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Now let's take a look at some of the background vehicles that did make it into the game!

This is TRUCK, CART and CARGO which drive through Perry Naval Base. Truck and cart also appear on the mining base.

LOADER is a variant of truck that appears in the ship upgrade room. From the dev files (and the Oxford promo shot that started all this!) it looks like they intended for these guys to appear on the landing screens too.

This is the first of several CAR models. It drives through the New Constantinople concourse scene (in both directions.)

Perry's pad vista has this blink-and-you-miss him fellow: a tiny SHUTTLE that comes in from the left entrance. I can't believe they built so many tiny models (large at the time) for background animations that weren't more than a few pixels in the final game.

New Detroit's landing pad has two vehicles flying around: JACKO and AIRCAR.

New Detroit's street level has another CAR

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

New year, new Originator! AllTinker is kicking off 2024 with another release to his impressive Wing Commander modding and hacking tool. New features include a better reader for hex editing, support for more WC3 elements like cockpits, improved decompression of Privateer 2 contents and more. You can download the updated package here!

Version 0.2.03 (2024-01-01)

• Improved the hex viewer; added hover highlighting between hex/character views, also fixed an issue with larger font sizes.
• Added support for packed WC3 shapes (e.g. for cockpits), and more IFF-embedded shapes in general.
• Added automatic decompression for IFF chunks (QFS/Deflate), which is especially relevant to Privateer 2. As usual there are many palettes still requiring hook-up logic, so colours will be wrong in many cases for several games (including P2).
• Added "Experiments" (under "Tools") which I will be adding to over time. Currently the

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Did you know that Wing Commander III has THREE different official guides?!

I thought it would be fun to compare what ships, wingmen and loadout each book recommends for each mission. And I was right, it was extremely fun.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Alliance has ended medical isolation for all citizens who were rescued from the Titans after being abducted by Thargoid vessels.
Prime Minister Edmund Mahon's official declaration was published by all newsfeeds:
"The Assembly has agreed that quarantine procedures for everyone recovered from the Titans are no longer necessary. Those who hail from an Allied system are being transported from the secure facilities back to their families and communities. Their long nightmare is over. We are sending our people home."
"I call upon the governments of the Empire, Federation and independent systems to follow our lead with their own citizens. We must not treat these unfortunates as criminals or laboratory specimens. During this dark time of war, let our humanity shine through."
Some medical institutes such as Kamadhenu Medipure and Vandermeer Corporation opposed the Alliance's decision, claiming that

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Analysis of objects and refinery compounds obtained from Thargoid spire sites has revealed a crucial connection to the Titans.
The announcement was made by Professor Ishmael Palin, who has been receiving deliveries of these materials from Pilots' Federation members:
"Genetic commonalities between the spire compounds and Titan hull fragments have now been verified. My research suggests these surface sites have been established to harvest resources which sustain the Thargoid motherships in some way. It may be that their supplies of some vital enzymes or fuels are running low, after months of being deployed away from their home worlds."
"To capitalise on this newfound understanding, my team has synthesised a biological contaminant based on the chemical composition of the samples. Introducing this to a spire's processing chain can only help our efforts to disrupt their invasion plans."
Dr Maximo

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

We're still in recovery mode here, so the team is taking it easy today with another ASMR style ambiance video from Scribbler. This one's a little more laid back than his other recent WC3 additions. You can hear the familiar hum of the Victory's engines and the elevator opening in the background, but this time there's also music playing. It's not quite the swankiest of Oldziey tunes, but it's a nice background track!

Mission successful, report submitted, off to the bar and finally peace and quiet. Let's grab some snacks and good cocktails. A little card games or charming conversations? Or just chill. We're not doing anything tonight.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Lady Florence Lavigny is recuperating from a serious illness, but the experience has prompted her to call for changes within the Imperial Family.
Official sources confirmed that the Imperial Mother remains under constant medical supervision at her home on Topaz, following a successful surgical procedure. Emperor Arissa Lavigny-Duval has now returned to the Imperial Palace on Capitol, and is being regularly updated about her mother's condition.
Countess Guinevere Lavigny, cousin to the Emperor and niece of Lady Lavigny, also visited Topaz. She told a local reporter:
"My aunt is now able to communicate properly for short periods, and is dwelling on the past a great deal. She talks about wanting to bring together our entire family, and resolving minor disagreements which have lingered for too long. This is something that my brother Lucius and I have always felt is long overdue, so I hope she

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Van Burnham has posted an update on the next phase of the campaign to produce a Deluxe vinyl pressing of the WING COMMANDER score. While the initial Indiegogo effort didn’t hit the funding goals necessary to kick off production, Van is working the numbers and determining what it will take to move forward from here. The album was initially projected for next year, so there's still time to work through options and figure out how to close the gap and make this a reality. Of course, Wing Commander fans are nothing if not patient. Stay tuned for future updates!

