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Clans play a very big role in Freelancer. So they do for Crossfire. Clans often keep the roleplay running or initiate new roleplay situations. They help new players and those which belong to their members. In other words "they are important". It is time to give something back to them.
Feb
…*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
Azimuth Biotech has commercially launched a new module that allows two additional AX weapons to be added to large ships.
The experimental weapons stabiliser increases the number of AX weapons which can be installed on a ship. The class 3 variant released last week increases the limit to five, whereas the class 5 variant released yesterday increases it to six.
Both versions entered mass production following Azimuth Biotech's highly successful resource drive in the LHS 1163 system. CEO Torben Rademaker issued a statement to accompany the product launch:
"Our proprietary technology has bypassed the inherent design flaws of Aegis's AX weaponry. The experimental weapons stabiliser will play a vital role in the ongoing defence of the core systems."
"I can only assume that the current chatter about reforming Aegis is due to misplaced nostalgia. How quickly people forget
Jul
Game Magazine Print Ads& RetroMags spotted a really cool page from the January 1995 edition of Next Generation magazine, which would have been on store shelves right when Wing Commander 3 debuted in December 1994. The core art is similar to the general
WC3 sell sheetwith some slightly tweaked screenshots. The big focus though is that this is an ad for the Premiere Edition. A similar
big boxededition entered the retail stream via Sam's Club, but the most prime version was just available through EA. You had to know about it to place an order, and a limited number of ads like this was the communications plan to let fans know it existed!
Oct
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.)
Jul
…A children's entertainment show that achieved great popularity 40 years ago is being remade for modern audiences.
The animated programme, which featured spacefaring camel-like lifeforms from another galaxy, was titled Andromedaries. After many years, its devoted fanbase has raised funding for an independent entertainment company to purchase the rights.
A press release from Blackshadow Productions stated:
"This new incarnation of Andromedaries will delight fans both old and new. We'll be going on a dark, blood-soaked journey of psychological discovery, showcasing all the trials and pressures of intergalactic travel."
Vienna Langhorne, the creator and head writer of the original show, commented:
"It's about camels in space, for goodness' sake! What are these morons doing to it?"
Ogden Smith, president of the Andromedaries Superlative Society, told the media:
"With all due respect to Vienna
Aug
Out of Print Archive has posted another vintage Wing Commander scan, and this one's a beauty! It dates back to the May 1993 issue of CVG in the UK where they highlight the Super Nintendo release of WC1. The graphics design here is wonderful. It features solid blue tones, "high tech" beveled thumbnails and plenty of caution striping. As was common at the time, we get a cockpit overview, missile rundown and fighter identification chart. I would have loved this as a 13-year old. A really cool review!
Oct
Today we’ve got a neat comparison article courtesy of the X-Wing Game Series Twitter account. It comes from the German GameStar magazine in August 1998. In this matchup, we see Wing Commander Prophecy’s key features up against Freespace and X-Wing versus Tie Fighter. Although the publication is clearly a fan of all three, WCP narrowly takes the top spot. They credit its gorgeous graphics and convincing flight mode, but are disappointed at the lack of multiplayer. I usually let alternate language scans stand on their, but I also ran this one through a translator with pretty decent results. This was such an exciting time to be a space sim fan!
Nov
…Does anyone out there use Classic Gaming Arena? We've seen it come through Anatoly Shashkin's DOS Nostalgic feed in the past, and it supports DOSBox and Wing Commander Armada's IPXNet/NetBIOS protocols. Looks like it's another great option to get some online dogfights (or sector-wide domination) going. They have detailed instructions on how to get things set up here. Stop by the #Wingnut Discord if you're looking for fellow pilots to compete against!
