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It's been a while since the Cloud Imperium team has shown off new Squadron 42 material, so they've put together a striking teaser of the game's visual effects. The new graphics shown off here are intended to highlight advancements made in the past year. There's definitely some pretty space environments to see! The Wing Commander-style single player campaign associated with these visuals will star Mark Hamill, John Rhys-Davies and many others. It's currently scheduled to advance to beta state in the later half of next year.

As a special holiday gift to all of you, we put together this visual teaser reel, highlighting some of the work we’ve done on Squadron 42 over the course of 2019.

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Displaced Gamers has put together a fascinating video that dives into the classic DOS game 320x200 pixel resolution. If you deal in old screenshots as much as we do, you'll notice the original Wing Commander games come in this slightly odd resolution and aspect ratio compared to the 4:3 640x480 stats of later games. The clip goes into the technical details of exactly why this is, and there's also comparisons between the vertical pixel stretch on PC versus the Super Nintendo's horizontal stretch. This is why the Super Nintendo characters look squished in the recent Head Museum update. LOAF has mentioned this in passing in a few episodes of All Wings Considered, but this video really dives into the topic. Wing Commander is depicted at the 12:17 mark, but it's a cool watch regardless of the WC mention. Thanks to ShadowArm for the tip!

Examination of the 4:3 aspect ratio of DOS gaming - primarily VGA

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Nenid opened her eyes, only to see the worried face of Centurion D’mev staring down at her. “Status report,” she said hoarsely, having taken in a lungful of smoke during the last exchange of fire. Coughing, she got to her feet with the junior officer’s assistance and took a seat in the command chair. “Preferably before the Tholians manage to find and destroy us, if you please, Centurion. “ D’mev blanched before speaking. “Commander, we are under cloak, per your orders. A Tholian fleet is massing within the Azure Nebula; it seems we encountered their vanguard during our investigation of the temporal anomalies there.” Nenid nodded as she called up tactical data to the main viewscreen. And in a moment, a mission of science becomes a mission of war, she thought silently. “Engineering,” she said as she activated her command channel. “What’s our situation? That volley from the Tholians

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It's the final stretch for Andrea Contato's second book on the history of Origin, Through the Moongate, from Wing Commander and Ultima VII to Portalarium. The project is nearing its €40,000 stretch goal, which adds an appendix full of personal interviews and anecdotes. Jumping into the €50 (plus ~€25 for tracked shipping to North America) hardcover tier will also be the only way to get Denis Loubet's cool Wing Commander bookmark, so factor that into whether you would like to consider funding the book. It might be the most expensive piece of paper you buy this week, but that just makes it taste better.

1) We lowered shipping cost from Part 1 for many countries. Canada and the US benefited the most from this as we managed to lower the shipping cost by 25-45%. With the introduction of Love tier (i.e. untracked shipping), we have hit rock bottom for shipping prices without subsidizing shipping out of

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The latest episode of ALL WINGS CONSIDERED is live now! All Wings Considered is the CIC's first ever streaming variety show which features news, conversation and gameplay relating to our favorite series. This week's Nav Points include:

• Privateer! It's almost Centurion time.
• We jump to another dimension!
• Privateer 2 ship of the week: the Faldari Mk. II

Missed the stream? The replay will be available below once it has been processed by YouTube. You can subscribe to the AWC channel for future notifications here.

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Star Trek Online is coming back to Vegas, baby! We previously announced some of the events you can expect to see us at in Vegas, but now we’re ready to tell you about everything we’ll be doing there. Check out the breakdown below for all of the excitement you’ll find at the convention, including the first details of our next content release! PANELS Thursday 1:15-2:15pm – DeForest Kelley Theater INSIDE TREK - Star Trek Gamers & Their Games John Van Citters, Moderator Ariel Chudzikiewicz, Game Designer, Disrupter Beam Thomas Marrone, Lead Ship and UI Artist, Cryptic Studios Avery Sakamoto, Scopely Fazri Zubair, CTO and Co-Founder, Lucid Sight Siqi Chen, Chief Product Officer, Sandbox VR Fans are playing more Star Trek video games than ever before. Whether it is on a mobile phone, tablet, VR, console or a PC, there are Star Trek games for everyone. Meet the designers and

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AD spotted a phenomenal pair of art pieces by AEdwardBaker. He's just created a beautiful take on the TCS Victory. This test render is only available in 1080p, but there's already so much great detail in everything down to the laser turrets and weathering on the hull paint. It's really slick! You can give him feedback or check out his many other gorgeous space scenes here.

