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Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Raph Koster

has posted

additional

snippets from his upcoming book on video game development,

Postmortems

. This time he provides a glimpse into the incredibly ambitious economy that Privateer Online was supposed to include. This includes complex guild mechanics, a virtual stock market and an offline web-based interface for certain tasks. Pretty wild for the time! The 700 page paperback publication is still slated for June 26, but ebook editions are starting to trickle out. The

B&N Nook

version is already available at just $20.

Another feature of Privateer Online that arose out of its heavily commerce-oriented gameplay was its in-game stock market... which may not have worked the way you'd expect. Long before Farmville, MMOs were exploring asynchronous play. There were player vendors in UO, of course, but in Privateer Online we planned to extend that to a fully player-driven economy. I mean, we were

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

This report presents the latest data on starports experiencing technical issues as a result of Thargoid Sensor related interference.

The following starports are currently closed:

Ciferri Enterprise, Hidatsa

Darwin Orbital, 82 Pegasi

Kennan Vision, NLTT 14879

Landis Orbital, Prajau

Pirate's Lament, HIP 17519

Rafferty's Mobius, Azrael

The following starports continue to experience technical issues:

Schwann Port, Hajangai

Meanwhile, the following starports are on the brink of closure:

Mayer Hub, Kulici

Thornycroft Settlement, Kulici

Forbes Terminal, Algorab

Guidoni Station, 79 Ceti

al-Din Prospect, Alpha Centauri

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Quote from Star Citizen News-Bot

Every week, designers, engineers and other developers from our five offices around the world answer backer questions submitted on SPECTRUM and voted on by YOU. This week, we address questions on life support, updates to the Phoenix and Freelancer and some sort of signal interrupti—

You can submit your questions for consideration in future episodes of Calling All Devs here.

And for info on becoming a subscriber, go to: Subscriptions - Roberts Space Industries | Follow the development of Star Citizen and Squadron 42

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

The Hur’q are swarming across known space, and the Dominion is fighting a losing battle of attrition against a numerically superior foe. At no point in the long history of the Gamma Quadrant has the outlook been so dire. Allies are needed, as are updated batches of Jem’Hadar, bred to be leaders and trailblazers, born to reclaim their lives through Victory. From June 5th to July 18th, new Dominion captains will be known as Gamma Recruits, and they will be bred with the knowledge and capability needed to defeat this threat, save the Dominion, and ensure its future dominance over the Gamma Quadrant. As with previous recruitment events, the Gamma Recruitment Event represents an unprecedented opportunity for getting a leg-up on progression. Not only do Gamma Recruits themselves benefit from additional rewarding tasks while the event is active, but they will also be capable of earning additional

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

New Features: Create a Jem’Hadar Captain: Create a Jem’Hadar Captain from the character select screen. These Captains begin at level 60 upon entering the game. After choosing a faction, Jem’Hadar Captains can fly most of their chosen faction’s ships. Upon completion of the new Gamma Quadrant Arc, Jem’Hadar captains will gain access to their chosen faction’s episodes prior to the events of the Gamma Quadrant Arc. All accounts will receive 1 free additional character slot to make a new Jem’Hadar Captain. For more details, please visit the Play as a Jem’Hadar blog at: Play as a Jem'Hadar in Victory is Life! | Star Trek Online Jem’Hadar Recruitment Event: For a limited time between June 5 and July 18, there will be a Jem’Hadar recruit event where all Jem’Hadar captains created during this time will be able to unlock rewards for the player’s entire account by completing

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The

Maslas

Brothers

have revealed DefianceIndustries' awesome

Talon

in the Wing Commander

Flat Universe

engine. It looks great! Every angle reveals more beautiful detail. This is also a reminder and plug for the WCFU tournament coming up in two weeks.

Sign up

now to participate in the multiplayer extravaganza scheduled for June 23rd & 24th.

Are you a religious man? We've got you covered. The wait is OVER! The F-38R Talon is here with this... spread the word... of the Lord!

You gonna fly this baby on the tournament June 23rd /24th of June.

Enlist NOW and Die by the very weapons you adore!

the MaslasBros

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Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

More copies of the Wing Commander movie came today: first, a German budget DVD (with Titan AE) and a US VHS with Spanish subtitles! The Spanish subbed version of the movie’s box changes the description to be about how Freddie Prinze Jr. and Matthew Lillard are friends in real life. WEIRD!

