What happened to Wing Commander?

[Thespeckledkiwi]

Did Freddie Prinze Jr, simply destroy this franchise with that craptaculor of a movie? Or did it die a very quiet death a little later? I mean...I thought this world had potential. The fighting was fun and it was a fun game.

 

[The Fatman]

I couldn't tell you exactly. I loved the games. Wing Commander 4 was the reason I built my first gaming PC (Rocking the VooDoo 3 16Mb video card...it was t3h uber...lol). WC3 was incredible. By WC5 and Privateer, the series just started feeling stale to me.

I did see the movie opening weekend, and all I remember was thinking...meh. I haven't seen it since, so I can't give intelligent analysis.

 

[Skywalker]

I think the franchise was pretty much toast even before the movie, sadly.

 

[Pilot Ace]

Did Freddie Prinze Jr, simply destroy this franchise with that craptaculor of a movie? Or did it die a very quiet death a little later? I mean...I thought this world had potential. The fighting was fun and it was a fun game.

You know that craptacular movie was written and directed by the major creative force behind the video games, Chris Roberts?

I think the film was pretty much the death knell for the series. He sunk his own ship. After that, I think he left Origins and they made one game without him, Prophecy.

Wing Commander had a lot of opportunities... A very popular, well regarded video game series, a failed cartoon series, and a failed film. At some point, I think Roberts was trying to get a television series made as well. It was a steady fall from grace, with the final drop being the film.

 

[TemporalFlux]

My brother and I had enormous fun at that movie. Our favorite part was how they constantly screamed "MEDIC!" only to have no medic come; and then as the final credits roll, a medic finally runs in from the side! It took the whole movie, but he finally got there!

 

[Pilot Ace]

My brother and I had enormous fun at that movie. Our favorite part was how they constantly screamed "MEDIC!" only to have no medic come; and then as the final credits roll, a medic finally runs in from the side! It took the whole movie, but he finally got there!

It's pretty much my favorite, terrible film. I watch it about once a year, usually around October/November.

 

[Trubinator]

I liked the movie OK, but never enough to own it. There were a few LOL moments though like when they pushed the wreckage of the woman's fighter into space and it FELL.

 

[Skywalker]

I think the film was pretty much the death knell for the series. He sunk his own ship. After that, I think he left Origins and they made one game without him, Prophecy.

Prophecy was released in 1997, after Chris Roberts had left Origin. The movie was released in 1999.

 

[Pilot Ace]

I think the film was pretty much the death knell for the series. He sunk his own ship. After that, I think he left Origins and they made one game without him, Prophecy.

Prophecy was released in 1997, after Chris Roberts had left Origin. The movie was released in 1999.

Ah, so the film was even more of a death knell than I thought, apparently the last bit of new Wing Commander ever made?

I think Prophecy was ported over to the Advance in the early 2000's, but that's the last I heard.

 

[JuanBolio]

I always loved the game series - 3 and 4 were two of the best PC games ever. The movie, while admittedly low-budget and hokey, was fun, and I have to admit I enjoy it. For around $20 million those space battles were better-looking than anything I saw in the Star Wars prequels (with the exception of the Obi-Wan/Slave I battle).

They released a downloadable arcade-style multiplayer game for Xbox Live a couple years back, and that's the last I've heard of the franchise. I sincerely hope someone comes along one day and gives it the modern sequel or re-make it so richly deserves.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

My brother and I had enormous fun at that movie. Our favorite part was how they constantly screamed "MEDIC!" only to have no medic come; and then as the final credits roll, a medic finally runs in from the side! It took the whole movie, but he finally got there!

Space Balls Part II heh

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Apparently, Chris Roberts fancies himself a "film producer" now and doesn't have time for silly things like video games.

The last gaming projects he worked on were Starlancer and then Freelancer, the latter of which he left partway through.

EA holds the WC license now, as far as I can tell. It'd be nice to see a new series of games, but the space combat genre is pretty much dead these days.

 

[Fencer]

They released a downloadable arcade-style multiplayer game for Xbox Live a couple years back, and that's the last I've heard of the franchise. I sincerely hope someone comes along one day and gives it the modern sequel or re-make it so richly deserves.

Wing Commander Arena was released in 2007. The latest news is that EA had renewed their trademarks for a number of games including Wing Commander. That's a hopeful sign as EA is using old IP's as evidenced by the whole "Red Lime" game by Starbreeze being an updated Syndicate

The movie wasn't cause. That's more correctly attributable to the shift away from simulations of all types towards FPS, typified by Freespace 2's dismal sales of only 26,000 copes (Wing Commander: Prophecy had sold somewhere close to a million copies) which pretty much stopped the development of Privateer 3, Wing Commander Resurrection, Strike team, Shadow Force and the Maniac Missions (though some of them may have been canceled earlier, I can't remember off hand).

