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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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The Federal Intelligence Agency has discovered an intact cryogenic pod underneath an outpost once used by Far God worshippers.

Freelance reporter Alexei Keel broke the news on Vox Galactica:

"The FIA survey team had been scanning the abandoned base on Etain 4 c with customised military sensors. It's thought this operation is part of a search for a missing undercover agent who infiltrated the Far God cult."

"A faint power source was detected in a collapsed underground chamber, which led agents to a solitary cryogenic pod hidden beneath tons of debris. Once excavated, it was conveyed to a medical facility where efforts to safely revive its occupant are now underway."

"There was no way of identifying who is inside the pod. But it seems likely that they are one of the adherents who recorded audio logs at the site, prior to entering suspended animation to await the Far God."

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This is the fourth in a series of updates that will highlight five fascinating items from our first search through the Video Game History Foundation's new Digital Library. We're sure there are countless treasures to uncover, so be sure to dive into their collection and post what you discover to the forums!

Here's another cool, likely otherwise forgotten collection from the VGHF Digital Library: the original black and white "3DO Club News" newsletters that were mailed to early adopters of the unpopular (but well-Wing Commandered) game console. The fourth issue is from February 1995 and includes multiple items of interest for Wing Commander historians. The first is a neat two page preview of Wing Commander III 3DO, coming in a couple of months:

WING COMMANDER III: HEART OF THE TIGER

Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger is more than just the sequel to the best- selling flight simulation game of all time.

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It may not have been the smartest course of action, but we've all been there (there being the Alcor System after the destruction of the Behemoth).

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Ever wonder why Righteous Fire had such an elaborate rendered intro focused on a mech you never see again? It was leftover content that was originally cut from the base Privateer game!

The scene was created as a losing endgame which would play if you landed with a negative credit balance. To save space, the design was tweaked to make that case impossible. RF’s writer wrote a new script for the existing footage explaining your Steltek gun was stolen!

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Klavs has produced a glorious sequel to his recent Bearcat wallpaper. This one features three Hellcats zooming through the air - of both the old and new variety. It's the culmination of a model we've seen Klavs working on for over the past year. Although the Hellcat doesn't strike me as the most aerodynamic design, there's just something about how it hangs in the air that looks really good. And while it's not the most powerful offensive force, a few of them can put down some solid firepower!

DefianceIndustries: Are those rivets done via texture or physically modeled?

Klavs: I do both nowadays, if they're flush they get bumped, if they're proud they're modeled. The rivets on the Hornet are all flush except in a couple specific cases. The panel lines are likewise modeled.

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We are BACK! The latest episode of ALL WINGS CONSIDERED is live now! All Wings Considered is the CIC's first ever streaming variety show which features news, conversation and gameplay relating to our favorite series. This week's Nav Points include:

• Wing Commander III - Torgo on the 3DO
• Remembering Syd Mead
• Bengal-class carrier names

Missed the stream? The replay will be available below once it has been processed by YouTube. You can subscribe to the AWC channel for future notifications here.

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Great reward after a long week: two more Wing Commander CCG paintings! Dralthi IV vs. Hellcat V, as nature intended.

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Nenid opened her eyes, only to see the worried face of Centurion D’mev staring down at her. “Status report,” she said hoarsely, having taken in a lungful of smoke during the last exchange of fire. Coughing, she got to her feet with the junior officer’s assistance and took a seat in the command chair. “Preferably before the Tholians manage to find and destroy us, if you please, Centurion. “ D’mev blanched before speaking. “Commander, we are under cloak, per your orders. A Tholian fleet is massing within the Azure Nebula; it seems we encountered their vanguard during our investigation of the temporal anomalies there.” Nenid nodded as she called up tactical data to the main viewscreen. And in a moment, a mission of science becomes a mission of war, she thought silently. “Engineering,” she said as she activated her command channel. “What’s our situation? That volley from the Tholians

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Our new poll asks about some of the most underappreciated games in the series. The "A-games" are all considered secondary titles, but each one fills a significant niche. We pulled Privateer from the list since it routinely gets plenty of accolades, but Privateer 2 has its own pros and cons that affect its popularity. There are also quite a few much lesser known ports that are remarkable in their own way. Prophecy Advance took a modern 3D accelerated game and managed to fit it on a tiny 2003 vintage handheld cart. Sega CD's version of WC1 includes full speech, Super Wing Commander is a complete revamp of the original and the 3DO port of WC3 has a slew of new missions, weapons and gameplay dynamics to suit the console. We think every game on this list deserves more credit, but you can just pick one this time around!

The old birthday poll asked when fans first arrived at the CIC. Once again, the

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Last year, we reported about the discovery of the original stock photo behind Blair's pinup in the Wing Commander movie. Today, we've discovered another one: meet... "The Champion!". He's the figure who appears on one of the pinup posters in the Tiger's Claw's lounge in the Wing Commander movie, most visible behind Maniac just after the pulsar jump.

To create the prop they placed him in front of a Confederation logo along with text that reads CHAMPION with an additional text bock at the bottom. It's obscured but it looks like his name ends in 'PACHO' and then there's text that partially reads MARTIAL ARTS and 2653 below him. Most interesting of all, the graphics department seems to have added a Kilrathi text tattoo to the stock photo model's bicep!