And Betty, when you call me, you can call me PAL. It’s the UK VHS release of Wing Commander!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Here are this week's major stories.

The Socho system, headquarters of Aegis Core, has been overtaken by the Socho Gold Raiders, a criminal faction. The system is now in a state of anarchy. Aegis personnel, including Dr Mia Valencourt and Professor Alba Tesreau, have appealed to the galactic community to help free Socho from the criminals.

In related news, Aegis has announced that its Eagle Eye initiative has helped to repel Thargoid forces from systems in the Pleiades Nebula. Admiral Aden Tanner, Aegis's chief military liaison, said that Thargoid incursions in the Lwalama and Lalande 4141 systems had been resisted due to the early warnings provided by Eagle Eye.

The Pilots Federation has reported that five independent ships have been attacked by terrorist organisation the League of Reparation, with the loss of all crewmembers. But the taskforce investigating the League made a breakthrough when

Quote from Star Citizen News-Bot

Get a detailed look at ship scanning and radar systems, the full scoop on the stealthy Aegis Eclipse, and your monthly Squadron 42 project update.

Quote from Star Citizen News-Bot

Don’t scan so close to me! Designer Kirk Tome and engineer Mark Abent answer questions LIVE regarding our new scanning system, coming online in the upcoming Star Citizen Alpha 3.2.

To watch Reverse the Verse LIVE each and every week, tune into Twitch.

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Though the troubled times of the Dominion War are in the past, the repercussions of that tumultuous era are still felt to this day. Even now, with even larger threats looming over the region, iconic starships from the fleets of those days can still be found aiding the efforts of the heroes of the Milky Way. Both of these starships feature unique combinations of features never before seen in Star Trek Online, which we’re excited to be able to highlight. The Jem’Hadar Light Battlecruiser [T6] will be the first ship to ever feature two (2) Commander-Rank bridge officer seats, including a rarely-before-seen Commander-rank Universal bridge officer seat. It still has the same total number of seats as other T6 starships, but this unique configuration should offer players some interesting opportunities for ability selection. The Maquis Raider [T6] will be a full-featured Miracle Worker Primary

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

It’s almost time, Captains. Next week, Victory is Life launches on PC, bringing you back to the characters, locations and stories of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for the first time in 25 years. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is one of the most beloved Star Trek series in history, but we know it might have been a few years since you’ve watched the entire thing, and you might want to catch up before Victory is Life launches. We’ve got you covered – while you don’t need to have seen any of these episodes to understand Victory is Life, watching them will give you a bit of extra context that might make the expansion that much more meaningful. Without further ado, here are the episodes the Star Trek Online developers recommend you binge before Victory is Life goes live: Season 1 Episode 13 – Battlelines Season 2 Episode 26 – The Jem’Hadar Season 3 Episode 1 – The Search, Pt. 1 Episode 2

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Pilots Federation has reported that five independent ships have been attacked by terrorist organisation the League of Reparation, with the loss of all crewmembers.

No details have been released regarding specific names or locations, except that three of the ships were attacked in Alliance-controlled systems, one in a Federal system and one in Imperial space.

The Pilots Federation also confirmed that the message 'FOR JAMESON' had been etched by laser beam into drifting hull fragments from all five ships.

Captain Niamh Seutonia, a member of the tri-power taskforce investigating the League, released this statement:

"We are treating these incidents as terrorist actions by the League of Reparation, targeted against people with ancestral connections to the INRA. Analysts have been despatched to all five locations."

"Meanwhile, we have determined that League agents receive their orders via

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Vintage PC Ads

has unearthed a really cool Privateer advertisement that we may not have seen before, but it has some striking similarities to a couple of other contemporary ads that were launched about the same time. The text starts off "In 2670..." which is a

common

issue

dating back to some point before they cemented the game in 2669. Confed and the Kilrathi are "still at war" here, whereas "the war rages on" in

other

publications. We've seen "death, slavery or dishonor" elsewhere, but this text changes "a chance to make a quick buck" to "chance to make a fat living." Fascinating!

