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Display MoreToday's your last chance to score Wing Commander discounts in GOG's Back to School Sale. Most WC games are 34% off at $3.95 and Privateer ups it to half off at $2.99. As a reminder, WC1/2, WC3, Academy, Privateer and Privateer 2 are part of the preservation program that ensures they're extra ready for modern play!
Ultima Games:
Other Origin Games:
Free Games:
Sep
…Origin founder and Ultima creator Richard Garriott, aka Lord British, went back to his roots to soft launch his new Ultima initiative this weekend: DragonCon! There he held a panel about 'what makes an Ultima' that revealed some of his plans for recovering the rights from Electronic Arts and that negotiations with the publisher have already started! It doesn't seem to have made the mainstream press yet, but luckily the Ultima Dragons are a little more thorough! John Hosie posted a great writeup:
So, excellent panel with Lord British, but also with Starr Long and Chris Spears attending.
The first 20 minutes was RG going through the base Ultima history and his experience, with also touching notably on Starr Long's work leading UO's development originally.
The issue with the Ultima IP falls under the 203 Copyright laws where RG notified EA of his intent to reclaim the Ultima copyrights under the 35 year
Sep
…
The Transformers: The Movie goes pretty hard… although it's also pretty hard to approach without any background in Transformers nerdery. This week, we're revisiting another science fiction classic from our youths: Stargate (1994)! This is our second Roland Emmerich and basically the one that led to Independence Day. And it's also the James Spader movie that immediately precedes another movie club classic, Crash. Stargate introduces the idea of an ancient device that can transport people instantaneously to another planet, prompting a group of soldiers and scientists to explore a planet whose culture matches that of ancient Egypt. It would go on to form the basis for endless TV spinoffs. Should be fun!
The big Wing Commander connection is, once again, that Chris Roberts used several tracks from David Arnold's Stargate score when temp tracking the Wing Commander movie… and ultimately he scored David
Sep
…Intelligent Gamer's Fusion was a short-lived gaming magazine that kicked off in 1995 and closed up shop less than a year later. Luckily, that was exactly the right time to exist for a preview of Wing Commander IV! And this one has a great interview with Chris Roberts that talks about all the amazing projects that sadly never came about... Wing Commander V, Silverheart, Maniac Missions and even an Armada followup! From the March 1996 issue:
Mister Roberts Universe
Creator of the famous Wing Commander series from Origin, Chris Roberts has moved from designing and coding games to positions as a Vice President and Executive Producer for Origin. After some success in the British gaming industry, Roberts joined the company in 1987, and a year later he promptly produced Times of Lore, a number-one seller in 1988. The following year brought the first Wing Commander to gamers, and Roberts has had great success
Sep
…It's a rarely remembered fact that one of the first products that Electronic Arts developed after they acquired Origin and the rights to Wing Commander was French and German translations of Wing Commander II, replacing previous 'English with localized manuals' versions that were distributed by Mindscape and Ubisoft. The French Wing Commander II was followed by a French localization of Special Operations 1... but not Special Operations 2! Now Greg14 has corrected that mistake (and some others!) with a complete French version of Wing Commander II! Here are the details:
Voici la traduction finale de Wing Commander II en français.
Cette version inclut :This is the final French translation for Wing Commander II.
- la correction de nombreuses fautes d'orthographe ;
- l'amélioration de plusieurs erreurs et imprécisions de traduction ;
- la configuration du jeu pour une utilisation avec la Roland MT-32
This release
Sep
Remember Admiral Fluffy, the Kilrathi expert with a cool 3D printed Vaktoth and Dralthi? They're back with something even bigger: a Kamrani-class corvette! That's pretty much the entire Kilrathi fleet as of Wing Commander Prophecy... pretty cool!
It's...uh...Feline Alien Friday! (It'll catch on, I'm sure.) Today, I finished the #Kilrathi Kamrani-class corvette from the Wing Commander series of video games, named the Dor-Chak(Striking Bird in Kilrathi). Even designed a unique clan marking for it!
Sep
It would be stretching to call Double Impact a classic… but it was a lot of fun, and it delivered well on its promise to have Jean-Claude Van Damme act opposite a second Jean-Claude Van Damme. And maybe that's really all you need! Happy birthday, Dundradal.
