10
Feb
Some cool bespoke menus from Wing Commander IV for the Macintosh.
I was surprised to realize tonight that the gauntlet demo for the Mac is actually different from the PC version... it's ALL Arrows!
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08
Mar
Mr. Hasgaha recently shared this nifty video that he built for a "10-second Cinematic" contest in Star Citizen. He was able to use elements of the existing game engine to recreate the briefing room run, launch and death of a pilot in the original Wing Commander. It's a short clip, but it's very cool to see this modern take on a classic!
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15
Mar
Dominus of Exult has some more cool collectibles to show off! He's managed to track down a pair of Wing Commander games localized in Portuguese. These rare copies of WC4 and Privateer 2 have a bit of warping and tearing damage, but it's still wonderful that they were saved. I'm still poring over the minute differences here despite not speaking the language! These should look great alongside his Portuguese copy of Privateer 1.
Got some new rarities. Portuguese Wing Commander IV and Privateer 2. Unfortunately the seller stored them in a very humid place. Trying to open the IV he destroyed the slide cover.
LOAF: Are they localized at all?
Dominus: Boxes and documents all in Portuguese. At least the intro has no subtitles. Look like the standard UK CDs. Even the quadruple CD case inlays are the UK ones and not translated (manual etc. are translated).
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17
Mar
…A lot of people (one guy on Discord) have been asking what the correct emblem for the Empire of Kilrah is. So let’s have a thread and find out!
Wing Commander I has matching emblems for factions on every ship. The Kilrathi have a red cat skull which we get to see close up thanks to the beautiful box shot of a high resolution Dralthi wing.
The ships are so low resolution that they’re just dots in flight, but you can pick them out every time. You can see the skull very clearly on the WC2 demo Bloodfang, which is its last appearance.
And there’s a black one on the Imperial Guard troops in The Secret Missions 2!
As an aside, we NEVER got a high res version of the WC1 Confed roundel. You can see it twice on the Drayman here. It looks like a TNG comm badge or maybe three ships orbiting a sun?
Now, this is the broad answer to the question. This is the emblem of the empire itself, the grouping of all eight clans. -
27
Apr
…AllTinker has a new bit of Wing Commander joy to share today. He's remastered the iconic Wing Commander opening track. It's a beautiful tune to listen to on its own, but this also supports his Confederation enhancement of WC1. Give it a listen below!
Hi folks, I've been battling against real life a little but work continues on the code & art. I have something slightly different to preview today - another side-project to the side-project; can't help myself - I've mentioned before that I'm interested in having General MIDI versions of the earlier game soundtracks, which would allow rendering with soundfonts or GM modules like the Sound Canvas (ala Privateer, WC3 etc.). In working towards that, rather than going directly from MT-32 to GM, I've been pulling apart the music and reorchestrating it in a more traditional sense first. Here's the first track I feel is ready enough to demonstrate:
I've made a
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08
May
An eBay find: a copy of Wing Commander III that belonged to Microsoft’s QA folks! I’ll send it back if they promise to get it running in Windows 11.
Microsoft would have used copies like this to playtest compatibility for Windows 95 (and adjust Control+C behavior)!“Didn’t you already have this one?!” - Sully
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23
May
Today we've got an unusual stealth GOG deal that slipped in under the radar. Most Wing Commander discounts are tied to a theme or event, such as a "Sci-Fi Sale" or "Spring Sale," but we can't seem to find a corresponding association this time. We also have a much more limited selection of WC games that are included: Wing Commander 1&2, WC3 and Privateer are each marked down 75% to $1.49 for the next week. We'll happily take anything we can get though!
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31
Jul
…It’s time to return to 2410, Captains. Our multi-part, expansion-over-time that began with Age of Discovery and ended with Rise of Discovery is now complete, and with it we’ve brought a ton of excitement to Star Trek Online. A entirely new faction, a revamped tutorial experience, and six new episodes starring beloved actors Mary Wiseman, Jason Isaacs, and Rehka Sharma brought the story of Star Trek: Discovery to Star Trek Online. We gave experienced players more to do with updates like Random Task Force Operations, Tier 6 Reputations, and Personal Endeavors. And we unleashed the Featured Task Force Operation system, bringing new stories and experiences to our game more often. Now, we’re moving back to our main setting, the year 2410. And we’re bringing Anthony Rapp with us. Rapp, known to Star Trek fans as Paul Stamets on Star Trek: Discovery, is the star of our next content update, Star
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05
Aug
It's a lazy Sunday here at CIC central, which is a great opportunity to get ahead before starting up
Righteous Fire. All the fancy new gear is not cheap, so LOAF's strapped into the cockpit to earn some extra credits!
