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We're now two weeks in to the five-week adventure to crowdsource a new Wing Commander album performed by a live orchestra. With minimum funding now secured, Origin composer George Oldziey is starting to take the next steps to formally book time with the musicians and get other prerequisites taken care of. It's common for unforeseen obstacles to occasionally pop up and slow things down, but if things continue to proceed at a steady clip, recording could start as early as late summer.

Now that the hard push towards $16,000 has been accomplished, pledges have slowed down a bit. This is very common in the middle of a campaign, although I expect a decent bump towards the end. In order to avoid distractions that might keep you away at the last minute, it's still a good idea to contribute now if you haven't yet but are planning to. Note that no actual funds are due until the Kickstarter's conclusion on

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The clock is ticking and we're now just two weeks until the CIC's annual Birthday Party! You can join in and celebrate our 24th anniversary on Saturday, August 13. We'll be hosting a huge bash in Discord #Wingnut. We'll have some fun things to share and it should be a great time for all. The main event gets going at 7:00 pm EDT (4:00 pm PDT and 11:00 pm GMT). Hope to see you there!

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We've moved into August, and now it's just two weeks until the CIC's 25th Birthday Party! You can join in and celebrate with everyone on Saturday, August 19. We'll be hosting a huge bash in Discord #Wingnut. Discord has rolled out quite a few new features over the last year, and we'll be trying some of them out with the large group. The main event gets going at 7:00 pm EDT (4:00 pm PDT and 11:00 pm GMT). Hope to see you there!

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The Lobi Crystal Consortium is pleased to announce their latest featured sale! From Thursday, April 2nd at 8AM PST til Monday, April 6th, at 10AM PST, shrewd Captains will be able to choose from their wide selection of wares, just by visiting the in-game Lobi store. All items in the Lobi Store will be 20% off for this entire sale! Now’s the best time to take command of a Kelvin Timeline Intel Dreadnought Cruiser, or get your hands on a Boolean Heavy Assault Cannon, or fly the stars in a Vaadwaur Astika Heavy Battlecruiser. But that’s not all – for the duration of this sale, the Tzenkethi Tzen Tar Dreadnought will become available in the Lobi Store! This powerful, alien cruiser can be yours for a discounted price of 960 Lobi! Read the details on this magnificent ship below, and head to the Lobi Store to claim one for your own! Tzenkethi Tzen-tar Dreadnought Carrier [T6] Tzenkethi war

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

For the upcoming Season 18 Kelvin lockbox, Lead Ship Artist Thomas Marrone and I decided to take a look at our existing Kelvin-Timeline ships to see if there was anything that needed a visual upgrade to match the quality of the newer ships that will be included in the bundle. And while the U.S.S. Vengeance / Kelvin-Timeline Intel Dreadnought Cruiser was a fine model for its time, it’s material was showing its age so we decided it was the prime candidate for such an upgrade. Thomas and I then took a look at Mauricio Tejerina’s original model and material to identify areas we thought could be improved. We were thrilled that the model geometry itself was mostly up to par; we made note of only a few things we’d like to polish. After a couple of days of work, I’d wrapped up these relatively easy changes to the geometry and was ready to move on to the material. Thomas and I knew going in to

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

For the upcoming Season 18 Kelvin lockbox, Lead Ship Artist Thomas Marrone and I decided to take a look at our existing Kelvin-Timeline ships to see if there was anything that needed a visual upgrade to match the quality of the newer ships that will be included in the bundle. And while the U.S.S. Vengeance / Kelvin-Timeline Intel Dreadnought Cruiser was a fine model for its time, it’s material was showing its age so we decided it was the prime candidate for such an upgrade. Thomas and I then took a look at Mauricio Tejerina’s original model and material to identify areas we thought could be improved. We were thrilled that the model geometry itself was mostly up to par; we made note of only a few things we’d like to polish. After a couple of days of work, I’d wrapped up these relatively easy changes to the geometry and was ready to move on to the material. Thomas and I knew going in to

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LOAF spotted this slick ad in a post by the Out of Print Archive. It's a nice full page print from the December 1993 issue of Super Play. I love these super British review quotes (image them spoken with a British accent): "Very Very playable... an excellent concept and well portrayed." "Fans of this style of game shouldn't be disappointed."

