18
Mar
If you kind of squint, it looks a little bit like a clover...
This is a repurposing of Music_Guru's green Dralthi, which is itself inspired by SNES Secret Missions' green Salthi/Jalthi.
News categories list
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11
Mar
LeHah spotted a new Wing Commander autograph opportunity. SWAU is offering Freddie Prinze Jr signatures via its website for the next month. There are a lot of photo choices associated with his role in Star Wars Rebels, but it's nice to see that they have five WC Movie options as well. The final press kit shot with Prinze in marine armor is less common to see, so that's a fun inclusion! You can place orders here. Prices are a bit steep at $95, but autographs are expensive these days!
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17
Feb
…Last week, we talked about Privateer 2's palette feature which allows any ship to appear in the livery of any of twelve factions. We didn't mention that this was being noted in the service of helping AllTinker add the correct default style for every ship in a future release of the incredible Originator. There were actually two additional options we didn't show in the last post: the Heretic's actual color yellow and blue scheme and this final seemingly unused one (note how this one also changes the color of the cockpit glass from green to blue).
In this process of studying this, we did manage to find somewhere in Privateer 2 that the system is actually used: for generating the 'booth database' images of ships! If you look closely at the different registration entries (and a few other places) you'll see different ships appear in all sorts of different colors! The system isn't actually used internally but
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05
Jan
Today we have a very cool flythrough of a set of Space Engineers maps by Jason Musgrave. We've seen a handful of impressive designs over the year from Wing Commander 1 to Privateer to WC4, but WC3 was relatively untapped territory. Now we're getting three-in-one by way of a fantastic TCS Victory, plus a Confed cruiser and Kilrathi carrier. There are even fighters across the deck that you can get inside. Phenomenal effort on display here!
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04
Jan
It's a new year, but we're turning back the clock today with a new batch of retro reviews found by Maxi de Sokar. The first is a wonderful five page spread in PC Review for Wing Commander 3. It starts off with a couple pages of "behind the scenes" info before launching into the actual review. Then we have a quick take on Super Wing Commander for the 3DO by Micromania. Finally, there's a six page spread in OKPC about Wing Commander 4. I love how much space was dedicated to these new releases at the time!
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11
Nov
…Klavs is back with a gift to share with Wing Commander fans this week. He's officially releasing a handful of enhanced 3D models that were put together over the last couple years. The direct art assets were originally available in exchange for a donation towards his family's medical bills, but now they are available at SketchFab for free. Hit the links below for links to each. These designs have made their way into a variety of fan projects over time, and we're excited to see what else fans can do with them!
Hi everyone, the Wing Commander redux models are now available for free on Sketchfab. MANY many thanks go out to those who purchased them, your support is so greatly appreciated, and if we ever meet in person I owe you a coffee!
They are a little rough in spots! As with the original models, I was using them as a way to learn substance a little better.
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17
Sep
…Prompted by a handful of questions at the CIC Forums, AllTinker has provided some updates that detail his ideas and plans for the Confederation project. It's some nice insight into what's in store to expand the capabilities of the original WC1 engine. Here's what he had to say:
I've been working on it on-and-off since 2016 or thereabouts, but posting about it (or more the community response) has been a big motivation boost.
I plan to implement [enhancements] gradually in layers, but yes - ultimately some kind of dynamic/strategic campaign system is exactly the sort of thing I'd like to implement.
The current plan is that the first layers of that will actually be released prior to the WC1 campaign being fully playable; i.e. simple preset or dynamic scenarios to test things out.Having the WC1 campaign fully playable is the primary goal until it's achieved, but the way we'll get there will be a little
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02
Sep
TONIGHT! I’ll be streaming to talk all about Voices of War, one of the greatest game manuals ever written! 8 PM Eastern on YouTube. Here’s a PDF of the booklet if you want to study up!
