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Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Populated systems in the Witch Head Nebula have been overrun by Thargoid fleets, resulting in widespread chaos.
Thargoid vessels have directly targeted starports and planetary bases, leaving tens of thousands of casualties. With the nebula located hundreds of light years from the core systems, rescue services are struggling to aid the fleeing survivors.
Vox Galactica published a fragmented message transmitted by the engineer Chloe Sedesi:
"…emergency SOS from the Shenve system. The Thargoids… full-scale invasion. They've hit us hard. The… evacuated my team and abandoned Cinder Dock. We're trying to get clear from… swarms of them, in every direction we turn. If anyone's receiving this, we're…"
Captain Warren Lamar, head of security for the Alliance Expeditionary Pact, made this statement:
"In recent years we've fought off several Thargoid strikes, but the sheer scale

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here’s a fun new (to me) type of video! I’m familiar with people making vids about the hauls and treasures that they discover at stores, including retro game retailers. Another emerging scene is where the store owners themselves are growing their YouTube/Twitch/social media presence with videos that showcase impressive or exotic customer trade-ins. Obviously this is a type of commercial advertisement since these go right on to being sold, but it’s pretty cool to see the variety of items that they run across. This particular clip has everything from 8 bit NES games to relatively new Xbox One titles, plus hardware. And the person here absolutely gushes about Wing Commander 3 and 4 for the PlayStation. You can catch that bit just about a minute and twenty seconds in.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Princess Aisling Duval has assumed oversight of the Empire's contributions to the tri-superpower agency Aegis.
She discussed her new role during an interview with The Imperial Herald:
"Loathe though I was to defy the Emperor's decree, every instinct told me that the Aegis initiative can develop methods of protecting the Empire from enormous losses in this war. I'm grateful that Arissa recognised the value of my plea."
"I've been liaising with Professor Alba Tesreau, as well as Dr Fonseca, Vice Admiral Anderson and the rest of my team. Our challenge is to make the most of the Imperial resources allocated to Aegis."
"It's true that I was critical of Aegis's effectiveness in the past, but I've always believed that cooperation with other superpowers can bring mutual benefits. The mass slaughter inflicted by the Thargoids eclipses the NMLA's atrocities – a challenge we faced together. We must

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

AD reports that GalaxyCon is hosting another virtual autograph event with a Wing Commander star! Back in 2021, they had an arrangement with Freddie Prinze Jr that included the option to buy autographed WC posters. A similar deal is now running for Matthew Lillard. This time the the artwork has been updated: the Blair offer used the newer blue-tinted "DVD reprint" art while this is the original theatrical poster for Maniac. There are several options ranging from an 8x10" photo for $85, 11x17" mini posters for $100 or custom items that you send for $95-115. Send Ins need to be figured out by March 5, but you have until March 16 to order one of their WC photos or posters. This is a very cool opportunity for autograph collectors!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Sylvester found this very fun Wing Commander-adjacent video to share. DCSWorld PL created a impressive high fidelity version of the Strike Commander introduction in the Digital Combat Simulator engine. It's super sharp and features an authentic reproduction of things like the game's iconic F-16s. Strike Commander has many diehard fans out there and it's cool to see what they're churning out almost thirty years later!

Waiting hopelessly for the remake or sequel of one of the most beloved games - STRIKE COMMANDER - I decided to start by myself. Here it is the intro from the original version (floppy disk, not CD), recreated to the letter in DCS World.

I made skins for Wildcats squadron based on Sudden Death magazine included in the big box and added some from myself.

The clip is one to one recreation of the original scenes using Mission Editor in DCS World. The music and sound effects are from Strike

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Here's another fun oddity by FekLeyrTarg. He's composed George Oldziey's WC3 Behemoth track in the MIDIS2Jam2 program. The instrument effect is kind of cool, and it sounds great!

George Oldziey's Behemoth theme from "Wing Commander III - Heart of the Tiger", performed by a virtual orchestra in MIDIS2Jam2 using Patch 93's SC-55 soundfont.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Crazy find on the Internet Archive: an article from Soft World that's the 1992 Trade Commander press releases translated to Chinese... and the pen-and-ink art has been recolored in pastels! COOL!

