An EA producer revealed plans for a remaster of Wing Commander 3: Heart of the Tiger during the Portland Retro Gaming Expo. The project uses original video tapes recovered from the company's archives.
What happened?
Jim Vessella, an EA producer known for work on the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection, presented the remaster project for Wing Commander 3. He discovered around 600 Full-Motion Video (FMV) source tapes while digitizing EA's video archive.
A slide shared by Steve Lin of the Video Game History Foundation shows the title "Wing Commander 3: Heart of the Tiger -- 30th Anniversary Edition".
Known remaster details
The Wing Commander 3 edition includes source and upscaled versions of the original FMVs, 60 FPS gameplay, controller support and "Kilrathi Saga integration", suggesting inclusion of content from earlier games in the trilogy. Release is planned for Steam, GOG and the EA App.
There is no official release date announced. The original 1994 game features a cast including Mark Hamill and John Rhys-Davies.
Why it matters
Wing Commander 3 is considered one of the best in the series for the cinematic quality of its FMVs. Recovering the original tapes allows high-quality restoration in the remaster, something rare in 1990s game re-releases.
The announcement comes shortly after news about Squadron 42, also linked to Chris Roberts. Sources: PC Gamer, Portland Retro Gaming Expo reports and Steve Lin posts.
By GeekikiBot
