WING COMMANDER III to get a surprise remaster after the discovery of the original source tapes

Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger is to get a surprise remaster and re-release. The space combat game was originally released in 1994 and remains one of the most popular and lauded games in the venerable franchise.

The remaster was apparently made possible during a project to digitise all of Electronic Arts' copious assets still on tape. During this process, it was discovered that most or even all of the FMV sequences shot for the Wing Commander franchise had survived intact, allowing it to be re-edited at a much higher resolution. The low-res nature of the original FMV, which made even an upscale very difficult, had made this project doubtful before. Now we should be able to enjoy Mark Hamill and John Rhys-Davies giving it their all in a cheesy action space opera.

Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger - 30th Anniversary Edition (actually 32nd, but okay) will also include upgraded textures and controller support, and will be available on Steam, GoG and the EA App. No release date has been confirmed.

More intriguing is the mention of the "Kilrathi Saga Integration," which reportedly includes upscaled re-releases of Wing Commander and Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi, along with their expansion packs. These games do not have the lavish FMV sequences of the later games, but are older, so are both easier and trickier to re-release.

Reportedly if this project is successful, remasters of Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom and Wing Commander: Prophecy may follow. It's unclear if Wing Commander: Privateer and Privateer 2 (starring Clive Owen as a hard-bitten space mercenary/trader!) are also in line for the treatment.

The original Wing Commander series was helmed by Chris Roberts, who is now orchestrating the release of ultra-ambitious spiritual successors Star Citizen and Squadron 42, the latter of which just got a Q2 2027 release window.

WING COMMANDER creator resurrects space combat

Chris Roberts, the creator of the Wing Commander franchise, has announced a new, PC-only space combat game. The game is extremely ambitious and highly modular in design, consisting of multiplayer, co-op, single-player sandbox, linear mission-based and MMORPG elements. As well as private backing, the game is also being crowd-funded (and, just a few days after its announcement, has already raised more than a quarter of the funds asked for).

The new project's overall title is Star Citizen. Set several centuries hence, it establishes a traditional space opera universe in which characters can fly around and trade between planets and star systems. This part of the game can be played on the public servers, in which case it works like an MMORPG (complete with skill trees and experience for characters). However, players can also play on their own in single-player mode, effectively replicating the experience of the X or Elite series or Roberts's own Privateer games and Freelancer. They can also play in small, closed servers with just friends rather than strangers.

The game will also ship with a mission-based, linear single-player campaign. Though using the same setting and art assets, this is structured differently enough from Star Citizen 'proper' to have its own name: Squadron 42. In this sub-game players can take on military roles and fight in an extended war. This game can also be played co-op with several players on the same side. This mode is meant more for fans of the Wing Commander, X-Wing/TIE Fighter and Freespace games.

Roberts explains the concept in full in this lengthy (but interesting) speech.

The initial release of the game is not expected until 2014.

WING COMMANDER SAGA released

A band of talented mod-makers have finally released Wing Commander Saga, a continuation of the venerable space combat series. Made with the (unofficial) nod of approval of the original game designers, Wing Commander Saga is an open-source game using the Freespace 2 engine. It requires nothing else to play (a joystick or gamepad is recommended, however) and can be played on most PCs, including those using Linux. The mod has been in development for over ten years.

As well as robust space combat (featuring 50 single-player missions), the game features cut-scenes, animated mission briefings and full voice-overs throughout.

The mod is available, free of charge, from the WC Saga website here. Rock Paper Shotgun have their take on the game here (one reviewer in the comments suggesting it has the best space combat of any Wing Commander game, official or otherwise, released to date).

Sadly, the game does not feature Mark Hamill. Fortunately, it also doesn't feature Freddie Prinze, Jr.