Electronic Arts is working on a re-release of the space simulator Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger. The news came from a presentation by producer Jim Vessella at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo. A photograph of one of the presentation slides was published by Steve Lin, a board member of the Video Game History Foundation.
According to Vessella, while digitizing the company's video archive he found some 600 reels of source material from which the game's story clips were edited. Wing Commander III, released in 1994, was one of the notable projects of an era when games used video with live actors. The lead role, pilot Christopher Blair, was played by Mark Hamill. Malcolm McDowell and John Rhys-Davies also appeared in the footage.
These recordings will form the basis of the anniversary re-release. The video clips will be presented in their original quality and in higher resolution. The game itself will gain support for modern controllers and will run at 60 frames per second. Jim Vessella previously did similar work as producer of the Command & Conquer Remastered Collection.
The new version will be linked to the Kilrathi Saga collection, which adapted the first games of the series for Windows in 1996. Journalists suggest the edition may also include the first two Wing Commander games with their expansions. Electronic Arts has not yet made an official announcement. The release date and exact contents of the re-release have not been named, but it is expected to appear on Steam, GOG and in the EA app.
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