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Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The trillionaire entrepreneur Zachary Rackham has officially confirmed that he will stand as a candidate in the 3309 Federal election.
Mr Rackham finally stated his intentions following several weeks of speculation. At a press conference, he said:
"I know what you're all thinking. That guy as president? Isn't he just a common businessman, who used to survive on scraps by trading trinkets in a rusty old Sidewinder?"
"But despite my humble origins, many good people have convinced me that my experience with running corporations would prove useful to the Federation. I feel like everyone's tired of the same empty words from the two big political parties. It's time to hear from the little guy!"
Mr Rackham added that it will take several weeks to prepare his manifesto and campaign team. It is unknown whether he intends to form a new political party or stand as an independent candidate.
There has been

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The location of the first green gas giant ever recorded was a mystery for years, but it has now been found by a community of explorers.
Commander Kelly Eldridge initially made the discovery on the 23rd of May 3301, noting that it was "the strangest gas giant I've seen so far". The vivid green bands in the planet's atmosphere made it unique to explorers at the time, and these types of gas giant are still extremely rare. The unusual colouration is believed to be caused by free-floating radioplankton that absorb planetary radiation.
Unfortunately, astrographic data of the system was not retained by Eldridge, so its precise location was lost. But in early 3308, Commander Richard Fluiraniz M began gathering enthusiasts for the 'At The Eldritch Gate' expedition, to collectively search for the missing planet.
The mission involved analysing constellation patterns and interstellar gas clouds in the

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

People post a lot of Wing Commander streams on the internet these days, but we don't report on most of them since they can tend to get repetitive. But it's not every day you run across a nice long Privateer 2 session. I was a little surprised to find this two hour tour of P2 posted by The Psycho Fox. He starts at the beginning and works his way through the unique storyline kickoff before orienting to the menus and interface. That's followed by a good amount of flying, shooting and upgrades. It's not until an hour and 14 minutes in that someone in the comments tips him off that this is a Wing Commander spinoff. Crazy times!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Concept Art

Early in Wing Commander's development, Origin artist Glen Johnson created a series of schematics showing the 21 ships the game's designer had planned to include. Each schematic was created using a traditional draughting technique which resulted in five different views: front, back, side, top and bottom (only three for the Star Post). Origin didn't yet have their own 3D artists and so the schematics were sent to the team of Mary Bellis and Steve Spear in New York City who rendered out the in-game sprites using an Amiga.

We recently published a selection of the images scanned from Claw Marks and modified to show both the top and bottom views of the ships (available here). That project prompted us to take a look at the history of how these original 103 ship views were reused over the years and to inventory exactly which remain lost to time.

Claw Marks

Sixteen of the schematics were reproduced in

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots' Federation ALERT*
A version of the FSS scanning software used to track the Thargoid anomalies has been made available to the Pilots' Federation.
Commanders should experience reduced interference when using the full spectrum system (FSS) scanner to focus on the anomalies. The team leading the development of the software, however, warned that the resultant clarity has done little to ease the concerns of Professor Palin, Ram Tah and other leading scientists.
Lori Jameson, an engineer contributing to the FSS scanner's software calibration, commented:
"We're pleased with the update and are happy to share it with Commanders, who have provided much of the data used by the institutions researching the rogue signal sources. Representatives of Canonn Interstellar Research Group, Orion University and Universal Cartographics have also helped greatly. I just wish the results generated a more

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

On the Empire's homeworld Capitol, fears over imminent Thargoid invasion sparked a public gathering outside the Imperial Palace.
Cassia Carvalho, political journalist for The Imperial Herald, reported from the scene:
"The arrival of the Thargoid Maelstroms has triggered protests on many Allied, Federal and independent worlds. The Empire is rarely troubled by such disruption, so the spontaneous march by tens of thousands of citizens through Capitol's streets caught the media and security services by surprise."
"Chancellor Anders Blaine addressed the crowd, his image projected above us all. He spoke of the Imperial Navy's swift response to the Thargoid threat, making assurances that our systems were protected and we were all safe."
"But this wasn't enough to quell the increasingly strident demands that more should be done. I saw anger, frustration and fear etched into those shouting faces. The

Quote from No Man

Hello!

Launching today, we wanted to shake things up a little with our next update – No Man’s Sky: INTERCEPTOR – to bring a new gameplay experience, and also expand the lore of the game.

A new corruption has spread through the universe, blighting planets, bringing new enemies, new resources and a new Starship class, which is our most varied Starship to date.

