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Symphonic Remakes is back with a double dose of reorchestrated Wing Commander music - FOUR new tracks to help make your weekend more fun. Victory, Mission Objectives, Mission Failed and Kilrah are up on this week's slate. They're each lovely tracks in their own way!
Aug
The party has been rocking in #Wingnut on Discord, but we're taking it to the next level with a co-stream on YouTube! Check it out here!
Oct
The Turkish VHS has been added to our international cavalcade of Wing Commander home video releases!
Turkey also got the film on VCD!
It's always great to come across odd localizations of the Wing Commander film that we missed in the past. On display today we present 'Cesaret Kanatları', as the film is known in Turkey. Roughly this title translates to "Wings of Courage," which I think has a nice ring to it! The Turkish distributor of the Wing Commander movie was Ozen Film, which also distributed the Chris Roberts produced Outlander in that country.
Oct
A Twitter account dedicated to Turkish Movie Posters has found a copy of the glorious design for Wing Commander - or Cesaret Kanatlari! It's a nice high quality image here, so we're happy to share it in this format. We've seen this art in more squished forms a number of times over the years for items like the VHS or VCDs, but I don't think I've personally seen the full poster quite like this before. Tchéky Karyo, who played Paladin, was born in Istanbul.
Feb
…The Combat Information Center team is proud to announce that we will be launching the Wing Commander community's first-ever weekly streaming show. The first episode of ALL WINGS CONSIDERED will air on YouTube this coming Thursday, February 21st at 7 PM Eastern. All Wings Considered is a live, weekly and informal look at the Wing Commander universe and fandom which includes gameplay, behind the scenes stories, community news and an ever-growing collection of regular segments and features! We've been developing the show for several months now as an outlet for our love of the series and are excited to start sharing with the rest of the world.
The first episode of All Wings Considered will also include the first iteration of a Wing Commander book club! This week we will be discussing the first four chapters of Wing Commander: End Run and everyone is welcome to join the live conversation via the WCCIC
Apr
AI chatbots, AI generated art and AI everything else are super hot this year, and the CIC is always working hard to keep up with the latest trends. So we've put our best engineers and computer scientists (Kris) on developing our own Wing Commander generative art engine (beta). Type a Wing Commander topic in the box, hit the button, and see what you get! Keep in mind, there may be a few quirks...
May
Display MoreNow that the Talon's out in the wild,
DefianceIndustries' focus shifts to the Gemini Sector's other workhorse, the Tarsus. It's kind of a shame you don't actually run into them out and about, because the design is just so darn charming. Perhaps some of the allure is simply because it's your own unique home away from home out in space for so much of the game. There have been some
amazing lookingTarsus models made over the years, but this is certainly one to watch!
Sorry boys, I'm just a tourist with a fragged nav console - can you tell me where I am?Well..... you can't have a Talon without giving it something to shoot at.
Nov
…THRILLING ART NEWS! It turns out that the amazing cover to Wing Commander: End Run was NOT painted by Paul Alexander (as credited)... but David Mattingly! And... HE SELLS PRINTS AT HIS WEBSITE! Cool kids will know David Mattingly for his Animorphs covers while extremely hip gentlemen will know him for his Honor Harrington ones.
End Run credits its cover art to Paul Anderson - the same as Freedom Flight, Fleet Action and Action Stations (which was commissioned for the WC3 novel). Those other three look like Paul Anderson paintings, though, and End Run kind of sticks out in its style. The painting was certainly sold years ago as a Paul Anderson original, but now that we have this super high res photography:
His wizard art is also worthy of song:
I don't know if there's a story behind the incorrect credit... but it's worth remembering that this is the same series that also credited a whole book to the
May
…*Pilots Federation ALERT*
As the Assembly votes for its new leader, Prime Minister Edmund Mahon has requested mined tritium to aid expansion.
The new initiative follows on from his successful drive for industrial materials, which resulted in large amounts of ceramic composites, polymers and superconductors. Pilots who contributed to this can now collect their rewards from Dublin Citadel in the Gateway system.