Sunday afternoon grind in a special bonus All Wings Considered hangout! Join me for Privateer and conversation.
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03
Sep
Wing Commander fans have a special affinity for the actors and actresses who starred in the FMV WC games of the 1990s. Some of them have retired from the limelight while others continue to have vibrant acting careers, but most are not nearly as accessible as some of the current crop of celebrities who are well-connected on social media. One of a the few notable exceptions is
Tom Wilson, who continues to maintain an engaging and funny
vlog presence on YouTube. He's been especially active lately with half a dozen updates this past summer. His posts can range from him performing a song all the way up to following the Maniac along on a hike. Check out a couple examples below and find more
here.
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29
Dec
Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is chock full of Wing Commander easter eggs from the "now entering automatic landing zone" comm message near planets to the... entire awesome premise of the game, but Fek'Leyr Targ found a fun one I hadn't seen before. In the attached screenshot, you can make out a "G. Burrows wuz here" scratched into the dust of the local space bar. Grayson Burrows was the conceptual name of the main Brownhair character in Privateer (later confirmed but the Star*Soldier magazine). Good catch!
Last week we posted a few ships from RGO that fans had faithfully recolored in classic WC textures, and st3lt3k just shared a few more! The first is an RGO Coyote made by Jughead1981 and there's also a Sandhawk by MasterRevan2013. Those grays and greens look really nice.
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15
Oct
…October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Star Trek Online is teaming up with Groupees to raise money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, to help win the fight against Breast Cancer. You can head to the Groupees site right now and purchase an exclusive Star Trek Online Bundle on PC - with 100% of proceeds* going to the Foundation. These bundles will include a brand new item, the Genetically-Altered Safe Tribble, which grants you additional Health Regeneration and Maximum Health! And finally, we will be giving away 8 large Genetically-Altered Safe Tribbles from our partners at Tribble Toys! Check out the promotion for further details on how to win! Here’s how the bundles break down: Bundle 1: Rewards: Pink Genetically-Altered Safe Tribble Pink Risian Lunarian Caracal Pink Vanity Shield Pink Ribbon Badge Bundle
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29
Jan
…The Anniversary Celebrations keep rolling on, and today, we have a very special opportunity for you, Captains. We've teamed up with Steelseries to create a very limited series of incredibly cool looking Star Trek Online headsets, and you can win one right now! Enter via the contest entry below, and you could win one of three of these amazing headsets, and a Discovery Operations Pack! This contest is only open to US residents at this time. Enjoy unprecedented sound quality, and represent your love for Star Trek Online at the same time! Star Trek Online: Legacy - SteelSeries Arctis Pro Headset Giveaway .share-footer a { margin: 20px 10px 10px 0; background: url(d7afaaa14e96d0d973f76157ae31ec5b1466398539.png) no-repeat 0 0; opacity: .5; display: inline-block; height: 60px; width: 60px; padding: 0; border: 1px solid transparent; -webkit-transition: opacity
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07
Mar
…Origin programmer and tester Allen Jackson shared this awesome artifact from the golden days at OSI: a job application to work at the company. It's pretty neat to see exactly what they asked (was it a big issue at the time to have applicants when recalled from a layoff?). This is also a pretty stark reminder of what a different era it was. I think you'd be hard pressed to find any major company in 2020 that even accepts a paper application. I'm sure we have visitors to the site today who've never seen one before. And now it's pretty easy to find open jobs and submit from anywhere in the world. Back in the '90s, how would it even work to apply from out of state? Could you call them up and get them to mail you a form? Maybe it could be faxed? As Google moves to exclusively video interviews this month due to the coronavirus, I wonder if they'd have entertained an audio phone interview?
