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For the upcoming Season 18 Kelvin lockbox, Lead Ship Artist Thomas Marrone and I decided to take a look at our existing Kelvin-Timeline ships to see if there was anything that needed a visual upgrade to match the quality of the newer ships that will be included in the bundle. And while the U.S.S. Vengeance / Kelvin-Timeline Intel Dreadnought Cruiser was a fine model for its time, it’s material was showing its age so we decided it was the prime candidate for such an upgrade. Thomas and I then took a look at Mauricio Tejerina’s original model and material to identify areas we thought could be improved. We were thrilled that the model geometry itself was mostly up to par; we made note of only a few things we’d like to polish. After a couple of days of work, I’d wrapped up these relatively easy changes to the geometry and was ready to move on to the material. Thomas and I knew going in to

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The TCS Tiger's Claw! To ask a leading question: how many engines does she have? Let's find out!

Here's the line art from Claw Marks which was also what was provided to the outsource company that built the original game's ships. And it seems like that's our answer: like five enormous thruster cones, five engines.

But wait! Here's the resulting sprite sheet that appears in the original Wing Commander. It has not five but SIX thruster cones. Six engines? Seems reasonable, maybe the Tiger's Claw, which is slightly larger, has an additional engine from other Bengal-class ships.

But wait, again! Here's the more detailed sprite used in both the winning and losing cutscenes where the 'Claw either bombards an enemy planet or retreats from the Vega Sector (pictured). Now we've got SEVEN engines!

So that's three conflicting configurations in one game. In 1994, the Bengal was re-imagined for Super Wing Commander.

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You might recall we recently featured a Tarsus built in Space Engineers. That one was made by Spiritplumber, who actually dug around and just found another version of the famous merchant vessel. This one was made by klingon00. Nothing against SP's model, but this new one is even more fleshed out and refined. It's got an aft compartment, adjustable lighting and even a projection window system. The exterior has some excellent geometry and there are multiple propulsion systems. It looks like it'd be awesome to take for a spin! Check it out on the Steam Workshop here.

The year is 2669. You just inherited an obsolete Tarsus merchant ship from your grandfather.What you decide to do with it an the few remaining credits that you have is up to you! Although the Tarsus is showing its age and has been discontinued, the platform still has great potential for upgrades for those who wish to strike out on

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FekLeyrTarg was just on a roll this year, so we let him run with yet another cool tech demonstration! He's combined a green screen, the Privateer 3D models archive and some AI-generated scans of his head to create a nifty clip of him flying a Centurion. Not a bad effort at all! There's lots of potential here!

Produced for the Wing Commander CIC's 24th birthday, this is a proof-of-concept of using an AI-generated depth map on a subject in a 3D-generated environment for extra depth and lighting information. Once again, the models used are from the Privateer 3D Archive.

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I'm just loving how Symphonic Remakes is starting to make their way through Privateer, which is chock full of moody and edgy music that really takes me back to the Gemini Sector. Their latest reorchestration tackles the game's initial spaceflight and combat music. Listening to this really conveys the sense of launching in your Tarsus or Centurion, heading out into the unknown and encountering some dangerous foes.

If that's got you wanting more, here are a couple of their earlier Privateer tracks!

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A stately conductor stands before an orchestra three rows deep. The planet Venice, the Kilrathi capital of the Vega Sector, looms overhead. He raises his baton…

From the very first visual of the very first game, the deep connection between music and Wing Commander was clear… even to PC speaker users! Over the years, the Wing Commander franchise repeatedly pushed forward the public's expectation for what is now called 'VGM' and considered its own respected genre of music. The series would eventually come to host a rogues gallery of top composers and other musicians: George "The Fat Man" Sanger, Nenad Vugrinec, George Oldziey, Alexander van Bubenheim, Cobalt 60, David Arnold and Kevin Kiner… and a dozen others.

Today, Supercade is trying to bring George Oldziey's Wing Commander Orchestral Music Recording Project out as a deluxe vinyl record. You can learn more and back that project on IndieGoGo. The

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It's time for the annual GOG Summer Sale, and this time 5400+ games are being discounted. Wing Commander wasn't included in the Spring Sale a few months back, so it's nice to see the omission was short lived and the markdowns are back. Each game is 75% off or $1.49 each. Less than $12 for the whole DOS/Windows Wing Commander experience!

