Wing Commander

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Jason Dugs

has posted a neat mini documentary/commercial for the Amiga CD32. It's narrated in German, but the vintage visuals speak for themselves. The

Amiga port

of Wing Commander is lesser known than its PC counterpart, but the

Amiga CD32

console port is even more obscure. It adds back in 256 colors similar to the DOS edition. It's a pretty cool reference for the archive!

This special shows games for Amiga CD32 and Commodore CDTV and explains something about the origin and why both systems have failed. There is also a commercial for the games Banshee, Wing Commander and Defender of the Crown II.

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Today's update is a brief one, but this tiny column off to the side of a December 1994 CGW page brings back some huge memories. Many fans had yet to even play Wing Commander 3 at this point, but early signs were that it was a huge hit, and Origin/EA were ready to strike again with a blockbuster sequel. Although WC4 ultimately did slide out from Christmas 1995 to February 1996, it was still a very fast turnaround. The Wing Commander franchise was firing on all cylinders at this point, and anything seemed possible! Thanks to Shot97 for spotting this one.

Just a year later, we'd have this on the cover of CGW!

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3DOgaming has posted a neat scan from a 1995 special edition of 3DO Magazine. It's interesting to see people's perspectives from the time. A lot of people now might consider Super Wing Commander a curious oddity, but this review considers it "massively upgraded for the 3DO, and as addictive as ever." They give it a solid four stars with the game's difficulty being pretty much the only thing keeping it from a higher score.

Combat certainly feels realistically hectic. Enemy ships whirl about desperately jockeying for position, your wingman invariably flies into your line of fire and loudly protests over the radio while your instrument panels flash red, then explode under enemy fire. Your various weapons all look great, laser bolts sparking quite cinematically while the excellent sound effects could well have been sampled out of Star Wars.

Wow, cinematic laser bolts and Star Wars quality sound. I

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Comic Book Ads

has spotted a neat advert for Wing Commander 4. It's a derivative of a

print

we saw a number of years ago that spelled out various magazine accolades. This variant highlights just one from Next Generation Magazine,

"One of the most eagerly awaited games of 1996."

That was certainly true! (although it was originally due out in December 1995) It's interesting to see the other minor differences: Tolwyn's profile is cropped further away, the fonts are overhauled and it's listed as "Available now on PC CD-ROM!" It seems like the version with the three quotes came later, since they're all citing actual reviews, and there's a small red logo denoting the Macintosh version, which was released four months later in June 1996.

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Here's something kind of different. A few weeks ago, we posted videos that were actually scans of the Super Nintendo Wing Commander documentation. At the time, I talked about some of the reasons why this could be a good thing for certain use cases. Now, AD has run across the first video narration of an old school magazine that we've seen. This seems decidedly less useful than a traditional scan would be, but I can still appreciate people trying out different things and bringing light to vintage video game content in a new way. It's the Number 52 March 1996 issue of the French Consoles magazine. Starting at the 4:37 mark, the narrative walks through some of the features coming in the Playstation version of Wing Commander 3, which came out that month. There's some nice screenshots and set photos, plus the bizarre Spanish art that pops up here and there. I can't say I hope this becomes a trend,

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Here's a neat commercial for the Wing Commander VHS appearing for rent at Blockbuster. It mostly uses recycled footage from the various trailers, but it's interspersed with "rent Wing Commander this week at Blockbuster and go home happy!" style voiceovers. This makes it kind of a double time capsule. The clip dates back to July 1999, so it wasn't so easy to just look up the release date for every imaginable media product back then. TV commercials and in-store rolls were how we learned about things like this!

From Blockbuster Video, here's a commercial about their latest rental, 1999's WING COMMANDER starring Freddie Prinze Jr and Matthew Lillard!

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Fresh off the boat from Australia! I love weird compilations so much.

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We've been getting questions lately about when the next CIC Birthday Party will be held, and since it's almost August, it's time to firm up a date! This year we'll be holding the big event on August 21 - three weeks from now. The official start time will be Saturday evening at 7:00 pm EDT (4:00 pm PDT and 11:00 pm GMT). If that's not a good time for you, there will be plenty of people stopping in all day long to visit and catch up. Some details are still in the planning stages, but things will be similar to last year with the main festivities in #Wingnut on our Discord server. We'll have a night full of Wing Commander memories as well as a few new things to share. We hope to see you there - it'll be a ton of fun!

