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Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

I added a WCpedia page for the Wing Commander II Demo with all kinds of neat history:

Wing Commander II Demo is a rolling demo of Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi. It features an early version of part of the game's introduction showing Prince Thrakhath's audience with the Emperor. It was the first Origin product to include recorded speech. The demo was created by Origin Systems to demonstrate the game at Winter CES 1991 (January 10 to 13 1991) and was released to the public via BBS afterwards. At the time it was published Wing Commander II was scheduled for a Summer 1991 releasee. It ultimately shipped in September, making the eight months between the demo and the final product the longest such stretch in Wing Commander history. The demo is not known to have received a physical commercial release.

Differences

• The 3space engine section uses a version closer to the original Wing Commander. It

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here's a quick graphic showing the known service dates for Confed fighters from the games (2654 and after); as you can see, it's largely not a case of designs replacing each other between WC1-3!

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

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Li Yong-Rui, CEO of Sirius Corporation, has addressed the Alliance Assembly as part of its formal inquiry into the strategic defence pact.
The inquiry was proposed by Councillor Nakato Kaine, who highlighted the lack of military support provided by the megacorp against the Thargoids.
When invited to explain why most of Sirius Corporation's plans have not materialised, Li Yong-Rui said:
"Many new anti-xeno ship configurations were designed for the Alliance Defence Force and have been applied to thousands of ships. But we have encountered many obstacles along the way, which have severely undermined our progress."
"Usually these obstacles are bureaucratic in nature, but sometimes we simply cannot communicate effectively with the necessary individuals. I find it hard not to conclude that our progress is being deliberately impeded by forces within government departments. Sadly, not everyone shares

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here’s an interesting find! Very, very early Privateer screenshots released at ECTS in 1992 and published in the November issue of PC Games. All gameflow, probably just renders…

In-game versions of these same assets. You can see nothing was close to final!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
The eccentric inventor Harald Harksing has been causing quite a stir on Angel Station in the Calhuacan system.
Recent reports suggest that the independent entrepreneur is experiencing problems with a corrupted database. This has prevented him from shipping his latest batch of inventions to their intended destinations. The commotion caused by his efforts to resolve the issue has brought both amusement and exasperation to the starport's inhabitants.
Lishan Abara, culture correspondent for Vox Galactica, published a profile piece on Harksing:
"Little of Harald Harksing's background has ever been confirmed. What is well known – indeed, highly publicised – is his annual sending of unusual gifts to individuals referenced in GalNet news articles. These mostly comprise of unique toys, gadgets or games that Harksing has designed and built himself, sometimes tailor-made

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

FEEDBACK NEEDED! The reason we've been looking at Privateer 2 the past few days is that we're using the Privateer 2 intro cutscenes as the demo for a totally overhauled Holovids section at the CIC!

These new pages will collect all kinds of interesting supporting material with each cutsscene: storyboards, alternate versions, artwork, etc. You can find the first one here. Before we move on to the cinematics for rest of Privateer 2, WC3 through Prophecy and beyond we'd love to know what else you'd like to see in these spaces! What would help organize it, make it usable/less confusing, etc.

And special thanks to AD who has been taking charge of the video section of the project, aka the hard part that requires actual talent. And if you'd like to sign on and help, stop by my office anytime!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Thargoids have unexpectedly abandoned the region around Wregoe BU-Y b2-0, mere days after being discovered.
They were believed to be present due to an ancient site on the planet Wregoe BU-Y b2-0 1 c, which hosted a conflict between Guardian and Thargoid forces millions of years ago. Aegis has confirmed reports that all Thargoids have now disappeared from that area of space. Aden Tanner delivered a summary:
"Our pilots can no longer detect a single Thargoid ship anywhere in that region. In military terms, they have undertaken a full tactical withdrawal. It usually requires overwhelming firepower to drive out Thargoid forces, especially from multiple systems. In this case, there was no fleet action or anti-xeno operation sufficiently large to cause this response."
Dr Jeong-Hui Shin of the Holloway Bioscience Institute observed:
"This is atypical behaviour for the Thargoid species. Their

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

What connects the Terran Confederation and the Tri-System? A love of Duck Dodgers, of course!

egr10 on the forums pointed out that ESK stands for Earth Shattering Kaboom and I feel like such an doofus because I hadn't figured that out in 32+ years.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Today we've got a couple of examples that show off Mac's latest work in progress. We see a gorgeous short animation of the Operation Back Lash fleet assembling, which hints at some of the epic scenes to come. There's also a preliminary shot of the Waterloo class cruiser, which is coming together beautifully. It's such a sharp design!

