News categories list

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Taja Gavaris, the new CFO of Rackham Capital Investments, has been accused of having a criminal background as a pirate leader.

Journalist Bryanna Blanco made this declaration in The Federal Times:

"During my reporting on multi-billionaire Zachary Rackham, I have become convinced that he and many others employed by Rackham Capital Investments were once pirates, who laundered their stolen money and moved into legitimate business."

"New research has proved that Taja Gavaris was once a criminal rival of Rackham. I believe that Gavaris used her knowledge of Rackham's past to blackmail her way into his organisation, and is now challenging for ownership by eliminating his loyal supporters."

"The Federal Times has published many similar revelations about 'Calico Zack' over the years, yet no criminal investigation has been established. Perhaps this time the authorities will investigate before Gavaris's

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Buffy the Vampire Slayer didn't quite live up to the highs of the franchise that followed but it was an interesting little movie… just one that fell short of the premise or its colorful cinematography. This week, we're returning to space with one more movie in 'part one' of our series: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Our connection to the making of Wing Commander once again comes from the March 1992 art list composed for Wing Commander Privateer which notes the following for the external design of Perry Naval Base: "Perry Naval Base: Perry looks very similar to the orbiting base in Star Trek." This would be the massive orbital starbase facility first created for Star Trek III and then reused extensively in later features and serieses. Perry Naval Base is one of the signature designs in the game, making a significant appearance on the box

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Warning: This update contains spoilers for the ending of Privateer 2: The Darkening.

As is often the case, the topic several nights ago on Discord turned to Privateer 2. While talking about the game's conclusion, Chris Reid thought to ask: is there any significance to the 'Arris' in his fake name?

To back up: the reveal close to the end of Privateer 2 is that you are not, in fact, Lev Arris but Vell Ricaud II, the long lost first son of the founder of Ricaud Interplanetary. The head of the Kindred, "Kronos", is really your twin brother Sar Ricaud. The booth system will eventually tell you that Ricaud Interplanetary is "the largest industrial concern in the Tri-System" and there are various small hints that Sar has turned it into the Kindred. When you decode the memory solid later in the game the report says that "also the names Larn Regis and Vell Ricaud occur over 150 times, as well as the name Ricaud

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Greetings WingNuts,Midway represents another decade forward in our exploration of war movies that influenced Wing Commander and while several of us remembered it fondly from our youths what we found was that it was very, very slow. The first hour plus is a lot of Dambusters-style maneuvering to get us to Midway and it just isn't something you'd see in a movie today. And then the battles themselves are nowhere near as spectacular, a mix of colorized stock footage and not-quite-believable airplane props. We haven't gotten to Tora! Tora! Tora! yet but I'm betting it's going to hold up better. I also want to especially thank Dundradal, who showed up for the night to offer his experience as a professional Pacific War historian despite being a new father! Get some sleep, pilot.

While several interviews and other production material notes that Midway was used as reference for the Wing Commander movie's VFX

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

As a Wing Commander fan you're probably wondering, "What's WC3's Ginger Lynn Allen up to lately?" We've got you covered, and the answer is quite a lot! On top of a steady stream of adult content, Ms. Allen has been heavily into art lately. She has an online gallery of acrylic paintings where prints run $50-150 with larger originals going for $1600+. She also has a variety of handmade jewelry for sale on the site. It's good to see that she's remained in touch with her sci-fi roots as well. Check out a little teaser prosthetic she shared from an upcoming production!

All girls feel fat some days. This painting was inspired by my ass.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Today we've got an old recording of Mark Hamill being interviewed on the Craig Kilborn talk show to promote Wing Commander Prophecy. Wing Commander was a rare crossover hit in the mid '90s with promotion on television shows like this. The interviewers would typically not have any experience with the material, which contributes to how out of touch they seem. The humor is super cringe and Kilborn is obnoxious, but it's an interesting look at the time. I do appreciate that it would be lost if not for people like jahwilly transcribing their old VHS tapes!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

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.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Is there anything more thrilling than the Wing Commander I box art? Despite the claim that “what you see is what you play,” it’s not a screenshot but a digital piece carefully composed by the incomparable Denis Loubet.

