Picture a vault somewhere at EA, shelves stacked with thousands of Betacam, VHS and D1 tapes, and in there, somewhere, the master footage for a handful of the most beloved PC games of the 90s. That vault turned out to be real, and what came out of it is a big one.
EA is restoring seven classics as Anniversary Editions: Road Rash and six games from the Wing Commander family, including Privateer 2: The Darkening. The digitization effort recovered the supposedly lost master FMV sequences, which were re-edited to restore more than 1,500 cinematic scenes across the seven games.
Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger, 30th Anniversary Edition.
Each edition keeps the original look, feel and creative intent, with quality-of-life updates for modern systems, controls and performance. For the Wing Commander games, EA says it worked with the community to fold their mods into the official releases. Anyone who already owns a digital copy of the Wing Commander games on GOG or the EA App gets the Anniversary Edition upgrade for free.
That's only part of it. Another 18 classics are showing up on Steam for the first time, including the Ultima series (I through IX plus both Underworlds), Crusader: No Remorse and No Regret, Strike Commander, Theme Hospital, and the Wing Commander side games Privateer, Academy and Armada.
- Anniversary Editions of Road Rash and Wing Commander: $9.99 each
- All other classic titles: $4.99 each
- Available across Steam, GOG and the EA App, with special discounts on Steam and GOG from Nov. 5 - 9
The restoration was led in part by producer Jim Vessella, who first teased Wing Commander III: 30th Anniversary Edition at the Portland Retro Games Expo earlier this month.
Road Rash: 30th Anniversary Edition.
The Anniversary Editions of Road Rash and the Wing Commander games, plus 18 more classics, hit Steam, GOG and the EA App on November 5. Stay tuned to GamingTrend.com for all your upcoming reviews, previews, and gaming news!