Check back here closer to start time for the YouTube link! -
22
Jul
GOG is holding a new "Make Classics Last Forever" sale, and Wing Commander is included. This one is slightly unusual. All of the main games plus both Privateer 1 and 2 are marked down as you might expect. Armada and Academy are oddly absent, however. Still, it's a wonderful chance to add the majority of the series to your collection, and it's a good bet that the missing pair of spinoffs will make their way into a different sale soon! Each discounted title is $1.49 for 75% off. Thanks to LividLiquid for the tip!
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17
Jul
It's been several years since our All Wings Considered live Wing Commander show has been in production, but LOAF is trying to get his space legs under him again. He's messing around on YouTube this evening in a totally unstructured stream about the WC Movie's Confederation Handbook. Check it out below!
In 1999, HarperEntertainment published the Wing Commander Confederation Handbook. Was it the greatest book ever written in the history of the world? Yes. Let's talk about it!
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07
Jul
Tonight's rabbit hole: I noticed that Privateer has two different internal sets of names for its commodities, one used in the exchange (and on your PPC) and one used on the in flight manifest. Some are the same but others are different. "Movies" becomes... "Moviechips"!
Games become Gamechips, Books become Bookchips. And PlayThing (tm) becomes...!
So I ended up extracting everything and making a Spreadsheet of different commodity names across six sources (three in-game, three from the Playtesters' Guide). It also shows what type of container displays for each:
Found some cut content, too: traces of the ability to eject passengers and a list of additional story-specific items that were cut when the plot was shortened: Alien Crystal, Alien Device, Ancient Gun, Alien Machinery and Alien Metal! -
10
May
…Aegis has confirmed that the first ships equipped with Thargoid pulse neutralisers have entered the inner regions of the Maelstroms.
The new module provides a temporary shield against the electromagnetic pulse that is generated when ships reach a certain point within the Maelstroms. Until now, this has prevented all attempts to identify what Thargoid constructs may exist within the caustic clouds.
Rear Admiral Daniel Parry, the Federal Navy's liaison to Aegis, reported:
"Armed ships crewed by military and xenology specialists have now been sent into each Maelstrom. These pathfinder missions will attempt to gather as much tactical and environmental data as possible."
"We have also received information from Commanders who returned intact from the Maelstroms' core areas. We are unable to authenticate these accounts at present, but they are being collated and analysed. The Allied, Federal and -
22
Feb
…President Zachary Hudson's proposal to remove the eight-year limit on his term of office has led to public unrest on many Federal worlds.
Supporters of Shadow President Felicia Winters have taken the lead in protesting against the Hudson Contravention, which is currently being debated in Congress.
The situation has been extensively covered by newsfeeds across the Federation:
Federal Free Press: "As always, Felicia Winters is the only grown-up in the room. She has rightfully objected to the sitting president's attempt at throwing away the rulebook. Repealing the 77th amendment would be a fundamental blow to our millennia-old democracy."
Sol Today: "What's the choice here? Retain Hudson for a few more years until things calm down, or hand power to Winters and watch the Federal government weaken and collapse under a weight the shadow president cannot possibly bear?"
The Federal Times: "Moderate -
03
Nov
…The Washington Post (or more specifically, their Launcher video game section) has run an article about video game franchises they'd want raised from the dead. Wing Commander gets top billing as their first series on the list, which is always great to see! Since this is Halloween-themed, each game also gets a small piece of zombie artwork. In WC's case, there's a disembodied hand on a joystick with a familiar reticle superimposed on top. You can check out the full article here.