"She's a fine carrier with a long history of service to the Confederation."

"Yes sir. A very long history."

A test render of my model of TCS Victory from Wing Commander III.

Done in Blender

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The Torturous Wing Commander Poetry Department

Editor's note: in honor of the pop culture Behemoth that is the release of Taylor Swift's Tortured Poet's Department and the fact that it is the author's birthday and he is allowed one needlessly self-indulgent Wing Commander article per year we present to you…

One of my favorite things in popular media is finding a reference to some classic aspect of literature. Growing up, I found that it was something particularly distinctive in Star Trek. From Kirk quoting John Masefield or D.H. Lawrence to Picard's love of Shakespeare, there was something that was both enticing and approachable about these little connections to our greater culture. Such moments have always served to both elevate and contextualize the media in a way I've found incredibly satisfying. It lets you connect with characters, understand storytellers and to my liking it gives you exactly my

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Thanks for the background, friends. Of course, I was curious for Wing Commander-related reasons. Specifically, I was fascinated to see the names of the Kray twins because... of Privateer 2's Bray twins:

Reggie Bray is the guy who is selling Uncle Kashumai's religious artifact. For that mission you have to look up their bio in the database and then find their business partner.

There's also a Joe scene where he warns you to look out for the Brays. And you kind of have to wonder: why, since Reggie isn't any particular threat in the auction scene. And heck, why are there two of them anyway? Is it just for the (unknown to me until last night!) joke?

In fact, it's a case of cut content! In the shooting script we see that the Brays were supposed to be the enemies in the Tamessa Ames cinematic mission and that Ronnie (the muscle, as in real life apparently!) was then supposed to continue trying to hunt you down.

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Titan Leigong in the HIP 8887 system has been eliminated, following the same tactical approach used against Taranis.
Vox Galactica's Jade Sanderlyn reported:
"Two of the eight Thargoid Titans have now been put out of action. Leigong suffered the same fate as Taranis, with its core being targeted by a sustained bombardment."
"Aegis is overjoyed at these results. Both Professor Palin and Ram Tah are being praised for their development of the Guardian nanite torpedo, which is crucial to these attacks. And word is spreading that the Thargoid war machine has suffered a critical defeat, one that may change the entire conflict. Can these victories be repeated a further six times?"

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LOAF recently ran across this nifty issue of Computer Games Strategy Plus. It's positioned as a preview of Privateer just prior to its imminent launch, but the "article" is provided by Origin itself. I wonder when it was written, because it's pretty aspirational for being published just a few weeks before the game shipped. It's interesting to spot the differences between this and the final game!

Did we ever figure out ethics in game journalism? Here's a case where the magazine just let one of Privateer's designers straight up write the preview... and it's totally reasonable and promises only what they end up delivering.

Here's a nice visual comparison of when CGSP also had covers of Privateer 2 and Privateer 3!

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Today we've got some stunning visual updates for the Confederation project to enhance WC1. AllTinker rebuilt each of these familiar settings with extra wide backdrops to the sides. They look very natural and fit in great. Be sure to click in for an animated cutscene sample!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Emperor Arissa Lavigny-Duval has decided that all Imperial citizens recovered from Thargoid Titans will remain in quarantine indefinitely.
An official pronouncement on behalf of the Emperor was distributed by the Imperial Palace:
"Every subject of the Empire who was abducted by the Thargoids is receiving the highest possible quality of treatment and support. The Emperor has ordered that they will be given exemplary medical and psychological care, for as long as they remain in medical isolation."
"As is always the case, the security of our society is paramount. Protective sanctuary is being provided for tens of thousands of individuals, in order that billions are spared the prospect – however unlikely – of an alien influence taking root within the Empire. That is the honourable path, and the Emperor is confident her people will understand the wisdom of this decision."
The Imperial Herald's

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Today we've got a really beautiful little Tarsus by Cpt. Streets. What really stands out here is the intricate and highly detailed paint scheme. It's got lots of very fine accents that are very pleasing on the eyes. The engine nozzles are painted with a blend of yellow and orange fluorescent acrylic paint that even seems to glow under a black light. We're looking forward to seeing how his Hornet turns out next!