A competing community drive by Councillor Nakato Kaine, Mahon's main rival in the election, brought deliveries of copper, micro-controllers and polymers.
Prime Minister Mahon's new tritium mining initiative aims to provide a stockpile of fuel to support the Alliance's expansion programme. This will involve constructing up to five new starports, which are expected to be operational within a month.
Mined deposits of tritium can be delivered to Dublin Citadel in the Gateway system.
Members
Jun
Display More*Pilots Federation ALERT*
Prime Minister Edmund Mahon's request for mined tritium has concluded, paving the way for new Alliance starports.
Large quantities of tritium were delivered, which will provide fuel for a civil infrastructure programme designed to increase the Alliance's presence.
As part of this expansion, new Alliance starports will be constructed in these systems by the 25th of June 3307:
LHS 2522
Sharru Sector FW-W c1-19
Prime Minister Mahon, who was recently re-elected by the Assembly, told the media:
"The economy of the Alliance will benefit greatly from investment in expansion. These new stations will provide more opportunities for individuals and corporations alike."
Pilots who mined and delivered tritium can now collect their rewards from Dublin Citadel in the Gateway system.
Sep
To celebrate the recent 30th birthday of Wing Commander 2, Guybrush_SF posted several wonderfully colorful vintage reviews from French magazines. I've said before that I love the bright '90s aesthetic of this era, and the WC2 color scheme just adds to this. Tilt gave the game 19 out of 20, Joystick awarded a perfect 100% and Gen 4 was close behind at 98%. I couldn't agree with these epic scores more wholeheartedly! You can find some of our past coverage from Generation 4 magazine on both WC1 and WC3.
Dec
…*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
The birth of Hadrian Duval's son has been celebrated in grand fashion in the Paresa system.
Praetor Leo Magnus, the new leader of Nova Paresa, publicly thanked pilots for delivering Chateau De Aegaeon, HR 7221 Wheat, Indi Bourbon and Yaso Kondi Leaf to support these highly exclusive proceedings. Payment is now available from Dyson City starport.
Political journalist Cassia Carvalho discussed the arrival of Hector Mordanticus Duval in The Imperial Herald:
"As Emperor Hengist's illegitimate grandson and former enemy of the state, Hadrian Duval has always been the outsider. Indeed, his newborn son's middle name seems deliberately chosen to remind the Emperor that she ordered Hadrian's mentor, Imperator Mordanticus, to be shot in cold blood."
"But over the last two years, Hadrian's position has gradually shifted from isolationist rebel to legitimised ally. He appeals to
Mar
…The Alliance and Sirius Corporation have negotiated a three-month probationary period for its proposed anti-xeno defence agreement.
In response to a summons by Councillor Nakato Kaine, CEO Li Yong-Rui appeared in person before the Assembly. As part of a longer speech he stated:
"I fully understand that, in order to be effective, the strategic defence pact requires broader political support. But to share its details before the Alliance can experience its benefits may lead to hasty decisions."
"Instead, we propose that Sirius Corporation is provided with an opportunity to demonstrate how we can enhance Allied security against the Thargoids. At the end of a contractually defined period of time, the Assembly can review the pact and decide whether or not to continue with our partnership."
Following further discussions, Yong-Rui accepted that the probationary period would be reduced to three months
Jan
…The Federal High Court on Mars has opened the trial of Fleet Admiral Lucas Vincent, who is charged with conspiracy to commit murder and treason.
Vincent stands accused of organising the sabotage of Starship One in 3301, resulting in hundreds of deaths.
The Federal Times's crime correspondent Ethan Takahashi reported:
"The trial began with the prosecution counsel outlining the case. Material evidence obtained from Chief Technician Rory Webster, whose testimony led to Vincent's arrest, was presented before the jury."
"Vincent was questioned about a secure transmission from his office to the presidential vessel on the 24th of May 3301, ordering an unscheduled diversion to the Azaleach system for routine maintenance. This is where Webster's engineering team followed Vincent's orders to install the sabotaged hyperdrive component that caused the misjump."