Speaking of website birthdays, WingCenter.de celebrated 20 years online earlier this month! They haven't updated in quite a while, but at least the site has remained in archival form

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We're quickly cruising through the year here, so it's time for us to officially announce the next CIC Birthday Party! It's a big one this time as it will commemorate 25 years at wcnews.com! Mark your calendars for Saturday, August 19. The official event kicks off at 7:00 pm EDT (4:00 pm PDT and 11:00 pm GMT) on that night, but there will be plenty of people hanging out well before and after. You can join the fun in Discord #Wingnut. Feel free to stop by any time beforehand to get acquainted with how everything works. We'll see you there!

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8/16/32bit

has put together a review of Wing Commander 3 for the 3DO. As you may have heard here a number of times before, the 3DO edition was more than a simple port. A number of aspects were streamlined & improved for consoles, including new missions, color comm VDUs and exotic weapons - as well as the inclusion of FMV missing from the PC release. Many of us are pretty used to seeing the DOS/Windows versions, so it's always kind of a treat to see the 3DO WC3 in action. Even just the HUD fonts, different loading clips, revised menu screens and revamped end credits are pretty cool. The review gives a lot of credit to the production values of the FMV. The quality of the in-game graphics and responsiveness of the controls also get nods. Check it out and see what you've (probably) been missing!

A quick review of Wing Commander 3 for the 3DO.

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LowBiasGaming is currently playing a new Super Nintendo game every day for a year, which sounds like an absolute blast. Wing Commander got Day 326, so it's the subject of the review video below. It's a short tight clip that mostly highlights the accolades the game received back in the day. Fans like you and me aren't usually watching these to learn about the game, so it's just a quick and easy way to revel in the praise of your favorite series.

6/5

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Today we've got more physical models in the news. Not everyone is up to building a giant intricate model by hand, but 3D printing is a much more accessible way to go about creating something of your very own. L.I.F. has started down this path and his first creations are the Excalibur and Rapier. They look pretty solid for an initial effort with an impressive level of detail retained in a small package. He's done some non-WC tests next, and with those learnings in hand, he'll be moving on to a bigger Excalibur next!

We got our first 3D printer at our family workshop, and after calibrating it with a provided file, my first move was to test it with a more... complex shape, AKA Klavs' very own Excalibur. 6 centimetres long for a first run to see how well it'd work and what additional actions I'd have to take, but it's looking pretty nice already even if I´ll have to ensure the layering leaves no holes

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Wingnut

V0g3l

has an incredible holiday treat for fellow Wing Commander fans! Many have talked about this before, but to the best of our knowledge, he's the first to make a complete set of Wing Commander 1 medals and ribbons thanks to a combination of 3D printing and artistic skill. Available here are the Bronze, Silver and Gold Stars, Golden Sun and Pewter Planet - plus pilot flight wings and a lovingly crafted and authentic

set of campaign ribbons

. And it's all neatly packed together in a Wing Commander-themed box. He's posted all of the 3D files that your printer needs at the

Thingiverse

along with detailed instructions. Super cool!

Don't know what to do during the holidays? Print a Wing Commander medal set!

I have tried to be as accurate as possible. To create your own Wing Commander medal box just follow the steps below and take your time.

Have fun.

--------------------

Medals

The best way to

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Chronocidal Guy has returned with an update on his elaborate 3D printed Excalibur model. He's taken advantage of valuable stay-at-home time over the last year to refine the design into a number of purposeful modules that come together into a highly accurate representation, complete with exquisite panel lines. The guns, engines and other components have also been finely modeled to closely resemble the originals. His finished product looks superb, but there's always room for further tinkering and enhancement in the future!

Hey folks, I figured I'd drop an update on this project after all this time. The pandemic gave me a lot of time to work from home, so it was a big opportunity to let my printer operate in the background. I didn't want to necro any old print threads, or derail someone else's, but if any mods think it's appropriate, feel free to merge this one with another topic. I mostly didn't want

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Today we've got a really beautiful little Tarsus by Cpt. Streets. What really stands out here is the intricate and highly detailed paint scheme. It's got lots of very fine accents that are very pleasing on the eyes. The engine nozzles are painted with a blend of yellow and orange fluorescent acrylic paint that even seems to glow under a black light. We're looking forward to seeing how his Hornet turns out next!