Here’s just some of what players can expect from INTERCEPTOR:

Hugely varied new Starship – expand your fleet by salvaging your perfect Sentinel ship, or collect a whole range of Interceptors.

Corrupt Worlds – many worlds have succumbed to corruption, with strange crystals sprouting from the earth, and Sentinel guardians twisted into bizarre new forms. Explore these purple-hazed worlds to find new buildings, crashed interceptors, secret equipment and more…

VR Improvements – watching players on our new PSVR2 version has inspired us to add a whole bunch of improvements

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

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

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The Love Arrow continues to warm our hearts in this cold month. It seems physically smaller every year though.

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

It’s time for a Bonus Coupon Progress Token weekend! Playing the Featured Task Force Operation, ‘Crystalline Cataclysm’, from June 6th at 8am PT to June 10th at 10am PT, will earn you 100 Coupon Progress Tokens per day! You can apply these Tokens to your progress towards unlocking a Tier 6 ship of your choice! For more details on this new system, read below. We’re debuting a brand new system for Star Trek Online. Earn progress toward a Free Ship by participating each day in the Featured TFO Events that will be running from now until Fall of 2019. By playing these three Events, you can earn Coupon Progress Tokens each day, allowing you to eventually claim a '100% Discount Coupon: Tier 6 Ship' that will allow you claim a free Tier 6 Starship of your choice from the Zen Store. When you play the 'Crystalline Cataclysm' Featured TFO Event, once per day, you will receive 50 Coupon Progress

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

President Gibson Kincaid has been removed from office after a majority vote in the Alliance Assembly, following charges of treason, murder and corruption. The date of his trial is expected to be confirmed soon.

Alliance Interpol confirmed that Kincaid was detained while attempting to flee his personal estate on Zaonce. A firefight broke out between Interpol agents and emissaries from the Office of the Alliance President, acting as Kincaid's personal bodyguards. Several fatalities were later confirmed.

A number of influential corporate and political figures who supported Kincaid's conspiracy to gain executive control of the Alliance have also been arrested, including a senior director at the Bank of Zaonce.

Prosecutions are expected to rely heavily on the recent testimony of Admiral Frederick Yamamoto and a detailed report provided by the Wallglass Investigations Agency.

Tashmira Silva, who

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

PC PATCH NOTES FOR 8/8/19 Event: The Arena of Sompek The Arena of Sompek returns as a Featured Task Force Operation! This event will last for 3 weeks and Captains can earn an all new reward! Complete the TFO on 14 different days to earn the Section 31 Heavy Phaser Rifle in addition to marks, dilithium, and three Featured TFO Reward Boxes. There will be a buyout option associated with the Event, which can be purchased from the Zen Store to receive 10 Featured TFO Commendations and 1 Ultimate Tech Upgrade. Arena Of Sompek Updates: The minimum level for participation has been reduced from 50 to 10. Romulan and Jem’Hadar characters must have chosen a primary allegiance. There will no longer be a “Timed” and “Untimed” version of the TFO. The failure condition of having all players dead simultaneously has been removed from the Event version of the

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

The Mycelial Network – a mysterious dimension outside of, and yet connected to, our own. Discovered by the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery, the knowledge of the Mycelial Realm was lost for more than a century when all details of that ship and their mission were declared classified at the highest levels. Now, that knowledge needs to be revived to rescue the galaxy from the schemes of J’Ula and her Helical Torsion Weapon. The weapon has already been used to devastating effect, but the Klingons need Mycelial spores in order to power it and continue their campaign of war and terror. In order to prevent that, you must journey to the Mycelial Realm and stop them. In Mycelial Realm, our newest Task Force Operation, step through a rift and into the Mycelial Network, and shut down the Klingon probes that are gathering spores for J’Ula’s weapon. But the probes cannot be destroyed by conventional means –

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Hardcore Gaming 101 has produced the third chapter in its in-depth exploration of the Wing Commander series. After diving into the history of WC1&2, this time they're focusing on 1992 when Strike Commander development was in high gear. Author AB Silvera describes Strike as a "missing link" that bridges the gap from WC2 to WC3, which is an interesting take. It pioneered the 3D RealSpace engine, which Heart of the Tiger pushed to the extreme (although Armada used it first!). If you haven't paid much mind to Strike Commander over the years because it wasn't quite a Wing Commander game, this is a good overview. At first I was going to call it a close cousin to the WC games, but a direct sibling is probably more accurate. You can check out the full article here, and if that's got you excited to give the game a go, you can pick it up on GOG.