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Destro has returned with a spectacular announcement for the future of Wing Loader, which is a program he built to add audio speech to the Kilrathi Saga's WC1. The next evolution seeks to add high resolution video to KS WC3. The videos already exist. ODVS massively upscaled and enhanced the footage from WC3, WC4 and Prophecy a few years back, but at the time, it was only possibly to integrate these cutscenes into the latter two game. Destro's patch will finally close the loop and make it possible to enjoy the improved video in the game. There are many challenges to overcome still, but his success with WC1 shows that he has what it takes to make this happen! You can download the latest working version of Wing Loader here.

Hey everyone! I hope you are all having a great summer so far! This is my busy time of year but I'm keeping my head up and messing around with the next big feature of Wing

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The WCRespace team is back with a new update on the WC4 Fan Remake. There's a whole new article by Pedro that goes into great detail about the game's user interface. He says it's not the most glamorous subject, and it might be tedious to design and program, but I love these liminal console screens. They're critical glue that helps sell the total experience. An especially big deal this time around is the adjustment to accommodate 16:9 widescreen settings. It takes some finesse to make them look authentic compared to the original 4:3 shape. The fourth and fifth images below are especially stark - they compare the original loading screen with today's update!

Now brute forcing in new UI wouldn’t be impossible but that removes some of the nostalgia. No problem, we’ll just upscale them like we do the rooms… except we optionally support 16:9 by zooming in on the gameflow rooms, and there is no way

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EmuMusicFan's super artsy take on the famous interrogation scene from Freedom Flight has been greatly expanded. Pages 8 through 12 now detail Prince Thrakhath and Lord Ralgha's interaction - and it's quite intense now with the visual. I've included the whole scene below so you can enjoy it as one! Let Emu know what you think at the CIC Forums!

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I got curious about one of the transports from Secret Ops; turns out "Kyoto Rose" is a kind of tea! So we ordered some from Amazon to try. And it was just fine! Make your own fun!!!

You can also listen to all of the Kyoto Rose's comm transmissions in the WCPedia Holovids section here!

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There's a new version of Originator ready for your modding and extraction pleasure! In the latest builds, AllTinker has added enhanced support for Prophecy formats, streaming for Red Book audio and an enhanced hex viewer. There's also an aspect ratio compensator in the image viewer - an example is below. AllTinker still has lots of ideas for future improvements, so let him know what you think! Grab the latest version here.

This update adds supports for a few more Wing Commander Prophecy formats; MGI streaming audio for music, bitmap images (should cover everything including textures), and I also added a handler for some of the text content. No models yet, but soon!

It also adds support for streaming/extracting Red Book audio from plain ISO images, i.e. music from Wing Commander 1/2 and Space Rogue for FM Towns and Wing Commander for SEGA CD. I've also improved the hex viewer with some extra tools

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I'm comparing the UI in different Wing Commander III ports! Here's the callsign selection screen on the PC, 3DO, PlayStation and Macintosh. "Maverick" is my entry except on the PSX version which plugs in BLAIR automagically!

Here's the Victory's main menu on the PC, 3DO and PSX. The Macintosh port doesn't do any of this diegetically, it's handled all in the operating system's UI (boo).

Duty logs, aka save/load!

And here are the (gameflow) options screens.

Here's a really fun one: if you access the menu during the last two missions of the game (where you're flying from covert asteroid depots instead of the Victory) the menu changes to reflect the new location! And in the 3DO version only each depot gets its own name.

Vera: Are there differences in the Victory Streak too?

There are! They redid the layout so it would fit in the thin 3DO boxes and added all sorts of additional art. Even a System Shock

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We reported earlier this week on the untimely passing of Wing Commander superfan Adam "Klavs" Burch. It can be hard to find the words to appropriately express people's thoughts at a time like this, so some fellow fans have turned to more visual attempts. Both tributes below features Klavs' famous Rapier models in a classic 'missing man formation'.

The first is a beautiful scene by Mac:

In remembrance of Adam "Klavs" Burch.

Thank You Adam, for everything.

Kevin Caccamo also featured this honor to Klavs in today's Spacey Saturday stream.

