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ZOmegaZ has a new Kickstarter campaign for a new run of challenge coins inspired by various video games and TV shows. Although the emphasis this time around is on his new items, there are a small number of remaining Wing Commander coins from his previous effort available. They are sure to go fast, but if you act now, there's a chance you can snag one for $13 plus shipping. Find out more here!
Wing Commander: Vega Campaign 2" (limited quantities)
Jun
…The concluding article in this series examines events leading to the resurrection of Azimuth and Salvation's plans for the future.
During February and March 3308, Aegis suffered a slow death as its operations were shut down by the superpowers. Its leaders continued calling for its reinstatement, not just to battle the Thargoids but also to oppose Azimuth Biochemicals. They claimed that this sinister corporation was still performing unlicensed xenological research and was responsible for thousands of deaths.
Meanwhile, the number of Thargoid incursions was increasing, perhaps in response to Salvation's Guardian-based superweapon. This culminated in a simultaneous invasion of the Didio, Novas and Sosong systems in April 3308. These were major population centres for the Alliance, Empire and Federation respectively, with over ten billion lives at risk.
Salvation and the superpower militaries
Jun
I love these European CD-ROM Classics that came in thick jewel cases. How cool would it be to have a collection of them in all the different languages? Here's a recent photo posted by Stephan:
I really appreciated the CD-ROM Classics and bought them regularly. If I remember correctly, they had their own EA displays at the POS. Great selection of excellent titles. I have kept a few to this day.I believe there were three Wing Commanders:
Jun
…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,
Jun
…A look at the rivalry between Aegis and Salvation during the escalating war against the Thargoids.
Salvation's success in purging the Thargoid presence from the Cornsar system had many repercussions, not least from the aliens themselves. Several inhabited nebulas were suddenly overrun with Thargoid vessels, leading some to believe they were reacting aggressively to the Guardian-based nature of the anti-xeno superweapon.
Aegis's hands were tied by the ongoing public inquiry, but its chief military liaison Admiral Aden Tanner was convinced that the superweapon was designed to attract Thargoids as well as repel them. Claiming that evidence for this could be found at Hind Mine in the T Tauri system, he commanded the megaship Musashi to launch an assault.
This was a battle that Taurus Mining Ventures won with much support from independent pilots, showing how much faith was now placed in Salvation.
Jun
…Let's look at some chalkboards! The kill board in Wing Commander I is one of those great immsersive touches: instead of scoring points like an arcade, you stay in the game world and compete with the characters you recognize.
All the characters' kills increase as the game progresses but they start from the same numbers. It's nice environmental storytelling, too: you can tell right off that Maniac is the rookie, Iceman is the top gun, etc. There's a million untold stories in this picture!
That environmental storytelling started to become linear storytelling as the series went on: here's a bit added to the Super Wing Commander Claw Marks that tells the story of how Maniac became an ace (as had already been reflected on the original board):
Quick aside: the kill board is based on actual 'scoreboards' used aboard aircraft carriers, particularly in World War 2. Here's a neat article with some history and
Jun
…Last year we mentioned Plywood Fiend's alternative take on a Wing Commander playthrough. Rather than just add typical commentary to the stream, he spices up the episodes with his own animations, supplemental dialogue and unique captions. After winning the Vega Campaign, he's moved on and is now well into the Secret Missions. You can find a few samples below or check out his full Wing Commander playlist on YouTube here.
Woe, calamity and me, for I have returned with more stuff. Specifically I've gone back to do a play through of Secret Missions 1 in my own peculiar fashion; the playlist can be found here (scroll down for the new material, I'm currently up to the Gwenhyvar mission.) Below are a few samples of the added extras I've twisted in, most notably is a pixel art animation I made showing a fateful distress call from the TCS Johann which, suffice it to say, was not the luckiest of vessels, as
Jun
…Today has been exhausting, and we know many of you are exhausted too. We'll be back with some more upbeat Wing Commander stories tomorrow, but for now, here's the topically relevant angle on current events: the owner of the WC franchise, Electronic Arts, has announced tepid support for abortion rights in the US. Although they didn't come out and use the word "abortion" in their public-facing statement, they have internally communicated to employees that they "will soon offer expanded travel health benefits" to employees seeking basic healthcare that they will only be able to access out of state. They join a number of other game developers and tech companies who have announced similar measures today. With the competitiveness of the industry at a fever pitch these days, these types of benefits will be critical incentives in the future.