We already talked about the music from the Double Impact score used to temp track the Wing Commander movie, so there's not a lot to report. But it did occur to me to ask: has an actor ever acted opposite themselves in Wing Commander? There are plenty of actors with dual roles, but the only 'acting together' I could think of was that in Wing Commander Academy's Expendable, Mark Hamill plays both Maverick and a hallucination of his father!
Sully thinks sharing that bagel would have a double impact on his cat happiness.
Sep
This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that are referenced by Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is The Transformers: The Movie (1986) and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here. The movie will start at 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!
Sep
…To test its new deployable mining rig, Wreaken Corporation has called for independent pilots to help complete field trials.
Dr. Ben Curtis, Chief Geologist at Wreaken, stated:
"We're excited to not only test the rig's patented mining laser technology but also verify which materials it can extract from a variety of planetary body types."
"In order to conduct accurate tests, we're also opening up these field trials to pilots willing to laser mine asteroids for comparative yield analysis."
He added that it was a result of the direct cooperation with Vodel for the release of the new SRV Rhino that placed the deployable rig in the hands of intrepid miners so quickly.
"The Rhino is the first of its kind in this new class of SRV. We know buyers are going to have a lot of fun taking this across terrain they found tough before." added Owen McKenna, CEO of Core Dynamics.
All independent pilots willing
Sep
No Man's Sky remains the Little Engine that Could of modern space sims... and since adding player-customizable ship designs it has just gotten bigger. We're always on the lookout for NMS fans trying to recreate Wing Commander ships in the game... so here's one found on Reddit! It's by Active-Marzipan and it's a corvette inspired by Wing Commander's HF-66 Thunderbolt VII heavy fighter. Neat!
Sep
…Vodel, the manufacturer of the Scarab and Scorpion surface recon vehicles, has announced its latest addition – the SRV Rhino.
According to press materials received, the Rhino is currently the largest available SRV and comes heavily armoured. As a result of its extra weight, it sacrifices speed for superior grip, allowing it to traverse harsh planetary terrain.
Due to its size, the new vehicle can only be deployed from a Large Vehicle Bay fitted in compatible ships.
"We're also extremely excited to announce a joint venture between Vodel and Wreaken Mining," said Owen McKenna, CEO of Core Dynamics.
"As a result of their recent research and development, the Rhino will come equipped with deployable mining rigs for planetside mining as standard, and an optional refinery module to process materials on site."
The Rhino is now available as an early-release purchase and will later transition to wider
Sep
Adam Savage has posted an excellent interview with designed and illustrator Matthew Cushman, the brilliant artist behind an entire fleet of familiar science fiction spacecraft cutaways showing their imagined interiors. In honor of Star Trek's 60th anniversary, Cushman has revisited his 1995 cutaway poster of the USS Enterprise which is being released as a massive 11-foot long print!
But Mr. Cushman doesn't only design the interiors of ship from the final frontier… he also created a magnificent CS Tiger Claw for the Wing Commander movie in 1999 which was unfortunately never printed. Luckily, the art has survived… and it's a personal favorite!
Matthew Cushman's incredible talent runs in the family; his brother Christopher Cushman is also a cutaway artist who started his career with the famous Enterprise-D cutaway that was everywhere in the early nineties!
Sep
…
I guess you could say that Double Impact really had… an impact on us! Hah hah no I'm actually writing this before movie night and I still don't even know what Double Impact is about. But I bet we will have loved it by the time you read this. Our next movie is one that's familiar to a lot of us nerds… and it's another birthday choice, this time for Vera! Happy birthday, Vera! She has chosen for her film The Transformers: The Movie (1986)! It's a classic mix of art and commercialism in the very specific combination that only eighties kids can remember. I'm looking forward to it!
While there's a giant crossover between Wing Commander and Transformers fans the actual creative connection is pretty small: there's a planet in the first sector of Wing Commander Armada's campaign named OPTIMUS after the Autobots' heroic leader, Optimus Prime.
Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?
