21
Apr
Be sure to check everywhere for eggs today!
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22
Apr
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If there's one thing we learned from Highlander it's that there can be only one. No, we actually learned the origin of Paladin's ship's name! More on that in the after action report. But next week's movie is even more of a crowd pleaser: Aliens (1986). So get ready to join the space marines and learn what Wing Commander took away from James Cameron's all time classic. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.
We were first inspired to look at Aliens because of another quote from Chris Roberts' original treatment for the Wing Commander movie. Here he compares his goal to Aliens in a way that frankly makes a lot of sense: they're both movies where the characters are stuck on their own in a terrible situation and drama arises out of how they respond differently to that situation.
"The idea behind this project is to create a film that has the feeling of a tight character-driven rollercoaster
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24
Apr
Display MoreHere's a little treat for anyone that likes looking at rare faces: we've done a set of much higher resolution scans of the Claw Marks wingman and Kilrathi ace heads that were redrawn in the Super Famicom port of Wing Commander I's manual. The original versions appeared in Claw Marks but they actually started life as the concept art upon which the Wing Commander I characters were based! For the Japanese SFC release, ASCII hired a local artist to redraw and colorize them!
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24
Apr
…YouTube channel Tech Talk with Daniel Albu has conducted a pretty cool (and exhaustive!) interview with original Wing Commander composer George "The Fatman" Sanger! He goes through his entire long and storied career and spends some time talking about how he got the job working on Wing Commander and how he was involved in its innovative interactive music feature. You can find the full video embedded below or accessible directly here; the Wing Commander portion is around the 1h43m mark.
The Fatman: But my assignment for the Tchaikovsky thing for Loom was to make Loom sound good on the MT-32. Which was something that I already had proficiency on, that instrument. You know I kind of knew my way around it from having done karaoke versions of things. So that was kind of how I fell into it. So it was always in my mind it was always meant to be MT-32 and then they were somehow pushing the MT-32 as a sound
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24
Apr
…Faulcon DeLacy has confirmed that its Cobra Mk V has entered full production, with deliveries commencing to shipyards across the core systems.
Previously offered via limited release, the Cobra Mk V is the latest evolution of the iconic Cobra line, long favoured by pilots seeking versatility in a compact frame. With improved handling, modularity, and a focus on enhanced compatibility with SCO enabled frame shift drives, the Mk V builds on the reputation of its predecessors with an eye toward modern multipurpose performance.
Faulcon DeLacy's Chief Financial Officer, Taron Raines, offered the following remarks:
"This vessel represents a perfect balance of capability and affordability. The engineering team has created something truly special that honours the legacy of one of the most popular ship designs in history."
"With a nimble profile and excellent performance relative to its size and cost, -
25
Apr
…Independent pilots have helped eradicate large numbers of pirates in the Dhan system.
Following an unusually high increase in piracy across the system's many planetary rings, local security fleets and skilled freelancers worked to eliminate pirates and show criminals that it would be better for them to relocate.
"Pirates are too foolish to give up a life on the wrong side of the law," said Dhan Empire League head of security Harald Gomes. "It's all they know, and all they're good for. But while we can't stamp out crime forever, we can at least send the message that Dhan isn't an easy target. Attack our mining craft at your peril, ya lugheads!"
Gutamaya, thought to have deployed observers to monitor use of its recently released Corsair craft during the conflict, is said to have been 'very impressed' by its craft's performance and the anti-piracy response force in general.
Participants that -
26
Apr
This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Aliens (1986) which was a favorite of series creator Chris Roberts when he was working on the first game. You can find details on that as well as how to watch along with us in the announcement post here. The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!
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26
Apr
…Greetings WingNuts,
What did the Wing Commander movie club take away from Highlander (1986)? Well, if there was just one lesson it pretty much has to be that there can be only one. But we actually found out something pretty interesting with this screening… more on that below! To our modern eyes, Highlander holds up pretty well; it's a very distinct 1980s experience that feels right at home next to films like the original Terminator. It was an era of movies that created their own sets of rules in order to build a universe you could immediately take part in… and here's an example of that formula working very well.