Anyhow, take care of yourselves out there. Hit us up on Discord
Jun
…A summary of key events around the rise and fall of the tri-superpower organisation Aegis.
The Alliance, Empire and Federation created Aegis in 3303 to lead xenological research and coordinate defensive actions against the Thargoids. With fears that the alien species might one day overwhelm human-controlled space, Aegis's role was to spearhead the resistance against a common enemy.
There were concerns that Aegis might adopt the same unethical practices as its notorious predecessor INRA, which had been formed back in 3125 during the First Thargoid War. But the new agency was welcomed by most, providing intelligence on Thargoid activity as well as advanced weapons.
Since capital ships were vulnerable to the Thargoid shutdown field, Aegis soon had no choice but to rely heavily on independent pilots to perform ship-to-ship combat. And despite its effectiveness at coordinating defence, it was
Jun
…
The war toils on for the crew making the WC4 Fan Remake. With a playable demo still in the works, the team has firmed up a potential set of minimum specs to get everything running smoothly. I haven't kept up with modern PC specs, but these seem quite reasonable for the level of graphical fidelity and performance we've seen from previews. With that being said, now is your chance to voice any concern if something else should be supported.
With the help of EmuMusicFan I believe we now have some minimum specs.He helped test with low GPU memory and movie playback optimizations to get 60fps 1080p h265 running at speed with only 2 cores.Minimum specs: (No shadows, no post process)
2 Core CPU
2GB GPU (Probably 860M/750Ti)
8GB MemoryRecommended specs:
4 Core CPU
6GB GPU (Something like a 980Ti)
8GB MemoryIdeal specs:
4 Core CPU
8GB GPU (Something like a 1070Ti)
16GB MemoryIf these specs seem too high for anyone give
Jun
CD1188 Entertainment has posted a neat video of the latest AI upscaling and image processing techniques. They're using a screenshot from the WC3 introduction to demonstrate how amazing the technology is. AD asked the Wing Commander community's resident neural net expert, ODVS, for his take and he provided some additional context:
They're using Gigapixel AI with its new Facial Recovery algo (which was just released). I'm already doing a deep-dive into experimenting with it for motion. It's impressive, but you hit the uncanny valley pretty hard. Sadly, they've currently only trained it for static images. I suspect it will be a while before it gets incorporated into their motion-friendly models, but I have no doubt that's coming. I am already doing experiments, though.Even if this isn't quite ready to actually animate videos with, the technology remains incredibly impressive!
Jun
…Beginning a multi-part overview of historical events surrounding Azimuth Biochemicals and its connection to the mysterious Salvation.
On the 29th of October 3306, an abandoned megaship named the Adamastor arrived in the Chukchan system, after travelling at sublight speeds for nearly 200 years. At the time, no one could have foreseen the wide-ranging consequences that would arise from unlocking the secrets of this ghost ship.
Investigations revealed that it had been owned by a little-known and long-defunct corporation called Azimuth Biochemicals. The derelict's journey was traced to the previously unexplored Coalsack Nebula, where the Adamastor had collected the survivors of a planetary survey team from the Musca Dark Region PJ-P b6-1 system.
Back in 3111, these geologists had encountered something terrifying and completely unknown: the first recorded instance of contact with the Thargoids.
Jun
The Wing Commander Confederation Handbook is a book that's presented as a fake web browser... and since it's from 1999 it's full of absolutely garish banner ads. And here they are, collected from the book's layout files! I could sure go for a warsop egg.
Jun
…The Alliance, Empire and Federation will continue collaborating with Salvation and Azimuth Biotech on anti-xeno operations.
Political journalist Conrad Sterling reviewed the latest developments for Vox Galactica:
"We now know the truth: Azimuth not only survived, but was responsible for many controversial activities. It contributed to the mycoid virus's development, coordinated with Black Flight and oversaw Project Seraph. Now, this notorious organisation enjoys the trust of all three superpowers to eliminate the Thargoid threat."
