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It's hard to capture a nice still, but Zathras' ship looks a LOT like Grandpa Mack's Tarsus. Someone on Compuserv pointed that out in 1996 and J. Michael Straczynski replied that he hadn’t played Privateer!
The new Wing Commander he’s referring to would have been Wing Commander IV which had come out in February. If he ever got to play he’d have found that he and Chris Roberts had similar tastes when casting space fighter pilots!
Sep
Wild Aceshas cut together a nifty tribute to the Wing Commander series in the Star Citizen engine. It features a variety of spaceflight, atmospheric and pilot sequences set to the main soundtrack theme from the Wing Commander Movie. Good stuff!
Star Citizen 3.2.2Musik from Wing Commander Soundtrackby Kevin Kiner & David Arnold
Jun
…The GamesBay has posted a bit from Prophecy Advance, and that's really got us thinking about this incredible game. We don't share enough about this pocket treasure, so I'm happy to repost it here.
It's definitely Wing Commander, complete with all its strength and flaws. The difference here is that instead of FMVs, you get text. A lot of text. And you don't have the option of a flight stick. That might be a dealbreaker for some.While there is not a flight stick that you can just plug into the Gameboy Advance, you CAN play Prophecy on the Gameboy Player attachment for the Nintendo GameCube and then plug a GameCube flight stick into that! I'll also mention again that Apple has recently started allowing emulators and iPhones and iPads, and you can connect a flight stick or game controller to these devices when emulating your Wing Commander games.
It's Prophecy that really caught my eye, but GamesBay also
Dec
This week I learned that there was a fully localized South Korean release of Wing Commander 3! Which means you’re all going to have the option to play WC3 in Korean soon. French, German and Japanese are well documented but this one stayed hidden until now. Here's a quick sample!
Dec
Check out this awesome Seahawk model that LOAF recently got 3D printed. The CIC staff love things like this, but none of us have the hardware or technical knowledge to make these ourselves. Fortunately, that's where the cottage industry of make-to-order prints comes in! Some sources can seem kind of sketchy, but LOAF found this one on Etsy (3Dwitha4Kface) and the results are solid. They also make a Dralthi, Scimitar, Kamrani Corvette, Centurion and Tiger's Claw in sizes from 1 inch to 12 inches. If you pick one up, keep in mind that some gluing and assembly may be required!
I got a huge Seahawk from Etsy’s Black Friday sale.
The SR-51 Seahawk Airborne Early Warning/Airborne Warning and Control Ship aka the SWACS.
Jun
…Alright it's 1 AM and there's no action on Twitter so you're pretty much stuck with this post about the news mechanic that was from Wing Commander III. That's right, I've got... BARBARA MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP!
If you've played Wing Commander III you may remember Barbara Miles from the intro, where Mark Hamill's Colonel Blair watches a news story about doomsday evacuations on an enormous iPad. Now that's what I call a bezel!
The script for this is neat and doesn't mention 2001: BLAIR IS SEATED AND LOOKING AT A SMALL “NEWS-SCREEN” (SIMILAR TO A SUBNOTEBOOK OR PDA) ON HIS LAP OR IMBEDDED IN THE SEAT IN FRONT OF HIM. (THIS IS THE EQUIVALENT OF HAVING BEEN GIVEN A NEWSPAPER BY A FLIGHT ATTENDANT.)
This brief bit is a fun example of how folks writing novelization add themselves to a script. The scene plays the news story straight but Andrew Keith adds an inner monologue where Blair thinks the idea is
Aug
To the Wing Commander Combat Information Center's 25th birthday celebration! TONIGHT at 7:00 PM Eastern US (4:00 PM Pacific and 11:00 PM GMT). Help us ring in a quarter century with fellow fans in #Wingnut on Discord!
Featuring...
- A long-anticipated return!
- Reams and reams of new material for the archive!
- Deleted scenes!
- Aural delights!
- Photographic wonders!
- Fan project updates!
- All new prizes!
- Cake... and more!
So join us in Discord, channel #WingNut! You can stop by any time to join the fun!
Aug
To the Wing Commander Combat Information Center's 24th birthday celebration! TONIGHT at 7:00 PM Eastern US (4:00 PM Pacific and 11:00 PM GMT) in #Wingnut on Discord!
Featuring...
- Explosive antics!
- A long-awaited experience!
- Songs you've longed to hear!
- Your dream come true!