Classic Gaming Arena is a website based portal to link up with friends, family or just random people to play DOS based IPX network games over the Internet via the use of DOSBox and out small client program, the CGA Client. The CGA Client is installed locally and the website uses it to launch DOSBox and get you connected to your networked game. The website essentially passes off all the required information about the game you want to launch and the
May
Dennis Mull came across a hardware setup from the mid '90s that's a pretty neat time capsule of the era. The Quickshot "Squadron Commander" QS-202 is a very early example of a Hands-On Throttle And Stick (HOTAS). Lots of joysticks at the time were sold as "compatible with Wing Commander," and this one includes pre-programmed controls for Wing Commander, Wing Commander 3 and Strike Commander. Given the rapid pace of PC advancement during that time, it's pretty cool that you could regularly find equipment that worked with all of these games. The box even advertises Windows 95 compatibility. And there's lots of other titles besides the WC series listed on the box, which gives you an idea of how popular the flight sim genre was at the time. TheSynrgy also put together a cool unboxing of the unit if you'd like to see more!
Sep
…Today we've got a wonderful pile of old reviews from Maxi de Sokar. First up is a WC2 from the Spanish OKPC magazine. They give it a solid 85% and comes with lots of gorgeous screenshots. There's also a Special Operations preview, and although it's short, it packs in tons of great little references that really date game development to the era (1991-1992). Then we shift gears into a PC Review review of WC Academy. The game only gets 5 (out of 10, I suppose), but they had enough to talk about to fill a two page article. We often point out that there was genuine demand for something like this and it filled a niche that was pretty unique back in the day. With all that being said, the same author returns to review Wing Commander Privateer... and he also gave it a 5/10! So maybe that says something more about him than the game. In the end, I guess I'm not mad about Academy being rated on the same
Jan
Good Old Games' winter sale may have come to an end, but their winter classics sale is just beginning! Wing Commander is as classic as good old games can be, and they've been marked down 75% accordingly. That means the whole main DOS/Windows series clocks in at less than $12! Round out your collection with the links below!
Dec
…I'm calming the old broken brain this weekend with a little research project: studying the evolution of Claw Marks! Like all holy books, Claw Marks evolved over time with edits and changes made by other contributors as Wing Commander I was ported and re-released...
And it's pretty fascinating seeing the changes! The original manual was developed in 1990 by the late, great Aaron Allston before Origin adopted digital publishing. It's the perfect lore booklet, absolutely defining the tone of the original game.
In 1994, Origin recreated it digitally for the Sega CD port (and then Super Wing Commander). Tuesday Frase overhauled the text, with changes ranging from dropping Oxford commas to rewriting sections and adding others!
And then in 1996 it was updated again for Kilrathi Saga with a host of lesser changes (and a totally new layout). And of course there are spinoffs and foreign translations that add
Sep
Wing Commander I's manual, Claw Marks, includes sixteen pages of hand drawn art of the game's ships. These schematics were part of a larger group draughted by Origin artist Glen Johnson as reference for the game's outsource 3D artist. While the original art consisted of 21 ships with 5 views each, Claw Marks reproduces only 16 ships with 3 views, two of those split in half to save space. We thought it would be a fun experiment to 'unsplit' the top and bottom views from the Claw Marks artwork! Here are the results, quick-and-dirty edits to show what the ships looked like when they were originally drawn:
Oct
…The Close Encounters Corps has announced its intention to construct a scientific megaship in the BD-12 1172 system. The new vessel will allow research teams to map and explore the planets of the surrounding nebula.
Admiral Anton Vern of the Close Encounters Corps issued the following statement:
"A number of survey groups have expressed interest in mapping the nebula surrounding the BD-12 1172 system. This new scientific vessel will act as a base from which they can research the abundance of unexplored planets throughout the nebula."
To facilitate construction of the megaship, the Close Encounters Corps has placed an open order for muon imagers, and has promised to reward pilots who deliver these commodities to Crown Prospect in the Kagutsuchi system. The organisation has also placed a kill order on all ships on its wanted list, to ensure that those contributing material can do so safely.
The
Oct
The Close Encounters Corps has announced that its appeal for commodities has reached a successful conclusion, having received an overwhelming response from the galactic community.