"Vocal members of the Assembly, Congress and Senate have called for everyone at Azimuth Biotech – formerly Taurus Mining Ventures – to be arrested as criminals. Professor Alba Tesreau has demanded justice for the crew of the Alexandria, which was sabotaged by Azimuth to obtain its cargo of Guardian artefacts."
"But Allied, Federal and Imperial leaders have all
Jun
One of John Nelson's original Wing Commander designs a while back was the sturdy Border Worlds Avenger. Although it's super impressive what people can do with Lego bricks, there's always room for improvement, and he's taken a second run at tightening things up a bit. The results look really solid. Most of the hull plating is a bit darker and the major structural elements are bit thicker with more mass. Hit the comment link to let him know what you think!
The last of my Lego updates, the Avenger. I went ground up to give it a more game accurate boxy and thicker look and the front cockpit cover had to change and I found the parts to do it. Enjoy.
Jun
Happy Father's Day to Wingnut dads out there! If you're anything like Dia Dastardly, then you discovered a way to incorporate Wing Commander into your celebrations. She's 3D printed a slick little Excalibur to give as a gift. That sounds like an awesome present to me, but you don't have to be on the sending or receiving end to make your own fighter. This looks like it may be based on AstroFossil's model. Build your own with the file here!
I’ve been working on my dad’s Father’s Day gift. It’s a F-103 Excalibur from Wing Commander. He and I used to play it a lot so I hope he likes it.
Jun
…Salvation has announced that his partner organisation Taurus Mining Ventures is a modern incarnation of Azimuth Biochemicals.
The revelation came via a public statement across all media channels:
"This is Salvation. In light of recent speculation, we are rebranding Taurus Mining Ventures as Azimuth Biotech. My intent is to prove that Azimuth has no further need to conceal its operations."
"Two centuries ago, Azimuth's pioneers first acquired evidence of the alien creatures now referred to as Thargoids. My research division focused exclusively on studying this life form and preparing for the inevitable inter-species conflict. When Azimuth Biochemicals was commercially overtaken by Pharmasapien over a century ago, I ensured key assets and personnel were removed from company records prior to the acquisition. We continued our research in secret, free from shareholders and corporate espionage."
Jun
The CIC was founded on the principle of "All Things Wing Commander," and we continue to try to live up to that every day! As such, LOAF has found a very obscure mention of Super Wing Commander in a 1995 documentary called Synthetic Pleasures. It features the "suit up" portion of the SWC launch sequence. And you don't have to hunt down the VHS like LOAF did - see it for yourself in the embed below!
Alexa: “Your order of SYNTHETIC PLEASURES has been delivered.”The Super Wing Commander bit is just after the 44 minute mark (following footage of a robot labeled Robot Redford). It's the extremely-90s-cyber-stuff 'suit up' sequence from the takeoff cutscene.
Jun
Docteur J has hosted epic playthroughs of Wing Commander 3 and 4 over the last couple years, so in 2022 he's taking on Prophecy over at Oldies Games TV. He's been streaming Wing Commander for a long time, and his dedication is a fantastic example of how Wing Commander fandom transcends all languages and cultures. At first his content would have been geared towards French speakers, but with YouTube's auto translate feature, anyone can turn on captions in their native language and follow along with the fun! The first few new Prophecy chapters are available now:
Jun
…The music website Bandcamp is holding a special event on June 17 to donate their share of album sales to causes that promote racial justice efforts. This commemorates the Juneteenth national holiday in the United States, which celebrates a major milestone on the path to ending slavery. Wingnuts looking for a way to support this are in luck! Earlier this year, The Fat Man released an ultimate MT-32 Archival Edition of his legendary WC1 soundtrack. The album is available to listen to for free on YouTube, but it's only $10 to own a portable copy of your own via Bandcamp. It's a pretty cheap way to help a good cause and get your Wing Commander fix at the same time!
Way back in 2007, George put out a fantastic album of WC1 music known as Wing One, and it's been on our highly recommended list ever since. This new edition scrubs Fat's archives for a complete reckoning of all the music in the game.
