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Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here's one from deep in the archives. AD found an interview with the Fat Man and Team Fat in an early 1995 article of the New York Times, before they even started posting stories online in 1996. This one's been turned into a digital story for completeness so future generations can learn a little about the state of early game audio. It goes a little bit deeper than your typical magazine blurb. The conversation begins very similarly to many other interviews George Sanger has given over the years, but it also delves into some of the side-projects and other attempts that he was trying to use to expand his business. These are portrayed as controversial, but it sounds more like they were trying to throw everything at the wall to see what stuck - which a lot of folks were doing in this new media space at the time! You can read up on the whole article here.

Starting with "Loom," one of the first computer

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

MW Art has put together an awesome time lapse of what it takes to build a Kilrathi warrior. He's meticulously sculpted everything in Zbrush. Even though the clock is sped up, I'm amazed to see how fast the head comes together. It's also interesting to see how items like the claws get so much attention. The texture/coloring seems like it should take a long time as well (and I'm sure it did!), but Martijn makes it look like a breeze!

Space is a very scary place, so why not make it even more scary by adding some Tigers in there! Big fan of Wing Commander games and the Kilrathi Antagonists, I still think they should appear in Star Citizen, I tried to make a concept of what they would look like in a modern game, Hope you like it!

Check out my artstation for some Hi-Res Renders.

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Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

There are widespread fears that current hostilities in the Paresa system may force the Empire and Federation to declare full-scale war.
The situation has been covered by mainstream media.
The Imperial Herald: "Hadrian might be the black sheep of the Duval family, but should he die by Federation hands, honour would demand retribution. Already the Imperial Navy is mobilising in anticipation of the Emperor's reaction."
The Federal Times: "The evidence that Nova Imperium orchestrated the starport bombings is credible, but the possibility of subterfuge remains. Could the NMLA really fake so many orders from Hadrian Duval to such a believable standard?"
Eye on Achenar: "An attack against a Duval is an attack against us all, even if he does turn out to be a terrorist. How dare those Fednecks try to judge our criminals for us!"
Sol Today: "Hundreds of thousands dead, half a million wounded… our

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Here's a great sampling of Asian Wing Commander games that AD dug up while searching various online marketplaces. The majority are Taiwanese, although the Armada there is Japanese. We've posted most of these in various forms over the years, but it's fun to see them all in one place. One that's new to me is the Academy ad with faux cockpit struts added. WC3, Armada and the Privateers remain pretty elusive, even in bootleg form (as the loose bagged copies below are). The legit versions are those earlier ones published by Soft World. AD has also summarized a list of Chinese language search terms you can use if you're trying to bulk up your own International Wing Commander collection. Find those below!

《银河飞将》（Wing Commander）
《银河飞将：秘密任务》（WC: The Secret Missions）
《银河飞将：秘密任务2》（WC: The Secret Missions 2）

《银河飞将II：帝国逆袭》（Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi）
《银河飞将II：特别任务1》（WCII: Special Operations 1）

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The election of the Alliance prime minister will take place on the 27th of May, having been postponed due to the Galactic Summit.
Vanya Driscoll, political correspondent for The Alliance Tribune, reported:
"Prime Minister Edmund Mahon's decision to postpone the election for three months caused enormous disruption and mass protests. This may have mortally wounded his campaign to be re-elected as head of government for a second six-year term."
"With hindsight it's clear that Mahon was prioritising the Sirius Treaty, a detailed proposal to unite the superpowers against the Thargoids. Unfortunately, the Galactic Summit was prematurely halted by the 'Nine Martyrs' bombings before the treaty could be agreed."
"Although there are several candidates, Mahon's only serious challenger is Councillor Nakato Kaine. She has been a vocal critic of his expansionist policies, and gained much public support for

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

There's been more great progress this week on Howard Day's Wing Leader pilots. The big news is that he's added Maniac to the mix, but the characters have also gotten helmets, which is also nice to see. There's even some cockpit chair visible now as well. In what seems like a fairly short span of time, this squadron seems to be really forming up!

Some more Wing Leader nonsense, working way too late. Supposed to look like a young Tom Wilson.. Basically just Biff Tannen. Flattened some perspective, got some better contrast on materials, added the iconic WC2 Terran pilot chair. Enjoy!

Quote from Mass Effect News-Bot

As the release of Mass Effect Legendary Edition draws near, players are set to relive the epic saga of Commander Shepard with a significant layer of visual and performance polish added to the acclaimed BioWare trilogy. With such focus brought to elevating the original experience in significant ways, one might wonder how the game may ultimately perform once finally released on consoles and PC. To that end, publisher Electronic Arts recently laid out the expected performance of each platform at launch.

