitely would not have called its reception "mixed." At the time of its release, WC3 was tied for PC Gamer's highest rated game of all time, among many other
May
…One of the biggest television shows of the year is Fallout, which is based on the classic video game series. It has a handful of endearing and memorable characters, including Walton Goggins' The Ghoul. But did you know this wasn't his first time acting in a video game-based production? As we reported a while back, Goggins portrayed the character "Moose" in Wing Commander 4! He's a Banshee pilot who's shot down by a flight of Excaliburs. Here's the clip:
More on his appearance:
While the label on the photograph reads "BW Pilot Garret 'Moose'", the actor in question is none other than Walton Goggins (credited as Walt Goggins). Moose appears in the Peleus jamming scene, one of the three Border Worlds Banshee pilots that are ambushed and shot down by a flight of Excaliburs. The Polaroid gives us a great look at a Border Worlds flight suit, which the production dyed grey from the original tan
Jun
…It’s almost time, Captains. Next week, Victory is Life launches on PC, bringing you back to the characters, locations and stories of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for the first time in 25 years. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is one of the most beloved Star Trek series in history, but we know it might have been a few years since you’ve watched the entire thing, and you might want to catch up before Victory is Life launches. We’ve got you covered – while you don’t need to have seen any of these episodes to understand Victory is Life, watching them will give you a bit of extra context that might make the expansion that much more meaningful. Without further ado, here are the episodes the Star Trek Online developers recommend you binge before Victory is Life goes live: Season 1 Episode 13 – Battlelines Season 2 Episode 26 – The Jem’Hadar Season 3 Episode 1 – The Search, Pt. 1 Episode 2
Sep
Eryx Channel has posted a video about the "Evolution of Wing Commander Games." It's a simple clip with edits of the games as they appeared in the franchise, but a few things caught my eye. Games like Academy, Armada, Righteous Fire, Super Wing Commander, Kilrathi Saga and Arena are included, which is always really great to see. It's kind of odd they added in WC Saga at the end, because the rundown should really just go through 2007. Fan projects like WC Saga are wonderful, but there are a bunch of awesome ones that could warrant their own complete video. Also, that's a Star Citizen/Squadron 42 screenshot in the thumbnail, which is extra weird because it's not even in the clip!
Oh, the other thing that caught my eye is this stellar comment:
I liked this series because my dad would always be on top of the newest release in the series.Those were the good 'ol days!That's where we are now, folks.
Oct
…Here's a treat you've never seen before! This is the trailer that was created to test Digital Anvil's ability to produce a Wing Commander Movie. It was quietly shown at the 1998 SXSW in Austin, Texas. Thanks to Banjo, now you can see it too!
In order to raise interest in a Wing Commander feature film among prospective partners and raise money for production by selling future distribution rights, Digital Anvil produced a short one minute trailer featuring an action scene.Astute fans will notice that, while the Kilrathi capital ship is visually very similar to the Concom seen in the final movie, the space fighters are more detailed versions of ships in the games themselves. The human pilots are flying WC1 and 2 style Rapiers, and the Kilrathi appear to be piloting Vaktoths (previously seen in WC3). Shot in 1997 not too long after WC4 shipped, the cockpit sets and costumes are left over from the
Jun
I was thinking about the Prophecy Advance clip we shared yesterday, and it reminded me that regular Wing Commander Prophecy on the PC rocks too! Here's the exciting cutscene where the Midway fires its massive Nephilim plasma weapon. Did you know that if you fail the final mission and then continue, the ship desperately tries to fire the weapon a second time? This does not work out well for the Terran Confederation!
With that being said, the crew definitely had warning that there could be disastrous results!
Nov
DocteurJDisplay Moreis back with another extensive stream and commentary on the Wing Commander series. In this episode, he's flying the final mission of Wing Commander 3 to cap off his
summertime playthroughof the game. As you're already aware if you skipped ahead and pressed play, DocteurJ is helping make sure Wing Commander fandom lives on in the French gaming community. Along with his work with
OldiesGamesTV, he's covered everything from the
first few WC gamesall the way through
Prophecy for Game Boy Advance. It's great to see fans doing their thing around the world. Merci!
Enfin ! Le combat final contre l'empire Kilrah commence ! Va-t-on réussir à remporter la victoire ?Finally ! The final fight against Kilrah's empire begins! Will we succeed in winning?