I haven’t seen this Mindscape ad for the European release of The Secret Missions before. Cool!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Origin Systems is known for two big franchises, Ultima and Wing Commander. At some level they're forever intertwined, so we like to check in from time to time and see what's cooking. For more than two decades now, the Ultima series has been defined by the massively multiplayer Ultima Online. As one of the first traditional MMOs of the internet age, it's also one of the longest running. The game celebrated 23 years of continuous operation recently.

A few years back, Electronic Arts spun off daily operations and support of the game to a new company called Broadsword. Some fans took that as a dubious omen and thought the game might be on life support at that point, but the arrangement has worked out for almost seven years now. And while there haven't been major expansions or revolutionary changes to the game, there is an air of not wanting to fix what isn't broken. With that being said, they've

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Here at the CIC, we used to keep pretty close tabs on Ultima Online. As a product that was developed alongside contemporaries such as Wing Commander Prophecy at the famous Austin studio, it was a big deal to see EA continue the MMO long after Origin's closure. When Electronic Arts finally did decide that they were done with it in 2014, that could have very easily been the end, but the game has somehow continued to thrive for another decade under Broadsword. So I was really happy to see this recent PC Gamer blurb about high turnout for the game's summer barbecue event. The game has been continuously running for more than 25 years now, so the fact that it exists at all is impressive - but all the more so that they're still having fun events in their tight knit community! You can skim through a few recorded streams below to see what the game's like in 2023:

Ultima Online still boasts an active

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

In an interesting reversal of fortunes, GOG has added back Ultima Underworld 1+2 and the Syndicate games to their catalog. These packages were delisted back on June 28, at the "publisher's request." The games reappeared yesterday, and as a bonus to celebrate their return, they're being made available for free until September 3. If you missed them earlier, now's your chance! The price is right too.

This isn't the first time that there were puzzling contractual misunderstandings between Electronic Arts and GOG. When Privateer was added in June 2011 and WC1+2 in August of that year, they were missing the expansions. Despite conversations to add them looking promising in the summer of 2011, they didn't actually appear on the service until December 2012.

Syndicate and Ultima Underworld are back on https://t.co/timfdacy7z! 💜

Join our celebrations and grab them for FREE during the next four weeks 🔥

👉

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Wing Commander II had a plan to include a TV you would watch between missions to get broader story updates. The design called for it to be the same dimensions as the Ultima VI intro TV so they could share art! This can be seen in a recent Tweet from the crazy ass moments in furry history account or watch it on YouTube here.

The opening of Ultima VI prominently features a pixelized recreation of a Keith Berdak illustration of a zebra centaur pole dancer(?) as a late replacement for what was originally a Patrick Nagel painting they couldn't get cleared. (1990)

This was part of a dropped character they’d imagined named Jerry Rivers who was a kind of ‘90s dramatic TV host, Hard Copy/Geraldo style. His arc would’ve ended with an interview where Tolwyn punches him in the face!

You can find an early script outine with all the Jerry Rivers sequences at this link. Jerry IS canon, Shotglass mentions watching him

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Dr Alfred Ulyanov, a leading exotheologian and an authority on the Far God cult, has been apprehended as a suspected Thargoid sympathiser.

The arrest took place at Dr Ulyanov's home in the Rana system, where he and his family were taken into custody by the Federal Intelligence Agency. Research materials and computer systems were also removed from the property, according to witnesses.

Professor Siobhan Vogel of the Interstellar Association of Universities registered a formal complaint:

"For Dr Ulyanov's academic studies to be viewed as evidence that he is some kind of Thargoid agent is utterly ridiculous. This violation of his rights sets a dangerous precedent."

Federal Intelligence Agency Senior Agent Micah Whitefield gave the following statement:

"When it comes to possible Thargoid allies, we cannot afford to overlook anything. Dr Ulyanov's involvement with the Far God cult makes him a valid

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Exotheologian Dr Alfred Ulyanov has commented on the abandoned Far God outposts recently discovered in the Etain system:

"This fascinating discovery implies that the missing chapters of the Far God sect were not arrested or killed, but instead fled to secret outposts to avoid persecution."

"According to personal logs recovered from the sites, the sect's members planned to wait in suspended animation for the coming of the Far God. The logs also reveal surprising details about what motivated these individuals to devote themselves to the faith."

