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A few days ago, we shared Michael Pretli's slick take on the Midway class heavy carrier. It turns out that he's also built a Murphy destroyer! It's also quite a looker.

My second gem from 2010 I want to preserve here, also done in Truespace 5.x

My rebuild of the Murphy-Class Destroyer featured in the Wing Commander Prophecy games, though I added quite some additional greebles to it since the original model in the limit game engine from that time was rather undetailed. To give it a more offensive looking capability I added addtional torpedo tubes and a fixed bow weapon to it. The ship also features a small landing bay for shuttles and a few fighters.

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How would you like some French retrospectives on the early Wing Commander games? Well, we're all gearing up to watch the surprise drop of tonight's Strange New Worlds episode (join us on Discord to talk about it!), so this is what today's news post will be. These are actually really good overviews though. They talk about the games at length, of course, but they also hop around and share what some of the magazines were saying, what the documentation was like and give you a more complete time capsule look. It looks like YouTube will do auto-translated captions as well, so anyone can enjoy. Thanks to Greg14 for sharing. Have fun!

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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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The crowdfunding campaign for the Deluxe vinyl pressing of the WING COMMANDER score is in full swing, and the project has now passed 25% of its goal with more than $3800 pledged so far. To get even more fans to join in on the excitement, if a few more people add to the total this weekend and get us over $5000, LOAF will do a live Wing Commander Movie commentary.

The Wing Commander vinyl record campaign is at 25%! To sweeten the pot in absolutely no way, I’ll do a Twitter Space watch-along of the movie if we get to $5k this weekend.

The $75 Deluxe Edition seems to be the most popular so far, but a standard LP is just $35! Learn more about the project here.

Supercade's exclusive new LP editions of the Wing Commander Orchestral Recording Project will mark the first time George Oldziey's orchestral score is available on vinyl. Working with a celebrated independent record press, we'll be sure these records

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Two new starports have been added to Marlinist systems, following a successful delivery initiative last month.
The use of pre-built infrastructures and mass-produced components has allowed the orbital stations to be assembled rapidly. The starport names and locations are Fairfax Legacy in the Hyades Sector SU-C a14-1 system, and Ackwada Monument in the Hyades Sector LX-T c3-30 system.
The Marlinist Parliament welcomed the new starports, stating that they "will lay strong foundations for increased commerce with the interstellar community".
As a result of a recent diplomatic arrangement, two million Marlinist refugees have been offered transport from the Alliance to the colony systems. They are being processed and granted citizenship at the new starports.
A campaign to rename the two existing starports, Stillman Hub and Tilman Point, was discouraged by Sirius Corporation. These stations were

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EmuMusicFan is working double duty this week! To the right he's got another Kilrathi sketch for his growing portfolio. It's his interpretation of a Kilrathi officer from Special Operations 1, Captain nar Raktha.

Even more exciting is a new group read project that EMF is getting started for Wing Commander Freedom Flight. We've done a number of these over the years, but it's been quite a while since the last one. It's kind of crazy to think about, because this is a perfect pandemic activity! It's always nice to get in early on these, so dust off your copies and get ready. If you don't own one, it's easier than ever to purchase a digital edition. It goes for $6.99 at Baen, Apple or Amazon. Discussion will take place on the CIC Forums and #Wingnut Discord, but it's not necessary to engage in any deep analysis. The most important thing is to have fun!

First, please allow me to talk about plant-based

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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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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

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A familiar favorite is still out on patrol. Klavs is plugging away at his Hornet when he has time, and it looks better than ever. This relatively recent iteration moves away from his previous unibody design in favor of a space frame that's a bit more skewed towards the original model. Since we last saw it, this version has more realistically textured hull plating and great little accents like warning labels and the Confed logo. It's a real joy to look at!

Slowly picking away at the details on this thing!

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Hardcore Gaming 101

has kicked off a lengthy two-part Wing Commander retrospective. It's not too uncommon to find a classic review of Wing Commander here or there, but author AB Silvera has gone into considerable depth this time around. The piece starts with a nice introduction to the history of Origin and how the company went from being Ultima-centric to branching out to games such as Wing Commander. That's followed up with some solid backstory on how Chris Roberts found himself making the game in Austin. The article also goes into detail concerning ports and expansions, which is subject we're particular fond of. This includes five-way screenshots to show how people and places could differ from one platform to the next. It's great to see someone spend so much time to scratch beneath the surface! Check out both segments below:

• Wing Commander
• Wing Commander II

'In the distant future, mankind

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The WCRespace team has an exciting new feature to show off: volumetric nebulae for WC4 Remastered! In other words, the pink screen filter of decades past has been replaced by swirling fog that slowly reveals objects out in the distance as you approach. There have also been enhancements to the backgrounds so that starfields in the distance also match this environmental art. Check out the full article on what's new here.

A nebula was just a palette switch in ’96, even by ’99 Freespace 2 had made WC4’s nebulae look incredibly dated.

As always we aren’t polishing before moving on so that we can get the complete game up and running ASAP, but we thought you might like a glimpse at the volumetric fog in its current state. I think it’s already a huge improvement, and the simplicity of the effect doesn’t feel out of place as a replacement for the old palette change.

