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PSA: there are only seven days left in Mike Winterbauer's Wing Commander Art Portfolio crowd funding campaign. Mr. Winterbauer is the artist behind the iconic Wing Commander SNES cover painting and he's collected his sketches and images of his work in use in a special printed portfolio. It would make a great gift for any Wing Commander fan in your life! You can learn more and pledge here.

This Kickstarter is all about celebrating Wing Commander and it's cool fans! In 1992, I said, "I can't believe I get to paint Wing Commander"

I have put together this campaign to get Wing Commander fans a super cool collectible signed art book and awesome signed print rewards. This is a wonderful opportunity to pick up some fantastic Wing Commander collectibles all signed from the artist Mike Winterbauer.

The Wing Commander Art Portfolio is a beautiful 30 page hardback book, 11 x 9 inches, featuring the process of

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Nathan Sestrich has found and posted the 3DO Video Sampler #5 from 1996. As someone who worked in video game retail around the turn of the millennium, I find these to be incredibly nostalgic (and historic!) time capsules, but finding one with Wing Commander is a special treat. We previously reported on 3DO Interactive Sampler #3 which included a playable demo of Wing Commander 3 (that you can download from the CIC and play on your 3DO or a compatible emulator!). As WC3 was a superstar of the console, it's no wonder that the game shows up on multiple discs/video compilations. The 3DO port included revamped missions, graphics, weapons and features, so it's worth checking out. You can currently find LOAF and Dundradal playing through the game in the latest episodes of All Wings Considered. If the clip below doesn't autostart at Wing Commander, jump to 17:26.

3DO Company Video Sampler #5 VHS

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Sometimes when things get stressful, it's relaxing to kick back with an old school unboxing video. Here's one by GreekRetroMan that takes a look at the Amiga edition of Wing Commander 1. I never get tired of Claw Marks or the fighter blueprints, and it's also nice to see the Amiga version in action once in a while. Although it doesn't support as many colors as its PC counterpart, many people swear by this edition!

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

General: Resolved an issue that could sometimes block progression during the Discovery Tutorial when attempting to complete the “Defeat the Remaining Klingons” mission step. Resolved an issue in the Exchange UI that was causing the item cost to not be displayed. Resolved an issue in how inventory was being sorted. Resolved an issue that was causing the Grand Prize announcement to not display the Hur’q Ravager Escort Carrier. Resolved an issue that was causing the "Console - Universal - Temporal Trajectory Shifter" to have the incorrect ability icon, and no recharge timer. Resolved an issue that was causing the Defense of Starbase 1 TFO from not appearing in the Landing Page for players above level 60. “All” tabs in each category of the C-Store have been moved to the end of each tab list. Removed Victory is Life and Dominion Lockbox loading Screens and replaced it with Age of Discovery.

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Wing Commander III and Prophecy star Ginger Lynn Allen (Rachel Coriolis) runs an eBay store which regularly offers items from her storied career. While much of the memorabilia pertains to her time as an adult film superstar, she occasionally comes across a document or prop relating to her time as our favorite chief tech. We recently purchased these two documents to add to our archive and wanted to highlight them here.

The first, two blue pages, is the shooting schedule for Wing Commander Prophecy showing which days each actor is scheduled to work. This is especially interesting because it shows how quickly Wing Commander Prophecy's cutscenes were filmed: just ten days total, compared to 25 on Wing Commander III, 30 on Privateer 2, 43 on Wing Commander IV and 52 on the 1999 movie. The second is the cover sheet for her Wing Commander Prophecy contract; the 'Crocodile Productions' of the header was

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As part of the lead up to the launch of Victory is Life, we’re making some changes to how XP Boosts throughout our game work for your characters. The good news – we’re making it so that you get more XP for your purchase, up to 50% from the previous 20%! Take a look at how these changes break down: Previous Pool New Pool 1,000 25,000 3,000 50,000 6,000 100,000 10,000 150,000 In addition, the XP Boost Increase [Large] is getting a price drop in the C-store, going from 975 Zen to 600 Zen! These changes are live right now. Enjoy these new boosts, Captains! .share-footer a { margin: 20px 10px 10px 0; background: url(http://images-cdn.perfectworld…157ae31ec5b1466398539.png) no-repeat 0 0; opacity: .5; display: inline-block; height:

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Tzenkethi forces loom, threatening life in every corner of known space, even as a dangerous and unknown threat surfaces. Amid this chaos, new technologies are being pursued by Alliance scientists and engineers in hopes of returning peace to the Alpha Quadrant. The latest projects have been exploring techniques common in the shipbuilding practices of species that haven’t typically stood at the forefront of the Alliance. These efforts have produced a new breed of Pilot Escort, representing a unique blend of these technologies. Andorian members of the Federation have offered their superior mobility subsystems and targeting computers, while Lethean neuro-interfaces have been integrated to improve crew response times with other surprising results. Meanwhile, a team of scientists from the Romulan Republic have been studying and restoring ancient Dewan technology found in the ruins beneath the surface of