Even then that wasn't the actually end. Origin was developing Privateer Online and Wing Commander online up to 2002 or 03. It apparently came down to a choice between Privateer Online or Earth and Beyond. EA chose Earth and Beyond. Origin basically ended up providing support for Ultima Online, ditching a number of games that had been planned such as Crusader: No Mercy and No Survivors as well as those mentioned above.

Even then EA Apparently looked a game in 2005 called Privateer: Mercenaries which would have been similar to the Star Wars Battle Front games.

 

[FordSVT]

I'd point out that the entire space combat genre popularized by games like WC and X-Wing has pretty much fallen off the map, it's not just WC. I think it was one of those things like "Wow! We can do this 3D stuff now and make these cool space combat games!" so a hundred of them were released, did everything they could with the genre and then petered out. There's only so much "Shoot things down, fly to way point, bomb something, fly to way point, shoot something, fly to way point..." a person can do.

I read an article once that said one of the big barriers these days to more complex flight sims is the fact that no one buys joysticks any more other than people who play Microsoft FS. The PC game business is largely drowning as it is. If you can't play a game with a M&K or just a straight up game pad it's a non-starter. One of the reasons people liked playing games like WC is all of the hot keys that control every aspect of the craft, and quite frankly they play like shit using a M&K.

Having said all that I think a new Wing Commander game would be awesome using cutting edge technology, CG movies, etc. I wouldn't even care if it was on consoles with a streamlined control system, it's been too long sice I've played a good space or air combat game that wasn't a RTS game or a point and shoot twitch-fest.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I'd point out that the entire space combat genre popularized by games like WC and X-Wing has pretty much fallen off the map, it's not just WC. I think it was one of those things like "Wow! We can do this 3D stuff now and make these cool space combat games!" so a hundred of them were released, did everything they could with the genre and then petered out. There's only so much "Shoot things down, fly to way point, bomb something, fly to way point, shoot something, fly to way point..." a person can do.

I read an article once that said one of the big barriers these days to more complex flight sims is the fact that no one buys joysticks any more other than people who play Microsoft FS. The PC game business is largely drowning as it is. If you can't play a game with a M&K or just a straight up game pad it's a non-starter. One of the reasons people liked playing games like WC is all of the hot keys that control every aspect of the craft, and quite frankly they play like shit using a M&K.

Having said all that I think a new Wing Commander game would be awesome using cutting edge technology, CG movies, etc. I wouldn't even care if it was on consoles with a streamlined control system, it's been too long sice I've played a good space or air combat game that wasn't a RTS game or a point and shoot twitch-fest.

Given the rich storyline the WC games had, I don't see any reason why we couldn't have a multi-genre WC game. One where you get to fly ships, go down to planets and kill those frakkin' cats, and maybe command a little squadron of Confed Reavers. The games only really exploited the space combat genre, but since the main thrust of the series is about a war against savage kitty cat aliens, you could definitely go the FPS and/or RTS route with it, too.

It's a shame Freespace 2 all but killed the space combat genre, but them's the breaks. A franchise doesn't need to be boxed into a specific genre to work. However, I think Wing Commander's name-recognition is pretty shit nowadays. We have to remember that the world of PC gaming was much smaller back in WC's heyday. The number of fans generated in that era is miniscule compared to what today's games have to sell to be profitable.

 

[Cicero]

I liked the movie OK, but never enough to own it. There were a few LOL moments though like when they pushed the wreckage of the woman's fighter into space and it FELL.

Depending on how the ship's artificial gravity technology works, that might not be inappropriate. If, for instance, it worked by simulating a gravitational source beneath the ship, the wreckage should've fallen toward that source.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I liked the movie OK, but never enough to own it. There were a few LOL moments though like when they pushed the wreckage of the woman's fighter into space and it FELL.

Depending on how the ship's artificial gravity technology works, that might not be inappropriate. If, for instance, it worked by simulating a gravitational source beneath the ship, the wreckage should've fallen toward that source.

The artificial gravity field could have extended a bit beyond the hull of the ship.

And, not only did this movie have really cool theme music, but Rosie was really hot.

 

[Skywalker]

I liked the movie OK, but never enough to own it. There were a few LOL moments though like when they pushed the wreckage of the woman's fighter into space and it FELL.

Depending on how the ship's artificial gravity technology works, that might not be inappropriate. If, for instance, it worked by simulating a gravitational source beneath the ship, the wreckage should've fallen toward that source.

I suppose that would also explain why the Terran fighters "dipped" when they launched off from the Tiger Claw.