02
Nov
Here's a neat article on the making of The Darkening from a 1996 DK book on multimedia!
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09
Jan
…IronWolf1970 recently posted this fun little anecdote from the set of Wing Commander IV. The scale of the WC4 film shoot is vast: real sets, tons of extras and lots of practical effects. However, coming hot on the heels of WC3, it often seems like the earlier game got a lot more press and analysis due to the novelty of FMV at the time. The Price of Freedom has a grand setup and much larger group of people that were involved, but the behind-the-scenes aspect wasn't always supersized to match. So that's why even though this is a brief recollection, it's still fun to get a peek into what went down!
IronWolf: My buddy and I were background on Wing Commander IV. It was the bar scene. He got to hang out next to Mark Hamill.
LOAF: Totally cool! Do you know if you're visible in the final cut?
IronWolf: I found myself... big surprise it was at the pool table... lol... I'm the tall blur in the background with
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14
Jun
…It's been a good month for fans of Wing Leader! Howard Day has another new ship and a handful of new prototype features to share. First up is the Strakha stealth fighter. It's inspired by Arne's Android Arts sketch of the ship with some additional WC3 elements brought in. Howie's also recorded several videos that show off new features such a cloaking effect to complement the new Strakha. There's also a preliminary communications systems that allow the pilots to talk with each other. On the graphical side, separate visual effects for project impacts against the hull rather than shields have been added, among other similar tweaks that make the gunplay pop.
So now that the Strakha is done, I needed to work on the Cloaking effect. Solution? Cloaking Devices for everyone! Wheee! Eventually, the drive flares will be hidden as well. I also re-figured out how to capture Wingleader properly in 60fps, so I
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30
Jun
Display MoreWe'd like to wish Wing Commander 4 actress
Elizabeth Barondesa happy birthday! Today is her 55th. She
sharesthe occasion with Elon Musk, Mel Brooks and Felicia Day. Ms Barondes played popular Border Worlds Lieutenant Colonel
Tamara Farnsworth. After WC4 she went on to star in numerous TV movies and shows, although it appears she's mostly retired from acting today. The only credit on her resume in the past decade was a role in
Bad Ass 2: Bad Assesin 2014. Thanks to E. Lee Zimmerman for the
tip!
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29
Oct
…
The final design for Origin veteran Denis Loubet's nifty Wing Commander bookmark has been revealed! Mr. Loubet explains how the Kilrathi is a blending of Thrakhath and the Emperor, which I think makes for a pretty provocative 'Young Emperor' look. The Confed pilot is similarly inspired by Bluehair. There were several different color combos cooked up, and the slightly sepia toned version is what was picked. If you missed the recently successful Kickstarter where this awesome goodie was offered, there's still another way to secure one for yourself. Although they're not making the bookmarks available later as a standalone (we asked!), it's still possible to pledge for the hard cover version of the book at a supplemental IndieGoGo page here.
The book is ostensibly about Richard Garriott, Origin, and Ultima, but if you're talking about Origin, you're talking about Wing Commander!
For this
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12
Oct
…
Stinger has released his long awaited and highly anticipated update to wcdx! It now fully supports Wing Commander 2 and both Special Operations packs. This means a handful of annoying bugs and incompatibilities have been fixed, thus enabling the Kilrathi Saga version of the game to compete with DOSBox/GOG as the ideal way to play the originals in 2020. This release also includes bonus tools to explore the game's data files and listen to the soundtrack. Grab it below!wcdx version 2.2 is here! After years of empty promises and unmet expectations, I can finally present to you the next official release of wcdx!
What's that, you say? Version 2.2? But what ever happened to 2.0 and 2.1? Last anybody knew, there was just an alpha that kinda-sorta worked for WC2! What gives?
wcdx gives, that's what gives! Specifically, it gives you Wing Commander 2, and Special Operations 1, and Special Operations 2!
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31
Mar
Here's a funky bootleg shared by Patrick_Patman. The Super/Multi Game bundle is a CD packed with a whopping 808 games. Wing Commander Armada is the clear headliner here, and other notables include Litil Divil, Gateway2 Homeworld, Heimdall 2 and Zool2 (Sonic). The other 803 games are part of a shovelware Game Master collection. "Over 800 of the highest quality games on CD-ROM." I can't vouch for the rest, but at least one included title is fantastic!