Here's the original art. This was the first announcement of what would become Privateer and it features a lot of details about a much earlier version of the game's storyline. It's also the (only) source of 'Grayson Burrows' as the player character's name. I found the Chinese text by searching for "Tolnidan," the original name for the Gemini Sector and a word that's very close to being a googlenope.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Klavs has wrapped up the exquisite Sabre and Ferret models that he showed off last month. There are two styles of Ferret - one P-64C in In-Sys colors and a Super Ferret in active Confed gray. The Sabre is also on display with plenty of heavy ordnance. Both have also been posted in high quality on SketchFab for potential fan project use. Klavs has also talked about the texturing process in greater detail. Here's a snippet:

I've started using Substance Painter for the textures, it's really intuitive after you get the hang of it. I'll typically draw panel lines, vents, fasteners, thermal protection materials, and other details. I'm really just trying to think about how the ground crews would access stuff, how the complex shapes would be manufactured, and assembled how the pilots get in and out (hand holds, ladders, etc). I'll then add placards and other details. The grunge is largely determined by

Quote from No Man

Hello,

We’re excited to let you know that today we are releasing our first major update of 2023. We’re calling it Fractal (version 4.1).

All players can earn a stunning new starship, the Utopia Speeder, which allows travellers to skim across planet surfaces at high velocity. We’re also launching a new Expedition – “Utopia” – which challenges players to work together and rebuild an abandoned solar system for the mysterious Utopia Foundation. Other expedition rewards include an exclusive new helmet (the Fearsome Visor), a robotic drone companion and much more.

Switch, PlayStation and Steam Deck all now support gyroscopic controls, making exploring and scanning new discoveries more comfortable and precise than ever.

Speaking of which, the Wonders Catalogue shows off your most incredible discoveries, from tallest mountain to strangest creature, giving you a detailed record of your journey and allowing you to compare your

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

I think I might have found a neat reference. Ultima fans, follow me for a moment. Here are screenshots of (some of) bartenders from Privateer. The heads are animated in front of a background that was rendered in 3D Studio.

A larger version of each background is actually stored in the game which gives you a better view. They're for a cut feature so don't ever actually display. But if you look closely there are four different labels for the liquor applied to a variety of different bottle shapes.

But we can get even more detail because the original 3D models and their textures have survived all these years in dev material we've recovered at the CIC!

So Ultima fans: is that last bottle not a map of Britannia?!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Doubles is best! Or at least so says the April 1996 issue of GamesMaster, a UK-based gaming magazine that ran from 1993 to 2018. It features a cover story promoting not one but two big Wing Commander reviews: the PlayStation port of Wing Commander III and the original PC release of Wing Commander IV. But the biggest story here is surely the stunning 1990s magazine layouts seen throughout which are sort of like a mesmerizing surrealist landscape that you can't stop from staring it:

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

I just thought all four of the supertitles from the Wing Commander movie would be a good post. And I was right.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

RedBahamut loves George Oldziey's classic Wing Commander 3 music, but he wishes there was more of it! Since there aren't all that many fan remixes to add to the variety, he's created his own remastered album. Back in 2021 he released a test track, and now he's ready to share the entire composition. I'm listening to it right now. It sticks closely to the tone of the original while adding some refreshing flourishes here and there. Give it a listen below!

I started playing Wing Commander 3 a few years ago and the first thing that really got me was the absolute fantastic soundtrack. After checking a bit on Youtube, I am quite surprised of not finding much music related to WC3 or even remakes from remixers, so here is my take and my contribution to the Wing Commander community, hope you enjoy, Cheers!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Deliveries are requested in Duamta to fast-track production of a module that protects ships in caustic environments.
Professor Alba Tesreau, the head of Aegis, provided these details:
"We are grateful to Aden Tanner for personally testing our prototype caustic sink launcher. The electrochemical reaction within the Maelstrom cloud was successfully channelled into semi-liquid anodes for ejection. This kept the ship hull intact for considerably longer before Tanner was forced to withdraw."
"Aegis is setting up manufacturing and distribution centres to make the caustic sink launcher widely available. The Alliance, Empire and Federation will all contribute, but we know that the process can be accelerated with the direct support of the galactic community."
"Therefore, we have an open order for shipments of advanced catalysers, heatsink interlinks and palladium. We also