- Strategies and tactics!
- Clarity
- Refreshment(s)
- Cake?! ...and more!
So join us in Discord, channel #WingNut! You can stop by any time to join the fun!
Aug
To the Wing Commander Combat Information Center's 23rd birthday celebration! TONIGHT at 7:00 PM Eastern US (4:00 PM Pacific and 11:00 PM GMT) in #Wingnut on Discord!
Featuring...
- Lots of ships that don't exist!
- Some ships that sort of exist!
- Real-life never before seen giveaways!
- The latest and greatest hardware!
- Making the most of our second year in self isolation!
- Trivia - from Ayer's Rock to Zarmaks!
- Cake... and more!
So point your browser to Discord, channel #WingNut! You can stop by any time to join the fun!
Oct
To the Wing Commander Combat Information Center's 22nd birthday celebration! TONIGHT at 7:00 PM Eastern US (4:00 PM Pacific and 11:00 PM GMT) in #Wingnut on Discord!
Featuring...
- Thirtieth anniversary revelry for the Wing Commander series!
- Major updates for your favorite fan projects!
- Exciting new project announcements!
- Amazing sights and sounds to behold!
- New ways to play old favorites!
- Long-buried treasure finally revealed!
- Responsible social distancing!
- Trivia - from the Confederation Oath of Service to the Wingman's Creed
- Cake... and more!
So point your browser to Discord, channel #WingNut! It works easily on the web or via mobile app. See you there!
Aug
To the Wing Commander Combat Information Center's 21st birthday celebration! TONIGHT at 7:00 PM Eastern US (4:00 PM Pacific and 11:00 PM GMT) in #Wingnut - now on Discord! BONUS: A special episode of All Wings Considered will precede the formal party! We expect this to start at 4:00 PM Eastern US (1:00 PM Pacific and 8:00 PM GMT) - please tune in!
Featuring...
- Amazing updates from virtually all of your favorite fan projects!
- LIVE in your face, the biggest gathering of CIC Staff for a streaming event!
- Alcohol, because now we're legal in all CIC jurisdictions!
- Lots of fellow fans chiming in through text and audio!
- The return to flexible customizability!
- Twenty-fifth anniversary revelry for Wing Commander 3!
- Trivia - from Grathas to Ghellen lan Dorv!
- Cake... and more!
So point your browser to
Discord, channel
#WingNut! It works easily on the web or via mobile app.
Aug
To the Wing Commander Combat Information Center's 20th birthday celebration! TONIGHT at 7:00 PM Eastern US (4:00 PM Pacific and 11:00 PM GMT) in #Wingnut - now on
Discord!Featuring...
- A look back at twenty-plus years of fond memories!
- The awesome company of fellow fans via a high tech new interface!
- More tools to help you complete your Wing Commander collection!
- Gorgeous and fun fan projects!
- Trivia - from Aurora Finley to Zach Colson!
- Actual coasters? Updated Hot Items?
- Infinitely more prizes than given away at the 19th Birthday!
- Cake... and more!
So point your browser to
Discord, channel
#WingNut! It works easily on the web or via mobile app.
May
…The new blog/movie website Shirts of Astoundment has posted a new article titled 4 Things About The Wing Commander Movie That Are Actually Cool. I'm much more of a CinemaWins than a CinemaSins kind of guy, so this is right up my alley (also the Wing Commander part). The internet already has ten thousand think pieces rehashing the film's flaws, and it takes some courage to flip the script and focus on the positive aspects of something. Their analysis focuses on the music, international cast and CGI as high points, which are aspects we've been trying to emphasize for years. There's also some discussion about being able to see the Phantom Menace trailer. While a lot of people cite that anecdote, I photographed the no refunds signs on opening weekend. So if that many people actually did go see Wing Commander for the new Star Wars trailer, it probably would have done better than seventh place on
May
Display MoreLOAF recently ran across this new advertisement for Xfinity internet service. It's a pretty mediocre 60 seconds, but the spacecraft in the beginning bears more than a passing resemblance to Privateer's Tarsus. From all angles, inside out and out, the forward cockpit section is a dead ringer for Grandpa Mack's ship! Maybe the Comcast digital artist was a Wingnut...
There’s a new Comcast commercial where it really seems like Ed Helms is flying a Tarsus.Huh, rear view door too!
And his space armor is straight out of Super Wing Commander.
Side profile of the ship:
And here's the full ad!
