02
Dec
Here's a neat reference! I always wondered what the letter buttons on the Privateer nav computer did... and there's the answer from the Prophecy Universe Map, individual quadrants of sectors are identified by a number and then a letter A-H.
News categories list
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30
Jan
…Lon Seidman has put together a fun video about Wing Commander Prophecy for the Gameboy Advance. At least that's what he set out to do, but he ended up prefacing that first with a nice ten-minute rundown of the Wing Commander series as an introduction to the franchise. Lon then gives the game a good overview, and he also provides tips on how to get into the series today via GOG. There's even a WCNews.com shout out (thanks!). Prophecy Advance has some definite limitations, but it's massively impressive what Raylight was able to pack into a tiny handheld cartridge. They even added in four player multiplayer!
You can read more about what the game meant to us here and find the story from the developers' perspective here. More of Lon's videos are posted regularly at Lon.TV.
The Modern Vintage Gamer posted a great video about a Tomb Raider port on the GBA from the OpenLara project. It reminded me of
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20
Sep
Display MoreI love hardware ads where assets from a bunch of games are hanging out. We've got spaceships! And scantily clad ladies! And monster trucks! (PC Gamer, May 1998)
I am finding so many of these that it will require a deep dive... but look at THIS ONE which features a Vaktoth from Privateer Online!?!?!?!?!?
So it looks like there were four of these paste ups for the original Voodoo cards in 1997. No Wing Commander in the first one!
Then two more for the Voodoo 2. After that there’s not such a focus on advertising how much developer support 3dfx has…
Just way more butts up there than are usually in one of my posts.I had the Canopus Pure 3D and it had *6* megs of memory instead of 4. Still have no idea what that even did.
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03
Sep
…When Colonel Blair is first introduced to 2nd Lt. Mitchell "Vaquero" Lopez in the Orsini series of Wing Commander III, Vaquero is strumming a guitar and explains that guitars are an important part of his history: "But my family, they made guitars for many generations. I’ve got one that’s almost two hundred years old. The sound just keeps getting richer... Someday I’m going to open a cantina and bring in the best to play that guitar. A place for old fighter jocks like you and me."
There's just one thing odd about this: while Vaquero may have a guitar that dates back to the middle of the 25th century stored safely at home the one he's happily playing in the lounge is over seven hundred years old! The guitar used as a prop in the game is a Gibson SG Junior Cherry from the 1960s. The Gibson SG Junior is a solid-bodied electric guitar intended as a lower cost alternative to the Gibson SG. If you're
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06
Sep
…Character-defining knives are a theme in the FMV Wing Commander games. We've learned about Cobra's Marto-Brewer Explora from Wing Commander III and now it's time to take a look at Seether's significantly more distinct knife from Wing Commander IV. Depending on your choices, Seether can use his knife twice: during the introduction he will threaten Blair with it if you choose to rescue the man he is roughing up and then he uses it to execute Captain Paulsen after the Lexington is destroyed or crippled. The close-up shot of the knife slitting the Captain's throat was censored in the German release of the game.
Seether's blade is called the Double Shadow. The Double Shadow is a 5 1/2" stainless steel split blade "fantasy knife." It was released in 1991 and created by famed fantasy knife designer Gil Hibben. Seether's knife was almost MORE distinct: instead of a fantasy knife, the script calls for a
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04
Sep
…Who says print is dead? In 2669, Major Todd "Maniac" Marshall, eternal teenager, still has a stash of printed pornography in his locker. When you chat with him in the barracks during the Blackmane series he takes a break from reading an issue of 'Playpen' magazine to tease Blair about flirting with Rachel. Is Playpen something created for Wing Commander III or is it the real 1980s magazine it appears to be? (And if the former is the case, why didn't they use the already-established Playboy parody "Plaything (tm)" from Privateer?)
Long story short: it's not real AND it wasn't created by the prop department. There are often legal issues involved with showing real products on television and in film. Take a close look at any popular sitcom and you'll find that what look like real groceries, magazines, books and posters are actually careful knockoffs that resemble (but are legally distinct from) familiar
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10
Sep
…We've seen Cobra's Explora and Seether's Dual Shadow… today, we conclude the trilogy with Hawk's knife. Lieutenant Colonel Jacob "Hawk" Manley seems to have picked up a new habit between Wing Commander IV and Wing Commander Prophecy. Like Cobra in Wing Commander III, he repeatedly brandishes a large survival knife in various cutscenes, alternatively sharpening it or using it to threaten Maniac. After his death, Spyder bequeaths the blade to the player. Wing Commander Prophecy's script expressly introduces the tool as a hunting knife: "FEATURE big hunting knife as Hawk enters and walks towards table" Later stage directions repeatedly ask Hawk to sharpen or otherwise focus on the knife.