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

An overview of recent developments regarding the Thargoid conflict, as reported by Jade Sanderlyn on the Vox Galactica newsfeed.
"Over the last month, Thargoid fleets have continued expanding outwards from the eight Maelstroms. The front lines of the war are relentlessly encroaching deeper into the core systems, leaving desolation and death in their wake."
"A dedicated resistance force won a few precious victories, with 61 systems fully liberated from Thargoid control. But compared to the 634 systems that have been overrun, it would be optimistic to suggest the aliens' advance is being significantly impeded at this stage."
"Fierce fighting has also broken out in the California and Witch Head Nebulas. It's been speculated that the Thargoids seek to secure the barnacle sites seeded in those regions millennia ago… a reminder that this species may view all of our space as its original

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Aegis has produced a prototype module that increases a ship's ability to survive within caustic environments.
Professor Alba Tesreau, head of the newly reformed agency, published this statement:
"The blueprints provided by Petra Olmanova have been rapidly developed by Aegis's newly acquired chemical engineers, metallurgists and ship technicians. Utilising their combined skills, they have constructed a working prototype."
"This new module functions along similar lines to a heatsink launcher. It is designed to channel the corrosive reaction experienced within a Thargoid Maelstrom to specific replaceable anodes prior to ejection, thereby extending a ship's range and operating time. We hope this will allow more data to be acquired about these mysterious objects."
"Aden Tanner has volunteered to personally pilot the ship in the live tests taking place this week. Time is of the essence, since the

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Yesterday's look at the supertitles was a big hit, so here's a closer look at how they evolved throughout production.

The approach to the Claw doesn't really change much at all, except that nearly every cut save for the final calls it the C.S.S. Tiger Claw. Most of the preliminary titles are also green instead of blue.

The Pegasus attack at the beginning of the movie probably morphs the most in some ways. Some of the early edits start with a flyover of a destroyed Pegasus and then flash back in time to the attack. The final cut of the film is linear and so does away with a lot of the supertitles. There were at least two alternate cuts of the opening, both opened on the Pegasus debris field after the attack.

The more straight forward version has a flyby over the debris and then jumps back in time to show the attack:

The second is a more condensed version that intercuts the debris fly-over with flashbacks

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Trillionaire entrepreneur Zachary Rackham has launched his campaign to be elected as Federal president in the forthcoming election.
He outlined several policies during a press event in the tropospheric suite of Rackham's Spire on the planet Homeland:
"As I see it, the job of president is to help ordinary, hard-working people from humble backgrounds – just like me. So I pledge to reduce all civil taxes and public service fees, and boost government funding for business grants and commercial opportunities. Let's make everyone rich and successful – just like me!"
Mr Rackham is running for the position of Federal president as an independent candidate and claims support from several corporate interests including Rackham Capital Investments. His manifesto has triggered a surge in popularity, with several high-profile celebrities promoting his campaign slogan: 'Just Like Me'.
However, economists have

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here's a fantastic gem from the February 1995 issue of PC Gamer in the UK. The cover is all about Wing Commander 3 with a stellar piece of Kilrathi art. We haven't been able to track down the big four page review inside, so if you have a copy of this buried away, let us know! This time capsule was surfaced by none other than the official PC Gamer Twitter itself with the caption, "It's time to bring back Wing Commander with Mark Hamill. We deserve it."

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Scribbler was inspired by that other Maverick and his new Top Gun movie to make this fun fan trailer. "Wing Commander Maverick" is presented in both English and German for your enjoyment. Check it out below. There's a lot of good cuts in there!

Tom Cruise is celebrated, Top Gun Maverick might get an Academy Award? Our Maverick was probably forgotten last year. Here is our version of Maverick. In English and German (including a new scene that nobody knows yet. Not even the actors ). Have fun