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

The Ferengi have seen the return of the Dominion, Odo, and the Hur’q as the opportunity of a lifetime. Using Gamma Quadrant supplies and Ferenginar’s own munitions factories, they have come presenting a medley of new armaments for the Alliance’s disposal. Not surprisingly, the Lobi Consortium has also joined in this cause and brought the fruits of their endeavors. The following are some of the brand new items in the Deep Space Nine Lock Box – Holographic Deep Space Nine Bridge Officers to join your crew and away teams. A Vanity-Only Ferengi Shield, allowing a player to take on the visual look of classic Ferengi ships, capable of dropping from the Weapon pack. A Lobi Hunter Ground Set based on the Tosk Hunters in the DS9 Episode, “Captive Pursuit”. Ferengi-Inspired Outfits Based on the attire of familiar DS9 characters, see below for more details and images. The Deep Space

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Greetings Captains, Tim ‘Suricata’ Davies here! One of the highlights of my job as a marketing artist is when I occasionally get to work on the Okudagrams for Star Trek Online. Back in 2014 I created the MSD for the Voyager bridge, and over the years I helped out here and there, such as with the Engineering LCARS for the Galaxy class interior and, more recently, with the huge array of Cardassian panels on the DS9 revamp. With the upcoming Expansion ‘Victory is Life’, it seemed like a good time to take on a side project I’d had on the backburner for a while, a new Defiant MSD to give out as a poster at our conventions! I’ve always been a huge fan of the Defiant so it was great to finally get around to working on this poster. Instead of just releasing the wallpaper though, I thought it might be interesting for some of our players to actually see the process that goes into creating these

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Odo and the young Jem'Hadar haven't gone very far past the wormhole in the Gamma Quadrant when a Dominion patrol ship neared. "Well, you've been waiting all your life, short as it may be, to meet your people,” Odo said to his traveling companion. “Now, you'll get your chance. I hope," Odo paused, looking for the right words, "I hope you'll be happy." "Are you sure you want to go back to the station,” the young warrior asked. “Don't you belong here? Your people are here – you are a Founder!" Before Odo could convince himself, again, that he made the right decision, the other ship hailed them. He sighed, "On screen." A female Vorta appeared, "Greetings, Founder. Did you change your mind? Are you coming home to us at long last?" "I see word of my existence has made it throughout the Dominion. Hmph." "It’s best said that such information is at a ‘need to know’ status, Founder.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Former Origin veteran

Raph Koster

has just published a new book titled

Postmortems: Selected Essays Volume One

. Mr. Koster was lead designer for Ultima Online and went on to develop

Privateer Online

before its unfortunate cancelation. He then was hired by Sony as Chief Creative Office for Star Wars Galaxies, Everquest and many others. His new book goes back to look at the "postmortems" of the many projects throughout his career - after-action reports, lessons learned and critical analyses about what games did right, did wrong or could be improved on in the next iteration. It promises to provide some fascinating insight behind the scenes of game development. And in the run up to its impending publication, Raph has released a handful of snippets that tease various sections. Today's example provides a glimpse at his reflection of Privateer Online! The full book is available at

Amazon

.

My new book

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Aegis has announced that its Eagle Eye initiative is proving to be a great success, and has helped to repel Thargoid forces from systems in the Pleiades Nebula.

The Eagle Eye orbital surveillance installations were established earlier this year to monitor transmissions from known Thargoid surface sites. This data is then made available to independent pilots.

In an interview with The Federal Times, Admiral Aden Tanner remarked:

"I have no doubt that without this surveillance data, more starports in the Pleiades would have been attacked and damaged. Only last week, Thargoid incursions in the Lwalama and Lalande 4141 systems were vigorously resisted thanks to the early warnings provided by Eagle Eye."

"We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to those brave Commanders who have engaged the Thargoids in battle. Aegis was established to help protect the galaxy, and with the help of courageous members of

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Following Thargoid strikes on the fringes of the core systems, a new initiative to restore damaged starports has been announced.

Chief administrator Carter Armstrong spoke on behalf of Aegis Core, which is coordinating the campaign:

"We've set up this fund to reassure citizens that normality will continue, no matter what. I would like to appeal to the galactic community to restore services in the core systems to their previously high standard."

An open order has been placed for construction materials, which will be shipped to the affected starports and used to make repairs. Pilots are asked to make their deliveries to Dantec Enterprise in the Socho system.

The campaign begins on the 31st of May 3304 and will run for one week. If the final target is met earlier than planned, the campaign will end immediately.