In 1990, developer Origin Systems signalled a new era in PC gaming with the release of the first Wing Commander SF space combat game. Launched at a time when the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST were the top personal computers for games, Wing Commander was a revelation with its use of 3D graphics and cinematic music and cut-scenes.
It's now been more than ten years since the last full Wing Commander game but the power of modern HD consoles like the PS3 and Xbox 360 would make any relaunch a true gaming event.
The Kilrathi War
The Wing Commander games took place in the 27th century at a time when the human race has spread among the stars but is fighting a war with the ruthless Kilrathi, an alien species which look like giant bipedal cats. In most of the games, the player takes the role of pilot Christopher Blair, flying missions in a variety of combat ships against the Kilrathi and stationed on strike carriers where the player can interact with other pilots and characters.
The first two games pushed PC hardware to the limit but Wing Commander 3:Heart of the Tiger in 1994 raised the bar even further by replacing the sprite-based graphics of the earlier titles with texture-mapped 3D polygons.
More that that, it also replaced animated cut-scenes with FMV starring actors such as Mark Hamill and Malcolm McDowell and pioneered the use of CGI backgrounds as all of the sets were digitally created. The game arrived on four CD-ROMs at a time when many people were still using floppy discs but the fourth game increased this to six CD-ROMs as it continued the use of FMV.
The fifth game in the series, Wing Commander: Prophecy in 1997, was to signal a new start for the franchise with a new character to play, a new 3D graphics engine and even a new alien enemy - the insectoid Nephilim. But it was to be the last of the true Wing Commander games after the release of a mission pack a year later.
Since then, a multiplayer only game was released for Xbox Live in 2007 and the original Wing Commander was also recently ported to the Sony PSP in a cut-down form. A motion picture was released in 1999, directed by the game producer Chris Roberts, but it was a critical and commercial failure and was in Times magazine's 2008 list of 'Top 10 Worst Video Game Movies'. There have also been several novels and a short-lived animated TV series.
Wing Commander HD
The Wing Commander games were always cinematic and yet most people played them on small PC screens and on hardware that couldn't do them justice. With the HD graphics power of the PS3 and Xbox 360, combined with modern home entertainment systems featuring large LCD or Plasma TVs and surround sound speakers, there's now an opportunity for a Wing Commander game to truly live up to its ambitions.
The success of Bioware's Mass Effect games prove there is still much demand for science fiction based titles as official figures from Electronic Arts list sales of Mass Effect 2 reaching 1.6 million during the first quarter of 2010. Eve Online, the space-based MMORPG by CCP Games, is also an ongoing success story with the developer announcing last year they now had over 300,000 active subscribers.
Wing Commander on the PS3 and XBox 360 could feature extremely realistic graphics, both for the scenes where players interact with characters on the strike carrier and during the flight sequences.
Modern games, such as Heavy Rain on the PS3, have shown it's possible to create lifelike character animations using motion-capture technology, instead of reverting to FMW which can have the negative effect of taking the player out of the game's environment. instead of giving them an immersive experience. The flight sequences could be almost movie-quality in their execution and the visuals of Eve Online are evidence of that, as are the quality of racing games such as the forthcoming Gran Turismo 5 on the PS3 which also feature 'cockpit' views.
Soundtracks that wouldn't be out of place in a movie are now common in many games and this is another area where a new Wing Commander game could excel, alongside high-quality voice acting and direction. A professionally produced plot could also be applied, perhaps written by a Hollywood scriptwriter. The forthcoming FPS game Crysis 2, for example, has a story written by acclaimed SF author Richard Morgan. Heavy Rain on the PS3 demonstrated that it's possible to produce a game that plays like an interactive movie, with the actions of the player resulting in a branching storyline that could be different every time the game is played.
Another key component is multi-player, with the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live making it simple to play with other gamers around the world, either in teams or not, with the player rising through the ranks as they achieve kills.
Can Pilots Report for Duty Soon?
Unfortunately, Electronic Arts (who purchased Origin Systems back in 1992) haven't given any indication that they plan to resurrect the Wing Commander franchise any time soon. The fourth game in the series was produced for $12 million, a record for the time, and it was partly because of the spiralling production costs that the franchise was stopped.
But many games today have multi-million dollar budgets and a list on Web site Digital Battle shows that several games today even have budgets of more than $50 million. With some modern games costing as much as Hollywood movies, a Wing Commander game finally has the chance to live up to its cinematic potential.
Even if Wing Commander never officially returns, the games have left a lasting legacy and there remains many Web sites dedicated to the series. But a new bug budget Wing Commander game for the PS3 or Xbox 360 could be something special and give players the chance to fight the Kilrathi on a supersized HD screen from the comfort of their sofa.
Jason Glover - Jason Glover has worked in the marketing teams of major companies for over twenty years, including over ten years in online marketing ...
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