As mentioned earlier, Chris Roberts’s attention was

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

This week, we’re unveiling some brand new Starter and Faction Packs, available today on PC, and coming later this year to Xbox One and Playstation 4. These Packs bundle together some of the best options available for starting Captains, helping you put your best foot forward into the Final Frontier, whether it’s your first character or your hundredth. Here’s what’s inside them: Found in the Starter Pack Tab for 2000 Zen Each: Federation Elite Starter Pack T6 Reliant Class - Advanced Light Cruiser(Scales as you level!) 12 Inventory Slot 12 Bank Slots 2 Bridge Officer Slots 1 Borg Bridge Officer 13 Mark II Very Rare Space Gear 7 Mark II Very Rare Ground Gear Starfleet Academy Uniform Klingon Defense Force Elite Starter Pack T6 Kor Bird-of-Prey(Scales as you level!) 12 Inventory Slots 12 Bank Slots 2 Bridge Officer Slots 1 Borg Bridge Officer 13 Mark II Very Rare Space

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

Attention! We’ve doubled our efforts to give Captains the necessary experience to deal with threats to the Galaxy. From Thursday, February 20th at 8AM PT, to Monday, February 24th at 10AM PT, players will be able to enjoy twice the experience! During the event, content that provides skill points and expertise will reward a 100% (2x) Bonus above normal amounts – this bonus will be available for all content that rewards skill points and expertise. .share-footer a { margin: 20px 10px 10px 0; background: url(d7afaaa14e96d0d973f76157ae31ec5b1466398539.png) no-repeat 0 0; opacity: .5; display: inline-block; height: 60px; width: 60px; padding: 0; border: 1px solid transparent; -webkit-transition: opacity .3s; transition: opacity .3s; } .share-footer .TI { background-position: 0 20%; } .share-footer .YT { background-position: 0 40%; } .share-footer .YT {

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Destro has taken the wraps off an absolutely fantastic mod to add the voiceovers from the Sega CD version of Wing Commander back into the original! Lots of fans have talked about doing such a thing over the years, but it's simply mind blowing to see it in action here. If you're impatient, jump to the 2:00 mark to hear the speech in action. This isn't intended to just be a voice-enabled video of the game (that project already exists), rather, Destro is working on creating a patch that supplements the game to make this work as you play. There's still lots of work to be done before this is ready for distribution, but it's a very promising start! You can find more information on how this works and what's planned next at the CIC Forums here.

Hey all! I've been working on this for a few weeks now, sifting through the memory of Wing Commander 1 to try and find a way to insert the voice overs from the

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

agiar2000 posted a neat video of what happens at the end of the TrainSim in Wing Commander 1. Everyone plays at least one short-lived round just prior to Enyo 1, but a lot of pilots never go back. There's a high score board you can place on, but you can also get to the end after four missions. Running through them all nets a score of more than one million points, which would put someone in first place with plenty of room to spare!

The clip should start at 9:30 so you can see the happy conclusion.

Did you know that it is possible to win in the training simulator in the 1990 DOS game "Wing Commander"? I didn't until I accomplished it. I only recorded the last 10 minutes because I was using a 10-minute "instant replay" recording feature that constantly records a rolling 10-minutes.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Double Damage games has finally announced a release date for the various ports of Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, September 22! The game came out last year on PC to strong reviews. The development team includes Wing Commander superfans such as Travis Baldree and Howard Day, so our past previews have noted that the game is infused with tons Privateer-inspired spirit (and Easter eggs). This month's multiplatform launch includes Xbox, PS4, Nintendo Switch and Steam. Target price is about $30. We know quite few folks who were holding out for one of these versions, so this is great news. Here's an overview of the game's first hour as well as a cinematic trailer for folks who haven't seen what the game's like.

Hello to our amazingly patient pilots! Once again, we want to give a big huge THANK YOU to all those who’ve been waiting for this news. We know it hasn’t been fun waiting — it hasn’t been fun for

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

*Pilots Federation ALERT*
Aegis's anti-xeno research programme has launched with the mass delivery of artefacts constructed by the Guardians.
Many ancient caskets, orbs, relics, tablets, totems and urns were found in the ruins of the mysterious civilisation that collapsed over a million years ago. Pilots then transported these to the Delphi system for analysis.
Professor Alba Tesreau made this announcement:
"Everyone at Aegis is thankful for the impressive effort made by the galactic community. If we can gain new insights into Guardian technology from these samples, then funding and resources for our work may continue."
Aegis has agreed to pursue the development of weaponry and defences that might prove more effective against the Thargoids. However, as yet the research is in its early stages and there are no signs of imminent breakthroughs.
Pilots who delivered Guardian artefacts can now