Hi everybody... thank you so much for supporting this project. I'm incredibly excited to make the Wing Commander orchestral score on deluxe vinyl a reality. That said, it goes without saying that I'm disappointed the campaign did not reach it's minimum funding goal and am in the process of sorting out some issues with this platform as a result. I

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The Wing Commander Confederation Handbook is a book that's presented as a fake web browser... and since it's from 1999 it's full of absolutely garish banner ads. And here they are, collected from the book's layout files! I could sure go for a warsop egg.

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We see so few clips of modern YouTubers and streamers trying their hand at Prophecy for the Game Boy Advance, so I'm always eager to share the ones that I run across. Here's a mission from fastrun14. It doesn't really sound like they enjoyed the experience - the game controls take some practice to get used to - but it's wonderful to appreciate the technical aspects here. Check out the 3D autopilot effect and the paint scheme on those Piranhas! And wow to the "mission accomplished" spoken audio at the end. It's hard to avoid comparisons to the 3D accelerated PC version, but the game is running on something less than a tenth as powerful as the minimum PC specs here. What Raylight achieved never ceases to amaze!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here's one from deep in the archives. AD found an interview with the Fat Man and Team Fat in an early 1995 article of the New York Times, before they even started posting stories online in 1996. This one's been turned into a digital story for completeness so future generations can learn a little about the state of early game audio. It goes a little bit deeper than your typical magazine blurb. The conversation begins very similarly to many other interviews George Sanger has given over the years, but it also delves into some of the side-projects and other attempts that he was trying to use to expand his business. These are portrayed as controversial, but it sounds more like they were trying to throw everything at the wall to see what stuck - which a lot of folks were doing in this new media space at the time! You can read up on the whole article here.

Starting with "Loom," one of the first computer

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Starting today, we’re making some much needed updates to the Duty Officer Packs on PC, and having a massive sale on our Infinity Promotion Packs – both Research and Development and Duty Officer! These packs can open into a T6 Starship, including the classic Constitution Class and the brand new Section 31 Battlecruiser! Here’s the updates we’re making: We’re adding a Duty Officer Pack Bundle, with a starting, pre-sale price of 1000 Zen. This pack includes a Fleet Pack, a Delta Pack, a Gamma Pack, and a Romulan Pack. Each of those four packs will now have an additional Uncommon and Rare Duty Officer. The Reinforcement Pack is being retired. The Tuffli Freighter from the Reinforcement Pack is now a potential reward in the Gamma Pack, replacing the previous potential reward of four fleet modules. The four fleet module potential reward is being removed from the Delta Pack, and we are

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Starting this Thursday, we’re launching a brand new weekend event, the Admiralty Bonus! From February 27th at 8am PT to March 3rd at 10am PT, your Admiralty missions will give out bonus rewards! During this special event, you’ll find that all of your assignments give out double Campaign XP, allowing for faster progression, no matter who’s missions you’re completing. Get in good with the Ferengi, serve the Federation or the Klingon Empire, or help rebuild the Romulan Republic. In addition, all Tour of Duty missions will award bonus Dilithium Ore during this event! As part of our ongoing efforts to balance the game’s economy, we’re also making some changes to how Admiralty rewards work. Specifically, we’re changing the rewards on two of the Tour of Duty campaigns. The Klingon Campaign will now offer 50,000 Fleet Voucher Dilithium as a reward, and the Ferengi Campaign will now offer

