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I added a WCpedia page for the Wing Commander II Demo with all kinds of neat history:

Wing Commander II Demo is a rolling demo of Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi. It features an early version of part of the game's introduction showing Prince Thrakhath's audience with the Emperor. It was the first Origin product to include recorded speech. The demo was created by Origin Systems to demonstrate the game at Winter CES 1991 (January 10 to 13 1991) and was released to the public via BBS afterwards. At the time it was published Wing Commander II was scheduled for a Summer 1991 releasee. It ultimately shipped in September, making the eight months between the demo and the final product the longest such stretch in Wing Commander history. The demo is not known to have received a physical commercial release.

Differences

• The 3space engine section uses a version closer to the original Wing Commander. It

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Great job, everyone! Once again, hundreds of Wingnuts have come together to pull off a successful crowdfunding campaign! The finally tally was $24,300, which is more than 50% over the $16,000 target. This means that a live orchestra will be able to record the entire Wing Commander album in Budapest and it will be supplemented by a live choir in Salt Lake City. The entire project will come to more than $40,000 when combined with a separate mega donation from Matt Hiltner, so Wingnuts will truly be in for a treat. When all is said and done, the effort will include reprintings of the prior albums on CD as well as vinyl editions of both orchestra pieces. This will be a collectible set for the ages! Even if you're only interested in hearing the final product digitally, it will surely be a treat. Composer George Oldziey has already started placing deposits to secure time with the musicians later

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One of the many exciting fan projects that legendary artist and programmer Howard Day has created over the years is Wing Leader, a modern WC1 remake in the Unity engine. During the 2019-2021 time period, Howie shared a lot of awesome concept material, art and engine demonstrator content, but priorities got in the way and development has significantly slowed these past few years. In order to potentially kick start community development and make sure the source content is available to fans in the future, Howie has now publicly released the project's assets on GitHub. Although he hopes to continue making improvements at some point, other Wingnuts are free (and encouraged!) to take the reigns and see what they can do with what's been developed so far. You can find out more here!

I figure I should do this, since I don't know when I'll get back to it. I've made the project public. Adam's passing has

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Today we have another very cool find by Dominus of Exult. He happened to stumble across a pin in a vintage collectible shop. It's very possible that this was some kind of localized promotional giveaway in Germany from the '90s. I'm definitely in love with this simple retro design!

Another "LOOK WHAT I FOUND" - a Wing Commander needle pin (or whatever it's called). Sold by a shop that specializes in selling those kinds of things (originals, not reproductions).

For comparison, there was a department store in Germany that included metal dogtags with Wing Commander 4.

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I was thinking about the Prophecy Advance clip we shared yesterday, and it reminded me that regular Wing Commander Prophecy on the PC rocks too! Here's the exciting cutscene where the Midway fires its massive Nephilim plasma weapon. Did you know that if you fail the final mission and then continue, the ship desperately tries to fire the weapon a second time? This does not work out well for the Terran Confederation!

With that being said, the crew definitely had warning that there could be disastrous results!

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

From now until 1/2/20 at 6PM CET, you'll be able to unlock bonus currency on the Arc platform for Perfect World titles! The bonus you can expect is listed in the chart below: This Charge Bonus is ONLY available for the following payment processors: Direct Credit Card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover) Paypal Skrill (Formerly Moneybookers) BoaCompra Xsolla Paysafecard Steam (Steam Purchases receive the bonus but do not receive extra ZEN for buying in bulk)

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

General: There is now a listed expiration date on the "Winter (Ended)" Event display of 4/2/20. After that date, players will not be able to use any partial progress to purchase the ship at a discount. Resolved an issue where some other Romulan Captains could look identical to Hakeev. Ships: Resolved an issue with the Discovery-Era Constitution in which the nacelle endcaps were very bright. Character: Added “Combed Back 2” as a hair option for Male Characters: This hair is only available to characters with a traditional “Humanoid” head type The “Combed Back” Hair option has been renamed to “Combed Back 1” Added the following additional Hair options for Female Characters: Short 04 – Version 2 Short 06 – Version 2 Short 07 – Version 2 The “Short Classic” hair style been renamed to “Short 05” Adjusted the Emanciaptor Upper so