As detailed on the official EA website, the game’s intended output resolution and framerate targets for PC, and PlayStation, and Xbox consoles are given a complete rundown. According to the stats, PC has the obvious advantage with support for up to 240 FPS and 240 Hz refresh rates along with a myriad of available graphics options. Consoles are admittedly more limited offering two toggleable gameplay modes

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Today we've got a historical profile from the July 2000 issue of PC Zone. It works two ways: the article is a recap on the highlights of the PC space sim genre from 1984 to 2000, but at the same time, it's ancient history itself. While there was quite a lull in the space sims during the 2000s, the past decade has certainly seen something of a revival, and I look forward to reading that recap someday. I vaguely remember this article when it was new, and it's kind of amazing that more time has passed since it was published now than the mere 16 years of timeline that they were covering back then. They hit on the big three: Elite, Wing Commander and Star Wars - before finishing off with a bit about some of the late '90s entrants like X and Starlancer. There are also some fun quotes from the editor of A Talent for War, which was a space sim community hub that started up around the same time as the

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The LoveRetroBTW streamer is hosting a morning show this weekend with Wing Commander sound designer Marc Schaefgen. He worked on most all the WC games from WC1 through Privateer, plus some Ultimas, Strike Commander and more. It'll be part of their Cafe, BTW podcast at 8 AM Pacific time on May 8 on Twitch. Getting up early on a Saturday morning to talk Wing Commander sounds like fun to us! Check it out here.

Tomorrow on 👉CafeBTW "A Morning Coffee Gaming Podcast"☕️

Guest Host: Marc Schaefgen sound designer from Wing Commander I & II🔊

Main Topic: Sound Design in #VideoGames

Channel: https://t.co/2rjua4naml#podcast #gaming #sound pic.twitter.com/XdZaZsIROm

— Andy formerly @ProducerBTW (@LoveRetroBTW) May 7, 2021

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Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots Federation ALERT*
The enigmatic 'Salvation' has sent a message to the Commanders he recently recruited to discover the Hesperus megaship.
The vessel was found in the Perseus Dark Region KC-V C2-2 system, after 'Salvation' provided an access key to read its automated SOS. Pilots were then encouraged to deliver any surviving logs to Taurus Mining Ventures at the Hind Mine asteroid base in the T Tauri system.
Patience Middleton, a representative of the corporation, announced:
"'Salvation' has authorised us to offer two million credits or ten units of void opals for delivering the Hesperus's logs. This contract ends on the 21st of May 3307, after which payments will not be available."
"We have been asked to relay the message below."
"'This is Salvation. I call myself this as I cannot yet reveal my identity, but my scientific breakthroughs will literally save all of humanity. The Adamastor

Quote from Mass Effect News-Bot

BioWare’s beloved Mass Effect trilogy is getting a much-needed makeover for the upcoming Mass Effect Legendary Edition, the original space-exploring RPG receiving slew of modern performance and visual upgrades. Of the many particular changes coming to the original ME game, the driveable ground vehicle known as the Mako has seen one of the most major overhauls as it ditched its infamously touchy maneuverability for a more traditional, physics-bound experience. However, it looks like fans can also go back and use the old Mako if they so choose.

As revealed in a recent interview with PC Gamer, environment director Kevin Meek and project director Mac Walters confirmed the floaty original Mako will indeed ship with Mass Effect Legendary Edition as an alternative to the new control scheme. ”For those people out there who do like pain, we’ve left the option to leave it back kind of closer to the original

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The new blog/movie website Shirts of Astoundment has posted a new article titled 4 Things About The Wing Commander Movie That Are Actually Cool. I'm much more of a CinemaWins than a CinemaSins kind of guy, so this is right up my alley (also the Wing Commander part). The internet already has ten thousand think pieces rehashing the film's flaws, and it takes some courage to flip the script and focus on the positive aspects of something. Their analysis focuses on the music, international cast and CGI as high points, which are aspects we've been trying to emphasize for years. There's also some discussion about being able to see the Phantom Menace trailer. While a lot of people cite that anecdote, I photographed the no refunds signs on opening weekend. So if that many people actually did go see Wing Commander for the new Star Wars trailer, it probably would have done better than seventh place on

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots Federation ALERT*
President Zachary Hudson's call for data deliveries has enhanced civilian surveillance within the Federation.
His campaign received more data than a competing request from Shadow President Felicia Winters, which aimed to offer ways of protecting communications against interception by the Proactive Detection Bureau.
For both initiatives, pilots delivered anomalous bulk scan data, exceptional scrambled emission data, specialised legacy firmware and unusual encrypted files.
President Zachary Hudson hailed this show of public support for the Federal government:
"Our citizens deserve security, and with their contributions to the PDB's databases, we are now in a better position to protect them against terrorism."
Analysts predict that this outcome will boost security for systems that fall within Hudson's personal sphere of influence. It is also expected that a loss of

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots Federation ALERT*
Open warfare has begun in the Paresa system between Nova Imperium and the League of Mandu, a Federal faction.
Imperator Hadrian Augustus Duval has been accused of masterminding the NMLA starport bombings, according to evidence provided to ACT.
Admiral Natalia Lee, commanding the Harmony's Shield megaship, declared:
"The Empire refuses to arrest a Duval, even when he and his organisation are brutal terrorists. In the name of the hundreds of thousands of Federal citizens they murdered, we will enact justice."
Hadrian Duval made an announcement from Dyson City, the home station of Nova Imperium:
"This invasion of Imperial space is based on false information. The Federation does not have the right to act as our judge, jury and executioner. I call upon the Empire to come to our defence, as stipulated in the Treaty of Paresa."
Nova Imperium is an isolationist group that