Back in the '80s, games would commission stunning traditional artwork for their boxes. The biggest purpose was to attract eyes in stores but they also served as a kind of ‘primer’ in an era of simple graphics. That green-and-black smudge you battle is actually a cool dragon!

Of course consumers are fickle and tastes change. By the end of the '80s games were more complex and their art had a much more distinctive style. Origin needed a new way to stand out. And their first answer was… male models.

Luckily, that experiment ended before Wing Commander! It looked so impressive that they felt showing the game itself was the way to go. So Mr. Loubet had to use the graphics that were ready to get

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
The missing megaship Dedicant is close to being located after fragments of its distress call were tracked down.
The scrambled messages were discovered on comms beacons in the LP 714-58, Wuniez, Olurung and Kwakimo systems. Combined decryption efforts eventually led to another beacon in the HIP 19912 system, where the Dedicant's original transmission was revealed:
FEDERAL ESCORT TEAM ALPHA
ASSIGNED TO ORDER OF THE FAR GOD MEGASHIP 'DEDICANT'
PRISONER TRANSFER MISSION HAS FAILED
SIGNIFICANT NON-LETHAL DEFENSIVE MEASURES ENCOUNTERED
MAJORITY OF ORDER OF THE FAR GOD PRISONERS ESCAPED
PRISONERS INITIATED DEDICANT HYPERDRIVE
ESCORT TEAMS ALPHA, BRAVO, CHARLIE AND CULTISTS REMAIN ON BOARD
'DEDICANT' CURRENT LOCATION UNKNOWN
ADVISE TRACING METADATA COORDINATES TO THIS MESSAGE
REQUEST IMMEDIATE FEDERAL NAVY ASSISTANCE
Vice Admiral Amir Rafiq of the Imperial Navy provided an

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The Digital Antiquarian has completed his long-awaited analysis of Wing Commander 4. He started digging into the series way back in 2017 and covered the first couple of games in a series of articles. His WC3 review dropped in 2021 and now he's dug into WC4. It's a long article that's far more thorough than most overviews in print, although it doubles down quite a bit on the somewhat overplayed criticism than too much money went into the film shoots compared to the spaceflight engine. I would argue that there was little more to iterate gameplay-wise given the very short production time. WC4 was slated to arrive just one year following WC3 - right after Origin had spent a considerable amount of time (starting with Strike Commander and then forking into Armada) making the leap into proper 3D. Until the arrival of 3D accelerator hardware later in the '90s, there just wasn't much more they were going

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

It’s been nearly a week since the demo for WC4 Remastered was released, and the game has been a big hit so far! Hundreds of fans have fired it up and the feedback is very positive. Players have been posting their recorded sessions online and word has spread to other news sites such as DSO and PC Gamer. If you haven’t yet tried it out, the WC4 Fan Remake team has posted helpful instructions on how to get things running. There’s even a tutorial on loading to a Steam Deck! Grab the main installer for yourself right here (900 Meg exe).

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 Wing Commander News-Bot

Here's a nifty demo disc from LOAF's vast collection. It's similar to the Origin CD Shortplays sampler that includes Wing Commander 4 and Crusader: No Remorse plus Cybermage and BioForge. The latter two are missing here, but Wing Commander takes up an even bigger proportion of the disc art. The Wing Commander 4 demo was absolutely enormous for the time, so miscellaneous preview discs like this were one of the main vectors for people to try it out. A lot of Wingnuts obviously own the main game and didn't feel the need to hunt down the demo, but there is a really cool unique mission included. It even lets you pick up a stormfire gun in space! Fortunately you don't need to hunt down your own copy - download links to each of the three different variants are included below.

