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Destro has a new update on what to expect in the future for the Wing Loader program. He added preliminary support for WC4, Prophecy and Secret Ops towards the end of last year, but there's still plenty to do for the earlier games in the series. Now that in-game speech is working in WC1, I might be most excited about what is happening with WC3. He's made some major breakthroughs regarding the ability to add ODVS' enhanced video footage. There's even the potential to add back in scenes like news clips and the Hobbes explanation that are only included in the console ports. It's all exciting stuff! You can download the latest version here.

I've got a few things planned for a new release. Currently I'm working on some memory fixes, better camera code to fix some jumpy issues I've seen online:

• A few changes to the scripting to make reading it easier.
• Added in Imgui support and making preferences so users

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We're rounding out the third week of Origin composer George Oldziey's campaign to create a new album of Wing Commander music. The current tally is very nearly at $17,000. That's enough to ensure the project moves forward, which is great! As we previously reported, George has already scheduled time with the orchestra in Europe to record in August. However, it would be amazing if the live choral addition were added in as well. For that, we would need about $5,000 additional over what's been contributed so far. I still think it's very doable with all of your help! You can learn more about the project and pledge for a copy of the music when it's released here.

Here's a sample of reorchestrated WC4 track that George has already recreated on paper. The sound you hear is a digital recreation below, so the final result with live musicians will be even better!

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Let's compare the Wing Commander 3 ship selection screen across ports! Here's the PC/Mac, 3DO (two screens instead of one) and PlayStation versions of the Arrow...

Three Hellcats V, primed, prepped, etc.

Thunderbolt!

The Longbow is largely cut from the 3DO version; it only appears as an option very rarely! (I found it in Delius 3, will have to chart it all out someday soon.)

And the mighty Excalibur:

There's an Easter egg in the PC version: if you hit ALT-S at this screen then it'll display specifications over the ships. None of the lore mentioned here matches anything else!

One discovery from the 3DO version is that the Hellcat, Thunderbolt and the Excalibur get six mines per hardpoint! But the mostly absent Longbow doesn't. The Thunderbolt mine loadout is the default for the Torgo 2 minelaying mission even though you don't actually use them.

The PC version assigns you a custom Longbow loadout for Torgo 2

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AllTinker has a new bit of Wing Commander joy to share today. He's remastered the iconic Wing Commander opening track. It's a beautiful tune to listen to on its own, but this also supports his Confederation enhancement of WC1. Give it a listen below!

Hi folks, I've been battling against real life a little but work continues on the code & art. I have something slightly different to preview today - another side-project to the side-project; can't help myself - I've mentioned before that I'm interested in having General MIDI versions of the earlier game soundtracks, which would allow rendering with soundfonts or GM modules like the Sound Canvas (ala Privateer, WC3 etc.). In working towards that, rather than going directly from MT-32 to GM, I've been pulling apart the music and reorchestrating it in a more traditional sense first. Here's the first track I feel is ready enough to demonstrate:

I've made a

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CountvonSchnaps has a brand new Wing Commander sketch, and this one is a bomber! He's created a Longbow named "Sledge Hammer" for the war effort. It's a chunky beast with lots of gorgeous details to look over. There's also an extra turret up top to fend off the Kilrathi. It was just published to DeviantArt yesterday and already has 80 Favorites, which seems like a lot. It's really nice to see the Wing Commander love out there! You can find his previous destroyer and cruiser takes here.

As per the results of the previous poll a Wing Commander design was in order. As such I picked the Longbow torpedo bomber. I played Wing Commander a lot and I did like the designs of the fighter and other ships in there. Kilrathi ships felt really alien and the story in which you could interact also appealed to me.

I did make a few alteration as to its design. It now has a turret and 3, instead of a 2 man crew. A

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There's a new update for the Wing Commander album campaign! If you didn't know, live orchestras can be difficult to book. Top talent often requires deposits and schedule commitment months in advance. Thanks to your early and generous support, composer George Oldziey was already able to secure a date in August, so the effort remains right on track. You can get in on the project yourself here!

Greetings all. As a result of your amazing generosity in pledging to this campaign we have more than passed the initial goal of recording with the full orchestra. Just to update you, I've booked August 19th of this year to travel to Budapest to record all the music! Because of this I will easily be able to meet my original projection of getting the final products to you by October. There will of course be editing and mixing involved, followed soon thereafter by creating the physical rewards.