These are some pictures of my 3D-printed Tarsus Freighter from Privateer. It is my first ship model from the Wing Commander universe so far.

I did not made the 3D mesh itself. I only painted it and modified it a bit as well. It is about ~16cm (6,3") long.

Currently I´m working on a Hornet Fighter in approximately the same scale as the Tarsus. I will do ships from WC1, WC2 and WC Privateer. But more about this at another time...

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Today we've got another batch of beautiful 3D printed models. These came from the collection of Arrow81, who posted half a dozen well-built ships to his Thingiverse page. Each one is a winner: there's a Vakoth, Paktahn, Darket, Dralthi IV and Excalibur (so he's obviously a WC3 fan!). The original digital files for each of these come from Astrofossil, who we've previously profiled in the news. I noticed that fossil's actually added a few more ships to his armada since the last time we checked. For some time he's been one of the most prolific designers of 3D printable WC models out there, and the results speak for themselves below! Scroll beneath Arrow's pics for links to all of his designs or find his gallery here. If you make a few of your own, send us the pics!

WC1 Hornet Scimitar (New!) Rapier Raptor (New!) Tiger's Claw Dralthi (New)! WC3 Clarkson Arrow (New!) Excalibur Hellcat Longbow Southampton

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Found a couple of Wing Commander-adjacent items at eStarland, which is a hidden treasure for retro gamers in Chantilly, Virginia. The ‘Game Guru’ is a Game Genie-style tool for 3DO games that specifically supports WC3!

Super Wing Commander has a wicked debug mode.

DEBUG MENU: Go to the lounge screen. Press and hold the X button, then press B, B, C, C, A, A. You should hear a sound. Release the X button, press and hold the L and R buttons, then press the P button. The debug menu appears with a multitude of options.
Exit System Menu: Return to the lounge.
Change Sound Volumes: Change the volumes of every sound effect.
Change Music Levels: Change the volume of the background music at every point in the game.
Play Movie: Watch all of the game's video clips, including several that were removed from the game but left on the disc. (FILM.MOV and UID.MOV even have a live female actor.)

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A tweet from 3DOgaming alerted us to an article scanned from the first issue of the UK 3DO magazine (Winter 1994). It's a very nice preview of the then-upcoming port, with a special look at some of the updated ship graphics.

The rest of the magazine proved to be something of a Wing Commander bonanza, with a review of the other 3DO Wing Commander title, Super Wing Commander, and a very nice single sentence preview of Wing Commander III (then scheduled for January 1995).

Wing Commander also appears in two third-party ads, one promoting the entire 3DO lineup and one advertising the very magazine you're already reading. Look closely at the 3DO ad's Super Wing Commander screenshot: it's an alpha build that still includes the original Hornet VDU artwork as a placeholder.

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Nathan Sestrich has found and posted the 3DO Video Sampler #5 from 1996. As someone who worked in video game retail around the turn of the millennium, I find these to be incredibly nostalgic (and historic!) time capsules, but finding one with Wing Commander is a special treat. We previously reported on 3DO Interactive Sampler #3 which included a playable demo of Wing Commander 3 (that you can download from the CIC and play on your 3DO or a compatible emulator!). As WC3 was a superstar of the console, it's no wonder that the game shows up on multiple discs/video compilations. The 3DO port included revamped missions, graphics, weapons and features, so it's worth checking out. You can currently find LOAF and Dundradal playing through the game in the latest episodes of All Wings Considered. If the clip below doesn't autostart at Wing Commander, jump to 17:26.

3DO Company Video Sampler #5 VHS

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The The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (MADE) has been digitizing video donated by Electronic Arts and 3DO founder Trip Hawkins. Among their collection is the '3DO sizzle reel' found below, a store looping tape created to show off the first round of games available for the 3DO. VHSes like these were sent to stores like Babbages and Electronic Boutique to display games to customers on in-store TVs. The tape includes a short-but-interesting pre-release teaser for Super Wing Commander which includes clips from several cutscenes and some early gameplay. Pay special attention to the action: the player attacks two Scimitars which still have the original Hornet art as their VDU and when one explodes it spawns what looks like a pretty spectacular destroyed Super Wing Commander Rapier (which isn't in the final game). Neat!