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09
Sep
It's been a month since we last checked in on Dennis Mull's latest Wing Commander finds, and he's been busy adding to the collection all the while. Up first, he's gotten ahold of a European edition of the Prophecy/Alpha Centauri/Red Alert bundle. I love the white box and colorful blended artwork on this one. He's also finally added a Pilgrim Cross to the mix. This one is in excellent condition with a all contents in practically new condition. Dennis was also the winner of a set of CIC coasters at last month's Birthday Party, so it's nice to see those go to a good home too!
Here we see an updated shot of Dennis' Wing Commander shelf. Not bad at all! Keep in mind that most of those duplicate copies are actually variants of the games from different geographic regions, so this is a diverse and extensive collection!
And here's some love for other Origin/Chris Roberts games too!
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17
Nov
…A former Neo-Marlinist megaship has been overrun by NMLA terrorists in the Hyades Sector RO-P b6-2 system.
The Steel Majesty was originally owned by the Neo-Marlinist Order of Mudhrid, one of the NMLA's key allies. After their defeat, it ferried many of them to the Marlinist Colonies where they were granted asylum by Minister Aaron Whyte. His faction then made use of the megaship during the civil war in August.
Minister Jean-Christophe Lyon, the current leader of the Marlinism Reformation Party, gave a statement:
"Despite our efforts to arrest any remaining extremists within our faction, a surviving group has gained access to the megaship. Security feeds show they were joined by several teams of well-armed NMLA fighters."
"The Marlinist Constabulary evacuated around half of the Steel Majesty's crew before the NMLA took operational control. Sadly, there is no way to free those still trapped -
24
Feb
…
EmuMusicFan is working double duty this week! To the right he's got another Kilrathi sketch for his growing portfolio. It's his interpretation of a Kilrathi officer from Special Operations 1, Captain nar Raktha.Even more exciting is a new group read project that EMF is getting started for Wing Commander Freedom Flight. We've done a number of these over the years, but it's been quite a while since the last one. It's kind of crazy to think about, because this is a perfect pandemic activity! It's always nice to get in early on these, so dust off your copies and get ready. If you don't own one, it's easier than ever to purchase a digital edition. It goes for $6.99 at Baen, Apple or Amazon. Discussion will take place on the CIC Forums and #Wingnut Discord, but it's not necessary to engage in any deep analysis. The most important thing is to have fun!
First, please allow me to talk about plant-based
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18
Jul
…As construction proceeds on Salvation's Proteus Wave, there is widespread dispute on the issue of eliminating the Thargoids.
An article by Heimar Borichev, deputy editor of The Sovereign newsfeed, has divided public opinion:
"Salvation's latest superweapon is designed to attract and then destroy members of the species we've named 'Thargoids'. If successful, it would wipe them from the core systems entirely. But there are a number of questions that nobody seems to be asking, including this: do we have the right to take such action?"
"What's that, you say? The Thargoids are the aggressors, out to destroy humanity? Or are they just defending historical territory from our expanding presence? Remember, they were navigating space a million years before we were. If a new species suddenly emerged on our worlds and began strip-mining our lands, how would we react?"
"Now, I'm not suggesting we should -
13
Sep
Greg14 found a really cool video from the inaugural issue of the French gaming mag PC Fun. In November 1994 this would have been one of the first magazines to include CD-ROMs that packed in "multimedia" enhancements like recorded interviews. Chris Roberts and Mark Hamill are included together here, and their responses are all in English with French translations on the screen.
There are some lovely vintage touches to see. The footage is a "postage stamp" - taking up just a quarter of the screen in what's already a classically low res interface. Each answer is prompted by clicking a giant red button with the question on it. And just listen to Chris Roberts talk about how the game will run at 8-10 frames per second in SVGA on a 486/33 - those were the days!
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23
Apr
Cybot is back with more wacky and creative Wing Commander designs. These were inspired by the Steltek craft that we see in Privateer. Cybot has taken those design elements and extrapolated them into a whole fleet of ships. If you're working on a project that needs a super powerful alien kick, check them out at the CIC Forums. His threads include download links for copies of your own!
STELTEK fleet ships: have fun with all models in Obj format.