Hawk is carrying a United Cutlery Bushmaster Survival Knife, the same general type of knife as Cobra in Wing Commander III (and from the same company as Seether's Double Shadow!) The Bushmaster Survival Knife is a 10"
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02
Sep
…This is the first in a series of updates identifying props used in Wing Commander's various live action productions. Movie productions typically use a range of props: some (like Kilrathi masks and laser rifles) are fabricated specially for an individual shoot, some (like whirring computer consoles and background decorations) are rented from companies that build generic props that can be adapted to different productions and then reused and sometimes 'real world' items can be used.
The latter is the case today. In Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger, 1st Lt. Laurel "Cobra' Buckley fastidiously sharpens an ugly utility knife, apparently a symbol of the psychological damage she has previously suffered as a Kilrathi prisoner of war. Interestingly, Cobra's knife is not specified in the Wing Commander III shooting script and thus is never mentioned in the game's adaptation (like most novelizations, the
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11
Sep
…At the end of Wing Commander Prophecy's first act, the tone of the story changes dramatically. We open act two with a CG sequence representing Dallas' funeral and then transition to a the TCS Midway's rec room where Bob-o-Matte is doing a tarot reading for communications officer 2nd Lt. Anderson. The large cards have stunning, unexpected art… were they created for the production or are they a commercially available tarot card?
But first, we're going to answer your big question: who the heck is Bob-o-Matte?! You likely know that Wing Commander III, IV and Prophecy use a 'green screen' system for their computer generated backgrounds (Wing Commander IV and Prophecy use more real sets but still feature many composite shots.) The 'green screen' technology used by the games is a compositing system called Ultimatte. And the people hired to provide and operate this system in the film shoots was a Los Angeles
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10
Jun
…The location of an INRA base in the DG Canum Venaticorum system was revealed by a survivor of the notorious Project Seraph.
Professor Alba Tesreau, former head of research at Aegis, initially received the tip-off from an anonymous source but has now provided clarification:
"Further communication with my source has revealed that she was once a 'candidate' of Project Seraph, a now-abandoned operation run by Azimuth Biochemicals several years ago. At the Oaken Point facility in the HIP 26176 system, scientists attempted to directly interface with Thargoid scout vessels by grafting neural and physiological implants into living subjects."
"Most of these horrific experiments ended in failure or death, but the subject classified as D-2 escaped from Oaken Point by stowing away on a trader's ship. Since then she has used her inside knowledge to investigate Azimuth, confirming Aegis's belief that the -
24
Sep
…Negotiations between the Federation and self-styled dictator Yuri Grom are underway to determine the Delta Pavonis system's allegiance.
Political correspondent Conrad Sterling published an update for Vox Galactica:
"In recent years, Yuri Grom has developed a degree of mystique. He was one of the few leaders not to attend the Galactic Summit, and news from within his dominion was scarce. But now he is visibly relishing the opportunity to confront Federal representatives under the protection of diplomatic immunity."
"Initial exchanges were belligerent as both sides argued over who would be the most beneficial partner. This was to be expected since Delta Pavonis is one of the Federation's founding systems, and it would be a significant coup for EG Union to establish a presence so close to Sol."
"What was unexpected was the mutual respect that gradually developed between Yuri Grom and Ambassador -
12
Dec
…Destro dropped in to provide another update on his project to add Sega CD speech to Wing Commander 1. He's made huge technical strides which help make the mod cue the correct speech files to play alongside the game's native storyline text. He's even spliced in the awesome intro movie from the Super Nintendo version of the game to the Secret Missions! We've quoted the highlights of his update below, but head on over to the CIC Forums for a complete technical breakdown.
Hello everyone. With the holidays right around the corner I wanted to say for starters, Happy Holidays to everyone and I hope you are all doing well and have a Merry Christmas. I'm going to start with a few (small amount of) fun details as I've done a ton of under the hood work lately. I always like to include the technical details in case anyone is interested and to let you all know what I've been up in regards this program.
Fun
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10
Jul
The first test print of
Denis Loubet's
Pewter Planethas arrived, and it's pretty cool! It nails the shape of the original Medal of Honor, especially when paired with the correct green and black ribbon. Since this is the prototype, there are a few things that Mr. Loubet is looking at tweaking in a future update. He'll have to rework the attach point so that the ribbon has something to anchor to, and there are probably some opportunities to smooth the curvature to avoid the terracing effect. It's a really fun first effort though!