The Budapest

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Last month LOAF put together an exhaustive writeup about the many Kilrathi emblems and symbols depicted over the years. In the spirit of completeness, here's a couple more than have surfaced since then! If you see any more we missed, let us know!

@kingmakeress had me looking through the 3DO version of Victory Streak where I found this forgotten oddity included alongside the Kiranka claw symbol!

These Kilrathi medals from the TCTG are worth considering as well!

Find the original post here if you want to learn all about Kilrathi iconography!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Titan Oya in the Cephei Sector BV-Y B4 system has been confirmed as destroyed by Aegis, leaving five still operational.
Aden Tanner, Aegis's lead anti-xeno strategist, delivered a cautionary statement:
"I must remind all Commanders that these missions are highly dangerous and cannot be undertaken lightly. Entering a Maelstrom and flying close to a Titan requires your ship to be outfitted with caustic sink launchers and Thargoid pulse neutralisers. AX weaponry will also prove useful, as will Guardian nanite torpedoes to target the Titans' thermal vents."
"Be warned that your combat skills will be tested. Counter-attacks by Thargoid vessels become more frequent as the Titans take damage , and the mothership's own turrets are deployed more aggressively. I would like to see veteran anti-xeno pilots passing on their knowledge to less-experienced pilots, to prevent unnecessary risks."

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I FOUND A TRUCK! In the Wing Commander Academy finale when Maniac is flying through the Agon'Ra'Sivar he hits a Kilrathi fuel truck. You can barely see it under the explosion! It's a similar shape to the Kilrathi tanks in WC3!

I also made a quick graphic of the layout of the Agon'Ra'Sivar's flight deck as Maniac strafes it! You can see he hits a Sartha on the catapult followed by several loaded strike planes and then the truck to set off the secondary explosions that cripple the ship.

This was all in the service of another fun project: I went through the show and divided into missions like the games… and then I used that to do a kill board for the show! Here’s the episode-by-episode breakdown. I hope there’s somebody that counts HISS tanks like this.

You can read more about vehicles in Wing Commander below!

• Tanks
• Tractors
• Movie Refuel/Repair Truck
• Privateer Background Vehicles
• Privateer Refueler Truck

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We're now two weeks in to the five-week adventure to crowdsource a new Wing Commander album performed by a live orchestra. With minimum funding now secured, Origin composer George Oldziey is starting to take the next steps to formally book time with the musicians and get other prerequisites taken care of. It's common for unforeseen obstacles to occasionally pop up and slow things down, but if things continue to proceed at a steady clip, recording could start as early as late summer.

Now that the hard push towards $16,000 has been accomplished, pledges have slowed down a bit. This is very common in the middle of a campaign, although I expect a decent bump towards the end. In order to avoid distractions that might keep you away at the last minute, it's still a good idea to contribute now if you haven't yet but are planning to. Note that no actual funds are due until the Kickstarter's conclusion on

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PhilsComputerLab has another novel video that looks at the WC series from a new angle. The focus of this episode is to emphasize the evolutionary leaps that each iteration in the series made. It's a great topic to discuss, because it's probably harder for later generations to appreciate. It's easy to look at the four year gap between WC1 and WC3 and say, "Wow," but there was a lot of technological advancement happening that drove all that. The expected conventions of game design were ever-changing as well. Check it out below, and thanks to thp for the tip!

The Wing Commander games are a great example to showcase how the PC has evolved in the short span of just 7 years from 1990 to 1997.

One correction: WC3 was 1994 (on PC), not 1995, and I definitely would not have called its reception "mixed." At the time of its release, WC3 was tied for PC Gamer's highest rated game of all time, among many other

Want to witness the gigantic Thargoid mothership end? ...

