Filed under: Gaming, Software, Freeware
Wing Commander Saga Prologue (+ Prey Demo)
Well there goes my weekend. I was going to macgamefiles to download the new Prey demo that Aspyr just released and I discovered something amazing: a new Wing Commander game! In my misbegotten youth (pre-switch) of the late 80's and early 90's many, many hours were wasted on one of the best game series ever released: Wing Commander by Chris Roberts. What could be a better way to spend the time after school than flying around in space saving the Terran people from the dastardly cat-like Kilrathi? The Wing Commander series was retired years ago by its original publisher (a truly wretched movie cannot have helped), but devoted fans simply would not let it die. Now a group of them is working on another game in the series called Wing Commander Saga that takes place after WC3. And the best part: they've ported it for the Mac! It is based on the space sim Freespace2 (whose source code was apparenly open sourced) and they have already released the first part of the game: the Prologue. I've been playing it for a bit and I must say it's still definitely rough around the edges (there are some huge problems with the space background bitmaps), the production values aren't exactly stellar (pretty weak voice acting), and the game engine is far from state of the art. But dadgummit, I can play Wing Commander on my Mac! And if you're a creative type they're looking for some help.
So if you have fond memories of Wing Commander, or just want to see what a a group of determined fans can accomplish, check it out. The Prologue is available free for download and is a Universal Binary. Oh yeah, and you might as well check out the Prey demo, too. (caution: there's adult language in Prey)
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
meego said 10:58AM on 1-13-2007
Yup, the SCP folks have done an impressive job with the Freespace2 source code. Not only have they substantialy upgraded the original game, but they also made it possible to run mods within the game. These include among others an original Freespace1 mod, a Star Wars conversion and a Babylon 5 mod. All in sweet OSX flavor.
Plus, the game scales very well on most systems. I can run it with most graphical upgrades on my 15' powerbook.
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meego said 11:05AM on 1-13-2007
Setting everything up and running can be a strainous process. Here is a link a small Java auto-installer which was released a short while ago.
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,42854.0.html
You'll need the original FS2 files which can be found at http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,38195.0.html
The SCP forums are a gold mine for all information regarding the open-source Freespace project.
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mitch said 11:07AM on 1-13-2007
Is it just me, or can I not find the Prey demo anywhere?
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mitch said 11:09AM on 1-13-2007
Nevermind, I'm just an idiot... (1st link, not 2nd)
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Trevor said 2:59PM on 1-13-2007
You should turn in your wings. That's "Kilrathi" not "Kirathi".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilrathi
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Mat Lu said 3:16PM on 1-13-2007
@Trevor
No you don't understand, that's my way of insulting them! Thanks, it's fixed.
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Bryan T said 3:19PM on 1-13-2007
NOTICE: Intel integrated video chipsets are not supported.
Thought maybe i would try to run the demo on the ol' macbook, see what i could do. Guess not.
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Brandon Hays said 3:25PM on 1-13-2007
What, no Mark Hamill?
I still have the 1997 DVD release of Wing Commander IV. I'm struggling to get it working on my Mac, I've even tried a Win98 installation under Parallels!
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Maddles said 9:41PM on 1-13-2007
Anyone else notice nobody's seeding the Prey torrent? Why put it up if you're not going to support it?
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InSaNeBoY said 10:08PM on 1-15-2007
I have the Mac version of Wing Commander IV, still... ;)
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