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There's already another neat addition to the high definition movie packs that ODVS released last week. While he was originally able to significantly upgrade the DVD quality movies for Wing Commander 4 and Prophecy, fans pointed out that there was also a small batch of clips excluded from the Prophecy DVD edition. This means that the source material we have for these few is only the lower CD quality, but Owen did his best to spruce it up anyways to make as complete a package as possible. In addition to higher resolution, the frame rate has been sync'd up with the rest of the game and brightness/contrast adjusted. If you previously downloaded the large Prophecy video packs, the extra clips can be added separately below. Everything has also been bundled into a "version 2.1" zip that has both last week's movies as well as these new clips. You can find instructions on how to patch WCP to the DVD

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LonewulfAH has shared the first couple shots of his new Minecraft TCS Victory build. It still needs some time in spacedock, but the interior shot does a great job of conveying the massive scale and amount of work already complete. It's interesting how the Victory is the crafting community's go-to ship of choice. Maybe it has something to do with how boxy and modular it is. We're anxious to see how this one turns out!

In 2014-2015 during MastersCraft Season 1 I began to build the TCS Victory from WingCommander III: Heart of the Tiger, a mega-build. Five plus years later on Limlight SMP Server I have started it once again. This time I'm going to finish it.

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LOAF dug up a vintagel ad from issue #6 of The Duelist magazine. We've seen several takes on this same ad before, and it's centered on the key WC3 art, so no real surprises, but I wanted to pause and highlight the "Coming in August" part. This was long before most people were online, so print mags like this would have been how many Wing Commander fans found out that their favorite video game was getting a CCG. Can you imagine flipping to that page in 1995? So much exciting potential on the horizon! With that being said, there's still a lot of you out there on the fence about starting a CCG collection. I highly recommend it! eBay is your best bet for that first box, and then start here to trade with fellow fans. You can also learn everything there is to know about the game in our recently expanded WCPedia article! (Including this phenomenal post-launch ad.)

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots Federation ALERT*
The Kumo Crew syndicate has procured enough materials to introduce a new product to the market.
The drug originated with the Blue Viper Club, a piratical travelling community whose dredger is currently in the vicinity of Kumo City station.
It was confirmed that enough shipments of agronomic treatment, liquid oxygen and performance enhancers were received to enable immediate mass production. Pilots also fought to protect haulage vessels from pirate ships, suspected to be Kumo Crew rivals.
The Interstellar Health Organisation has obtained a product sample and confirmed that, despite the name 'helix', it is a new variant of the recreational drug onionhead. As such, the product will be legally classified as onionhead gamma strain when it appears on the market.
Despite claims of medicinal and psychological benefits, it is likely to be illegal in most systems. President

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

On this day in 1998, we flipped the switch on WCNews.com and the Wing Commander CIC was born! It's been quite a ride full of fun, friends and fandom. Our first mission was to support the ongoing launch of Wing Commander Secret Ops, and then that transitioned over to lots of activity for the Wing Commander Movie. Although new products got more sparse in the 2000s, the community has filled the gap with all of their own incredible undertakings. The results have made the franchise better than ever. On our new platforms today (such as Discord) we're seeing record levels of activity and new Wingnuts are appearing all the time.

LOAF: Another birthday already?! That’s right, 23 years ago today ChrisReid and I started a fan site for our favorite game and it’s still running strong today thanks to an incredible team who are also my dearest friends. Hurray!

Next week we'll be officially celebrating our 23rd

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Dennis Mull was the first to point out to us this weekend that today is Mark Hamill's 70th birthday. While the collective Star Wars fandom is all over this for obvious reasons, we'd like to salute Mr. Hamill on behalf of the Wing Commander community. His execution of Christopher Blair is superb, of course. Perhaps having prior experience navigating a fighter on a trench run to deliver a planet-busting super weapon gave him the practice he needed to absolutely nail it on his second try. Happy Birthday!

I also didn't realize how close his birthday was to Wing Commander's. Tomorrow marks 31 years since the original Wing Commander first shipped to stores. Happy early birthday to Wing Commander!