Quote from Mass Effect News-Bot

Mass Effect fans are gearing up for the long awaited remaster of the original Mass Effect trilogy, which comes next week in the form of Mass Effect Legendary Edition. Footage released so far shows drastically improved graphics and animations for the trilogy’s beloved, vibrant characters when compared to the original versions of the games. These characters would be nothing without the brilliant performances of their voice actors, and thankfully these original cast members are reuniting to help hype up the Legendary Edition trilogy. A new Mass Effect Legendary Edition panel featuring voice actors and devs has been announced for next week.

in 12 days 😎

link to stream will be out next week.
save the date 5.15.21 noon PDT
on my @YouTube channel @bioware @masseffect pic.twitter.com/2O9ehSFZN9

— Jennifer Hale (@jhaletweets) May 4, 2021

As reported by Game Informer, a special Mass Effect Legendary Edition panel

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Sci-fi artist Alan Gutierrez has posted some new images dating back to his mid '90s contributions to the Wing Commander CCG. He's released a steady stream of sample images over many years, and they've provided a fascinating look into the downselection process for card art. These are no different! First up is the source for the Epsilon nav art, which reveals a pair of exotic planets that didn't make it into the nav point we got. A similar thing happens where the Nebula card art is the top half of a scene with an icy planetscape beneath. The Kilrathi Capture Pilot card gets mirrored, and the final piece gets distributed across three cards! The Terran Recover Pilot card just focuses on the pilot, while both Terran and Kilrathi Asteroid modifiers are different crops of the background. Very cool! You can find this art and many more pieces of WC CCG imagery and lore in our WCPedia section here.

Alan

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

It's been a while since we reported on his progress, but EmuMusicFan has been steadily moving forward with his graphical novel project. The latest exciting addition includes ships! His first example is a Dralthi silhouette based on a 3D model by DefianceIndustries. There are also a couple of new expressions for both Kilrathi and Firekkan characters. Looking forward, Emu will be working to develop some of the more interactive aspects of the project so that fans can engage with the story and affect how it unfolds.

Thanks so much to DefianceIndustries for the fantastic 3D models! Now I could add ships to my visual novel!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Last week we got a peek at Howard Day's new pilot models, which were a fun new take on Hunter and Angel. He's further redesigned the characters to give Hunter his iconic cigar and Angel a more accurate expression. As an extra bonus, there's also a pair of new pilots done in the same style. Let him know what you think at the CIC Forums!

So! Some updates to this. I added Hunter's scowl and stoagie, as well as the updated Casual/Flightready uniform set that I made for Angel. I also have angel with *eyebrows* now (Do'h!) and her signature earrings - but not in flight-ready mode, tho.

I also went ahead and added some more variation to the flightsuits - a data/control connection plug and a oxygen tube. Both will connect to the helmets they wear in-cockpits.

This is Capt "Conan" Doyle, one of the senior pilots on the Tolmacs-class light carrier you'll serve on in the campaign. As always, it's a straight

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The isolationist group faces attack by both Federal and Imperial factions, after accusations that Imperator Hadrian Duval is the NMLA mastermind.
The League of Mandu arrived in the Paresa system last week and quickly established a foothold. Admiral Natalia Lee, commanding the Harmony's Shield megaship, announced:
"Our purpose is to eliminate the terrorists who slaughtered so many Federal citizens. We advise the Empire to stand aside and allow us to deliver justice."
Magister Julius Halstrom of the Peraesii Empire Consulate declared:
"In the name of the Emperor, we stand ready to purge the NMLA from the Paresa system – and the Federation too, unless they withdraw."
Hadrian Duval has broadcast a message via Paresa News Network:
"The NMLA faked my identity when dealing with the Neo-Marlinist Order of Mudhrid, knowing the superpowers would do their work for them by killing another Duval. Nova

Quote from Mass Effect News-Bot

We are less than two weeks away from the highly anticipated release of the Mass Effect Legendary Edition. The remastered trilogy is going to feature a shiny and upgraded experience for players, but according to a recent leak, it would appear that there will be a day one patch.

Of course, this is fairly standard in today’s day and age and not the least bit surprising. This particular leak regarding the Mass Effect Legendary Edition and its possible day one patch was originally spotted by Twisted Voxel on Orbis Patches. Said patch includes the likes of improved stability, various performance tweaks, and more. It apparently comes in around 11.8GB in terms of size as well.

Here are the patch notes for version 01.01 of Mass Effect Legendary Edition, according to Orbis Patches:

• Improves performance
• Improves stability and fixes crashes
• Improvements to Ambient Occlusion (AO)
• Lighting improvements – both visual