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This is Ambassador Odo. The Hur'q are about to devour this planet, and we don't have enough time to get everyone to safety. The Dominion ships have been incapacitated by the Hur'q swarm. Help us secure the civilians before the main Hur’q forces arrive! The ever-ravenous Hur’q swarm are attacking Dominion planets. Help the Jem’Hadar ships keep the swarm at bay while the planet organizes an evacuation plan. To increase the number of citizens we can save, we’ve decided to use multiple planetary escape routes. Keep the routes clear of the Hur’q or they’ll devour the transport ships! Swarm is our first five player cooperative space queue available in the “Victory is Life” expansion. Participating in it will earn you a choice of Fleet, or Gamma marks. The queue is available to captains over level 50. Good luck, and good hunting. Tiffany “Wubblez” Chu Content Designer Star Trek Online

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Hot on the heels of the Secret Ops

Model Upgrade Pack

's addition of glowing

emit maps

,

DefianceIndustries

reports that normal mapping is now in testing! This is a technique that creates the appearance of more detailed textures than would otherwise be possible in the game. While the new high quality models are often considered the star of upgrade mods like these, it's also true that they're heavily dependent on behind-the-scenes updates and alterations to the game engines to make effects like this possible. And the combined results are fantastic! Check out a sneak peek below.

Hello MUPpets!

Here's "the next big thing" from the mighty technical wizards lurking in the shadows behind the MUP. Pedro and PopsiclePete have again been working their dark arcana and have spectro patronumesed us up (say THAT one three times fast) a long asked for feature for the GL patch: Normal mapping!

Behold true believers:

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

For a limited time, Research and Development packs will be available to Captains for 20% off! From Thursday, December 4th at 8AM PT to Monday, December 10th at 10AM PT, both Research and Development packs as well as bundles will be discounted. During this sale, any R&D Packs purchased have a chance to open into a T6 Starship! Research and Development Pack – Normally 300 Zen, Now 240 ZEN This pack includes: 15 Common, Uncommon, Rare or Very Rare R&D Materials 15 Uncommon, Rare or Very Rare R&D Materials 6 Rare or Very Rare R&D Materials 4 Very Rare R&D Materials 3 Mk 2 or Better R&D Components 3 Mk 6 or Better R&D Components 2 Mk 10 or Better R&D Components 3 Random R&D Catalysts 4 Random Upgrade Accelerators Research and Development Pack Bundle – Normally 1000 Zen, Now 800 ZEN This pack includes: 4 Research and Development Packs (You will receive 4

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Some Captains are cut from a different cloth. These players know that to be a respected captain, you can’t just act the part – you have to look it too. This weekend, we’re putting our costume packs on sale for 20% off. From May 30th at 8AM PT to June 3rd at 10am PT, fashionable captains can grab outfits that they’ve had their eye on. Show off your evil counterpart with the Mirror Universe costume pack, trek a familiar path with the Original Series uniform, or journey into Delta Rising with the Seven of Nine uniform. There are tons of different appearance options waiting for you this weekend. Grab your costumes today and make your captain look the way you’ve always envisioned. Plus, from May 30th at 8AM PT to June 3rd at 10am PT, we are having a 20% off sale on all boosts listed below. Now is the time to purchase these in the C-Store! Commendation Point Boost (Large) Commendation Point

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Here are some gorgeous shots of Klavs' new Hornet model. He's made a few variations over the years, but this is his most authentic to the original. He's stylized the guns and missiles a little bit, and the results are a pretty slick take on a classic. He's also packaged up and made the 3D model available on Sketchfab. Klavs has been incurring some significant medical bills for his daughter lately, but rather than post a donation campaign, he's offering up the 3D model in exchange for $25 to go towards his costs. And Sketchfab happens to be having a 30% off sale this weekend, so you can apply that coupon with the promo code SKETCHFABDAY to bring the amount you would pay for the ship down to $17.50. His Dralthi is also available for $10. If you've got a budding fan project that could use a super high quality fighter, this might be perfect for you!

Hi everyone, the Hornet is complete and up for

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Massimiliano Di Monda

, the co-founder and CEO of

Raylight Games

, has posted a neat

article

on the history of Wing Commander Prophecy for the Gameboy Advance. The company was founded in 2000, and the GBA port of WCP was a big deal in their initial portfolio. Thanks to their success in these early days, they are still active today and just recently announced several Nintendo Switch titles, among other products. They also continue to maintain an active

Wing Commander page

on their website and

credit it

as a major achievement in the company's history. For an extended look back at what Prophecy Advance meant to the WC community, also check out the CIC's 10 year retrospective

here

.