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Marlinist Colonies have offered to provide help for political refugees who sought sanctuary in Alliance space.
In 3306, the Empire's security forces began arresting followers of Marlinism, suspecting them of being linked to the NMLA. Many pro-republican Imperial citizens fled to the Federation, but some set course for the Alliance instead.
The situation has been highlighted by Prime Consul Kayode Tau of the Marlinist Consulate:
"Having made a desperate journey for survival, over a million Marlinists are now dispersed across Alliance territory. Most are clustered in small groups, lacking basic supplies and facing extreme deprivation. Some Alliance systems have offered citizenship, but others are attempting to expel them as illegal immigrants."
"The Empire wishes to repatriate these people, which means harsh interrogation for some and lifelong persecution for others. I hope to negotiate with

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The nomadic Scriveners Clan continues to resist Orion University's attempts to take possession of their dredger.
Freelance reporter Casey Kilpatrick published an update from the Oochost PC-C c29-0 system:
"Orion University's claim that the vessel is their property has been countered by Advocacy's reminder of laws preventing cultural contamination. So the question now is: who actually owns the dredger? Is it the families that have lived there for generations, or the organisation which originally built it?"
"Various solutions have been proposed to resolve this stand-off. These include an offer from Canonn Interstellar Research Group to purchase the dredger from Orion University, gift it to the Scriveners Clan then publicly share the contents of their mysterious Knowledge Core."
"However, two centuries of isolation have instilled this academia-focused society with a pathological need to protect

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The news of Russian's invasion of Ukraine has been a big distraction today, so our previously scheduled Wing Commander news is momentarily on hold. We recognize how lucky we are that it's only a distraction for us and not a life-or-death struggle as it is for people on the ground on Eastern Europe. We have friends and know Wingnuts in both countries, and we hope all remain safe. If you're looking for fellow WC fans to discuss the situation with, feel free to visit the #Wingnut Discord. With that being said, consider that it may be less stressful to focus on topics other than the war!

I am at least encouraged to see that Russian citizens have already started to speak out against the violence - even at their own personal peril. The more we realize our shared interests and how much we have in common, the sooner peace and stability can be restored. As such, here's a set of Russian videos about the WC

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

An overview of how Aegis was impacted by the rise of Salvation as a competing anti-xeno force.
"For now I cannot provide you with my credentials. Suffice to say that I am a man of science, unconnected with modern politics. I am recruiting agents to investigate the work undertaken by Azimuth Biochemicals two hundred years ago, which I believe to be of enormous scientific importance. Much has been lost in that time, but our dedication will allow us to rewrite history."
This was how the anonymous figure known only as Salvation introduced himself to Pilots' Federation members in April 3307. Faceless and voiceless, he remains unseen to the present day. His messages characterised him as a dedicated scientist, one with enormous confidence in achieving his goal to destroy the Thargoids and "save all of humanity".
It was clear that Salvation possessed detailed knowledge about Azimuth Biochemicals,

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
The Proteus Wave's failure has resulted in Thargoid forces overwhelming the coalition fleet in HIP 22460.
Independent and military observers have confirmed that although Salvation's anti-xeno superweapon was activated as scheduled, it had only a temporary effect on the Thargoids. Soon afterwards, human ships in the system found themselves without power following a second unknown energy pulse and were rapidly targeted by hostile Thargoid vessels.
Vox Galactica announced that the reporter Jade Sanderlyn was able to jettison her escape pod before her drifting craft was destroyed. She delivered this summary:
"It didn't work. The Proteus Wave didn't work. I saw its energies ripple out from the planet, I felt it, we all did. The Thargoids reeled and went dark, but only briefly. Then something else occurred, a noise which shook our bodies, screeching through our skulls.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Today we have a new set of scans from the Spanish OKPC magazine. Maxi de Sokar sent us the WC3 Preview about a month ago, and now we have the full review. It once again features that crazy Spanish WC3 art front and center and it also reuses the "La X Continua" theme. There's plenty of glorious screenshots throughout, and the game gets a whopping 96%. Check it out below!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Did you know Dekker’s assault shuttle has a name? It’s called Hermes in the game files but it’s never mentioned in on screen.

Here's an update created for WC4 Remastered:

This also happens with Prince Thrakhath’s fighter in Wing Commander II. It’s named Bloodfang but since you only ever encounter it flown by the Prince (an ace profile that supersedes the normal ship ID) you never see the name!

Another good one: the surplus Kilrathi ships in Righteous Fire display as unknowns but they are stored as SALTHI.IFF. And what do you know, that’s the Super Wing Commander Salthi model!

Huh, and two out of three of these had Ultima universe cameos too. Everyone knows the Bloodfang in the corn field but the Salthi also showed up attacking Trinsic in in an Ultima Online April Fools gag.

Ultima Forever had a Dralthi/Drakhri type ship crashed on an island but it was never accessible. They were kind enough to send us a