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It's been a bit since fans successfully crowdfunded a brand new album of George Oldziey's Wing Commander music, so Mr. Oldziey popped back in today to give everyone an update. The live orchestra will be recording its Wing Commander tracks in Budapest on August 19. George will then take a couple months to process this material and compose the corresponding choral elements. Then the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City will perform their piece in October. Everything still has an excellent chance of coming together into a finished product by about the end of the year, which would be a really quick turnaround!

Greetlns all! I apologize for not keeping you better up to date on the WC volume two recording schedule.

So yes, our recording date with the Budapest Scoring Orchestra is set for Monday, August 19th. We will be utilizing two 4 hour sessions that day in order to record ALL of the orchestral

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The image of an unreleased Wing Commander CCG box set has intrigued us for more than two decades, but we've got a slightly better idea of what happened now. Thunder Castle Games was a company that bought CCG developer Mag Force 7 shortly after the WC game was produced, and this boxed set of the series was proposed but never produced. AD reached out to the original artist, Brad Kelly, and he added this background:

I mocked up a number of gift set box designs for TCG including this one for Wing Commander. To my knowledge it never got published. TCG mostly imploded in 1996, hemorrhaging employees, including myself.

I don't recall details of any plans, beyond the obvious expectation of releasing a two-player gift box. I knew at the time that relations soured between TCG and MF7, but didn't know details. TCG had/has a reputation for burning bridges, so it was not unexpected.

I spoke to Margaret Weis

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We are excited to announce the return of the Phoenix Prize Pack, which return to Star Trek Online on PC from November 25th at 10AM PT til December 2nd at 10am PT. Just like Zefram Cochrane’s experimental vessel, the Phoenix Prize Pack blazes a trail into new frontiers! And, following in the model of its mythological namesake, the Phoenix Prize Pack also represents the return from the ashes of items, ships and other rewards that have been retired from Star Trek Online, and are no longer accessible by any other means. Purchasing and opening this promotional prize pack will offer players the unique opportunity of obtaining many otherwise inaccessible items, ships and equipment, which were previously available from events or promotions, or as other limited-availability rewards. (Check further below for complete prize information!) How it works is simple: Players may visit the Dilithium Store to

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Jem’Hadar Additions to Lifetime Subscriptions With the upcoming sale on Lifetime Subscriptions, scheduled to start on October 24th, we will be adding new Jem’Hadar-themed rewards to the already-substantial catalogue of offerings that are included with this valuable purchase. Veterans and Lifetime Subscribers will see each of the following new additions unlocked for all of their Jem’Hadar characters upon the completion of the Dominion Tutorial Experience on those characters. Jem’Hadar Veteran Uniforms Multiple new uniforms are being added for use by Jem’Hadar characters. These offerings will allow you to represent the Dominion with pride, as you show off your veterancy and dedication to defending the Gamma Quadrant, and beyond. Jem’Hadar Veteran Ship The Jem’Hadar Vanguard Heavy Destroyer [T6] will be available for claim from the Shipyard by any Jem’Hadar character that is

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I've been staying busy with a little CIC housekeeping. Enjoy a newly-transcribed Wing Commander II development document featuring very early (December 1990) character descriptions! You can find the whole document here.

Wing Commander II Characters is a development document created during the making of Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi. It is dated December 3, 1990 and is an early description of Wing Commander II's characters and their planned story arcs. The document is part of the Warren Spector Papers at the University of Texas at Austin's Briscoe Center for American History (box 2008-091/6).

Much of the material planned in the document is significantly different from the finished game including plans for significantly more missions to take place before the arrival of the Concordia. Some of the characters were ultimately cut or referred to only in dialogue; others, like Bear and Minx,

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Sci-fi artist Alan Gutierrez has posted some new images dating back to his mid '90s contributions to the Wing Commander CCG. He's released a steady stream of sample images over many years, and they've provided a fascinating look into the downselection process for card art. These are no different! First up is the source for the Epsilon nav art, which reveals a pair of exotic planets that didn't make it into the nav point we got. A similar thing happens where the Nebula card art is the top half of a scene with an icy planetscape beneath. The Kilrathi Capture Pilot card gets mirrored, and the final piece gets distributed across three cards! The Terran Recover Pilot card just focuses on the pilot, while both Terran and Kilrathi Asteroid modifiers are different crops of the background. Very cool! You can find this art and many more pieces of WC CCG imagery and lore in our WCPedia section here.

Alan