"Evidence suggests that the settlements on Etain 4a and 4c both came under attack, but whether by Thargoids or human forces is unclear. Mysteriously, no trace remains of the inhabitants."

"I am indebted to the explorers who discovered these sites. This information will significantly contribute to the book I am co-writing with Gethin Okonkwo about the Far

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

quasardeep shared a neat photo of an incredibly elaborate Russian bootleg of Privateer 2. It has a color manual, printed disc and fully translated instructions. As there was no official Russian version, this was the only way for them to be able to play decades ago. It sounds like they've since acquired an officially boxed copy, but this is a fun and priceless artifact in its own way. You can now get P2 and the rest of the WC games at GOG for $5.99 or less.

I was a big fan in the 90s. Discs with Wing Commander were not sold at all. With great difficulty I was able to buy this pirate disc. But considering the Wing Commander legacy, I was eventually able to buy the official box.

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UnboxingHands has done an unboxing video for Wing Commander. I like these types of videos because Wing Commander arrived before modern YouTubing, and these are such fun games to open up! A couple things caught our eye in this case. It's the Amiga version of WC1, which isn't vastly different than more common iterations, but there are a few unique elements such as the styling on the floppy disks. It also comes with the nice single-sided fighter blueprints. It's got some funky music in lieu of a voice track, but I really like the video editing technique he employs: after zooming in on each screenshot on the back of the box, the clip cuts to an animated in-game version of that sequence. It's a nice effect!

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I usually try to shake things up a bit more, but we've been on kind of a roll this week with unboxing videos. Dare I share a third one in a row? I will! Yesterday we saw one of the big box/film can versions of Wing Commander 3 opened up, and today we have its exotic cousin - the German big box film can WC3 special edition! You can find a photo of its contents in Dennis Mull's collection here. Or watch CometMatti open his below! It's in German, but the excitement is clear in any language!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The purchase of shipbuilding company Lakon Spaceways by Core Dynamics is in doubt after allegations of illegal business practices.
Irfan Karim reported on the recent developments for The Alliance Tribune:
"The Independent Commission for Market Equality has confirmed that several Lakon shareholders sold their stock to shell companies, which were covertly established by departments within Core Dynamics. Furthermore, two serious accusations of blackmail have been referred to Alliance Interpol."
"Trent Delaney, Lakon's newly installed chairperson, has dismissed these claims. But coupled with serious rumblings from the Council of Admirals over losing a military supplier, this hostile takeover now looks less certain."
In the Federation, the newsfeed Sol Today ran an editorial piece on the situation:
"Acquiring Lakon is another bold triumph for manufacturing colossus Core Dynamics. It's a shame that

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The anti-slavery charity Unchain has officially purchased the 4,000 Imperial slaves who were forcibly freed on Eotienses A 3.

Princess Aisling Duval, the charity's patron, gave the following statement to the press:

"The contracts of all those liberated against their will have been acquired by Unchain. They will be properly cared for while they work to build a new Unchain headquarters in Port Isabelle. This will allow them to pay off their debts and become free citizens once more."

When pressed further by journalists, Princess Aisling offered a wry smile along with her explanation:

"I'm well aware of the irony of an anti-slavery organisation hiring Imperial slaves. We do this only to prevent further suffering at Port Isabelle and undo some of the damage caused by Autonomy. Allow me to specify that this is a practical solution to a problem of the Empire's own making."

"The indentured servitude

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Today we have a couple of hand drawn sketches by AirenWoodmoon. They're both based on RPG notebooks that the artist drew years ago starring the characters from Wing Commander. We don't see nearly as many sketches like this as we used to, but of all the inspirations for such drawings, WC3 has clearly been the most popular. These are based on settings from WC1/2 and Prophecy, which makes them pretty cool and unique. I mean, Shadow and Doomsday? Stiletto and Kevin Tolwyn? What a deep throwback!

So every notebook needs a back cover, right? One of the original Pilots' Notebooks had an insert cover that I had done of the first group I started playing with in the Wing Commander Universe, way back when I was a kid. I've been obsessed with Wing Commander off and on my entire life, and I was indoctrinated watching my dad play the first two games on the Amiga, and playing myself when I was old enough.

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Here's a magazine ad for the version of QEMM that came bundled with Privateer and Shadowcaster... and look, there was an Ultima Underworld version, too! Neat.