Games

The life of a seasoned starfighter pilot isn't all glory and adventure. After years of following orders and losing ships and friends, you are now the sole commander, responsible for heading up a momentous strike against your enemy's homeland - either the Empire of Kilrath or the heart of the Confederation. This war requires real strategy, not just hotshot piloting, and you have to determine where to fight, how to fight, and what ships will get the job done. In Wing Commander Armada, you have the freedom to build your own universe, your own missions, and your own campaign.

The year 2656. The TCS Tiger's Claw, pride of the Terran Confederation's fleet, is on campaign in the Enigma sector, near the Kilrathi sector headquarters, the K'tithrak Mang starbase. In a sudden attack, it is lost with all hands, save a few pilots who had been transferred off, and one who was out on patrol: the player's character, whose name and call sign are specified by the player.

The war against the Kilrathi is going badly for the Confederation. Its flagship, the Concordia, has been destroyed, battles are lost on all fronts. War hero Colonel Christopher Blair is transferred to the old carrier Victory. Take the role of Blair and ensure the success of the Confederation's last-ditch attempt for victory: the destruction of the Kilrathi homeworld. Wing Commander III has the usual mix of space battles and cinematic storytelling. Changes from the first two games include SVGA graphics, the use of texture-mapped polygons instead of bitmaps for spaceflight sequences and real Hollywood actors appearing in the cinematic scenes.

The war between the alien Kilrathi Empire and the Terran Confederation has been over for several years. Confed is attempting to stabilize its economy and social structure, after the abrupt end to thirty-five years of war. The Kilrathi survivors, now led by Melek, retainer to the late Prince Thrakhath, are having even greater problems, since so much of their racial and societal makeup revolves around hunting and killing. Tensions between the outer colonies and inner Confed worlds are higher than ever. And the Savior of the Confederation Colonel Christopher Blair, retired, is trying to make out a living on a desert world as a farmer. Salvation comes in the unlikely form of Major Todd "Maniac" Marshall, who bears orders: Blair has been recalled to active military service by Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn.

2669, Gemini Sector, Troy System. The Terran frontier between the Kilrathi Empire and the unknown. Privateer takes you to the seamy side of the Wing Commander universe. In the far reaches of space, you live by no man’s rules but your own. The fringes are populated by a volatile mix of pirates, miners, mercs, cutthroats, and Kilrathi, all struggling to make a life for themselves. In this open-ended game you can choose from many paths. You start with a rusted scout ship and a handful of credits in your pocket. It isn't much, but the universe is there for you to explore in search for profitable opportunities. Become a patient, law-abiding merchant, a smuggler far away from the normal space lanes, a pirate preying on the weak, or a professional mercenary hunting down criminal scum. Or just do whatever suits you at the time. At the end of the day, it’s all about money and survival. Mostly money. Are you determined enough to forge your own destiny?

It has been some twelve years since the destruction of Kilrah, the Kilrathi homeworld. The Terran Confederation, slowly demobilizing and reorganizing its military assets, has settled on a new strategy: building several Midway-class megacarriers, brainchild of Navy Commodore Christopher Blair. These new carriers, over a kilometer long, carry all the hardware and weaponry of a Kilrathi-War-era carrier battle group. The first one, the Midway herself, is undergoing her shakedown cruise, with Blair along for the ride. Before this, though, the player is treated to a CGI video of a bizarre rupture in space in the Kilrah system: the first of the Nephilim invaders. The game's titular prophecy involves the coming of these alien invaders, who shall arrive only after "one who has the heart of a Kilrathi, but who is not Kilrathi-born," conquers the felinoid warrior race.

In the first Secret Missions add-on to Wing Commander, the TCS Tiger's Claw responds to a distress call from the Terran colony in the Goddard System. Once they arrive, they find that the colony has been completely destroyed by a new Kilrathi secret weapon, with no survivors. The Tiger's Claw is then ordered to pursue the Kilrathi fleet into their own space and destroy this new weapon - without reinforcements or the ability to resupply... The Secret Missions campaign adds 16 new missions to fly. Unlike the main game, there is no branching mission tree - progress is linear. There are also several new ships: a Confederation corvette, Kilrathi and Confederation freighters and of course the Kilrathi dreadnought with the secret weapon itself. Characters from the main game can be transferred into the add-on, which also includes a "Mission Selector" to fly any of the missions from the original game.

Take to the skies with Wing Island, the first flight action game for the Wii. As Junior, a wide-eyed teenager with incredible piloting skills, soar around Shell Island taking on jobs to keep your family aviation business running. From dusting crops to more daring missions like aerial fire fighting, players will use the Wii Remote to perform aerial acrobatics and learn to fly in formation, controlling a group of 5 planes at once.