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The Torturous Wing Commander Poetry Department

Editor's note: in honor of the pop culture Behemoth that is the release of Taylor Swift's Tortured Poet's Department and the fact that it is the author's birthday and he is allowed one needlessly self-indulgent Wing Commander article per year we present to you…

One of my favorite things in popular media is finding a reference to some classic aspect of literature. Growing up, I found that it was something particularly distinctive in Star Trek. From Kirk quoting John Masefield or D.H. Lawrence to Picard's love of Shakespeare, there was something that was both enticing and approachable about these little connections to our greater culture. Such moments have always served to both elevate and contextualize the media in a way I've found incredibly satisfying. It lets you connect with characters, understand storytellers and to my liking it gives you exactly my

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation Alert*
Titan Oya is under siege. This is an urgent call to all independent pilots to aid in the complete defeat of the third Titan.
The key modules for the assault continue to be readily available at all Rescue Megaships:
• Thargoid Pulse Neutraliser – To break through the maelstrom defence wave.
• Caustic Sink Launchers – To protect your ship from caustic effects of the maelstrom.
• Guardian Nanite Torpedo Pylon – To hamper the Titan's vents and make it vulnerable to damage.
Rewards have been requisitioned for all Commanders able to participate in ending the Titan threat.
Good luck, Commanders.

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Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
The engineer Ram Tah has discovered a method of immunising existing Guardian modules against the effects of anti-Guardian fields.
Earlier this year, Ram Tah discovered that certain Guardian relics revealed and activated nanite clusters when exposed to specific electromagnetic frequencies. These nanites proved disruptive to Thargoid technology on a molecular level and, importantly, were entirely unaffected by anti-Guardian fields unlike other Guardian technology.
In an urgent press conference, Aegis leadership announced a breakthrough in researching that latter quality.
The following statement was given by Professor Alba Tesreau:
"Our knowledge of the Thargoids' ancient adversary, the Guardians, is still so very limited, and yet Guardian technology has once again paved a way forward for humanity."
"We urge pilots to use the modifications we are producing to utilise

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Great news! The campaign to make a new album of Wing Commander music achieved a critical milestone last night. It's now at $16,000 and rising. This means composer George Oldziey will be able to move forward with a live orchestra and make this exciting project a reality. There is still quite a bit of leg work yet to complete, but George has already been taking preliminary steps to scout out possibilities and make preparations. Since there's still three weeks left in the Kickstarter, we're also in excellent shape to be able to hit the stretch goal of $24,000 to add in a live choir. Let your friends know or contribute if you can!

Woo hoo!!! We made it to the target of $16,000 in 10 days! You all are AMAZING!! Thank you SO MUCH from the bottom of my heart! ALLTinker put us over the top last night (after my bedtime What a great way to wake up today!

So, you are all now guaranteed an orchestral

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In an exciting reversal of longstanding platform rules, Apple now allows emulation programs on iPhones and iPads. This means a large number of new devices now have access to emulators capable of playing Super Nintendo or Game Boy Advance games, for example. Delta is the first legit console emulator that has made its way to the app store. It's free, and it has some great features such as AirPlay to TV and support for Xbox and other controllers. Even the on-screen controls seem to work well. LOAF did some cartridge WC game tests, and the results were very impressive! Here's some tantalizing screenshots:

The Delta emulator they just released in the iOS App Store is the coolest f*cking thing I’ve ever seen.

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Here's a quick Banshee 3D printed by Knight26-77. The time lapse video may only be 30 seconds, but the real work (before, during and after printing) was certainly more time consuming. I do appreciate the slick results though!

Here is lightly modified 3d printed banshee. I mostly just stretched out the back end to make it look more like the game and cutscene model.

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I finally got around to taking pictures of a pair of mini standees that I added to the collection last year. They're visually quite different from each other, but were intended for the same function to sit on the counter of a Babbage's/Software Etc/Egghead/Electronic Boutique-type store and generate excitement about the next Wing Commander game. The Prophecy item looks like a box, but it's a triangular A-frame joined at the top with a flat panel on the bottom. The WC4 prop looks like a tiny version of a more traditional standee display. Both are unused (the adhesive tape is still fresh on the bottom of the WCP flap), so I'll be sure to give them a good home!

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We're one week into Origin composer George Oldziey's mission to make a new live reorchestration of Wing Commander music, and the numbers are very impressive so far. The campaign is nearly to $15,000, which is very close to the $16,000 minimum threshold when combined with additional support from superfan Matt Hiltner. This gives us great optimism that an additional $6000 to add a live choir to the mix will be possible. Next up, however, is another anecdote about his experience creating the music at Origin in the beginning. It sounds stressful, but the results were well worth it! For additional context, George posted side-by-side photos of him then and now. You can also listen to that final WC3 patrol track below:

Your browser cannot play this file. Click here to download the track.

Hi everyone. First of all, BRAVO for getting us so close to the target so quickly! I'm already hearing that