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Any old-school PC gamer worth his salt has spent some time dogfighting in space in Wing Commander, or at least is familiar with the series that first took flight in 1990. Heck, even Mark Hamill (better known as Luke Skywalker) lent his voice acting talents to the third installment, Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger. If you have fond memories of flying through space in the 1990s, you'll be happy to know that fans of the franchise are nearly finished with a massive followup.
It's called Wing Commander Saga, and though it's not officially sanctioned by or endorsed by Chris Roberts (who produced Wing Commander), Origin, or Electronic Arts, none of them are doing anything to shut the project down.
"They have not contacted us and we have not discussed it with them," the project's founder clarified in a statement. "We are thankful that they are permitting us to do this, but no endorsement of Saga by these entities should be implied from that."
Fair enough. Legalities aside, Saga has the potential to be an awesome followup. It's certainly much bigger and more involved than what you would expect from a fan made game. It's being built using an enhanced Freespace 2 engine with features like autopilot, carrier landings, enhanced graphics and effects, and more. There are dozens of characters, about 70 cut scenes with 90 minutes of pre-rendered footage, a whopping 55 missions, and much more packed into a 8-9GB installation (download size will be 3-4GB) due for release on March 22, just three days from now.
Want more? Check out the trailer embedded below and read this related interview with Gnomes Lair.
Image Credit: WCSaga.com
Comments are closed on this article
DoctorX
March 22, 2012 at 12:24pm
and the site gets creamed.... nothing but a bunch of molten slag. they got a temp site up now so you can download it or just go here: http://www.gamershell.com/download_87172.shtml
Baer
March 19, 2012 at 8:57pm
A few years back there was a group that remade Ultima 5 then there was the Ultima 6 project. Both are really quite good and very enjoyable for those of us that loved that series in the 80's and early 90's.
I played all the WIng Commander games and I am really happy to see that there uis a remake. I also can not wait.
biggiebob12345
March 19, 2012 at 6:42pm
If Duke Nukem Forever is any indication of the quality that comes from "10 years in the making" this is going to be shit. Double shit because it wasn't even made by people getting paid to do it. Linux is proof that you don't get very much quality (I didn't say reliability) from stuff "made by fans".
DoctorX
March 22, 2012 at 8:47am
not in the same league. This is much better... been playing the early build for a couple of years now. If you are a fan of the original WC, this one is not to be missed.
Scatter
March 19, 2012 at 5:28pm
"We are thankful that they are permitting us to do this"
Well to be fair, nobody is letting them do it. They're just doing it and hoping that there aren't consequences. Wasn't it EA that purchased Origin? I'm not so sure that they're that benevolent of a company.
Incognito
March 19, 2012 at 1:59pm
Actually, Mark Hamill did more than just voice overs for WC III - he was in the game. WC III had a lot of FMV sequences shot on green screen. Also, porn actress Ginger Lynn was one of Mark's co-stars. Come to think of it, that game had a lot of well known actors in it.
iceman08
March 19, 2012 at 1:41pm
Is this free or donation?? I'll drop a few bucks for this if I have to
silverblack
March 19, 2012 at 12:29pm
Holy crap! Do they even make joy/flight sticks any more. I might need to pick one up.
Also played every game in series. And by every game, yes that means even Academy and Armada. Dude, even have the novels.
firefox91
March 19, 2012 at 10:30am
I can't believe they finally finished this game. I was watching for the release of this 5 years ago and gave up on it ever actually happening. This is great, I can't wait to get it!
MrGeek
March 19, 2012 at 9:33am
... the movie sucked!
Played them all! BIFF doing Maniac was GREAT!
Hope they don't force it shut, well, at least till I d/l it!
ApathyCurve
March 19, 2012 at 9:15am
"none of them are doing anything to shut the project down."
Yet. That's because it's been virtually invisible during its entire development. Now that it's "gone mainstream," (this is the fourth site in as many days I've seen it reported on), you can expect a C&D any day now. This is EA we're talking about, after all. And Chris Roberts isn't exactly an all-round nice guy, either. "Egomaniac" comes to mind.
Typo91
March 19, 2012 at 8:18am
i played the original games, and let me tell you, back then, on the computer, that was some awesome story telling in a video game.
all i can say now is,
oh man oh man oh man oh man...... ITS STARTING UUuuuUPPP!