Many, Many, Many MANY genuine thanks to @Hangar_B for lending me their Concordia model. I had to texture her myself, and boy was *that* an insane sojourn of learning. But she's almost ready for the big leagues now.#wingcommander pic.twitter.com/8EC4ySh5Id

— Mac's Lore (@MacsLore) December 24, 2022

I also messed with texturing their Waterloo-Cruiser as I was learning how to texture. It's a lot simpler than I thought, once you learn how to work with Substance Painter. Having a bg in Photoshop helped too. This one is much further away from being finished, however.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Emperor Arissa Lavigny-Duval has ordered the Imperial Guard to provide increased security to surviving members of the Duval dynasty.
Many Imperial Family members, including Prince Harold, were assassinated by the NMLA. Sources close to Emperor Arissa state that she is determined to preserve the remaining Duval bloodline as well as deter any future attacks.
The Imperial Guard is a legion of elite warriors under the direct control of the Emperor. Although typically seen performing ceremonial duties, they are a highly trained fighting force. It is understood that their numbers have been boosted by a focused enlistment drive from other areas of the Imperial military.
A cohort of Imperial Guard has been placed at the service of Princess Aisling Duval. She has gratefully accepted their presence and integrated them with her existing security team.
Similar squads have been posted to the households of

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Happy February 12, known in certain circles as December 8. (Wing Commander 4 turns 26 today! Happy birthday!)

The first image fans saw of Wing Commander IV was the teaser below, showing Tolwyn and Blair on opposing sides with a shadowy figure between them. It's a compelling image on the surface, but it's also problematic--since there's no actual reveal in the game itself. The shadow figure is just Seether, an entirely new character who is actually Tolwyn's henchman. The biggest problem, though, was that the first run of ads had a date promising the game on December 8, 1995. That would come back to haunt Origin when the title was delayed until February, 1996...

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The megaship Steel Majesty has travelled from Mudhrid to the HIP 22550 system and been renamed as Fairfax Vision.
The Wells-class carrier was originally owned by the Neo-Marlinist Order of Mudhrid and used as a base for the NMLA terrorist group. After a military defeat, the vessel's crew sought political asylum in the Marlinist Colonies.
The Steel Majesty later became the hub for Minister Aaron Whyte's followers during the Marlinist Civil War. More recently, NMLA activists retook the ship and unsuccessfully tried to rescue their leader Theta Seven.
The Marlin Standard published this statement from First Minister Octavia Volkov:
"I am delighted that the Marlinist Consulate has negotiated with the Epsilon Fornacis Empire Group to arrange for this megaship to be returned to us. We are renaming it in honour of my predecessor Dr Jenna Fairfax, who led millions to safety after our mass exodus from

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots Federation ALERT*
Successful campaigns in the Alcor and Colonia systems will result in new megaships being added to the Colonia Bridge.
Large quantities of ceramic composites, computer components and thermal cooling units were provided at either end of the route between the core systems and the distant Colonia region.
Brewer Corporation provided an update on the project:
"Once again, the galactic community has provided the vital materials required to construct dockable megaships. These additional ports should be operational by the 25th of November, making journeys to and from Colonia easier and safer."
"Pilots can now collect their rewards from Macdonald Settlement in the Alcor system and Jaques Station in the Colonia system. We shall also be awarding an engineered frame shift drive with long range and fast boot to the majority of contributors."
The top ten pilots who delivered