Some might
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31
Mar
Here's another interesting chapter in the tragically funky series of EA advertisements for the 3DO. We've previously reported on the prints that used a dead fish, cubic lard and fancy pastries to sell Super Wing Commander and Wing Commander 3. RetroDetect has recently posted pics of a whole EA Lard booklet that includes promos for both WC games, among other offerings for the console. There's no telling if the system would have been more of a success if the marketing firm here would have gone with slightly less disgusting subject matter, but at least the games were awesome! You can find the other pages here.
#3doThursday is cool & its fun.... But dont ever try to put a #3do up your bum! Instead, lets take a look at this product booklet featuring some Electronic Arts Lard!
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14
May
UnboxingHands has done an unboxing video for Wing Commander. I like these types of videos because Wing Commander arrived before modern YouTubing, and these are such fun games to open up! A couple things caught our eye in this case. It's the Amiga version of WC1, which isn't vastly different than more common iterations, but there are a few unique elements such as the styling on the floppy disks. It also comes with the nice single-sided fighter blueprints. It's got some funky music in lieu of a voice track, but I really like the video editing technique he employs: after zooming in on each screenshot on the back of the box, the clip cuts to an animated in-game version of that sequence. It's a nice effect!
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22
May
…L@Zar0 is back with another impressive translation of a Wing Commander game! He's previously converted WC1, WC2, the Secret Missions and the Special Operations, and now he's done the same for both Privateer and Righteous Fire. It appears to be really well done. Cinematics and dialogue have new text, the spaceflight interface has been converted, and even the planetside menus and Quine computer are all seamlessly displayed in the new language. It's just wonderful to see fans pull off these comprehensive upgrades to our Wing Commander classics. This is another mod made possible by UnnamedCharacter's WC Toolbox. You can download the translation and apply it to your GOG or CD installation here (135 meg zip). Specific installation instructions are included. Hopefully there's a whole bunch of Wingnuts out there who will enjoy this!
This translation includes the translation of both texts and graphics
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02
Jun
…The Core Dynamics breakaway faction created by ex-CEO Jupiter Rochester has survived, by gathering believers in the corporate rule of the Federation.
Conrad Sterling, political journalist for Vox Galactica, published this report:
"With its military forces defeated in February, and its leader found guilty of mass murder and imprisoned for life, Jupiter Division should now be a footnote in the Federation's history."
"Yet in recent months it has steadily grown, retaking control of HIP 54530 and several neighbouring systems. Its megaship, Victory's Forge, even managed to repel Federal troops and remains under Jupiter Division's command."
"There is much speculation about the underlying reasons for this. Alongside general unrest with the Federation's current policies, there is a rising interest in Rochester's grand vision – replacing democracy with corporatocracy – among those wishing to see -
11
Nov
…*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
A rogue Aegis Defense force has initiated conflict with Taurus Mining Ventures in the T Tauri system.
The megaship Musashi is commanded by Aegis's chief military liaison Admiral Aden Tanner, who made this announcement:
"The Hind Mine asteroid base contains proof that Salvation's unlicensed anti-xeno weapon is intentionally designed to provoke the Thargoids, and therefore endangers us all. As Taurus Mining Ventures refuses to cooperate, we have no choice but to obtain the evidence by force."
"This may be our only opportunity to discover Salvation's true ambitions. I urge all independent pilots who have fought alongside Aegis to help us complete this vital mission."
Patience Middleton, a spokesperson for Taurus Mining Ventures, responded:
"This is an illegal attack that jeopardises the important work we are undertaking on behalf of Salvation. It is in the galactic -
08
Feb
…The recent battle in the Reorte system has caused Sirius Corporation to question the terms of its partnership with the Alliance.
The Alliance Tribune's political correspondent Vanya Driscoll reported:
"When Sirius Corporation megaships arrived in four Allied systems, it's fair to assume they anticipated a degree of public resistance. But being directly attacked by the Reorte Mining Coalition clearly wasn't part of their risk assessment."
"Li Yong-Rui has urgently sought assurances from the Alliance that such conflicts will not happen again. The megacorp's CEO claimed that he has a duty to protect his employees from aggression by their own clients."
"In response, Prime Minister Edmund Mahon personally guaranteed that this unfortunate incident was a one-off, stressing that Sirius personnel have been welcomed in the Alioth, Arimpox and Di Jian systems. He added that the Alliance Defence Force is