Mar
…Electronic Arts and Microsoft have announced that Xbox Game Pass (PC and Ultimate) members finally have access to the EA Play catalog on PC. We reported last year that this would include the five Wing Commander games on the service, however, it appears that they've been removed from the EA Play subscription as part of yesterday's big update. The screenshots below show what the WC pages looked like before and after the removal. It was also announced last year that EA's Origin storefront would be going away, but that transition is still in progress and the Origin-branded store portal still carries the WC games for $4.99 each. In comparison, GOG typically charges $5.99 each, but they bundle WC1&2 together into one. They also frequently have sales that bring each package down to $1.49. While this is a bummer for the (admittedly tiny) handful of WC fans who may have been holding out for the new Xbox
Aug
…Music_Guru tipped us off about some really exciting progress on the Xbox emulation front. I've known for years that people have been tinkering with this, but I had no idea that folks were this far along. illusion0001 over at Github has posted screenshots of Wing Commander Arena running on the Xenia emulator. The game apparently loads and allows you to go through the various game selection menus and even choose fighters, which is pretty impressive. Things crash when an actual game mode is launched, but this is still much farther into things than I would have expected. As the game still is not forward compatible with the Xbox One/Series X, this gives me some hope that something will persist in some form after Xbox 360 Live functionality is eventually discontinued. Until that point though, you can still buy the game for $9.99 and fire it up on you old vintage Xbox!
The menus work properly and the
Nov
…Today marks 20 years since the original Xbox launched, and Microsoft commemorated the occasion by restarting their backwards compatibility program as rumored last month. More than 70 games from the original and 360 eras were added as part of this effort, but Wing Commander Arena wasn't among them. It was and continues to be a long shot that it'll be added to Xbox One/Series X, but the fact that they keep committing to this effort is a really good thing. All of these 10-20 year old titles get HDR enhancements and many get resolution or frame rate bumps. And if they keep going, there's still hope for Wing Commander yet. In the mean time, the Xbox 360 remains the platform where you can play Arena online. If that changes, you'll hear about it right here!
You can read more about Microsoft's latest backwards compatibility plans here and find the entire back catalog here. And if anyone's playing the
Dec
Here's a great little time capsule from the fantastic X-Wing Game Series account. It shows a snapshot of the best selling PC games in early 1994. Due to print lead times, this would basically have depicted the holiday 1993 sales. Wing Commander Privateer and Academy are both included as they launched within a month of each other in September and August respectively. X-Wing and its Imperial Pursuit expansion are also up there. Plus, there's MS Flight Sim 5, the original Sim City, 7th Guest and more. What a time to be alive!
X-Wing, Imperial Pursuit together with Privateer and Wing Commander Academy (plus MS Flight Simulator 5.0) in the Top 10 best-selling PC games from February 1994 issue of the Electronic Entertainment mag.Great times for flight games!
Jan
…As the saying goes, great artists steal... and what we're looking at today is a case of great artists stealing from themselves! We thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at StarLancer's cutscenes to pick out assets and finished footage that it reuses from the Wing Commander movie. StarLancer's cinematics were developed by the same artists at Digital Anvil who worked on the Wing Commander movie with the two projects overlapping for a time. As a result, a number of 3D models made it from one to the other and (in the case of the game's various act breaking interstitial news reports) several completed sequences from the movie were used to sort of decorate the background of StarLancer! Let's take a closer look...
Intro
StarLancer's introduction shows the Coalition's dastardly Pearl Harbor-style attack on the Alliance and it includes several reused Wing Commander assets! The cinematic model for
Aug
Today we've got a scan helpfully uncovered by the Out of Print Archive. It's a review of the 3DO edition of Super Wing Commander from June 1994. We've seen an uptick in SWC sharing lately, which is nice to see. We always love it when under appreciated parts of the WC universe get their chance to shine. This official remake of WC1 is certainly an oddity, but it's also fascinating in so many ways!
On the subject of SWC, I noticed this tweet was "doing numbers," as the kids say. You've got to be able to laugh at yourself sometimes, and this is a funny exchange. A lot of the comments seem to reference Chris Roberts, and we would like to point out that he wasn't involved in this one.
Every time I think Super Wing Commander's voice acting couldn't possibly get any worse, it pulls out a scene like this: pic.twitter.com/osWAc8Cd4T
— Kimimi (@_Kimimi) August 4, 2022