Wing Commander
We all know Mark Hamill once saved the universe while waving a lightsaber in a galaxy far, far away. But did you know he also saved Earth by dropping a tectonic bomb on the war-hungry planet of Kilrah? Then he followed up those heroics by staving off a civil war through exposing the plans of a warmongering admiral played by Malcolm McDowell, whose character’s motivations preceded those of Call of Duty’s
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04
Oct
…This one isn't strictly WC-related, but longtime Wingnut and CIC visitor Vidmaster has released a free tabletop game that looks pretty neat. It's a work in progress that's ready for prospective players to print and play at home. He describes it as a "near future space exploration board game." The universe is built via a grid of tiles that you assemble, and there are plenty of detailed cards and interface pieces to get acquainted with. Everything you need to go get going is available here. Vidmaster is looking for feedback from Wing Commander fans who might be into this, so you can help follow up at the CIC Forums. It makes me wonder what possibilities are out there for fans who want to take something like this in a WC direction!
I made a super-niche board game again. It is free. This time, it is a solo-experience, that is a board game played by one person only (something I considered ridicolus
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02
Sep
Eryx Channel has posted a video about the "Evolution of Wing Commander Games." It's a simple clip with edits of the games as they appeared in the franchise, but a few things caught my eye. Games like Academy, Armada, Righteous Fire, Super Wing Commander, Kilrathi Saga and Arena are included, which is always really great to see. It's kind of odd they added in WC Saga at the end, because the rundown should really just go through 2007. Fan projects like WC Saga are wonderful, but there are a bunch of awesome ones that could warrant their own complete video. Also, that's a Star Citizen/Squadron 42 screenshot in the thumbnail, which is extra weird because it's not even in the clip!
Oh, the other thing that caught my eye is this stellar comment:
I liked this series because my dad would always be on top of the newest release in the series.Those were the good 'ol days!
That's where we are now, folks.
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17
May
…The German Shock 2 gaming site has posted a new speculation piece about the potential for a new Wing Commander game. They base this on comments in Jeff Grubb's GamesBeats show. As the story goes, EA Motive of Star Wars Squadrons fame is working on a new game that's a comeback of a popular franchise. For many years, Wing Commander was in a distant third place behind Electronic Arts' other space sim franchises, Star Wars and Mass Effect, so prospects were slim. A lot has changed lately with Star Wars going non-exclusive and the mixed fortunes of the Mass Effect franchise. This means Wing Commander is certainly a potential contender once again, although the stars would need to align for a viable project to actually see the light of day. It's only a matter of time though, and we'll be here to bring you the news when it happens!
Google's translate features are working better than ever these days, so -
17
Dec
LOST SHIPS! While Wing Commander 3 is chock full of completed-but-unused assets, Wing Commander 4 has very few. And here they are! First up, this Black Lance carrier is pretty sleek:
Here's a Confederation carrier under construction; it's NOT the TCS Princeton (CV-48) which appears in the Speradon series so it's not clear at all where this would've been used.
And the last one I've found so far, a unique Border Worlds starbase.
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12
May
…We've got an update on the exciting news that Peacock will be carrying Wing Commander Academy as a launch title. None other than DefianceIndustries happened to work on the service, but never thought to check for anything related to Wing Commander. He's been able to confirm the show will be included and answer some of our preliminary questions:
A simple X1/Flex voice remote search for "Wing Commander Academy" will bring the show up. All thirteen episodes are included with a generic series description for each. It's hard at this point to get a side-by-side quality comparison with the DVD, but it's definitely a big step up from some of the unauthorized downloadable/streaming copies available over the years. Resolution appears to still be SD and basic closed captions are also available. We can't wait to get our hands on this for ourselves - it's always wonderful to find a new way to experience Wing
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21
Mar
…Priority One: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast, sat down with Lead Designer Al Rivera this week, to talk about everything that went into the 10th Anniversary! You can hear the interview below, or follow this link to the full episode. Here's their episode description: This week on Priority One --- Santiago Cabrera discusses Holos, Frakes reflects on finding Riker, Pete Challenges Pat to Trivia, and Short Treks gets a Hard Copy. In Gaming news, we sit down with Star Trek Online Lead Designer Al “Captain Geko” Rivera and review the latest happenings in the Star Trek gaming multiverse…. Then, we look On Screen to episode 8 of Star Trek Picard - “Broken Pieces” .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:
