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Christopher Lee has been learning how to use the Maya and After Effects programs for graphics animation, and here's one of his recent tests. He used the Wing Commander 3 introduction as a model to emulate. The results are pretty close! Of course, this also gives us an excuse to post the fantabulous actual WC3 intro for comparison, so enjoy that too. It never gets old.
Feb
Bathrooms are treated really weird in sci-fi. Plenty of shows, movies and games just pretend they don't exist at all. Sometimes you might get a sink and mirror aboard a space ship, but almost never a toilet. AD recently noticed that Wing Commander once again broke new ground by including one aboard the Tiger's Claw. Some viewers may have been distracted from the background, since it's in the middle of the Rosie/Maniac romance scene, but there it is! There's even a toilet paper holder with a Confed logo on it, which is amazing. Wouldn't that have made for an amazing collectible/merchandising?
Since everyone loves toilets in space, here's one from the Wing Commander movie. In shot 2 you can spot a TP holder behind Holder's head. Shot 3 shows some junk in Maniac's medicine cabinet. The last is the original opening to Maniac and Rosie's bed scene...
Mar
…We’re pleased to announce the return of the Research and Development Weekend! This event will run from Thursday, March 5th at 8AM PT to Monday, March 9th at 10AM PST, and features several bonuses throughout STO that will give Captains of all levels a leg up advancing their rank in the Research and Development school(s) of their choice. For those Captains looking specifically for extra help with their projects, all R&D packs throughout the game will give out an extra 25% of the items they currently disperse for the duration of this event. Queue R&D Material Reward Packages (Normal, Advanced and Elite) will reward 25% more R&D Materials and have a chance to reward a Catalyst. Alternatively, Captains wanting to advance through Research and Development schools as fast as possible should seek out Harvest Nodes, located in mission maps throughout STO, which will not only disperse 2 extra R&D Materials
Oct
…*Pilots Federation ALERT*
Conflict between Regulatory State of Ackwada and Duduseklis Empire League in the Ackwada system.
The Empire has targeted a Marlinist faction that is suspected of supporting the Neo-Marlinist Liberation Army (NMLA). It was recently placed into lockdown for its pro-Marlinist stance, during which time suspicions were raised of it having a direct connection to the NMLA.
The Imperial Internal Security Service made this statement:
"The Duduseklis Empire League is one of several organisations that publicly accepted the principles of Marlinism. Our intelligence suggests it is allowing the NMLA to radicalise its citizens into becoming activists for the paramilitary group."
"Operations to investigate this potential nest of terrorists have been met with armed resistance. Imperial auxiliaries and independent pilots are requested to assist the Regulatory State of Ackwada in
Feb
…The Alliance Assembly has agreed to delay electing a new prime minister to avoid clashing with the forthcoming Galactic Summit.
The proposal to postpone the election date came from Prime Minister Edmund Mahon:
"Now that the diplomatic conference has been confirmed, we must adapt to take advantage of this historic event. A potential change in leadership occurring at the same time as the Galactic Summit would cause confusion and undermine the Alliance's presence."
Although Mahon's proposal was voted through by a narrow margin, many council members disagreed with altering the political calendar. Councillor Nakato Kaine, who is a candidate in the election, declared:
"It is outrageous that the prime minister is using this as an excuse to extend his term in office. Once again, he is more concerned with projecting the Alliance as a superpower than the interests of member systems. This behaviour is
Oct
…The Federal Diplomatic Corps has officially denounced President Hudson's attempt to capture Yuri Grom in the Delta Pavonis system.
The political conference was to determine whether the system's ruling faction would ally with the EG Union or the Federation. It was abandoned when a Federal black ops team attempted to arrest Yuri Grom's delegation, triggering a conflict in the system.
Ambassador Delphine Dumont told The Federal Times:
"We have no option but to state that our own government has violated the conventions of diplomatic immunity. This conference was established in good faith with all parties. We were not informed that any hostile act against EG Union was planned."
"I offer my personal apologies to Yuri Grom. Our negotiations were spirited but honest, and I genuinely felt that progress was being made."
This is the first time that the Federal Diplomatic Corps has distanced itself from
Aug
Gen Con, the largest tabletop gaming convention in the US, starts today. In 1995, Mag Force 7 gave out these stunning Wing Commander promo cards at the show… and special guest Mark Hamill was on hand to autograph them!
