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As January is already coming to a close, we're happy to announce the winners to our annual fan project of the year event! To start things off, we've got two fantastic projects that we are co-awarding Fan Project of the Year this time around.

The first is Wing Loader, which had a tremendous release in 2023 that fully integrated speech from the Sega/Mega CD version of WC1 into the PC version of the game. With the knowledge gained from achieving this milestone, Destro began work on a larger effort to expand compatibility to other games in the series. This includes the future potential to integrate higher quality video into Wing Commander 3, which we hope comes to fruition!

The other fan project of the year winner is WC4 Remastered. They released a new iteration of the game's playable demo this past year that incorporates a variety of fixes, better joystick support and new in-flight comms.. The team

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The widescreen Confederation images that we posted last week were a big hit, and now AllTinker is back with a whole set of expanded background plates for Secret Missions 2: Crusade! These include some great Firekkan scenes as well as some well-outfitted Kilrathi. He's got a great eye for continuing out the scene in the style of the original art.

Secret Missions 2 more or less done for now. Not everything is visible here because of animation/parallax in the real deal.

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There's a new version of Originator out now that helps extra models from RealSpace engine games like Strike Commander, WC3, WC4 and Armada. AllTinker has built a little animator within the model viewer, which makes it easy to see animated textures like the explosion below. Pretty cool! You can grab the latest version here.

Version 0.2.06 - mostly improvements to the existing RealSpace model support, including:

• Support for TXMV (inbuilt shape) and TXMK (external PAK shapes) textures.
• Added TXM texture support for terrain, both standalone (WC4) and in PAKs (Strike Commander).
• Added support for sprites along with loading/viewing untextured models.
• Added a tool in the model viewer to select the current frame for animated textures.

I think all 3D models from Armada, WC3 and WC4 should be viewable/exportable - let me know if not! There are some objects (specifically the LASR and BEAM types) which aren't

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

GOG is kicking off a belated new year's sale to help you start 2024 with a complete set of digital Wing Commander games! The entire series is on sale, but the exact discount varies. Most titles are 75% off ($1.49), but Armada, Prophecy and Privateer 2 are 65% ($2.09). Hop to it!

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Not only does Bioforge reuse the shuttle model from Super Wing Commander but the opening shot of their respective intro cutscenes is very similar! Bioforge's art director, Bruce Lemons, had worked on SWC.

BioForge's Mondite dropship (left) vs. Super Wing Commander's shuttle to the Tiger's Claw (right)! BioForge uses it several times (and you see the interior at one point!) so I really need to go back and get some more reference shots.

AD noticed that the '05' on the front of the ship appears in a SINGLE FRAME of the Super Wing Commander intro. Neat!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Shipments of Guardian relics and Unclassified relics have boosted hopes of developing a weapon against the Thargoid Titans.
The Aegis-led initiative gathered supplies of the crystalline relics left behind by the Guardian species, as well as the Unclassified relics that result when they interface with Thargoid surface sites.
These were requested to support a project based on new theories expounded by the engineer Ram Tah, considered the leading expert on Guardian history and technology.
Aden Tanner, who works as an anti-xeno strategist for Aegis, made a brief comment to Vox Galactica:
"As always, we're grateful to every pilot who took part to support Aegis. I don't mind sharing that Ram Tah is delighted, and is currently refining his theory with the aid of specialists from all three superpowers."
"We hope to reveal more details very soon, but at this point it's worth

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Following our Wing Commander references in StarLancer we thought it would be a good idea to archive the other major Wing Commander reference in a Digital Anvil game: this loading screen from Conquest: Frontier Wars which claims the game is "Loading Pegasus NavCom AI". This references the Confederation space station that appears at the start of the movie (and it's related MacGuffin, the NavCom AI device that will allow the Kilrathi to reach Earth). Conquest, a real time strategy game set in space, was the second Digital Anvil game released, published by Ubisoft in 2001. The NavCom message is one of several that flip by while any of the game's maps are loading. It's currently available on GOG for anyone interested in trying it themselves (though we'll warn you the 'Pegasus' loading message now passes too quickly to be seen with the naked eye!).

We've also learned that a higher quality version of the

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Today we've got some stunning visual updates for the Confederation project to enhance WC1. AllTinker rebuilt each of these familiar settings with extra wide backdrops to the sides. They look very natural and fit in great. Be sure to click in for an animated cutscene sample!

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January continues to afterburner along - as does our annual Fan Project of the Year contest voting period! If you missed it last week, there's still time to get your vote in. Check out the nominees below and cast your ballot towards the project you were most impressed by in 2023!

• First up, in alphabetical order, are the series of Ambiance videos by Scribbler. This isn't the flashiest project, and that's by design! He's taken it upon himself to craft a variety of scenes inspired by the first three Wing Commander games, set them to calming music and add the hum of daily life aboard a Terran Confederation carrier. I really appreciate when fans do something different like this!
• The Confederation project is an all new mod that hit the scene in 2023. AllTinker is working to reverse engineer aspects of the original Wing Commander and build in numerous enhancements, such as making them support modern

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

President-elect Felicia Winters has officially selected new heads for each executive department of the Federal government.
She announced her choices during a session of Congress, where she gave a short speech about her upcoming presidency. This was followed by a similar statement from Isolde Rochester, who will serve as Winters's vice president.
Sofia Trevino, political journalist for The Federal Times, reported:
"With these appointments, Felicia Winters is laying the foundations on which to build a new Federal government. Long-serving figures in the Liberal Party are finally being rewarded with key positions in the upcoming administration."
"One notable loyalist is Congressman Bai Zheng, who will be Secretary for Security. She is already well-known for opposing the Proactive Detection Bureau, and will undoubtedly take pleasure in overseeing the surveillance unit's closure, as per Winters's

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

As the saying goes, great artists steal... and what we're looking at today is a case of great artists stealing from themselves! We thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at StarLancer's cutscenes to pick out assets and finished footage that it reuses from the Wing Commander movie. StarLancer's cinematics were developed by the same artists at Digital Anvil who worked on the Wing Commander movie with the two projects overlapping for a time. As a result, a number of 3D models made it from one to the other and (in the case of the game's various act breaking interstitial news reports) several completed sequences from the movie were used to sort of decorate the background of StarLancer! Let's take a closer look...

