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Quote from Mass Effect

On November 20, 2007, Mass Effect was released for the Xbox 360. Presenting the premise of a cinematic space epic, the sprawling action RPG put players on a galaxy-saving quest across the cosmos, making alien friends and difficult plot-altering decisions along the way. The game’s interactive story and vivid design has received wide acclaim from critics, also kicking off the formation of a massive fan collective.

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During Mass Effect‘s three-year development cycle, nearly one fourth of that time was spent achieving a distinct sci-fi look, BioWare taking influence from iconic film properties such as Star Wars, Star Trek, and Blade Runner. Much of the remaining months laid the foundation of the project’s core gameplay of tactical shooter combat, space exploration, and advanced “digital actors”. Envisioned as a trilogy, this heavy initial workload was to ensure minimal development time between any

Quote from Mass Effect News-Bot

After BioWare’s decision to put the future of Mass Effect on hiatus, the series’ direction is looking pretty uncertain despite its assured continuation. Split-reception of the most recent entry aside, the planet-hopping, alien-bedding, and Reaper-fighting exploits of the original trilogy nonetheless remains in the majority of fans’ hearts. Each title notably opens with an epic showcase to catch players up to speed with Commander Shepard and crew, but Mass Effect 2 accomplished this in a way players likely wouldn’t have expected: it killed the main character.

Of course, the space-faring sequel didn’t lead with that ominous revelation, as it actually began by introducing one of the series most memorable and enigmatic characters, the Illusive Man. In between cigarette drags and observing a nearby supergiant, the mysterious figure convenes with his right-hand Miranda to discuss the destructive events of the

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

John Nelson is back to building out the Confed fleet with his latest WC3 Lego creation, the Thunderbolt heavy fighter. It has some particularly distinctive angles that were hard to duplicate, but he's done a great job given the limitation of parts to work with. And check out that heck of a turret gun on the aft!

Finally got it done. After a few months of gathering pieces and accounting for slopes, angles and colors and proportions, Confed's "lead sled" is done. I didn’t use purple for its TCS Victory or Hurricane Squadron markings since purple parts are more rare, and I like the yellow and blue of its post war design more. I also changed the front where the gun batteries are to give the look a bit more pizazz.

Pliers (would) say, "The Thunderbolt is Confed's big ugly battering ram to knock down whatever is in its way, and with that blaster load out and a torpedo it can."

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The Wing Commander movie wasn’t the first time we got a terrible approach to mourning! Super Wing Commander had characters with stripes shaved in their heads to honor their dead. Naturally this needed to be explained in the manual, lest anyone assume it was just sci-fi hair:

Does the lore match up? Maybe! Knight and Bossman have two and one stripe respectively but none of their stories are known.

Iceman has two, presumably for his wife and youngest daughter killed in a Kilrathi attack. A second daughter, Julia, was enslaved and later rescued. Iceman would go on to remarry and have a son… Lance Casey, the eventual protagonist of Wing Commander Prophecy.

… and then I have to believe that Angel and Maniac are both for Rosie Forbes, to whom they were both very close.

By the way: the distinctive portraits in Super Wing Commander were by Texas artist Sam Yeates, who also painted the Wing Commander III and IV

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Aubi-Nation has completed an overhaul of his Tiger's Claw model built in Space Engineers. It's got lots of nice upgrades now. The basic geometry of the landing bay and engine nacelles has been tightened up to look sharper on the outside. Indoors, the flight deck has been spruced up with some new things, including access to an updated pilot's lounge - that even has a static TrainSim and killboard! Towards the end of the clip, Aubi fires up the engines and shows off how maneuverable the carrier is. It's quite impressive in the asteroid fields! Check out the video below:

#ThisDadPlays Space Engineers! I take one of my favourite ships from Wing Commander and I recreate it in Space Engineers! Here is the updated version of the Tiger's Claw! Almost finished!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

GBGames has been getting back into the original Wing Commander, and this has inspired him to create a pretty awesome piece of Wing Commander art. He's put together a pretty slick Bengal class blueprint poster in the style of WC1's fighter blueprints. It's very nice - and high res enough to print or make your wallpaper image!

I've been playing Wing Commander for the PC, which is very different from the SNES version I played when I was younger.

And I decided I wanted a poster of the Tiger's Claw, so I made one.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

We had some great live trivia on Saturday night, and some knowledgable Wingnuts won some cool prizes. To claim your items,

send an email

to news@wcnews.com with your Discord name, real name and address.