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

From October 10th to October 31st, we are running a promotion that will provide an additional bonus when opening a Research and Development Pack. When you purchase a Research and Development Pack from the C-Store and open it, you will receive either 10 Lobi Crystals or a Special Requisition Choice Pack - Tier 6 Promotional Ship Choice Pack in addition to the Research and Development Pack. We are excited to announce a new addition to this Promotional Ship Pack: The Freedom-class Exploration Frigate [T6]! Everyone needs a hobby, and for many, that hobby is retrofitting and flying antique starships – the more classic, the better! A recent incident where one such hobbyist from the future took their prized starship back in time to attempt to view the exploits of a certain prominent Admiral led to a confiscated starship. The civilian-grade technology of the future is potent. The future tech the

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Attention! We’ve doubled our efforts to give Captains the necessary experience to deal with threats to the Galaxy. From Thursday, December 19th at 8AM PT, to Monday, December 23rd at 10AM PT, players will be able to enjoy twice the experience! During the event, content that provides skill points and expertise will reward a 100% (2x) Bonus above normal amounts – this bonus will be available for all content that rewards skill points and expertise. .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: 0; border: 1px solid transparent; -webkit-transition: opacity .3s; transition: opacity .3s; } .share-footer .TI { background-position: 0 20%; } .share-footer .YT { background-position: 0 40%; } .share-footer .YT {

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

LeHah tipped us off about the news that legendary visual futurist Syd Mead will be receiving a highly prestigious William Cameron Menzies Art Director's Guild at the organization's upcoming annual event. Mr. Mead is mostly known for his work on the original Star Trek movie, Blade Runner, Tron and Aliens, but he's actually had his hand in a wide range of products. These include Wing Commander Prophecy where he was responsible for a couple of the new ship designs as well as the Nephilim themselves!

Most recently, it's been reported that he's enamored with the new Tesla Cybertruck, saying it's "stylistically breathtaking" and "has completely changed the vocabulary of the personal truck market design."

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In an exciting reversal of longstanding platform rules, Apple now allows emulation programs on iPhones and iPads. This means a large number of new devices now have access to emulators capable of playing Super Nintendo or Game Boy Advance games, for example. Delta is the first legit console emulator that has made its way to the app store. It's free, and it has some great features such as AirPlay to TV and support for Xbox and other controllers. Even the on-screen controls seem to work well. LOAF did some cartridge WC game tests, and the results were very impressive! Here's some tantalizing screenshots:

The Delta emulator they just released in the iOS App Store is the coolest f*cking thing I’ve ever seen.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

We're one week into Origin composer George Oldziey's mission to make a new live reorchestration of Wing Commander music, and the numbers are very impressive so far. The campaign is nearly to $15,000, which is very close to the $16,000 minimum threshold when combined with additional support from superfan Matt Hiltner. This gives us great optimism that an additional $6000 to add a live choir to the mix will be possible. Next up, however, is another anecdote about his experience creating the music at Origin in the beginning. It sounds stressful, but the results were well worth it! For additional context, George posted side-by-side photos of him then and now. You can also listen to that final WC3 patrol track below:

Your browser cannot play this file. Click here to download the track.

Hi everyone. First of all, BRAVO for getting us so close to the target so quickly! I'm already hearing that

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

We post magazine scans of Wing Commander articles from time to time, but most of those date back to the '90s. It's not too common for those kinds of pieces to show up much past 2000, but AD spotted what appears to be an extensive WC3 article in the latest edition of German magazine PC Games. Their May 2024 issue has an extensive retrospective on the game. It looks like the writeup is also available online here, but it'd be a pretty cool pickup in person as well! Here's the English translation for those who need it.

You can get the new PC Games 05/24 from your newsagent from April 19th - either as a magazine edition for 6.50 euros or as a particularly lavish extended version with 16 extra pages, two full magazine DVDs and digital full version for 8.50 euros.

Wing Commander 3 was brilliant 30 years ago - and is still a masterpiece today

In 1994, Wing Commander 3 pushed PC systems to their limits and

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

We've got a delicious update today on WC4 Remastered. Pedro reports that the team is digging deep into the ground missions of the game. As is usual on a project like this, once they started peeling back the layers of the original, things got complicated. This has necessitated some clever solutions, which have been detailed in a new WCRespace article. A few options include taking some artistic license and deviating from the original experience slightly, but this should produce a more engaging product overall.

The first issue was to add support for loading the terrain and we had to ensure that the models which we had full transforms for lined up exactly as they did in the original game.Classic buildings and terrain.

We have accomplished this and added support for terrain collisions. The ~1 million vertex original terrain can be rendered on modern hardware in a single draw call – but still that’s