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This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that are referenced by Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Sphere (1998) and you can find details on why we're watching it 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!
Oct
…Independent observers have reported unusual activity in systems surrounding HIP 87621, intensifying rumours of covert operations in the region.
Multiple reports indicate that megaships have been spotted operating near the permit-locked system over the past week. Though no Power has formally acknowledged involvement, analysts believe this early mobilisation suggests a push for influence around HIP 87621.
Access to the system itself remains under permit lock. All independent colonisation requests for the surrounding area continue to be denied with no reasons cited. Conrad Sterling, a political correspondent for Vox Galactica, noted:
"Typically, when you see megaships mobilising on this scale it usually precedes territorial stakes being claimed. None of the Powers have formally announced such plans but pilots continue to report receiving private messages from their pledged Power representatives
Oct
…
There's great news for fans of the Wing Commander III and IV enhancement patches: creator Mash has updated both of them! This version overhauls ship rotation and adds higher precision movement, which fixes some existing bugs. The default frame rate is now 60 fps and LODs are now locked to the highest level of detail. In our testing, it's the smoothest Wing Commander III and IV experience yet! You can download updated versions at the patches' respective Githubs:
Wing Commander III:
Ship rotations upgrades:
- higher precision rotation.
- updated the precision of axis movement for joysticks from the original range of (-16 to 16) to (-256 to 256).
- enhanced rotation matrix calculations for all ships, player and non-player.
- added a separate matrix for the player for even greater precision. Enabled by default, this can be disabled in
Oct
…Back in 2023, we reported on a very cool 3D printed Tarsus made by Cpt. Streets. At the time he promised that a Hornet was up next... and here it is! This is truly spectacular work, complete with a cool base with a printed deck crew. This is one of the coolest printed Wing Commander ships I've seen so far!
It´s a 3D Print an about 9cm (3,5") long...Scale is 1:160 or "Spur N" (for miniature train builders)And it is resin. The file is a mash-up from several (I think 2) Hornets found somewhere in the web.Some parts are modified and other parts are added after print from several vintage spare plastic model kits (most of the details)I add the plastic parts und painted it. But I did not make or print the 3D resin model. This was done by a friend.
And here are some shots of it under construction, including what it looked like before painting and further customization. Actually, the transparent red is pretty
Oct
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We aren't going to sugarcoat it for you: it turns out that Ishtar was not a good movie. Nevertheless, the Wing Commander movie club marches on! We decided to vote for a science fiction film specifically and after a big tie and a second round our choice for next week was Sphere (1998), one of the newest movies in the pool. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.
Sphere is the second of three movies we will be looking at that was explicitly referenced in the Wing Commander movie's famous introduction sequence. The first was 1492: Conquest of Paradise, which we watched earlier this month. The after action report contains a thorough look at the paintings used to create the introduction. Sphere had its own clear impact on the style of the intro and especially the flashes of Kilrathi art; we'll take a closer look on Friday!
Where can I find a copy of the movie for the watch party?
Sphere is
Oct
…AD has come upon a pretty fascinating vintage article that had not been in our community consciousness. It's a preview of Origin's product lineup from the April 1991 issue of The One, an Amiga-focused computer outlet. It includes a very early description of Wing Commander II and some rendered images of ships in progress… including one we've never seen before!
We asked Wing Commander II director Siobhan Beeman about the unknown ship and she was kind enough to think back so far to figure it out:
Vaguely. Early drafts of the story had more capital ship engagements, which is why torpedoes were introduced and why the Concordia is a strike carrier with a spinal-mount weapon. I believe this art is for a frigate or destroyer class that would have shown up with multiple names.Awesome! You can certainly see how a frigate with this design would fit right alongside the Gilgamesh destroyer and Waterloo cruiser in
Oct
This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut event happening on Discord this morning! Join us at noon EST/9 AM PST for a fun filled morning of television... that all connect to Wing Commander somehow! We'll enjoy two episodes of MST3k that have deep connections to Wing Commander III, specifically. You can find details on the shows included as well as how to watch along with us in the announcement post here. Be sure to download the episodes so they're ready to play with the group!
Oct
…The Wing Commander movie club has kicked off October right with a spooky horror movie: the 1968 classic Rosemary's Baby. We found it to be a stunningly well made movie full of visual texture and nuance. The story is maybe more relevant than ever again, an allegory about society's belief in its right to control women. Now: the Wing Commander connection here was always slight, so we're going to lean right into it and try and collect everything we know about the character named after Rosemary's Baby's controversial director Roman Polanski.
In the 27th century, Lt. Adam "Bishop" Polanski is one of the veteran wingmen aboard the Tiger Claw in the Wing Commander movie. He was played by veteran British actor Mark Powley, best known for a long running role on television's The Bill. He is a Rapier pilot and flies ship number 35. He has been aboard the carrier for about seven months at this point in the
Oct
This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that are referenced by Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Ishtar (1987) and you can find details on why we're watching it 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!
And don't forget our third Wing Commander Cartoon party is early tomorrow!
Oct
…Verman has been experimenting with some technology to bring some of Feng Zhu's unused Privateer Online concept ships to life! They write:
It's been a long time since I contributed anything to the news, I still visit the site often and have quite a few projects for Wing Commander going on at the moment (along with a million other projects too). Well I decided to do some tinkering with 2D image to 3D Modelling AI, using a site called Meshy. I always loved one of the ship concepts for Wing Commander Online so I thought I would test out how good the AI was just using that concept art to produce a 3D model and also the textures from the artwork. I attached some screenshots.
I also made it freely available on Sketchfab so people can download it and make it better or use it in any projects or just study it...