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23
Jun
Today dczanik shared a very slick interpretation of young Angel. The design started as a 3D model, but he finally turned it into a more artsy graphic. Let him know what you think at the CIC Forums!
Hey guys! I did a paint over a 3D model I sculpted years ago. It's of a young Angel. Originally I was going to make a 3D model of her WC1 character, but liked the look of a younger Angel. I thought you would enjoy it. Hope you like it! Here's the original model:
It was used for Howard Day's Wing Leader characters. But I really wanted to finish it in the way I wanted it to look so I finally got around to finishing it. And I made a 16 bit look for those that prefer the old pixel graphics:
Here's a few original shots to compare: WC1, Claw Marks, Super Famicon Claw Marks and WC2.
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10
Aug
It's probably only really interesting to me, but here's two minutes of the Dorkir VDU footage from the various insert shots done for the Wing Commander movie. I rotated, cropped, and did some minor stabilization on this clip to make it slightly more viewable. The best looking section is about a minute in, but the low quality and partially cut-off shots are due to how it was shot or the source tapes it came from. You can see that it's a bit more WC1 Dorkir-looking than we thought before, because you can't really get a good or clear shot of it from the Blu-ray edition.
LOAF added this image for context:
For comparison, here's the Wing Commander I Dorkir design. The movie version looks like they just elongated the 'cab'. But it's pretty neat to watch a movie so many times and still be able to see a new spaceship.
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25
Aug
…*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Shipments of precious materials are needed in the Laedla system to build statues honouring the House of Duval.
Archduke Otto Lombardo-Duval made a public announcement to launch the initiative:
"We are all relieved that our beloved Imperial Mother is on the path to recovery. In such times, we must remember how much all citizens owe to the Duval dynasty, whose thousand-year reign has brought peace and prosperity to trillions."
"In honour of Her Majesty the Emperor and all those who came before her, I am arranging for mighty statues to adorn the public plazas of many Imperial worlds. Using the finest quality gold, jadeite and platinum, we will construct impressive monuments to the architects of our glorious Empire."
The Imperial Herald published a related piece by royal correspondent Gudrun Vestergaard:
"Archduke Otto Lombardo-Duval is the son of Prince Baylor Duval, -
01
Sep
I’m reading the investment column in Victory Streak and there’s two things I don’t understand. I can’t tell if they’re meaningless or if it’s because I have absolutely no familiarity with finance...
- In the subhead “Platolum Alloys + Prussian Retailers = Practical Thinking?” what does ‘Prussian Retailers’ refer to?
- The last line of the article: “remember oil and carpets, two industries that enjoyed temporary fortune, then plummeted.” This has the cadence of a joke or an idiom... but it’s inscrutable to me. Anyone know what it’s referencing?
In case you were wondering, Colonel Blair did invest in platolum and it went pretty well! From the Kilrathi Saga scrapbook:
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15
Sep
I did this quick for a Discord discussion and thought it was pretty interesting: the difference in resolution between a Wing Commander III cutscene (320x160!) and a 4K movie. (AKA why they couldn't just reuse the game costumes, props, fx, etc for the movie...)
You can find a complete index of downloadable source videos (again, in the original 320x160 format!) here. On the opposite end of the spectrum, ODVS has used his advanced AI editing techniques to enhance and upscale the footage to HD quality here. -
06
Oct
…Aegis xenologists are focusing their efforts on the mysterious alien growths reported on multiple planets and moons in the Trianguli sector.
These have been designated 'Thargoid barnacle matrix sites', due to their resemblance to the barnacles that produce meta-alloys, but are far greater in size and complexity.
Commander Yoselin Aquino described visiting one of these sites to Vox Galactica:
"This wasn't an easy place to explore, since I had to avoid Revenant drones and the occasional Thargoid scout. Once I did get up close, I found it unsettling as all hell. Each barnacle clump was a mound-like structure over a kilometre across, with several rounded peaks. Spaced around these were weird coral trees, which squeeze out a caustic sap-like stuff and dropped bizarre-looking 'fruits."
"What really made me nervous were the spear roots in the middle of the site. They're made of some toughened -
29
Nov
You: there are 10 visually distinct types of bases in Privateer
Me, a genius: there are 27 visually distinct types of bases in Privateer