As for the Wing Commander connection, there's no bones about it: Sean Connery's Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez is a lot like how Paladin was originally presented, from his Scottish brogue to his role as a selfless-but-grumpy mentor for your character. I'd even say there's a pretty clear
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26
Apr
My teenaged self would never have believed this but piracy is one of the major forces in preserving our history! Case in point: these screenshots compare two copies of the Wing Commander movie. The first is the commercially available bluray and the second is taken from a recording of the movie as it aired on TV with a Farsi dub! Seeing Wing Commander in another language is pretty cool but there's also something more exciting here: compare the top and the bottom of the two pictures. While the dubbed TV copy is much lower quality it's also clearly taken from an "open matte" version of the film not often seen. As a result, you get to see the entire frame without the 'black bars'.
We'll be on the lookout for more unusual versions of the movie wherever we can find them! You can download the full video here.
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28
Apr
…Bioforge, one of Origin's most eclectic games, recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. Billed as the second of Origin's "interactive movie" products, Bioforge was less Wing Commander III and more a totally fresh take that could have modernized the classic Sierra-style adventure game. (It does share an odd central plot with Privateer 2: the search for your forgotten identity… and Bioforge interestingly plays like a lot of the early Darkening pitches read!) Thanks to GOG, Bioforge is still available and playable today. There's even a dedicated fanbase today with one brilliant person hard at work on "OpenBioForge" which aims to modernize the game's framework. Here's an new anniversary trailer showing off some of that work:
So what's the Wing Commander angle? It's a small thing but interesting: Bioforge and Super Wing Commander share a shuttle! The Bioforge team created a "Mondite Gunship" which is used
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29
Apr
…Wing Commander Academy storyboard artist Tim Eldred is a true old school anime fan; in fact, his spectacular Art Vault website maintains a continually updated, world class section on the anime that inspired him. His familiarity with shows like Space Battleship Yamato and VOTOMS was a clear influence on the board work he did on Academy.
When he was designing the character sheets for the Tiger's Claw deck crew (first seen in The Most Delicate Instrument) he included a little Easter egg intended primarily for the shows' Japanese animators but too small to really appear on the show: a tattoo of Captain Harlock's distinct skull emblem on one of the crewman's forearms. Well, those animators took the nod seriously and you can ever-so-briefly pause the show to find the tattoo!
Space Pirate Captain Harlock is a 1978 anime series about the pirate crew of a starship defending Earth from an alien invasion from
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29
Apr
Display MoreThis month's analysis of the influence held by key figures in the core systems has arrived, courtesy of Conrad Sterling of Vox Galactica.
His latest survey of system populations suggests the following five powers enjoy the largest sphere of influence:
Rank 1: Edmund Mahon – 1,461 systems
Rank 2: Aisling Duval - 1,436 systems
Rank 3: Arissa Lavigny-Duval – 1,366 systems
Rank 4: Yuri Grom – 1,041 systems
Rank 5: Li Yong-Rui – 860 systems
The largest increase in system influence belonged to Li Yong-Rui who can claim an additional 59 systems as supporters.
Vox Galactica will provide another update on the state of the powers next month. -
30
Apr
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Game over, man! Aliens remains a nearly perfect movie, the Wing Commander movie club had a great time revisiting it. This week we're going in a slightly different direction but one with plenty of action: we will be watching Die Hard 2 (1990)! You know, the Die Hard everyone forgets about. Die Hard 2 was the first sequel to the 1988 classic. It takes Bruce Willis' John McClane to the east coast where he battles terrorists at a Baltimore airport. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.
The Wing Commander connection here is slight but pretty interesting: the original art list for Wing Commander Privateer references Die Hard 2 as the inspiration for Commodore Reismann, the officer Admiral Terrell puts in charge of ambushing the Steltek drone. Here's his original, surprisingly lengthy character description (note that Tolnidan became Gemini):
Commodore Hans Reismann: Commodore Reismann has
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30
Apr
…Migrants are flocking from the core systems to begin new lives in the thousands of recently established colonies.
