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The good news is that LOAF is out of the hospital and happily recovering at home! However, he and Dundradal are not quite ready to get back to hosting new episodes of
All Wings Considered. The plan is for the show to return at full force next week. In the mean time, check out Stephen_k's ode to the AWC segment on Privateer 2 ship identification! You can catch up on any episodes you might have missed
here.
It has a lot of them
Apr
LOAF found a really cool video from a 1995 episode of the British show Bad Influence!. It follows the last day of filming on the set of Privateer 2: The Darkening, however, at the time, it was still just known as The Darkening. Because of this, a lot of cool behind-the-scenes stuff from the early days of development fell through the cracks and hasn't been properly cataloged. They make a big deal about it being the first video game interactive movie being filmed in Europe, and they're impressed by the cast. There's even a brief interview with Clive Owen where he explains how his PADD works. Jump to 5:35 if the video doesn't start at the Darkening's segment.
Found a small treasure!!!
Apr
Interested in the Wing Commander Movie but not willing to commit the 95 minutes it takes to watch the whole thing? Or do you have a friend you need to quickly get up to speed without watching the entire film? The Movie Fanatic channel has you covered with a five-minute mini cut with key scenes and a comprehensive story overview. The weird content farm nature of their channel and the computerized narration voice comes across as pretty sketchy, but it's actually not the worst summary edit of the film I've ever seen. If it's been a while since your last viewing, this is a nice quick watch to jog your memory.
Apr
…Marvelous Videos has put together a feature on underappreciated sci-fi films from the 1990s. Yeah, it's a little click-baity and their pronunciation of certain terms is just bizarre, but they lead off with Wing Commander as the first must-see film on the list. I also wholeheartedly agree that "fans will be amazed to see how loyal the story is to the film," but perhaps not in the same manner as they intended it.
Given how extensive the subject matter actually is, there is no other film genre that can match up to the creativeness and originality of science fiction. Thanks to this particular genre, we have been able to witness an exciting array of remarkable, mind-boggling movies. But, while it is true that we fondly remember flicks like The Terminator, Independence Day, Men In Black, The Matrix, Inception, and Avatar amongst many others, there also seems to be an entire range of the sci-fi genre that
Jul
Here's a preview of Wing Commander 3 that I don't think we've seen before. In the days before most people had internet access, articles like these were the main way that people got an early look at upcoming games. From the fiery color mix to chain link border, it screams mid '90s aesthetic and brings back many exciting memories. If mag scans like this make you nostalgic for a different time, check out the
Gamemaster SaidTwitter feed!
Issue 25, January 1995: Wing Commander 3 preview (PC): “The interactive movie is here! Or at least that’s what Electronic Arts would have us believe.”
Jun
…Woah! I’ve never seen this ad before:
It's part of a mid-90s cross-promotion between Origin and Intel. Most of the print media focused on Origin’s air combat games, Pacific Strike and Wings of Glory. But WC did show up in a commercial narrated by Levar Burton!
The shot in the magazine ad above uses one of the first published pre-release screenshots from Wing Commander III which features an Arrow and a triangular Kilrathi transport.
The triangle transport didn’t make it to the finished game! PC (and Mac and PlayStation) pilots know the Kilrathi transport as a sort of long latticework ship.
The design shows up in Wing Commander IV... but again only in a cutscene, you only see Kilrathi shuttles in-engine.
It even shows up as the Kilrathi transport in the Wing Commander TCG!
What’s happening here? Turns out it was cut late because of a clipping issue and replaced with the model for the Kilrathi tanker,
Feb
…Today we've got a fun movie poster from the Triple Threat Theater podcast. It celebrates the joint collaborations between Freddie Prinze Jr. and Matthew Lillard. Last year they dedicated an entire episode to the trio of She's All That, Wing Commander and the Scooby Doo movie, which all starred the duo between 1999 and 2002. This artwork was used to promote the episode, and they even did a neat making-of post that looked at the process from concept to finished design. That's always neat to see.