Feb
Mac is back with his biggest, baddest and most epic Lore Video yet! In recent months he's covered several adjacent topics such as the Broadsword Bomber and TCS Johnny Greene, which have helped set the stage for the main event: Wing Commander End Run. If you've read the novel, you know the story. The video starts out as the mother of all book reports, but it's much more than that! Mac uses a variety of WC2 talking head models and backdrops to convey the character interaction. He's also built a huge library of animations to visualize the story's fleet actions and fighter combat. It's quite a tremendous package. Block out some time and watch below!
The Terran Confederation is losing the war against their long time enemies, the Kilrathi Empire. What follows becomes the tale of "The Little Escort Carrier that Could", aka The "End Run".
Jan
I'm short on time today, so here's a couple of Wing Commander shorts for you! They caught my eye because the videos below depict an Xperia Play (originally conceived as the Sony Ericsson "PlayStation Phone") running SNES Wing Commander and The Secret Missions. At first I wondered if there was some kind of EA Replay situation at work, but downloadable versions of that game were limited to the European-exclusive Playstation Network Store circa 2009. It's appears that these are straight emulations, which wouldn't be much different since EA Replay includes the Super Nintendo console editions anyhow. It's always fun to see Wing Commander pop up on a new kind of screen!
Oct
…Blue Origin launched Star Trek actor William Shatner into space this morning. At 90 years old, he became the oldest person to cross the threshold into space. As science fiction turns further into reality each day, these types of events have become commonplace, but this clip will still be the best thing in space, sci-fi, Star Trek or Wing Commander news that you'll see all day. Just listen to the emotion and wonder that drips off every word he has to say. Like the other recent Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic launches, these are suborbital flights where the ship spends just a matter of minutes weightless and above the atmosphere. But to hear him tell it, even ten minutes in space sounds like a transformative life-changing event. I'm so glad he got the chance to experience it!
This was the voyage of the RSS First Step today. Its mission: encounter Earth from incredible views at apogee
Oct
Plywood Fiend has wrapped up another complete stream of a Wing Commander game. This time he played through the popular Secret Ops mod Unknown Enemy. If you haven't watched his previous material, he's spiced up the footage a bit with his own brand of humor. Check out the full UE playlist here. Having also completed a successful run through the original Wing Commander last month, he's doubled back around now and is picking up some of the losing track systems. You can find those additions here.
Port Hedland and Hubble's Star are done. (Saved both Drayman (Draymen?)... eventually.) The missions themselves are nothing new to anyone here most likely, but the peculiar humour and freakish intros are, like this one:
Nov
…The Valiant has conducted a very thorough interview with the WC4 Remastered developers. In a really congenial conversation, they start out meeting several members of the team. The discussion talks about what's available to see in the recently released demo, how things are going currently and what's in store for the future. Everything goes on for more than an hour, so it really provides a lot of wonderful insight into what things are like behind the scenes. It's also just kind of awesome to hear a group of people excitedly talking in great detail about Wing Commander. Check it out below! If you haven't gotten a chance to give the updated WC4 Fan Remake for a spin yet, grab the demo here (900 meg exe).
A few days after the release of their demo in August, we had a nice little chat with the team about the project and it's future.The project is a fan attempt to allow owners of Wing Commander IV: The
Nov
Last month we posted a video of an old Tandy playing Wing Commander, and it was surprisingly popular. I admit I was also captivated by it. There's just a magical feeling associated with those chunky beige boxes. Marco Plays DOS Games recently took a similar crack at it and got everything going on a trusty old 386 DX33. Compared to the last video, this one has a lot more narration and Marco also shows off the game's box contents. Plus, he's armed with a vintage CH flightstick and uses it to dutifully pilot his viewers on a trip down memory lane. It's fun watching him have fun! Give it a view below.
Oct
Bonkus_Maximus has been streaming lots of classic Wing Commander lately, and he managed to catch a relative rarity on tape. Like the Raptor, the Gratha can carry mines, but you don't see them very often. Even when they're deployed, they can be easy to miss in the midst of a furball. Bonkus caught this one while flying a Dralthi II and knew immediately what he saw. It might be the first one he's ever seen! Fortunately, it looks like he dodged it in order to live to tell the tale. Video of the encounter is below, and you can spot it circled in yellow to the right. You can find more of his videos on Twitch here.
Also, for those who hunt unicorns, here it is from last night... the Kilrathi mine drop!!
Jan
The
Eternall Newbiehas made a quirky retrospective video about Wing Commander 1. The author goes through the game's setting and physical box contents and highlights what made it so great at the time. Aside from some wonky input controls issues, he says it still holds up pretty well!
Join me as I look back at the granddaddy of all space combat sims, the game that launched a genre, Wing Commander 1.