These are some pictures of my 3D-printed Tarsus Freighter from Privateer. It is my first ship model from the Wing Commander universe so far.

I did not made the 3D mesh itself. I only painted it and modified it a bit as well. It is about ~16cm (6,3") long.

Currently I´m working on a Hornet Fighter in approximately the same scale as the Tarsus. I will do ships from WC1, WC2 and WC Privateer. But more about this at another time...

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We've reported in the past on the sale of the Origin Museum collection and today we're happy to report that the new owner is serious about preserving Origin's history! Dominus Dragon has begun digitizing Origin Museum material and he has been kind enough to share the Wing Commander-related discoveries with us... including an enormous Wing Commander Prophecy producer's bible! We're very grateful for the effort and the thought that went into sharing this for the Wing Commander community. Here's an index to 17 new documents added to our digital archive... plenty to explore and it sounds like there may be more to come!

Wing Commander I:

• Best Sound Presentation award
• Advertisement Draft

Wing Commander III:

• Concept Board Photo
• Hire and Quantity List
• Production Notes

Wing Commander IV:

• Bug Report
• Team Patch Design

Privateer 2:

• Customer Service Issues
• New QA Tester Information

Wing Commander Prophecy:

• Anderson Costume

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Mac is back with a fabulous new wallpaper. It depicts Klavs' exquisite Concordia model with the sun at its back. This casts a dark and moody light on the superstructure of the ship while various running lights, engine components and weapon emplacements light up the landscape. There's also a full complement of Sabre and Rapier escorts in tow to round out this very imposing scene!

It is time.#wingcommander

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Vox Galactica's Jade Sanderlyn reviews developments in the ongoing war against the Thargoids.
"There have been some impressive territorial gains against the Thargoids in recent weeks. The number of systems controlled by the Titans' invasion fleets has tumbled, allowing many millions of people to return to their homes. This is largely thanks to coordinated action by independent pilots and anti-xeno squadrons."
"However, I take no pleasure in reporting that the 'unsubstantiated rumours' I discussed last month are true. The Thargoids' increased interest in capturing escape pods has been verified, with the appearance of a new vessel designed for this very task. Scythe-class hunters are now launching attacks en masse, using a combination of unique hull-breaching munitions and recovery drones to abduct living people."
"It's believed that the Scythes were responsible for the disappearance of

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Azimuth Biotech has announced an invitation-only event for prospective business partners and military liaisons.
CEO Torben Rademaker provided a statement to the media:
"New opportunities have emerged for Azimuth to resume the lead in anti-xeno operations. With Thargoid fleets rampaging through the core systems, and Aegis's questionable policy of providing utility modules over increased firepower, humanity's defence once again falls to us. But our organisation will no longer work in solitude."
"I have extended the hand of partnership to selected financiers, military figures, research groups and manufacturing companies. They are invited to convene and discuss methods of helping us to resist the evil of the Thargoids."
Business analyst Marlon Royce published this report via Vox Galactica:
"Ostensibly, this appears to be a public relations exercise for Azimuth Biotech. However, the company's

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Happy Easter out there to those who celebrate! We hope you're having a restful time and staying safe! Thanks to Scribbler for the animated gif below!

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Klavs is kicking off the new year by sharing the latest update to one of his high quality Wing Commander models. He's been crafting a Sabre for a bit now, and this is the most refined version that we've seen. The ship finally has an updated set of textures, which closely mirror the paint scheme from Wing Commander 2. In addition to his own endeavors, Klavs' models are used in a wide variety of other Wingnuts' fan projects, so it's always nice to see things like this come together!

Still re-working the Sabre, extensively re-modeled and UV unwrapped, currently texturing in Substance.