I was afraid the post wouldn't print. Shoot!Plus the layering is really obvious! I'll have to limit the materials to the fully polished metals to try to hide that artifacting. (Although it kinda looks cool anyway?)
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02
Feb
…ATTENTION! ATTENTION! The great big Dralthi parade is about to begin! Be sure to cheer for all your favorites!
Starting things off here comes the earliest known design, the KF-100 DRALTHI from the Wing Commander movie!
What do you know, here's one of the otherwise unnamed obsolete Dralthi from Wing Commander Academy's Lords of the Sky! It's so easy a Dioscurian monkey ape can fly it!
Now who's up for some pancakes? The original and still the one, the Dralthi I from Wing Commander I (and Wing Commander Academy)! And coming up quickly behind it is the Dralthi Mk. II from The Secret Missions 2! It's... visually identical! But those mass drivers sure pack a punch.
Want something a little lighter? The fastest Dralthi of them all is Wing Commander Armada's Dralthi III! And just look at those HUGE WING VENTS!
You know it, you love it, it's a bunch of DRALTHI IV from Wing Commander III, IV, Prophecy and the card -
08
Mar
Folks, I've uncovered some shocking cut content hidden in Privateer's files. The game has... TWO UNUSED NOSES.
For comparison, here's a few actual faces from Privateer:
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03
Apr
If you've been following some of our recent news posts, you've seen that LOAF has been making some incredible strides in finishing out the Privateer-related entries of the CIC wiki. Many of the recent discoveries and explorations have been crowdsourced in Discord #Wingnut, and new contributors are always welcome. Whether you'd just like to read up on the latest, or get a sense of what yet needs to be done, check out some of the major indices such as the main Privateer page, the components navbox and the ships/vehicles navbox. Did you know the shape of the radar changes by sensor type? The Maneuvering Jet art started out as an EMP Shield? The Paradigm Destroyer is internally coded as "Frigate"? And there are nine different color shades in the MFD damage display? All of this is just the beginning - learn more at the WCPedia!
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27
Apr
Crazy discovery! Ever wonder what the scene on the cover of the Privateer manual is? It's not one of the regular landing pads. But look closely at the 'buildings' in the background... they're being reused from the asteroid base mesh to make it look like a cityscape!
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06
Jun
…Raph Kosterhas posted
additionalsnippets from his upcoming book on video game development,
Postmortems. This time he provides a glimpse into the incredibly ambitious economy that Privateer Online was supposed to include. This includes complex guild mechanics, a virtual stock market and an offline web-based interface for certain tasks. Pretty wild for the time! The 700 page paperback publication is still slated for June 26, but ebook editions are starting to trickle out. The
B&N Nookversion is already available at just $20.
Another feature of Privateer Online that arose out of its heavily commerce-oriented gameplay was its in-game stock market... which may not have worked the way you'd expect. Long before Farmville, MMOs were exploring asynchronous play. There were player vendors in UO, of course, but in Privateer Online we planned to extend that to a fully player-driven economy. I mean, we were
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22
Oct
…LividLiquid has put together a super creative musical playlist for your listening enjoyment. She's taken the moody atmospheric music of Wing Commander Privateer and transformed it with an NES-style audio filter. I didn't even know this could be a thing, and it's amazing how much it actually does feel like this is what the game could sound like on an 8-bit Nintendo. As an extra bonus, each track also has an accompanying piece of Privateer location cover art with an appropriately reduced color palette. Hit the little playlist icon in the upper right of the embedded YouTube video below to flip through the different chapters. You can also jump straight to the playlist here. If these really hit your ear in the right way, you can even download the mp3 album (35 meg zip)!
I ran each of the Midi files Wing Commander Privateer uses for its music through an 8-bit soundfont one by one, and this playlist is
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07
Jun
…Did you ever wonder why Privateer's missions go from series 5 to 7 in the game's internal numerical sequencing? Series 6 was cut pretty late in the process... but now we've found an earlier version of the game's script that includes them! After finding the derelict, you take the gun to the ship dealer on New Detroit...
There a man named WILMER tells you that he can't install the gun because you need to talk to Roman Lynch again. Roman Lynch is the mob boss you last saw earlier in the game after he sent his henchman Miggs to murder you and steal your artifact.
Incidentally, this finally explains why there is a never used closeup background stored in the game for a conversation with the ship dealer!
Lynch runs this town and you can only get the gun installed if you fly a series of missions for him. The missions are especially immoral, attacking business rivals and civilians...
... and one of them is an