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Awesome resource via Dennie Edwards! I found Wing Commander III in the 1996 catalog. And Strike Commander in 1993, which was the result of a boots-on-the-ground sales campaign from Origin that got massive preorder numbers for Strike (on the back of WC1's smash hit status) from Radio Shack and Walmart.

RadioShackCatalogs is an excellent resource for nostalgia-craving tech fans! The site offers high quality scans of 66 years worth of Radio Shack catalog. We've done the hard work for you, though, and have located the one listing for a Wing Commander game: Wing Commander III in the 1996 catalog! Chris Roberts' Strike Commander appears in the 1993 catalog, which was at the time an especially important new distribution deal for Origin.

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The phenomenal expansion of the CIC Holovid video archive continues! Having recently vastly expanded what was available for Privateer 2, LOAF and AD have moved on to Wing Commander Prophecy. Their complete catalog of the game's cutscenes includes every clip in high quality, complete with transcripts, storyboards, alternate languages, variations and branching choices depicted. The game's ICIS mission briefings have also been digitized and transcribed, and THOUSANDS of in-flight audio communication clips have been added. This even applies to the 3Dfx Test and playable demo. Plus, a fun variety of behind-the-scenes and bonus videos are available as well. You don't want to miss it!

Here's LOAF with more detail:

• A page for every cutscene in Wing Commander Prophecy! Each page embeds the cutscene in question and collects all sorts of bonus materials:
  • The alternate, higher quality DVD footage
    • The German dub

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CMDBob is back with a pair of eye-popping Wing Commander art pieces. The look is slightly inspired by the animation style of the Star Trek Animated Series, and we can most definitely see the connection! First up is the BWS Intrepid, complete with battle damage. You can see a little Banshee fighter launching from the deck, which is depicted zooming out of the bay in the second picture. You can also find his recent Confed destroyer image here. I love this series!

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An independent explorer has reported an unusual incident involving a Thargoid vessel, hundreds of light years away from the ongoing invasion.
Commander Renia Rakowski told her story to Vox Galactica:
"I'd been gathering exploration data for weeks without seeing another soul. Boring, I know, but I like a quiet life. As I jumped out of the Wregoe GA-X B3-0 system, my ship rocked violently and I panicked, thinking the hyperdrive had failed. I barely saw it at first, black against the black of space, until its outline glowed. A Thargoid interceptor. Just like on the newsfeeds, but right outside my canopy."
"I've never been in combat before, and my ship carries no weapons anyway, so I thought this was the end of me. My heart was drumming as I stared at the alien, and it stared back like some giant lidless eye. A writhing light lashed out, this rasping howl came over the comms, and then… it left.

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I couldn't find a legible scan of the Origin FX box online, so here's a quick one:

Beautiful Kamekh render, though!

Does Origin FX even have a Kamekh in it? Technically yes, since it includes a copy of Wing Commander II's post-credits cutscene and that is indeed a closeup of a Kamekh's hull:

Learn all about the Origin FX screensaver/theater at our newly expanded and upgraded wiki page here!

Origin FX is a 1993 screensaver package developed by Origin Systems and published by Electronic Arts. Origin FX comes with 26 different 'movies', the term it uses for screensavers. Several of the movies include elements from the Wing Commander Universe including an air show which has jets and spaceships zoom around your desktop and an asteroid field that soars through familiar Wing Commander space debris. The movies are all customizeable. Origin FX also includes an slideshow option which plays bitmap files; two

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I'm just loving how Symphonic Remakes is starting to make their way through Privateer, which is chock full of moody and edgy music that really takes me back to the Gemini Sector. Their latest reorchestration tackles the game's initial spaceflight and combat music. Listening to this really conveys the sense of launching in your Tarsus or Centurion, heading out into the unknown and encountering some dangerous foes.

If that's got you wanting more, here are a couple of their earlier Privateer tracks!

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The King of Grabs has turned his attention to the Wing Commander series. The concept here is to take a whole pile of screenshots for all sorts of classic games. We love giant walls of WC screenshots, so this is right up our alley. They do run into a bit of a classic pitfall: there are dozens and dozens of pictures of WC1... which are all flying the Hornet in the Enyo System. Likewise, the WC2 images are all flying the Ferret in Gwenydd. It's a missed opportunity to see a greater variety of ships and some of the cooler late-game set pieces, but it's still a pleasing sight. Stay tuned for Hellcat dogfighting in Orsini!

Wing Commander was developed by Chris Roberts and his team at Origin Systems and first released for PC MS-DOS in 1990. It’s a classic cockpit-based space combat game with cinematic cut scenes, and it developed into a long-running series. The Wing Commander series.

Wing Commander is

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Today we have another look at DefianceIndustries' gorgeous digital interpretation of the tabletop fan game TacOps. It's got a more purpose-built table now, and a variety of amenities are being implemented to make the game function and flow better. There's also two exciting additions: the Sartha and Ferret. The picture of them below looks almost real. With more quality of life improvements in place, Defiance is planning to start some playtesting soon. Sounds like fun!

To quote Gold Leader: "Almost there...." I revamped the game using the Chimera table which made more ergonomic sense. Currently it's set up for 2 players (with an option for 4, though the table seats 6 so you could go nuts)

I added a bowl of pegs so you can track the status on the ship cards easier, added a copy of the rules for each side, as well as all the missile tiles (DF, HS, IMREC, FoF, Torp). It's about 90% there for some