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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!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

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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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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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

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

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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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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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

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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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

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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.

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

We are getting closer and closer to Destination Star Trek Birmingham, and the Star Trek Online Away Team is performing our final preparations for the convention! The shuttle is getting loaded with all that is needed to see you in Birmingham from October 24th to October 27th. Our Away Team is bringing plenty of swag for those of you that come say hi, including holographic Landry and Lorca Bridge Officers. And this is your chance to win a 3-day-ticket for Destination Star Trek and to meet the team from Star Trek Online! We can’t wait to meet you at Destination Star Trek Birmingham, Captains. We’ll see you there! Star Trek Online [EN] | Destination Star Trek Giveaway .share-footer a { margin: 20px 10px 10px 0; background: url(d7afaaa14e96d0d973f76157ae31ec5b1466398539.png) no-repeat 0 0; opacity: .5; display: inline-block; height: 60px; width: 60px; padding:

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We’re pleased to announce that, with the launch of our 10th Anniversary Update, two Task Force Operations will be entering the regular rotation, with their own advanced and elite versions! Both Battle at the Binary Stars and The Mycelial Realm are coming to test your mettle in space and on the ground. In Battle at the Binary Stars, experience one of the darkest moments in Federation history, as a bloody war was kicked off with the Klingons. You’ll enter a holodeck simulation of this historical event, and your ship will take on the holo-image of an era appropriate Federation craft. You may not be able to prevent the war, but perhaps with your ingenuity and cunning, you can save more lives than the Captains of history. In The Mycelial Realm, Ju’la and her forces are attempting to harvest the power of the Mycelial Network. You can only put a stop to it by venturing inside the network yourself.

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Development on the WC4 Fan Remake has been generally slow of late, but Pedro has a few neat updates to report. He's done some testing with ODVS' fantastic enhanced video with great results. It'll be a perfectly complement to the gameplay updates that have been at the forefront so far. There has also been some discussion on new features like modern gamepad controller support as well as improving some of the development tools as well. There's still quite a bit of work to go, but it's good to hear the team is still on it!

To be honest development paused for a while, but I came back to it last night, did a few fixes; tested it with ODVS' AI upscale. It looks good, don't worry we'll be incorporating the best possible video when the time comes. I did make some progress on a particle editor, but Rear Admiral Tarsus is offering to help out with tools (which I am super grateful for). We have a potential

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The introduction of onionhead gamma strain by the Kumo Crew has reignited long-running arguments around the popular psychedelic drug.
An interview with Zander Lachance, spokesperson for the Coalition for Legalisation, was published by Vox Galactica:
"I have yet to see evidence that onionhead is more harmful than common recreational substances. Open-minded people in independent systems are now discovering this for themselves."
In response, other newsfeeds featured a range of opinions.
Eye on Achenar: "Foppish rogues of the Federation such as Zachary Rackham and Sir Randolph Plaskett may feel comfortable wooing trade tycoons with the outlawed weed, but legalising low-cost onionhead would risk the whole Empire collapsing into a stupor!"
The Pegasi Sentinel: "The popularity of 'helix' is steadily growing, and the revenue it generates will undoubtedly benefit those fortunate to live within Archon

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots Federation ALERT*
The Kumo Council has declared war on the Haithis Purple Dynamic Group for the latter's role in supporting Neomedical Industries.
The pharmaceutical corporation's recent campaign in the Haithis system enabled the mass production of onionhead gamma strain, scheduled to be available as a medicinal product from Alliance and independent markets. The drug is currently distributed in a handful of anarchy systems by the Kumo Crew syndicate.
As hostilities erupted in the Haithis system, Archon Delaine broadcast a message for Neomedical Industries:
"Did you truly believe you could steal from us and survive unscathed? Now your allies will pay for your greed with their blood."
In response, CEO Olwyn Kendrick broadcast a call for help:
"This terrifying attack by the galaxy's most vicious pirates may pressure investors to withdraw, causing the entire project to collapse. If so, the

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Empire has officially proclaimed Hadrian Augustus Duval and his wife Lady Astrid Minerva-Duval to be wards of the Senate.
The offer of senatorial protection was made following an NMLA attempt to assassinate them and their unborn child by bombing Dyson City starport.
Prior to being transported from the Paresa system to a secure location, Hadrian Duval sent this message:
"Lady Astrid and I accepted this offer with enormous reluctance. Neither of us wish to abandon our home or loyal followers. Yet we feel it is a matter of duty to protect our family and ensure future generations of the Duval bloodline."
"Nova Imperium will henceforth be known as Nova Paresa. It will continue to serve as a staunch ally of the Empire, as per the Treaty of Paresa. To all those who fought for our cause over the years, I assure you that history will never forget us. Memento Mordanticus!"
There has been public

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

ObscureArtifacts on Instagram has posted a phenomenal photograph of the animatronic Melek costume from Wing Commander 4. It was taken by one of the prop masters behind the creation of the suit and other artifacts used in the game. WC4 Melek doesn't get a whole lot of love, but in recent years I've come to appreciate the look much more. In retrospect, I find the design less bug-eyed than my teenage memories recall. It's starting to feel like a more natural evolution of the look in Wing Commander 3. He's also highly variable. Under harsh lighting, some of the more artificial elements become pronounced, but the warmly lit Melek depicted below looks pretty smooth!

Wing Commander 4: The Price of Freedom (1995)- My studio was hired to create the external design for the games solo Kilrathi character, Melek (Chris Bergschneider) by the animatronics superivsor Bud McGrew. It was a great responsibility and

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We've had a lot of casual Wing Commander fans dropping in this past week to ask about how to buy Wing Commander and get it running on modern systems. There are a number of ways, but the easiest and most popular is to go with GOG.com. And the timing couldn't be more perfect - they have the entire series discounted as part of the Winter Sale. That means WC1/2 and their four expansions are just $1.49. The entire DOS/Windows series is under $12! If you've got some time off during the holidays here, now's the perfect time to catch up with a replay of your favorite WC games!

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Klavs has put together a beautiful new wallpaper of his Rapier cruising through the sky. I really like how rich the color here is with red warning tape, colorful insignia and even orange wing patchwork just like we see on the Bearcat. Everyone is welcome to enjoy the gorgeous imagery, but modders and modelers can also buy the design at Sketchfab. As we've previously mentioned, the proceeds go to help Klavs' family with ongoing medical bills. His Dralthi and Hornet are also available!

Hi everybody, work is continuing slowly on the Rapiers!

I've made the YF-44 available on Sketchfab for a super modest fee. As always, profits will go towards our daughter's continuing medical care. As I release the other variants I'll be continuously updating the other models, so you'll always be able to go back and re-download the version you've purchased once landing gear, weapons, missiles, and cockpit become

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Here's a video from Geeky Dad Gaming about a seminal year in gaming, 1990, and what some of the biggest games of the year were. Origin and Wing Commander take up a big chunk of the clip. He talks a lot about what a big deal the development process was and how it shaped the industry going into the rest of the '90s. Check it out below!

As we round into a new decade, PC gaming goes from strength to strength. The PC game landscape sees the introduction of the big budget release and the birth of a company that would go on to change the whole video gaming landscape. Inbetween that we have a titan of a point and click adventure showing how story and characters were just as important to a good game as graphics and gameplay.