There was even some new lore on the show floor! Mag Force 7’s staff made these cool shirts for the event complete with a new Terran Confederation Marines fighter squadron designation!
Aug
…And that's a wrap! It may not have been one of our longest birthday news slates, but hopefully you agree there's been some fantastic stuff here to enjoy. I've talked about it here a number of times already, but many of the key pillars of our tough and tight-knit community are medically high risk - and they're still dealing with a hell of a lot due to the ongoing pandemic, taking care of our families, and the state of things in the world. People successfully forced their way through a lot to get here today, and they'll do it again tomorrow, next week, next month and next year to keep supporting each other.
With this week's milestone behind us, that also means we're entering our 25th year. A quarter century is pretty crazy to think about. We're extremely fortunate that we got to do 2019's birthday party live and in person with LOAF, Ali, ace, Blonde, Dundradal, Joe and myself all together and on
Nov
…*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
It has been confirmed that the mysterious anomalies known as rogue signal sources are all converging on the core systems.
Professor Yaro Kenyatta , a noted academic in astronomy-related fields, has been collaborating with Professor Ishmael Palin and Ram Tah on analysing the unexplained objects. He published a summary of their work in the scientific journal The Empirical:
"The first of these distant objects was detected on the 31st of August 3308, but several more have since been identified. It was quickly apparent that they were travelling through interstellar space at faster-than-light speed. Full spectrum system (FSS) scanners were upgraded to allow more pilots to detect their electromagnetic emissions."
"Data on these phenomena has been analysed by many respected organisations such as Canonn Interstellar Research Group, Orion University and Universal
Dec
…Professor Alba Tesreau has again called for the anti-xeno initiative Aegis to be reformed by the superpowers.
"The arrival of the Maelstroms has escalated the Second Thargoid War beyond anything we have experienced before. The Thargoids are relentlessly attacking every human settlement within reach. And that reach is steadily expanding on eight fronts, spreading deeper into the core systems."
"In these dire circumstances, the decision to shut down Aegis seems to be a grave mistake. Now, more than ever, superpower-level resources are needed to establish large-scale research and defence projects. This is the surely the time for Aegis to be revived with as much funding and resources as possible."
"My symposium in October proved that there is an increasing appetite for collaboration. Many Allied and Federal military leaders have already discussed working together. Shadow President Winters recently
Feb
StarvingPilot shared this nice catch from a recent watch of Die Hard 2. A techie console from the film appears to be a perfect match to a console aboard the TCS Midway. It's the one that Lance Casey taps on after his missions. There's probably a ton of things like this out there! Companies like Modern Props widely supply futuristic machinery and gizmos to all manner of movies, television shows and game shoots. If anyone spots any other crossovers like this, let us know!
Feb
…Today we've got a look back at Ascii Sector. The project began in the 2000s as a novel ASCII art take on Wing Commander Privateer. If you've been following us for a long time, you'll recall that the project actually won Fan Project of the Year for 2008. However, a few years later, the project removed "Privateer" from the name and started to change up the internal assets to avoid a sense of direct copyright infringement/overlap. I would have argued that there was no practical concern, since the project was fairly low-key and EA has a long history of not worrying about fan projects and mods, but I get it. And then we lost track of things for the past decade!
Fast forward today, and I see that development continued into 2016. Unfortunately, the game's website and associated materials appear to have gone offline in 2022, but you can still find a copy and download the latest version via archive.org.
Mar
…
The GouldFish has posted a nifty review of the Wing Commander Prophecy Demo. His version comes from the March 1998 PC Format cover disc, but you can also download it here (plus movie pack). I like his setup with the Prophecy box in the background behind the vintage HP machine. Note that this is the full demo, not the 3DFX Test. As Gould notes, players who skipped over this and just played the actual game miss out on a whole three/four mission series. It's absolutely worth picking up for that extra bit of lore and gameplay! Check out the video below (jump to 14:00 if it doesn't autostart at that chapter):
Sure, you've played Prophecy... but did you ever play the demo? If not, you're missing out on a special little chunk of the game. Unlike most game previews, the Prophecy demo contains regular plot missions not available in the retail game. There are four missions that fit nicely in to the game's
Jun
We’ve come down to the last day of the crowdfunding campaign to create a Deluxe vinyl pressing of the WING COMMANDER score. The tally at this point is around $6000, which is a fair bit under the stated goal, but we’re still very hopeful that everything will continue to progress and we’ll see the finished album. The current estimated completion is March 2024, and we’ll continue to follow the project closely and share any updates along the way. If you’d like to stake your claim on one of these records, you can still do so here through tonight!