The
Aug
…Last month, Greg14 was kind enough to translate a vintage French Wing Commander article. And now they're back with three more! This is a super cool look at how the original Wing Commander was received in France... and it's full of interesting takes, including a very early realization that Origin was headed for CD-ROM exclusivity with future games. Very cool time capsule--thank you, Greg!
Wing Commander [Joystick]
With this game, Origin clearly favors CD-ROM titles.
Near Vega, a star located some 26 light-years away, a fleet of Kilrathi is waging war against the Confederation's forces. A day never goes by without a pilot ending up scattered across the frozen reaches of space. After a short briefing, you climb into one of the tiny fighters, each equipped with an incredibly sophisticated cockpit. But don't expect to play the lone hero! Destroying enemy ships requires teamwork above all else.
94% (PC)
To
Aug
This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut event happening on Discord this morning! Join us at noon EST/9 AM PST for a fun filled morning of television... that all connect to Wing Commander somehow! This month we're looking at a two hour block of music videos that all connect back to Wing Commander in some way. You can find details on the videos included as well as how to watch along with us in the announcement post here. You can find the YouTube playlist for the party here.
Aug
Display MoreWe survived Jaws! We probably don't have to spend too many pixels saying that we enjoyed one of the most famous movies ever made but… well, that. It's a film that defined how big blockbuster movies are made today and while it seems that goes off the rails on occasion it has also produced giant amounts of our culture. So, hurray for Jaws!
Our simple connection this time around was Steven Spielberg's star system on the Wing Commander Prophecy map.
And here's how old Bruce compares to a Thunderbolt or a Bloodfang! Funny that Spielberg could get away with using a crummy rubber monster…!
Sully and his sister Lumi are recreating the opening of Jaws.
Aug
This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that are referenced by Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Double Impact (1991) and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here. The movie will start at 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!
And don't forget our lucky thirteenth Wing Commander Cartoon party is early tomorrow!
Aug
…Do you remember Adm_Maverick?They've made some very cool Wing Commander ships for their own tabletop game... and now they're back with a huge destroyer! Specifically, it's a Ralarrad-class light destroyer... but at this scale, it sure seems like it's as big and powerful as a Ralaxath! Check it out:
Hey hey, guess who is still alive and kicking?
And actually has something to show!
As a part of my table top star fighter project I decided to build an eye catching model of a capital ship and I opted to go for a Kilrathi destroyer from WC3. I've cut apart the stl file so that I can wire in some lights, And I need to print more turrets, and glue everything together… and finish, prime, and paint the thing, but still progress.
Since this is intended to be used in my Table top game, I designed the turrets, bridge, and main engines to be swapping with the use of magnets.
This way I can remove parts and swap them
Aug
…Tragic news to report today: veteran Wing Commander actor Tim Curry has passed away at age 80. Curry is known around the world for his endless acting credits, which included everything from Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show to the crazed Russian leader famously ranting about space in Command and Conquer 3. But Wing Commander fans know him best as Prince Thrakhath's chee’dyachee Melek, the alternatively groveling-and-scheming alien vizier who steals the show in the game's various cuts to the Kilrathi (he also recorded many of the generic Kilrathi taunts). You can read a more complete obituary at The Hollywood Reporter.
In addition to his seemingly endless and endlessly significant filmography, Tim Curry is also remembered for being a solid human being. Social media today is full of endless stories of his casual kindness to fans and others that he encountered. For such a life, even 80
Aug
…Electronic Arts has been sold to a Saudi Arabia-based investment group and it isn't clear what that means for our beloved Wing Commander IP. But according to an article on GamesRadar it could mean that Wing Commander and other unused IPs will be sold, licensed or adapted as mobile games. They spoke to a former EA manager who made the claim:
That's an idea posited by Emmanuel Rosier, who served as a high-level manager at EA for the better part of a decade, apprising the company of industry and market trends likely to affect their fortunes. Now he's the director of market intelligence at the third-party industry analysis firm Newzoo, and recently spoke to PC Gamer about the situation EA now finds itself in.
"They have a lot of dormant IPs that have not been used for so many years," Rosier says. "You know, they have IPs like Ultima, they have IPs like Wing Commander and this and that, and it's not being