"Evading the questions, Vincent claimed that
May
…AD was doing some digital deep diving into Privateer 2's code and managed to extract this tantalizing menu image. It's a lot different than the game's own menus, PAD interface or anything else in the game, so he set out to learn more. P2 developer Paul Hughes explained that this was actually from a separate tool that allowed for fast travel and easy debugging of the game during development. That app may be lost to time, but it's neat to see this remnant that survived!
AD: I pulled this pic out of Privateer 2. There's some minor references readable in the code, but what nobody has been able to figure out is if there's actually a way to access this in the actual shipped game. Any insight?Paul Hughes: Gosh, that takes me back, I had to trawl back through the code to remember what I did. That was actually a standalone app written by Tony S that tested different sub-sections of the game - the PAD, the
Sep
…The Blair character bio Universal included with the press kit it so strange. His dad is a space hippie? And his grandma is a senator? He idolizes a World War I fighter pilot? Most of this is never referenced anywhere.
"WING COMMANDER ACADEMY"
FLIGHT MEMBER DOSSIER
Name: Christopher Blair
Callsign: Maverick
Callsign Origination: Maverick received his callsign as a joke from Maniac. When after months as the "perfect" cadet at the Academy, Blair actually bent a rule, and Maniac sarcastically told him, "You're a real maverick, aren't you?"
Rank: 2nd Lieutenant
Pedigree: Since the time of the American Civil War, the Blair family has maintained a tradition of wealth and influence combined with public service. Maverick's grandmother is a member of the Confederation Council, while his father is the chairman of StarPeace, an organization dedicated to promoting understanding among the inhabited worlds of the galaxy.
Jan
…We've got a new poll up today that asks about your favorite communications options to send while in flight. There's a few tried and true ones that have been around since WC1, and some of the later games introduce a couple more that are less well known. The Comm VDU isn't generally considered a central element of Wing Commander, but I would argue it's a critical aspect to the immersion that we all feel in the game. So now we're giving you a chance to think about what comm selection you rely on or enjoy the most - vote below!
Our annual new year's poll has been running neck-and-neck over the past week, so we decided to call it today with a tie. Overall, the optimistic responses got more votes than the pessimistic ones, and the results were generally typical for the last few years' results. Although there's a fair number of fans who have doubts about what 2020 holds, there's some tremendous potential
Feb
Crazy find on the Internet Archive: an article from Soft World that's the 1992 Trade Commander press releases translated to Chinese... and the pen-and-ink art has been recolored in pastels! COOL!
Here's the original art. This was the first announcement of what would become Privateer and it features a lot of details about a much earlier version of the game's storyline. It's also the (only) source of 'Grayson Burrows' as the player character's name. I found the Chinese text by searching for "Tolnidan," the original name for the Gemini Sector and a word that's very close to being a googlenope.
Jun
Man-Jimaru posted some neat pics of the French version of Privateer. The box clearly showed that it's the "Français" edition, but we get both English and German translations on the box. The manuals seem to be purely in French, however. These were made and distributed out of England for the European market. It's great that such a wonderful game got such a wide release!
Here is my #CIBSunday with the great Wing Commander Privateer big box for PC. Always been a fan of Space Sim games as Star Wars but Wing Commander is certainly my favorite one with Elite. This one combines space trading & combat as a merchant, pirate or mercenary.
Apr
ODVS is always on the forefront of video editing technology, and his latest explorations have enabled a new level of visual fidelity here. Except this time, he's given version 6.0 a more modern cinematic flair...
I'm very excited to reveal this sneak preview of the upcoming Wing Commander IV HD Pack V6.0 - Cinematic Edition.I've reconfigured the aspect ratio to cinematic widescreen and painstakingly recreated all the visual improvements that come from shooting with expensive, high-end anamorphic lenses. This is how WCIV would look if it were a modern day Hollywood blockbuster!