Feb
…AllTinker has a couple of fantastic extra wide art pieces to share from his Confederation mod of WC1. I really really like that extended view of the Tiger's Claw with bridge and gun turrets visible.
Here's another couple of things for the heck of it; the extended 'Claw for the landing animation, and the victory animation (the first frame of it at least; the whole animation is good to go though).
Some scenes are going to be easier to draw than others. The victory sunset is a relatively simple background to flow out. On the other hand, coming up with the visuals for the back half of each fighter are proving to be more of a challenge!
In terms of stuff I haven't done for the widescreen mod, there's only one thing now: the side views of the ships in the hangar, and they're very difficult. I experimented with some cheat methods, e.g. a big clamp holding the ship, or other stuff in the foreground to hide
May
…The first ever ship built entirely around Achilles' new Frame Shift Drive has released today, the Python Mk II. Marketing materials are pushing the tagline: "Built for Supercruise Overcharge".
Faulcon DeLacy, the widely respected manufacturer behind this new ship, released a statement this morning:
"The original Python is an incredibly versatile ship, serving countless pilots in countless roles around the universe. For the Mk II, we wanted to create something more specialised and focused, and so we are coming to market with a ship that truly excels in battle conditions... but that's not all."
"Thanks to a fruitful collaboration with our friends at Achilles Aerospace, the Python Mk II has been designed from the ground up to better handle their new Frame Shift Drive."
"It has improved heat management, better handling, reduced fuel consumption, and even better acceleration and deceleration
Aug
The latest episode of ALL WINGS CONSIDERED is live now! All Wings Considered is the CIC's first ever streaming variety show which features news, conversation and gameplay relating to our favorite series. This week's Nav Points include:
- Privateer Replay: breaking blockades and dodging rocks!
- What if Wing Commander III didn't take place in 2669?
- We learn all about stars, nebulas and planets
- Privateer 2 ships of the week: the Freij and Freij Mk II!
Missed the stream? The replay will be available below once it has been processed by YouTube. You can subscribe to the AWC channel for future notifications here.
Aug
Last week we posted about an
Amiga promotionthat highlighted the CD32 port of Wing Commander. While this is a relatively unknown version of WC1 for most fans, we heard from Wingnuts who fondly recalled waiting for this game. So to help whet the appetite of those folks as well as educate people who might not be as familiar with this iteration, here's a new playthrough by
Shiryu. It's about twenty minutes of footage from the first mission. I love these because everyone knows Enyo 1 like the back of their hand, so all of the little micro differences really stand out!
Oct
The latest episode of ALL WINGS CONSIDERED is live now! All Wings Considered is the CIC's first ever streaming variety show which features news, conversation and gameplay relating to our favorite series. This week's Nav Points include:
- Wing Commander 3 - Blackmane System - let's save and/or take apart a starbase!
- Book Club Mini - Heart of the Tiger Chapter 16 - Kevin Tolwyn comes to town
- Learn how the Wing Commander Academy Gauntlet works!
- McHale's Navy - cruise missiles throughout history
Missed the stream? The replay will be available below once it has been processed by YouTube. You can subscribe to the AWC channel for future notifications here.
Dec
General: Updated text in Q’s winter dialogue to give correct instructions for the new event system. Content: Removed minimum level requirement on “Fastest Game on Ice”. Requires Tutorial completion and primary allegiance. Systems: Resolved an issue that was preventing the Fek'Ihri Fe'rang Dreadnought Carrier [T6] from being reclaimable. The "Festive Enterprise" and "Festive Odyssey" sweater unlocks, now unlock the correct associated costumes. The "Slippery Target" Starship Trait now has a 15 second lockout before it can placate the same target again.