Intro

StarLancer's introduction shows the Coalition's dastardly Pearl Harbor-style attack on the Alliance and it includes several reused Wing Commander assets! The cinematic model for

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And now Klavs can ponder the routes of Pilgrim expansion throughout the galaxy every time he steps into the shower. I love that it's easier than ever to have things custom printed and manufactured with your own art on them. People have gotten really creative with this, and today's topic is no exception! Klavs has taken the awesome relit universe map that he made a couple years back and had it printed extra large across a shower curtain. Amazing!

I daresay this is the most epic shower curtain I have ever owned!

I wonder what other shower curtains were in contention...

Anyhow, here's the digital source for comparison:

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Lots of cool chatter about the bold, risky and nearly perfect choices for the Ultima 7 and 8 box art today. So let me add some background on another very interesting Origin box art decision, Wing Commander IV!

For the WCIV marketing campaign, Chris Roberts wanted to focus on a broader audiences. Gamers would play the new Wing Commander… so the spend focused on selling the interactive movie experience to a wider audience. This meant stuff like radio and TV spots, trailers in movie theaters and advertising in non-traditional places like in-flight magazines.

Game advertising was in transition in 1995 anyway but you can see the Wing Commander IV stuff is VERY distinct from previous titles.

So for the box, Chris wanted something similarly distinct. What they came up with was this, a quasi in-universe design with only the mysterious enemy logo (teased throughout the print campaign)… all in totally

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Have you ever wanted to study the gloriously 1993 3DS closeup background plates in Privateer but can't stand those damn characters getting in the way? Have I ever made the visual reference for you!

A couple of these are appearing for the first time; they're stored in the game's files but they're for places where a third angle is never used... like these fixer backgrounds for Oxford and the pleasure planets, respectively:

You'll also notice some are higher resolution and have more of 4:3 aspect ratio versus Privateer's usual 16:9 for the conversations. Some are designed to 'open' when you have to make a choice. Since many choices were cut, you're seeing some tops and bottoms for the first time!

Also: so, so much space booze.

You can also find all the Privateer 2 background plates here!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
The engineer Ram Tah requires urgent deliveries of Guardian relics and Unclassified relics to the Meene system.
Professor Alba Tesreau, head of Aegis, made an announcement to launch the initiative:
"Since the arrival of the Thargoid Titans, we have developed several new modules to bypass their defences. But these motherships remain a constant presence in our space, continuing to unleash never-ending swarms of Thargoid vessels."
"A recent theory presented by Ram Tah has the potential to change this situation. Although details of his research remain classified for the moment, the theory is derived from the Thargoids' inherent vulnerability to the technologies of their ancient enemy, the Guardians. Having witnessed Ram Tah's laboratory tests only yesterday, I was hugely encouraged that his work could lead to the end of this devastating war."
"Aegis is doing everything

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

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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AD found this nifty review way back in the February 1993 issue of N-Force magazine. It's more than thirty years old, and everything from color choices to the hair style of the reviewer confirms its age. You can tell they had a lot of fun putting this spread together, which is why I'm surprised it only got an 84. They also ran a contest that gave away free copies of the game and other associated merch, which is pretty cool!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

January is quickly getting away from us, so it's time to pull together the nominees for our 2023 Fan Project of the Year awards! As always, we've got some fabulous options, so let's jump to it!

• First up, in alphabetical order, are the series of Ambiance videos by Scribbler. This isn't the flashiest project, and that's by design! He's taken it upon himself to craft a variety of scenes inspired by the first three Wing Commander games, set them to calming music and add the hum of daily life aboard a Terran Confederation carrier. I really appreciate when fans do something different like this!
• The Confederation project is an all new mod that hit the scene in 2023. AllTinker is working to reverse engineer aspects of the original Wing Commander and build in numerous enhancements, such as making them support modern widescreen displays. He isn't just smashing or upscaling though, he's also hand-drawing new

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Has anyone ever noticed how many versions there are of the Strike Commander art? They seem to derive from two separate renderings. The one with painted flames on the F-16 is the older of the two.

There's also this version from the GOG release which... I think they made out of stock photos for some reason? Note that Strike Commander currently happens to be on sale for $1.49 for the rest of this weekend.

Tactical Operations variants go hard, too!

I need there to be a Strike Commander version of me that I can hand this responsibility off to...

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

LeHah reports that GalaxyCon has a new Wing Commander autograph opportunity with Matthew Lillard. Fans can order either an 8x12 inch photo or 11x17 poster with his signature. If you happen to have a particular piece of Wing Commander memorabilia that you'd like him to sign, you can also send that in! These items have to be confirmed by February 11 and the regular orders get a bit more time. Hit the links below for more info!

• Photo $95
• Poster $110
• Send-in $105