Wing Commander Prophecy - The story of Raylight Games

Massimiliano Di Monda
CEO at Raylight Games

Beginning in 2002 Raylight Games developed a demo on the GameBoy Advance based on the first Wing Commander, named Star Giants. The

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Hello once again from the Tardigrade Adoption Agency! We hope you’ve all had an excellent time reading all about your Tardigrade’s adventures over the holidays. We had a wonderful time sharing them with you. But now, it’s time for our little space babies to grow up and go out into the world. And who better to guide them than you? That’s right. Starting with the launch of Mirror of Discovery on PC (and coming soon on Console), you’ll be able to purchase your very own Tardigrade pet from the Lobi Store in game. Each one of our five unique Tardigrades will be available as a non-combat pet for any of your Captains. They’re eager to get to know you. So who will you be adventuring with – Smarty, Skipper, Party, Arty, or the Lieutenant? .share-footer a { margin: 20px 10px 10px 0; background: url(d7afaaa14e96d0d973f76157ae31ec5b1466398539.png) no-repeat 0 0; opacity: .5; display:

Quote from Freelancer News-Bot

What can you expect from the Lost Fleet update? Aside from the many improvements on Crossfire 2.0 new story content is available which tells the tale of a long forgotten faction that fell victim to the Coalition war. You will be able to discover a new, very unique region of space full of new secrets, new friends and old enemies.

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Still striving to get the greatest performance out of your equipment? This weekend will be the perfect time to apply Tech Upgrades to your gear, as we’re doubling the amount of Technology Points earned from each one applied! From Thursday, August 22nd at 8AM PST to August 26th at 10AM PST, every Tech Upgrade used will apply twice as many Technology Points toward your next Upgrade! This in turn reduces the amount of Dilithium that must be spent to reach each Upgrade threshold, allowing Captains additional chances to attain both Mark and Rarity increases on their favored load outs. .share-footer a { margin: 20px 10px 10px 0; background: url(d7afaaa14e96d0d973f76157ae31ec5b1466398539.png) no-repeat 0 0; opacity: .5; display: inline-block; height: 60px; width: 60px; padding: 0; border: 1px solid transparent; -webkit-transition: opacity .3s; transition:

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We're got more EA news for Wing Commander fans. Last month we reported that the Origin Access service was being rebranded as EA Play. At the time, the Origin name was to be retained as the virtual storefront for EA games. That has since changed, and the company has announced that it will be renamed the EA Desktop App going forward. For the time being, Origin still stands, but the EA Desktop App is now in beta testing and will eventually become the primary portal. As you can imagine, this has kicked off a round of "EA Kills Origin" headlines that gives us mild flashbacks to 2004. Ever-optimistic fans have wondered aloud if this could be a move intended to free up the name for a reboot of Origin Systems, but this is obviously unlikely. However, on a much more positive note, Microsoft and EA have jointly confirmed that subscribers to the popular Xbox Game Pass Ultimate service will soon be getting

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Prolific game streamer and dedicated Wingnut Bonkus_Maximus is about to kick off a big series with The Heart of the Tiger. He's played plenty of classic Wing Commander on his Twitch channel before, but he's decidedly out of practice in WC3. This provides a prime opportunity to jump into the game anew for a fresh experience. You can join in live here on Twitch starting Tuesday at 8 pm Eastern time. There's also still an opportunity to vote at the CIC Forums on the difficulty level you think he should attack.

Fellow Wingnuts,

I'm going to start my full, expanded playthrough of WCIII (Including winning and losing track missions) on Twitch starting on Tuesday, February 9, at 8pm (20:00) Eastern time (GMT -5). I went through the Orsini missions just to be sure the game runs smoothly on stream, and I haven't otherwise played it for a long time. I wanted to start a poll for the difficulty level, which I

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Many countries celebrate Father's Day today, and we know a lot of Wing Commander fans have recently become dads out there. My little one just turned 16 months old, and I'm happy to that see she grabs a controller and starts pushing buttons whenever she gets a chance.

The CIC is more of a news site than a blog, but it's also a community hub more than anything, and it feels right to share this personal story with the community. This Father's Day is a tough one for me because my Uncle Jim passed away yesterday.

The two of us used to play NES and Super Nintendo games frequently in the '80s and '90s. The Mario games were big, plus Zelda obviously, puzzle games like Tetris and Doctor Mario and Wing Commander on the SNES, of course. We learned together how to put together PC hardware and how DOS worked. Whenever one of us messed up a sound card jumper setting or couldn't get the drivers right for a game