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Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

To celebrate twenty years at wcnews.com, we're taking a look back at some of the visual layouts used here at the CIC. Kris has carefully recreated each of them as best as possible in our

webmirrors

area. A lot has changed over the years, but lots has stayed the same. Do you remember some of the original designs?

• 1998a - This is the original layout we launched with on August 10, 1998 with a few elements added shortly thereafter. Similar to the menu design we employed previously at WCHS, we had a really cool javascript mouseover menu effect. Kris managed to recreate this in CSS today. In those early days, there was so much content to add and keep up with that we had an update ticker with a timestamp!
• 1998b - In these early days, the site sections that we had were rapidly evolving, and those little menu graphics weren't as easy to make as they would be today. So not long after we launched, we

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Wing Commander III and Prophecy star Ginger Lynn Allen (Rachel Coriolis) runs an eBay store which regularly offers items from her storied career. While much of the memorabilia pertains to her time as an adult film superstar, she occasionally comes across a document or prop relating to her time as our favorite chief tech. We recently purchased these two documents to add to our archive and wanted to highlight them here.

The first, two blue pages, is the shooting schedule for Wing Commander Prophecy showing which days each actor is scheduled to work. This is especially interesting because it shows how quickly Wing Commander Prophecy's cutscenes were filmed: just ten days total, compared to 25 on Wing Commander III, 30 on Privateer 2, 43 on Wing Commander IV and 52 on the 1999 movie. The second is the cover sheet for her Wing Commander Prophecy contract; the 'Crocodile Productions' of the header was

Quote from Star Trek Online News-Bot

From July 3rd at 8am PT to July 8th at 10am PT, in Star Trek Online on PC, Captains will be able to purchase the T6 Starship Coupon Gift! This item, which costs 3000 Zen, allows you to purchase any ship from the Zen Store at 100% off. When you purchase this item, it will appear in your inventory in a reward pack that is tradeable to other players! Mail it or trade it to your friends, and gift the people in your life a brand new T6 ship of their choice. Once you open the reward pack, the Coupon itself is bound to account, so be careful not to open it before you send it off to your friends. Give the best gift in the galaxy, Captains, give the gift of space travel. .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;

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

A scientific-research vessel has been left stranded following a Thargoid attack.

The Gnosis, flagship of the Canonn Interstellar Research Group, recently made a hyperspace jump towards the Cone Sector FN-J B9-0 system. A short time later, the following message was received from Captain Mathius Leander of the Gnosis command crew:

"We were a short way into our journey when the Gnosis was hyperdicted by a group of Thargoid vessels. The wrench back into real space caused severe internal damage to multiple systems, including the frame shift drive."

"There's no doubt that we would have been destroyed if not for some of the Commanders travelling with us. They lured the Thargoids away while ejecting meta-alloys from their holds. The aliens were more interested in scooping up the meta-alloys than attacking us. The Commanders later reported that the Thargoid vessels were the recently identified Hydra

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Mac's got a short clip today, but what it lacks in length is more than made up for by its awesome subject matter! He's taken Klavs' glorious Excalibur model and run it through its paces. There's even a rousing soundtrack thanks to George Oldziey's live orchestra recording. Enjoy:

I've become fascinated with 3d Animation from doing the Tarawa Video.

Thanks to Sebastian for the tip!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Wing Commander fans have a special affinity for the actors and actresses who starred in the FMV WC games of the 1990s. Some of them have retired from the limelight while others continue to have vibrant acting careers, but most are not nearly as accessible as some of the current crop of celebrities who are well-connected on social media. One of a the few notable exceptions is

Tom Wilson

, who continues to maintain an engaging and funny

vlog presence on YouTube

. He's been especially active lately with half a dozen updates this past summer. His posts can range from him performing a song all the way up to following the Maniac along on a hike. Check out a couple examples below and find more

here

.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Today we've got Scribbler's second ambiance video. This one takes place in the Tiger's Claw's barracks. As such, it's a little more peaceful than the bar scene. There's a more calming engine hum and an occasional water bucket drip. What do you think? You can help provide feedback at the CIC Forums and influence Scribbler's future projects here.

In this file we enjoy the ambiance of the TCS Tiger's Claw bunkroom.

A long flight? Rest yourselves. It's not a five-star hotel. A water pipe has been dripping for ages, and announcements from the bridge can still be heard in the corridors. Don't be disturbed that a comrade has just come out of the bar and is now going to bed. After all, you are on a carrier ship that has seen its best days and has no single berths. Enjoy your sleep.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Comchia recently shared some eye-popping screenshots of the EGA version of Wing Commander 2. WC2 is well known as a gorgeous game with lush colors and beautiful art, but not everyone in 1991 was able to appreciate its high end VGA graphics. Everyone with a high powered system quickly switched over to the 256 color option, but some fans were limited to just 16 simultaneous colors. It's pretty shocking how limited this was, however it's equal parts impressive that the artists were able to squeeze so much graphical fidelity out with such limitations. There's very little EGA Wing Commander content online these days. I've added an EGA WC1 video below so you can get a sense of what everything looked like in motion. It really makes you appreciate how far we've come!