A huge number of muon imagers were delivered to Crown Prospect over the past week. These will allow the construction of a scientific megaship to research the nebula surrounding the BD-12 1172 system.
With the initiative at an end, Admiral Anton Vern of the Close Encounters Corps issued the following statement:
"I am grateful for the professionalism displayed by the pilots who took part in this project, and thank them on behalf of our researchers. New horizons and new worlds await us."
Pilots who contributed to the initiative can now collect their rewards from Crown Prospect in the Kagutsuchi system.
Aug
…And that's it for the front page! But the party continues! Come on back to #Wingnut on Discord to rejoin the fun! The livestream broadcast will also continue well into the night. There's lots of people we'd like to thank for helping make today possible. This has been a HUGE year for fan projects with a ton of absolutely marvelous efforts in full swing. Howard Day, DefianceIndustries, Popsicle Pete, Pedro, L.I.F./Rufus, UnnamedCharacter, Goliath, Dark Sentinel and Denis Loubet are just some of the people who are killing it this year. This makes our job tremendously fun since there's so much to report on. Once again, KrisV has outdone himself in literally keeping the website online from a technical perspective and doing all of the behind-the-scenes maintenance and upgrades that nobody else will touch.
And completely sincerely, I'd like to thank all of YOU for coming. It's the shared excitement
Jun
And just like that, right out of the blue is a gorgeous new wallpaper from Klavs! It features two slick Hellcats cruising above the clouds at dusk. If you look really closely, there's some details like running lights and painted sections that make the scene look more realistic. The image below has been produced at 3840x2160 so it'll look crisp on your high res monitor!
Nov
…*Pilots Federation ALERT*
An Alliance initiative has successfully prepared the Coalsack Nebula for exploitation and reduced the Thargoids' presence.
Traders delivered shipments of power generators, robotics, structural regulators and building fabricators, which will be used to help construct several new facilities in the region.
The quantity of commodities received will result in construction of the following for the 26th of November 3306:
Betancourt Base Starport in the Musca Dark Region PJ-P b6-1 system.
Additional services: Interstellar factor, human technology broker, encoded material trader, extended range of Multi-purpose ships.
Cole Point Starport in the CoalSack Sector VU-0 B6-6 system.
Additional services: Interstellar factor, raw material trader, extended range of Multi-purpose ships and mining equipment, fleet carrier administration.
Hannu Arena Starport in the Musca Dark Region
Dec
…*Pilots Federation ALERT*
Explorers have catalogued many ammonia worlds for a Sirius Atmospherics terraforming project in the Coalsack Nebula.
The subsidiary of Sirius Corporation is one of several companies that are working in partnership with the Alliance to commercially exploit the region.
Project director Dr Maximilian North announced the successful completion of the initiative:
"The data provided on planets with ammonia-based atmospheres will be invaluable to our terraforming simulations. With our new environmental techniques, some of these poisonous worlds within the nebula may one day become habitable."
Sirius Atmospherics has confirmed that payouts for all contributing pilots are now available at Betancourt Base in the Musca Dark Region PJ-P b6-1 system.
As the expansion into the Coalsack Nebula progresses, Commodore Morag Halloran of the Alliance Defence Force commented on the
Nov
…The human colonists in the Coalsack Nebula has raised the alarm after Thargoid forces appeared several systems.
Following recent attacks on systems and vessels in the California Nebula, it appears that the Thargoids have again sought to occupy systems where barnacle fields are present on planet surfaces.
Councillor Lewis Laychurch, representing the Alliance Expeditionary Pact in HIP 62154, provided the following to the Alliance Tribune:
"Our security craft regularly patrol between the populated systems in this region. We had the first reports of nonhuman signals this morning. Obviously we've seen Thargoid activity in the Coalsack Nebula several times before, but this time was different. It's not an attack as much as a presence."
"We witnessed a huge upsurge in these signals in multiple systems. Over a couple of hours, it felt like Thargoid activity was visible on scanners wherever our ships