Several versions of the Wing Commander IV Demo exist. The first included a cinematic trailer and was released on magazine cover

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

General: Lifetime Subscription updates: The following unlocks have been added to the Lifetime Subscription perks for Jem’Hadar characters: Veteran uniform options. A Veteran ship material option for Jem’Hadar Starships. The Jem’Hadar Vanguard Heavy Destroyer [T6] and Fleet Jem’Hadar Vanguard Heavy Destroyer [T6]. Note that your character will have to complete the tutorial mission before these perks will become available to your character. For more details, visit the, “Jem'Hadar Veteran Rewards!” blog at: Jem'Hadar Veteran Rewards! | Star Trek Online The ability to buyout the previous Coupon Progress Token Event, which is now called Event Campaign, has been added. Players can access the buyout in the Reputation UI where the old campaign progress is located. Any previous progress while playing Operation Riposte, Crystalline Cataclysm, and The Arena of Sompek

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Starting November 12th, new Strike Wing Escorts are being made available on the C-Store for Federation and Klingon characters, along with their respected allied members among the Romulan and Dominion factions! These new vessels will be available in both Non-Fleet and Fleet variants. Special Introductory Pricing Discount! From until November 12th at 8am PT, to November 18th at 10am PT, you can get these ships for 2400 ZEN each when purchased individually, or a bundle with both ships and a 50% off Tier 6 ship coupon for only 3200 ZEN! Thereafter, they will return to their normal pricing at 3000 ZEN when purchased individually, or 4000 ZEN for the Bundle. Fleet versions of each of these starships will unlock upon completing your Fleet Starbase’s Tier 3 Shipyard. The standard Fleet Module discounts apply if you have purchased the ships from the C-Store. And here are the stats on these exciting new

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

From December 3rd to January 2nd, 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: Vulcan Experimental Scout Vessel! Also known as the Jellyfish, this exciting vessel uses both new and old tricks, like Red Matter and Pilot Maneuvers, to keep it a Slippery Target. It also features a new Torpedo Launcher as a powerful defense mechanism. ** Complete stats/abilities of the Vulcan Experimental Scout Vessel are included at the end of this Dev Blog – keep reading for more information! In addition to this new starship,

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The News Collections section is where we package up sets of news updates that follow a specific theme for easier consumption. Here are a few we've just added:

• Point of Origin, the internal newsletter of Origin Systems, Inc. from 1991 to 1998.
• Star*Soldier Gloss, a page-by-page breakdown of Arena's manual.
• Wing Commander Props, a closer look at various objects from the live action shoots.
• And Wing Commander on the 3DO takes a closer look at two remarkable titles.

Previous collections include our memorials for developers and artists that have passed away, an overview of our anniversary updates and the April Fools slates.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

We recently posted a guide to where to find all of the 'named' Kilrathi aces across the first three Wing Commander games. Once it was published I was immediately inspired to expand the guide to include all of the 'Drakhai' pilots that appear in the first two games. Drakhai are the Kilrathi Imperial Guards, ace pilots that must have killed eight Confederation ships in order to receive the assignment. The Drakhai are introduced in Secret Missions 2 (replacing the named aces for that campaign) and then appear throughout Wing Commander II and its addons. In Wing Commander II they have distinct pilot profiles but they aren't labeled as Drakhai on your VDU–making it more difficult to know where to find them all!

Secret Missions 2

Firekka System Mission 1 Alpha Wing

• 1 Gratha (Unknown, wave one)
• 1 Krant (Unknown, wave two)

Firekka System Mission 2 Kappa Wing

• 1 Dralthi (Between Tiger's Claw and Nav 1)
• 5 Jalthi (Nav

Quote from Crossfire Image-Bot

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Boxography has posted a fun video where they go through and unbox the contents of the original Wing Commander. We've seen a few of these pop up in recent years, and this one is great because the narrator lovingly examines each piece with such care. He mentions that he's actually a relatively new fan of the series, but the whole clip just highlights what a timeless classic the game is. Check it out below!

Ship specs, blueprints, an in-universe military magazine, some lore sidebars, and more. Origin went all-out on the contents in this box.

You can also follow Boxography on Instagram.