Some screens of the EGA version of Wing Commander II. I'm used to seeing this game in the far more colourful VGA version, but I'm still

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

This weekend is the last chance to grab the Wing Commander games on sale via GOG's 15th Anniversary Sale. Coincidentally, this timed perfectly to overlap with the Wing Commander series' birthday earlier this week. It's also a slightly higher discount than we've seen recently with a full 75% off each title in the franchise. Grab them below!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The folks at Good Old Games are celebrating their 14th anniversary, which means cheap Wing Commander for you! I know, it seems like there's a new sale every other week, but we hear from players excitedly picking these up every time, so we're happy to promote each event! It's the customary 75% off sale, so each title is $1.49 or less than $12 for the whole DOS/Windows Wing Commander lineup - an absolute steal!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

It's been a while since the GOG's last major sale, but they're holding an EA-specific this weekend. Wing Commander once again clocks in at about 70% off, but there are a few Origin games that come in even higher. The Crusader and Ultima games are 80% off, so it's a good time to round out your collection!

• Strike Commander
• Ultima I, II & III
• Ultima IV, V & VI
• Ultima VII
• Ultima VIII
• Ultima Ascension
• Ultima Underworld 1 & 2
• Crusader: No Remorse
• Crusader: No Regret
• Bioforge

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

It's autumn now where GOG is based, but they've already run their lengthy autumn sale. That's not a problem though, because they've just launched a big sale to celebrate their 15th anniversary! The Wing Commander series is discounted once again, and this is a "proper" across-the-board markdown. Each title is its customary 75% off, which means less than $12 for the whole series! Now's a great time to digitize your collection. Thank you to Drachenhannes for the tip!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

GOG.com has posted an update that they will be removing Ultima Underworld 1+2, Syndicate Plus and Syndicate Wars from their catalogue. Their note says this comes "(at) the publisher's request." Everything takes effect on Monday, and the company reiterates that prior purchases will remain available to download. It doesn't look like these are on Steam, Origin or any other digital platform, so they will be going offline.

It's an interesting change with certain implications. The Ultima Underworlds, along with Dungeon Keeper, joined Wing Commander Privateer as the first slate of EA games to come to the service ten years ago on June 2, 2011. Has some kind of ten year contract elapsed? If so, why would Privateer and Dungeon Keeper not be affected? Will they be removed at a later date? The WC games were parsed out over the period of a few years from June 2011 through November 2013, so we may be

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

GOG is kicking off a belated new year's sale to help you start 2024 with a complete set of digital Wing Commander games! The entire series is on sale, but the exact discount varies. Most titles are 75% off ($1.49), but Armada, Prophecy and Privateer 2 are 65% ($2.09). Hop to it!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Freespace 2 shipped on September 30, 1999, so GOG is having a big space game party to celebrate the game's twentieth birthday. Their Interstellar Sale discounts games like Space Quest, Wing Commander, System Shock, Homeworld, Masters of Orion, the X series and more by up to 85% off. As an extra bonus, Freespace 2 itself is FREE for the next 36 hours, so jump on that quick! While it's no Wing Commander, FS2 got good reviews and continues to have a following after all this time. Also something about beam weapons. Plus there's a handful of Wing Commander mods, not the least of which is the technically impressive WC Saga project. If you haven't given the game a try for one reason or another, the price is right this time! Thanks to FredDude for the tip!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Good Old Games is running a special sale for Halloween, and they are not limiting the deals just to spooky games. Wing Commander has been caught in their web, so it's getting a 75% discount across the board. Each title is $1.49 or less than $12 for the whole DOS/Windows series! Grab them in the next few days to complete your digital collection.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Noclip

has published an interesting documentary on the history of CD Projekt and its origins that led to the creation of Good Old Games, which turns ten years old next week. The video is highlighted by a number of interviews with GOG personnel and what they do to preserve and maintain classic games. It caught our attention thanks to a special shout out at

26:40

on the work to get Wing Commander on the service, but the whole thing is worth watching when you have the time!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

GOG has kicked off their big Winter Sale, and it's a weird one! We used to be able to predict what would happen pretty well, but things have been far less consistent this year. Sometimes we only see a few games marked down - or none at all in the case of Black Friday most recently. This time only Privateer 2 is on sale for 75% off. I looked around a bit and see Ultima has some similarly non-uniform pricing. The earlier games are on sale, but Ultima 8 and 9 are still full price. Both Crusaders are on sale, as is Strike Commander and others. I'm happy that at least The Darkening gets its price cut though!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

GOG.com has kicked off their Spring Sale, and this time it has a special emphasis for those who are able to shelter in place and hunker down at home. There are a handful of free games available to help jump start this effort. Most of them are lesser known, but the list does include Ultima IV, Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire and Ultima Worlds of Adventure 2: Martian Dreams. The Wing Commander games are broadly 75% off, so it's just $11.92 for the whole series. If you are looking at a significant amount of downtime coming up, catching up on your Wing Commander playthrough would be a great way to pass the time. And if all of the goings on this week are causing you stress, come on by #Wingnut and hang out with your fellow Wing Commander fans. It helps to talk!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

GOG.com has kicked off their annual spring sale, and there are plenty of great deals. The Wing Commander series is marked off a customary 75%, so individual games are just $1.49 or under $12 for the whole DOS & Windows series. Some other sci-fi favorites are also on sale, including Homeworld Remastered for just $3.49 or Rebel Galaxy Outlaw half off for $15. Also as a special reminder, the WC4 that GOG sells is the DVD edition, and it's easy to drop in ODVS' new videos to watch the cutscenes in full HD!