A wave of independent colonisation efforts over the past few months have increased human territory considerably. While many of these star systems have been classified as 'waypoints', with singular docking outposts for journeys between systems with wider infrastructure, a significant number have been expanded with multiple starports and settlements.
It is these that billions of people are now heading towards in the hope of starting fresh. Workers and their families are starting to arrive in large numbers, bringing with them a major boost to economic output.
With the influx of population, the new colonies will be more capable of producing their own colonisation-related commodities, with economies now driven by linking installations and markets placed throughout the system. Analysts -
01
May
…I'm always fascinated to find brief glimpses of Wing Commander that aired on TV and I thought of another vector for them: 3DO advertisements! So I spent some time digging through material archived by 3DO fans to find a few glimpses of Super Wing Commander and Wing Commander III that aired on national TV.
First is a 1994 advertisement called "Stop Playing with Toys" which includes a brief clip of Super Wing Commander! Watch carefully to see part of the Scimitar takeoff sequence. Fun fact: both of the 'toys' thrown away at the start, an SNES and a Genesis with Sega CD attached, also have excellent Wing Commander ports.
Then we have a 1995 advertisement called "Welcome to the REAL World" which incudes a brief clip of gameplay from Wing Commander III. The available copy is pretty low resolution but it's clearly the player flying a Hellcat and destroying a Dralthi.
Super Wing Commander also appears in this
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03
May
This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Die Hard 2 (1990) which informed a very minor character in Privateer. You can find details on that as well as how to watch along with us in the announcement post here. The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!
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03
May
…Greetings WingNuts,
The Wing Commander movie club is pretty universal in this one: Aliens is as close to a perfect movie as you can make! We greatly enjoyed revisiting it last week and it's such a good film that we could probably do it again soon.
In the treatment for the Wing Commander movie, Chris Roberts described it as being like Alien in that the character drama emerges from the fact that everyone is totally cut off from reasonable rescue or help. And he was right, both movies certainly do chase that goal… although the isolation you feel in Aliens is much more effectively delivered. Of course, Aliens' greater legacy to Wing Commander and across most science fiction was the colonial marines. James Cameron's mixing of future space warfare with Vietnam-styled American soldiers feels like a lightning bolt… they would be aped endlessly including in Wing Commander III, IV and Prophecy.
Here are the two
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03
May
…Here's a first: a bit of Wing Commander-adjacent history reported by my wife! She came across a cover story about Freddie Prinze Jr. from the February 2000 issue of Seventeen on an Instagram account called imstuckin.1999 which provides a bit of a look at how he was marketed to teenage girls around the time of the Wing Commander movie! It even quotes Matthew Lillard and notes that they became friends on set in Luxembourg. And great news for collectors: the magazine had two different Freddie Prinze Jr. covers!
During the release of Wing Commander I remember working closely with the "fan girls" running news sites like ours but for Freddie Prinze Jr. and Matthew Lillard… and frankly, it was a lot more interesting way to interact with people than bickering with other gamers! And while we're at it, here's something else to preserve for posterity that doesn't really fit anywhere: a Freddie Prinze Jr. gag
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04
May
…The physical copies of Origin composer George Oldziey's new Wing Commander album are now being mass produced, so Mr. Oldziey has shared a few samples of what to expect. He's posted the finalized graphics files for both the CD and vinyl album art. There's also sample audio copies of the vinyl album so you can get a taste of what it will sound like in long form! Backers can log in to the project's Kickstarter updates for the links.
Greetings all, and thank you for your amazing patience. Both the CD and vinyl products are (finally) in production as we speak. In the meantime I want to share all the cover art as well as the vinyl audio files for you to check out. The vinyl audio is obviously divided into two long audio files which will give you the opportunity to listen to the tracks in sequence without having to click on individual files. One note about the side A file; it starts with a 60 second
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05
May
…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
