Wing Commander Saga Arrives Next Week

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Wing Commander Saga Arrives Next Week

Wing Commander Saga, the hot-looking Wing Commander fan project that's been in the works for ten years, is finally ready for launch.

If you're lucky enough [and old enough] to have played the original Freespace [http://www.amazon.com/Wing-Commander-pc/dp/B0009IB8MW/ref=sr_1_7?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1331920807&sr=1-7] series - unsurpassed as an epic videogame space opera. So the imminent launch of Wing Commander Saga, the new fan-made addition to the franchise, is bound to be a little exciting.

Speaking of Freespace, Wing Commander Saga is built on the Freespace 2 engine, which still looks gorgeous and should flow like water on just about any semi-current PC. The game will include 55 missions spread across two campaigns, plus 60 voice actors delivering 11,000 lines of dialog, 70 cutscenes, dozens of ship types, large-scale fleet battles and more, all wrapped up in a "complex and compelling storyline" that leads directly into the events of Wing Commander 3: Heart of the Tiger [http://www.amazon.com/Wing-Commander-III-Mac/dp/B0007ZLZXE/ref=sr_1_2?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1331920990&sr=1-2].

Wing Commander Saga has been in the works for ten years, in large part because, as often happens, the creators discovered that making videogames is a lot harder than it looks. "The project kept growing because we wanted gamers to experience a wide variety of missions while staying true to the feeling of Wing Commander," project founder Anton "Tolwyn" Romanyuk told Gnome's Lair [http://www.gnomeslair.com/2012/03/wing-commander-saga-preview-interview.html]. "There was an intense desire to keep adding new elements, assets & features, which was very seductive."

The game will tie in tightly to the Wing Commander canon, with references to the original games, novels and "other stuff about the Wing Commander series," and although the Wing Commander games are obviously the primary influence on Wing Commander Saga, Romanyuk said the team looked at other titles, like Freespace and X-Wing [http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-X-Wing-Collector-Series-Pc/dp/B00002SV6D/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1331921083&sr=1-1], for ideas as well. "We, as designers, wanted to ensure that the entire experience is exciting," Romanyuk said. "The game makes you feel that you are not just watching the action but actually stepping into the role and experiencing what it is like to be Sandman.

Wing Commander Saga comes out on March 22. More information can be found at wcsaga.com [http://www.wcsaga.com/].


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JaredXE

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Apr 1, 2009
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Freakin Awesome! I loved the old WC series, and hold Price of Freedom to be one of the best written sci-fi "shows" I ever experienced.
 

Rad Party God

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Feb 23, 2010
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I've never played any of the Wing Commander series and I've been considering to, but... those graphics... I mean, I grew up with 8 and 16 bits graphics, but I was never a fan of mid 90's PC games graphics. Also, I doubt that DosBox is compatible with a proper joystick to play these.

But I really liked Freespace 1 & 2, so that has to count something :p

I wonder if total newbs to the series like me can get into this game and still appreciate the story.
 

thiosk

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Sep 18, 2008
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Shit!

I am in.

woot!

i have a REAL joystick too. woot.

Now, the real news is going to be when black mesa makes its debut after a similar wait...
 

Nooners

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Sep 27, 2009
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Hot damn, this is a fan-made project? Someone get a Kickstarter for these guys! What, if anything, is this going to cost?
 

Antari

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Nov 4, 2009
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The only mention I can find of a price on the site says its going to be free?!? Can anyone else confirm this? I'd atleast like to donate to these guys if they do it that way. Looks like a great game.
 

ElPatron

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Jul 18, 2011
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oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god

Tachyon cannon? Is that a reference to Tachyon: The Fringe? Loved that game!

Dumb Fire missile looks like an AIM-120 AMRAAM? IFF Missile looks like a AGM 65 MAverick?

Oooooohhh boooy...
 

TheAD

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Oct 7, 2010
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Officially sanctioned? THat's a bit of the stretch. THe original intervew has the Saga guys thanking EA for basically turning a blind eye. That's a pretty far stretch from any kind of sactioning.
 

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Yeah, Romanyuk dropped me a line to clarify that he was misquoted, or "something was lost in translation." In reality, he has not spoken to either Roberts or anyone at EA on the matter and his thanks for their "generosity" was a reference to the fact that they've pretty much turned a blind eye to the whole thing. Which is a blessing of sorts, I suppose, but definitely not an official sanction.

In any event, the original post has been edited to remove the references.
 

ph0b0s123

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Jul 7, 2010
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Andy Chalk said:
Wing Commander Saga comes out on March 22. More information can be found at wcsaga.com [http://www.wcsaga.com/].
And on March 23rd will be pulled after take down notices from EA....
 

Antari

Music Slave
Nov 4, 2009
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Andy Chalk said:
Yeah, Romanyuk dropped me a line to clarify that he was misquoted, or "something was lost in translation." In reality, he has not spoken to either Roberts or anyone at EA on the matter and his thanks for their "generosity" was a reference to the fact that they've pretty much turned a blind eye to the whole thing. Which is a blessing of sorts, I suppose, but definitely not an official sanction.

In any event, the original post has been edited to remove the references.
Ouch, so this basically means we'll have to be johnny on the spot with our downloads if we want to get this game. As its quality level is more than likely to piss off EA's legal department once they wake up and realize whats going on.
 

Eleima

Keeper of the GWJ Holocron
Feb 21, 2010
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Oh wow, how did I not know of this?! This is awesome!!! I absolutely adored the original WC when they came out, and this definitely looks promising!! 50 missions, 60 voice actors, 70 cutscenes... Wow.
 

80Maxwell08

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Jul 14, 2010
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Nooners said:
Hot damn, this is a fan-made project? Someone get a Kickstarter for these guys! What, if anything, is this going to cost?
Um since Wing Commander is owned by EA like all the old Origin Studios IPs if they tried to do a kickstarter EA would come in and shut the whole thing down and they would have every right to do so. Also EA technically has the right to shut it down right now anyway so you might want to get it as soon as it comes out if you want it.
 

Tiamat666

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Dec 4, 2007
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Personally, I always thought the X-Wing/TIE Fighter series a way superior experience to the Wing Commander games. Especially the actual flight mechanics. The positioning and maneuvers of other ships in WC always felt random, whereas in X-Wing you always knew where stuff was in relation to yourself. It was probably some side-effect of the whole 2D bitmap representation. I really hated that about WC.

Of course, X-Wing also came a few years after WC, so it had a certain technological advantage. Unfortunately I got in touch with these games at the same time, so WC just paled in comparison to X-Wing and I never managed to get into it.

So I'm glad to hear about this project. Might finally get the WC fix I passed out on.