The headline offering of these remasters is much higher quality animated video footage than has ever been available before, but other improvements include 60fps gameplay, a plethora of newly available .INI modifications, and full controller support (although looking at the Steam forums for games, some people are having issues with said controller support).
This is the physical media vault that led to the restorations.
EA
The blog post includes this comparison between the old and new FMV footage.
EA
EA
EA
For Corsair 2-the little-known sequel to Wing Commander: Privateer– the team couldn’t find the original high-quality remasters of the FMV scenes and ended up contacting the game’s original cutscene director, Steve Hilliker, who had the tapes in his attic. Hilliker had always wanted to take a fresh pass at color grading, and he did just that, while also remastering and improving all the cutscenes.
Similar updates were given to Wing Commander’s Prophecy. The blog post also details GOG’s involvement in the restoration and remastering. Prophecy And Rash. For the latter, EA has re-licensed the entire soundtrack for a re-release.
The electronic collection is currently on sale on GOG and Steam; previous owners of older versions of the games on GOG and the EA storefront get these remasters for free. None of the games cost more than $5 each.
One good story doesn’t cancel out a lot of bad news and questionable decisions from EA, but it does show that a few passionate people can do something remarkable for the preservation of the game, even if some of the work was done pro bono outside of normal working hours. (EA has, however, committed resources to restorations as the project progresses.)
While remasters aren’t perfect, the gaming industry could use news like this. It’s worth reading the full story in the blog post for a trip down memory lane and an insight into what a restoration process like this is involved.
Gn tech