I have also done a couple of the other models but I haven't had time to get them uploaded to
Oct
Display MoreUlimann644 is back with maybe the most recognizable Wing Commander ship of all time: the original Dralthi medium fighter! You may recall that they've previously rendered excellent Fralthi and Hornet models… and the fleet keeps expanding!
WING COMMANDER - DRALTHI-CLASS (DeviantArt)
This is my third WING COMMANDER mesh. The DRALTHI-CLASS Medium-Fighter of the Kilrathi in WING COMMANDER 1.
Hope you like it.
Software:
- Lightwave 2024
- Photoshop
Oct
…
AD made a pretty neat discovery the other day: a Spanish language radio program called "Space Wars" aired an hour-long look at the music of Wing Commander on September 3 on radio station Querétaro 100.3 FM. The broadcast include samples of lots of music and even one of Jazz's piano pieces played on a real piano! AD recorded a copy which you can listen to below.
We would also like to thank uu from Discord for
Oct
…Brewer Corporation has issued an urgent call for mined and manufactured materials to support the rapid construction of multiple new starports.
Reports have started to circulate among the pilot community of receiving internal communications from their Power contacts specifically calling for their support in relation to securing interests around HIP 87621.
While the corporation confirmed that the priority was immediate, it declined to identify their clients or intended deployment locations.
The megacorp's CEO, Madelyn Teague, explained:
"Brewer Corporation adheres to the strictest standards of client confidentiality and therefore cannot reveal the origin of this order. What I can assure shareholders is that the sheer scale and limited timeframe of the order is considerable. While this has stressed our reserves of certain stocks, we are taking steps to ensure the order is fulfilled with the level
Oct
You've probably heard talk of some excitement going on in Portland, Oregon and it's all true: Wing Commander I and II composer George "The Fatman" Sanger will be appearing at next weekend's Portland Retro Gaming Expo! The convention runs October 17 to 19 at the Oregon Convention Center.
We were also honored to loan a Wing Commander Prophecy flight suit for display at their FMV Zone museum exhibit. So if you're in Portland next weekend, you can really have some Wing Commander fun!
Oct
…Earlier in the year, we held a pair of Saturday morning marathons that celebrated Wing Commander-connected media that didn't quite fit with the Friday movie club. And now we're bringing them back! This Saturday, October 18, we'll be bringing you another themed morning of '90s media and great Wing Commander conversation. This time, we're taking a look at a series that was pretty influential during the making of Wing Commander III: Mystery Science Theater 3000. We'll be watching two episodes that are referenced in WC3 and talking all about what life was like on the internet way back in 1994!
"Manos": The Hands of Fate (1993, s4e24): MST3k brought Manos to the world, introducing future generations to what may be the single worst movie ever made. But it made for a pretty funny episode! And one that was clearly appreciated by Wing Commander III's development team, which named the crucial Torgo system after
Oct
…
Last week, the Wing Commander movie voted on a movie from a list of Oscar winners. It turned out to be Rosemary's Baby, which was a great way to start a spooky October. Sadly, this time around I thought it would be fun to vote from a selection of Razzie winners… and after two rounds, the winner was Ishtar (1987). Ishtar is famous for being an enormous box office bomb and was once considered the worst big budget movie ever made. Modern critics are much kinder, though, so it'll be interesting to see what it's like! You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.
What does Ishtar have to do with Wing Commander? This is another one of the 'joke' movie names used to label original Privateer concept art. Specifically, it was used for the very first sketches of the game's incredibly familiar mining base options screen. You can hear the music just seeing the screenshot!
Where can I find a copy of the
Oct
…Lakon Spaceways has praised the success of its sponsored mining trials for the Type-11 Prospector, praising independent pilots who flew them.
Engineers reported that the data gathered has exceeded expectations, with the Prospector's custom mining systems maintaining consistent, high-yield results.
A Lakon senior design engineer, who oversaw the trial, stated:
"The feedback from pilots has been very positive. The Prospector's unique hardpoint configuration and enhanced limpet systems are proving themselves in real mining conditions. We built this ship to be one of the best surface mining vessels you can buy, and these trials have shown that it is exactly that."
Several pilots involved in the campaign described the vessel as "ripping through asteroids with ease", praising its ability to produce unprecedented fragment yields. The feedback is also welcomed by the news of a permanent 8% boost to
Oct
AD has found another interesting historical radio broadcast. This one aired on KRFC 88.9 FM on December 30, 2018. It's an hour long interview with Jen Parker. Ms. Parker got her start in video game magazines and went on to become a brand manager for Origin Systems in Europe... and later headed up Electronic Arts' worldwide marketing. Her whole life story is pretty interesting and it starts about 40 minutes in. We've clipped out just the part covering her work on Wing Commander III here:
Oct
…The Wing Commander movie club is back from old Detroit and there's no way around it: RoboCop 3 is a bad movie. Like the sequels to Starship Troopers and Showgirls, this is another case of an artful Verhoeven movie being cut down into only its most literal parts. Which is fine: RoboCop said everything it needed to say… following it up with endless sequels focused on how cool it is that there could be a robot cop kind of just reinforces the original message. And you know, it did end up being sort of fun: RoboCop 3 drags in the first half but it has a pretty fun third act that climaxes with RoboCop flying a jetpack and saying absolutely nothing about the human condition.
What about Wing Commander? The only direct connection was a piece of music used in the Wing Commander workprint and we reviewed that in the intro post. But the one thing we couldn't get out of our minds was the Righteous Fire
Oct
This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that are referenced by Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Rosemary's Baby (1973) and you can find details on why we're watching it 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!