• WC Novel Ebook - Whistler
• GOG WC Games Collection - DefianceIndustries
• Academy on DVD - Music_Guru
• WC CCG Starter Deck Box - LeHah
• iTunes Wing Commander Soundtrack - DefianceIndustries
• WC4 OEM DVD - Pedro
• AWC Tote Bag - TheyCallMeGrim, PopsiclePete
• WC1 copy from LOAF - Music_Guru

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Today we've got a triple-pack of hardcore reviews from Hardcore Gaming 101. We reported on their WC1, WC2 and Strike Commander retrospectives back in the day, but we missed how these three prime spinoffs to the Wing Commander series also go their own proper articles.

First up is Academy. Taken in a modern context, some players may not understand how a mission builder could be its own fully boxed (and nearly full priced) standalone game, but that fails to capture the situation at the time. Fans were clamoring for the ability to do this. Fan mods were years away from being a thing, and Academy made it easy to craft your own WC games with zero learning curve. Plus, it packed in new ships as well as a really fun (and challenging) gauntlet mode.

Armada also gets a lot of credit for doing something different in such a way as to expand the Wing Commander tapestry. There is a some discussion on how the

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Alliance Festival of Culture has entered its fifth week, focusing on a wide variety of theatre and dance performances.

Crowds have flocked to New Caledonia in the Tionisla system to enjoy performance art from dozens of systems. Shows ranging from elaborate stage productions to amateur street recitals have offered classical operas, circus shows, theatrical plays and much more.

Art critic Bryony Lindholm published this review on Vox Galactica:

"While the entertainment on display has been nothing short of marvellous, a personal favourite has been the ballet 'Bones of Dreams'. It is performed by skeletal robot dancers made of scrap salvaged from the Tionisla orbital graveyard."

"It is a moving portrayal of inhumanity, and like most of the audience, I was left in tears despite – or perhaps because of – the absence of any sentient organisms depicting grand themes of grief and loss."

The Alliance

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Councillor Nakato Kaine has announced that a delivery campaign in the Tionisla system has not reached its target.
Addressing the Alliance Assembly, she said:
"The purpose of this campaign was to demonstrate the core principles of the Alliance: independence, self-sufficiency and mutual support. While we received millions of units, our target quota was not filled. I believe there are important lessons to be learned here. We must not lose faith in the Alliance's ability to remain self-sustaining in military infrastructure."
The strategic defence pact between the Alliance and Sirius Corporation is being subjected to an independent inquiry. A vocal minority of councillors in the Assembly are critical of their corporate partner's inability to deliver anti-xeno ships or activities.
Sirius Corporation CEO Li Yong Rui offered this comment to reporters:
"Sirius Corporation's

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Titan known as Oya appears to have deployed a large fleet of Orthrus vessels into star systems farther from their own territory breaking expected behaviour.
Analysts noted that the locations in which Orthrus vessels have been tracked didn't appear to have any particular importance, instead suggesting that this may be a new tactic or possibly a simple panic response to the mounting pressure on its fleet.
Titan Oya has been steadily losing territory to large numbers of AX-equipped human forces. These forces, spearheaded by coalitions known as 'AXI' and 'XSF' have been reclaiming ground from the Titans successfully for some time and were pivotal in the recent successful campaigns against the now-destroyed Titans, Taranis and Leigong.
The Pilots' Federation have issued an alert to all independent pilots for each of the star systems where Orthrus vessels have been detected:
"If Oya can be

Want to witness the gigantic Thargoid mothership end? ...

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Thousands of people rescued from captivity within the Thargoid motherships remain isolated under strict medical and security protocols.
Professor Alba Tesreau, head of Aegis, spoke at a press conference:
"I'm relieved to see that the sub-surface extraction missiles are proving effective, especially considering how quickly they went into production. Many pilots are using them to excavate bio-storage capsules from beneath the hulls of the Thargoid Titans."
"Each resuscitated individual has undergone an exhaustive range of physical scans and psychological evaluations. Some are being treated for stress-related conditions and mental trauma, but otherwise they appear to be unharmed. With no clear evidence that these people have been infected or influenced by the Thargoids in some manner, Aegis has sent a number of proposals to superpower governments as they consider the next steps."
Despite this

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The recent destruction of Titan Taranis has yielded a significant amount of data that scientists across the galaxy have begun interrogating.
Science correspondent Leon Banerjee summarised for Vox Galactica:
"Research on Titans has been ongoing since their first appearance, and understanding how they function has been considered crucial to humanity's survival in the Thargoid war."
"I have spent time with everyone from the smallest private research bodies to the largest corporations in the past few years, and the common anxiety amongst the scientific community is still how little we truly understand about the Titans."
"What answers does the caustic remnant of Taranis contain? What might have survived the destruction? When the wreckage is safe enough to enter, the additional data to be found there will doubtless benefit humanity in some form."

