Overview
- EA producer Jim Vessella announced a planned remaster of Wing Commander III during a Portland Retro Gaming Expo presentation on Sunday and showed a slide branding it “Wing Commander 3: Heart of the Tiger — 30th anniversary edition.”
- Vessella said the project uses roughly 600 original full-motion video master tapes found while digitising EA’s video archive, allowing restoration of the game’s live-action cutscenes.
- The slide and subsequent reports list specific features including source and upscaled FMVs, a 60 frames-per-second gameplay option, controller support, a community enhancement patch, and “Kilrathi Saga integration.”
- Reports say the remaster is targeted for PC storefronts such as Steam, GOG and the EA App, but Electronic Arts has not issued a formal company statement or given a release date.
- The preserved tapes include performances by the game’s original cast and their recovery could both improve the visual quality for players and influence whether EA pursues further remasters of the series.