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Alliance and Imperial leaders have responded to the recent wave of Federal systems declaring independence.
Eight factions have now severed ties with the Federation, in response to government surveillance of all private and public communications.
In an interview with The Alliance Tribune, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Corcoran remarked:
"The Proactive Detection Bureau's intrusive nature has caused millions of people to rightfully demand self-rule. President Hudson should be fearful that history might view him as the Federation's first dictator."
Senator Denton Patreus's comments were featured by Eye on Achenar:
"Of course the Federation's factions are turning against it. The arrogance and corruption of its leaders will inevitably cause it to rot from within. We can expect to see it dissolve into chaos before long."
Federal newsfeed Sol Today published a response by Vice President Jerome Archer:

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The WC3 footage is great, but the enhanced WC4 footage is absolutely exquisite. This is the game where we have some of the best source material to start with, and it's also super easy to upgrade your copy of the game to play these high res clips. Just drop the files into the video folder of the DVD version of the game. GOG carries the DVD version by default, so it's cheap and readily available. Today's release is the fifth and "definitive" launch. It incorporates all of ODVS' extensive learnings and techniques and even includes some fixes for broken/omitted clips on the DVD. It truly is the definitive way to play the original (at least until the WC4 Fan Remake is finished!).

• Wing Commander 4: version 5.0, English, Pack 1 (3.3 gig zip)
• Wing Commander 4: version 5.0, English, Pack 2 (3.2 gig zip)
• Wing Commander 4: version 5.0, German, Pack 1 (3.2 gig zip)
• Wing Commander 4: version 5.0, German, Pack 2

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Captains, we’re all feeling the crush of being at home right now. We want to accomplish something – something big, and meaningful, but it’s hard while you’re inside. While we can’t help you write that novel or change the world, we can help you complete those reputations you’ve been staring longingly at. So we’re starting a special event right now! For the next three weeks, starting Thursday, March 26th at 8AM PT to Thursday, April 16th at 10AM PT, we are running a special event where Captains can earn bonus Marks by playing content throughout the game! During the event, content that provides Marks (Fleet or Reputation) will reward a 50% (1.5x) bonus above normal amounts – this bonus is available for all content that rewards Marks, including the three new reputations that came to Console with Agents of Yesterday. Start building your Fleet projects and reputations! We hope you enjoy

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

L.I.F. has finished up the general hull of his TCS Victory model and it's now available to download and try out. Owners of From the Depths can grab the ship here. While the outside is basically finished, there are lots of internal improvements yet to come. L.I.F. projects that the "flight bay, hangar deck, living area, bar, flight control and bridge" will all be forthcoming in subsequent updates. We can't wait to see how that turns out!

The outer hull is finished! The first fittings were a pretty large generator and ion engines to keep the ship from falling down below, so if spawned in space, it should remain there.

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

The universe we enjoy today isn’t the only one, not by a long shot. Our nearest neighbor, the ever-belligerent so-called ‘Mirror Universe’, is just one of countless roads spanning a cosmic tree of probability vast beyond imagining. From time to time, a new branch sprouts and the timeline forks again. Rarer still are the times those branches remerge, as they did with the U.S.S. Kelvin. Official contact with this universe, colloquially known as the Kelvin timeline, has been extremely limited. Nevertheless, some artifacts from that temporal neighbor have found their way into our neck of the woods. Alternate histories are an ever-present “what if” in science fiction. Appropriately enough, they tend not to be major cultural pillars, nor are they ever entirely escapable. As we look forward to what changes in society new technology might bring, we are wise to recall how our new normal was just one

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Star Trek Online is heading for Destination Star Trek: Birmingham! We will be at the convention for the entire weekend, from October 25th to October 27th, and we look forward to meeting you and talking with you about STO. It's the biggest celebration of Star Trek in Europe and there will be plenty of your favorite Star Trek and STO actors there, like Levar Burton, JG Hertzler, Denise Crosby, Chase Masterson and of course our newest member, Anthony Rapp! EU Design Lead Tim Davies, Lead Environment Artist Scot Boyd, and Community Manager Mike Fatum will be there to talk with Anthony Rapp about his work in Discovery and Awakening. We’ll be on stage for four different panels that weekend, and you can find the schedule below. You want more stars? Here is a small selection of stars already confirmed for the Star Trek Destination in Birmingham: Learn the latest news about Star