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The star system Hyades Sector FB-N B7-6, which contains Thargoid Titan Taranis, has been surrounded by human forces.
Aden Tanner, special advisor to Aegis, provided the following update:
"Our pilots appear to have pushed Thargoids out of all systems in Titan Taranis's area of control. It's taken a huge effort, one which should rightly be recognised as outstanding. We don't know for certain what will happen next. But for now, the region is back in humanity's control."
"I strongly urge pilots to keep fighting the Thargoid fleet wherever it is encountered. We must not become complacent - the Thargoids have surprised us before, and have demonstrated the ability to respond when defeat seems inevitable. Those who fought in the HIP 22460 campaign and witnessed the Proteus Wave event will testify to the dangers of assuming the war is won."
Systems in the immediate vicinity, such as Hupang, Swahku and

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Chancellor J’mpok watched as the last Klingon shuffled out of the High Council Chamber. He waited three heart beats before moving to the throne and slumping heavily unto it, his fingers curled and he wrapped a knuckle against his furrowed brow. Lies. The council chamber still echoed with them. He could almost smell the betrayal hanging in the air like the stink of a wet targ. Betrayal that the phantom, J’Ula, had roused from the hearts of cowards that hid among the council. Cowards that could very well splinter the empire, or split it in half. The chamber guards shifted minutely, but audibly, alerting J’mpok to the arrival of someone in the council chambers. He stood, eyes peering into the darkness to make out the face of an old friend. “Kortaj.” “Chancellor. J’mpok. My old friend. I bring news and glory.” Friends, what did that word even mean these days? Could anyone be trusted

Howdy!

Accolade complete: this webserver has killed its 3rd HDD

Thanks to the people that gave me a notice earlier today via email and moddb.

The damaged HDD meanwhile is replaced and backups seem to be working. It will take some time for the server to rebuild the cache for all the pages so it will be a bit slow in the next few hours.

If any chars got banned due to the failed CF updates I will unban tomorrow in the morning after the daily updates ran through.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The WC Toolbox has been enhanced once again with more extraction support for Wing Commander 3. UnnamedCharacter has been able to pull out images for things like characters that overlay on top of the background scenes, but he's also found some interesting composite sets. What this means is that certain rooms were made in one pass, and then the game adds much of the interior look over that. Check out the images below to see the bar and crew quarters without all the tables, chairs and lockers! You can read all about the new update and how to use it at the CIC Forums. Grab the latest tools here.

Here's a few shots that show how the color palette changes based on the game's built in gamma correction.

Added more extraction support for WC3; this time something we can actually see. This update includes support for extracting an image representation of a palette; this is actually a little trickier than it

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Spacedock

is back with a new video on the top five carriers of all science fiction. Wing Commander manages to snag TWO of the slots with the Bengal class strike carrier at #3 and Vesuvius heavy carrier at #1. As we've previously mentioned, Daniel from Spacedock covers a wide array of sci-fi content on his channel and happens to be very well versed in the WC franchise. For this reason, we get a real thorough discussion on the merits of these two models compared with other WC favorites like the Yorktown or Midway as well as other series' efforts. His videos have really surged in popularity over the past year or two, and this clip is currently over 84,000 views on its way to 100K+ likely soon. That's a lot of folks out there learning about the finer points of WC lore!

Spacedock breaks down five sci-fi carrier designs.

There's also a handful of

merchandise

items you can get based on the subjects that

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

AD has found another Argentinian magazine that celebrates a classic Wing Commander release. This one is from the Top Kids Club magazine, number 24. The copy seems dominated by Mortal Kombat stuff, but Wing Commander 4 gets a lengthy review as well. It earns a whopping 95% rating, which is great no matter where you're from. Although the spread is well endowed with flashy WC4 pics, there are also some curious WC3 Arrow press images that sneak in too. If you find the review amazing and just have to own a copy, it's for sale on Facebook Marketplace for $250. I'll probably pass, so I wanted to let you know!