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There's sad news today: the Wing Commander universe has lost another commander. We've learned that prolific character actor Peter Jason has passed away. Wing Commander fans best know him as Daniel (Eugene) Wilford, a Terran Confederation Captain and a Border Worlds Vice Admiral. Jason's Wilford first appeared in Wing Commander IV where he played the Border Worlds admiral giving orders to Colonel Blair and the Intrepid. Much like Ricardo Montalbán in Star Trek II, Jason never actually shared a set with the rest of the cast: his orders arrived via viewscreen. In Wing Commander Prophecy, Jason stepped in following Jason Bernard's untimely passing and played the Wilford character as the captain of the Confederation's new Midway megacarrier. There he worked more directly with the cast, giving briefings and either praising or chewing out the player based on their gameplay.

To call Mr. Jason in-demand would

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Here's a welcome holiday surprise: George "The Fatman" Sanger has released a new 45-track album covering his work on Wing Commander II and Wing Commander Academy! It's a stunningly curated collection with an excellent introduction from Sanger and extensive notes on individual tracks. It includes not just properly formatted and recorded versions of the final music but also longer versions of tracks that were cut to save disk space at the time. Amazing stuff… and it's just the start! While this release from The Fatman represents his work on the game, curator Xeenmusic has a complete release in the works that covers all of the game's composers. You can learn more and purchase a digital copy on Bandcamp.

ABOUT THIS SOUNDTRACK

My memory of Wing Commander II is foggy and complex, and I am ready to be proven wrong on any of what I recall and say here.

Dave Govett, Team Fat's wizard of and lead composer behind

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Today we're sharing a podcast that Mat Bradley-Tschirgi created and sent over way back in 2016. Look, it's been a rough eight years, and we're a little behind. Better late than never though, since this is a great episode that you should definitely check out. He's assembled a medley of tracks that does an excellent job of taking you on an aural journey through the series. You've got music from WC1-4, the Privateers and even Cobalt 60's techno Prophecy album. There's also an intro and conclusion that set the stage and give a little bit more context. Give it a listen at the KBOO website here!

Air date: Sat, 12/03/2016 - 9:00am to 9:30am

Combining the earnest plots of World War 2 films with an original sci-fi setting inspired by Star Trek and Star Wars, the Wing Commander games were a load of space sim fun. The Terran Confederation waged a years long battle against the evil feline Kilrathi alien race.

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We're now just days away from the big recording session for Origin composer George Oldziey's new album of Wing Commander music! He flies out Friday to Budapest to get everything set up. As a surprise bonus, Mr. Oldziey has managed to arrange an audio link for all backers to listen to as the musicians perform live. Log in to your Kickstarter account for links and details. There will be two four-hour sessions on Monday, August 19: 10 AM to 2 PM Budapest time and 3 PM to 7 PM Budapest time, which would be 4 to 8 AM Eastern US time and 9 AM to 1 PM Eastern US time (that's the middle of the night Pacific US time, but I plan to listen in!).

About to Head off to Budapest!

Greetings WC fans! I'm in the final preparations for travel to Budapest on Friday to record your Wing Commander music on Monday the 19th with the Budapest Orchestra. I wanted to give you all a thank you gift before I go. Below you

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Fun Privateer 2 background element: Angus Santana has a model of a Bexian public transport balloon on his desk.

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Due to popular demand, Mac has rendered out his recent preview animation as a glorious 4K wallpaper. This is the one absolutely chock-full of destroyers, cruisers, carriers, transporters and more. Klavs' iconic Concordia also forms the core of this mega fleet. It must be a challenge to figure out which ship you're supposed to land your fighter on!

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There's some unfortunate news concerning the Xbox 360 and Wing Commander Arena. Microsoft has announced that the console's digital storefront will be closing in July 2024. This means some 220 games, including Arena, will no longer be available for sale in any form. Wing Commander's debut on the Xbox was part of a new digital-standalone push dubbed Xbox Live Arcade. The results were quite impressive given a variety of constraints such as a 50 megabyte download cap and $10 asking price. Arena was the platform's first 16-player game and made heavy use of features like matchmaking and online leaderboards. Although Arena never received a proper physical release, the "demo" of the game was included on the cover disc of the November 2007 issue of the Official Xbox Magazine. These demos could be "unlocked" into the full game, but that function will presumably be removed as well.

Since the game was

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This one's a repeat, but it's so glorious that we can't help but share it again (and will be doing so for many years to come!). Last year, Klavs commissioned this wonderful Cameo clip from Malcolm McDowell to celebrate our 24th anniversary. He fondly remembers both his role as Admiral Tolwyn and how his late friend, David Warner, also got to portray the character. If you missed this earlier, be sure to check it out now!

I must say, I did love Tolwyn. A really wonderful character in many ways. Strong. Very, really cool. ... I'm thrilled that you liked my interpretation of him, because I really went for it, enjoyed it.

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A few weeks ago we talked about the many Wing Commander articles that Hardcore Gaming 101 has written. It turns out they also did a whole podcast episode about the series. They joke about hating on games for being old, but their appreciation for what it does keeps coming up. It's also just kind of fun to listen to a room full of nerds gush about the series. Give it a listen here (jump to about 2:15 for the real content to get going).