As for the actual episode, you can probably skip it. It clocks in at two hours here with the Wing Commander portion lasting from about the 52 minute mark through about 1:15. They didn't quite understand the context of the 1990s and how big of a blockbuster game Wing Commander was in the years preceding the WC Movie's development. Instead, the streamers rehash the normal legitimate complaints about the
Aug
…UnnamedCharacterhas discovered another nifty developer trick in the code of Wing Commander. By observing what gets loaded into active memory while playing the game, he noticed how certain palette colors become blanked out and then revert back to magenta/red as the ship takes damage. This is how parts of the cockpit flicker when taking damage! Here he is to walked through the details:
Shades of MagentaThe following images are two different representation of the game palette. The first image represents the colors as extracted from the GAME.PAL file and the second represents the colors as extracted from game memory. Notice how several of the magenta colors have been blacked out when loaded into memory.
At first I found that curious: Does the game not use those colors? Often time magenta is used to indicate a transparent color, but several of them? Then I remembered what seemed like an oddity of the
Aug
Cybot is back with some fancy Wing Commander kitbashes. Back in the day, he was well known for experimenting with quirky designs based on familiar WC influences. He's got several new objects to share now, and these are largely based around Privateer-themed elements. This includes Steltek ships and Gemini Sector bases. You can check them out and grab the .objs for yourself at the CIC Forums!
Just some 3d model bashing mostly
Jun
AD found a neat beer being served at The Quakerhouse in Darlington, UK. Apparently they have an in-house microbrewery dubbed Mad Scientist, operated by Brian (The Scientist) Dourish and Rob (Egor) Brunton. Wing Commander is one of their creations. It's listed as a "spiced/herbed beer" and the little table card pictured below says it's a 4% ABV made with ginger. If anyone's nearby and able to check this out, definitely let us know how it is!
May
…One of the many exciting fan projects that legendary artist and programmer Howard Day has created over the years is Wing Leader, a modern WC1 remake in the Unity engine. During the 2019-2021 time period, Howie shared a lot of awesome concept material, art and engine demonstrator content, but priorities got in the way and development has significantly slowed these past few years. In order to potentially kick start community development and make sure the source content is available to fans in the future, Howie has now publicly released the project's assets on GitHub. Although he hopes to continue making improvements at some point, other Wingnuts are free (and encouraged!) to take the reigns and see what they can do with what's been developed so far. You can find out more here!
I figure I should do this, since I don't know when I'll get back to it. I've made the project public. Adam's passing has
Sep
Barbarian_bros has posted a great set of sharp photos from the French edition of Prophecy. These aren't particularly rare items, but this is one of the best scan jobs I've seen. Most people are well acquainted with the universe map depicted here, but they may not have experienced it in another language before. You can see all the familiar system and quadrant names ('Reid', 'Lesnick' and others are still the same) but major title text is updated. All of the peripheral text is also in French. This is one of the coolest box goodies of the whole series, so it's wonderful that it was available in multiple languages!
While we're on the subject of maps, here's links to some of our favorites: prototype universe map, movie map, Japanese Super Famicon Claw Marks and Terran Confederational Handbook.
Jun
This is a charming but unusual bit of fan art. Grandweasel has painted the epic Excalibur escape from Wing Commander 3 in water color. It's not a medium that you often see digitally represented on the internet, but his take on this scene is very recognizable and nails the intent. He's got a few self-critiques, but given the limitations of the format, I'd say this was a job well done!
A watercolour representation of a scene from Wing Commander 3, specifically the final strike on the Kilrathi homeworld. The background didn't come out as well as I'd hoped and the Excalibur looks a bit funny in places, but it still works. Somehow.
Dec
…LOAF was looking for a project the other night, and what better than an exploration of the history of the Dorkir transport?! There's probably more to it than you think! Read on for a full rundown:
It's your 1 AM meandering thread about the Kilrathi freighter with the absolute best name: the DORKIR! Dorkir appear throughout Wing Commander I configured as transports, tankers, command staff ships and troopships. Concept art:
A rare element cut (for space) from Wing Commander I is that there were originally separate 'sport and tanker versions of the Dorkir (which is why the briefings always clarify which is expected). The boxier 'freighter' version was reused for Secret Missions as the Lumbari.
The Drayman and the Diligent are the same story, reversed. Comparing the sprite sheets and you can see it's a common cab with a modular container that would change depending on role.
So things get a little weird when
May
DefianceIndustriesis hard at work cranking out the most plentiful peashooter of the Gemini Sector, the F-38 Talon. Unfortunately, they're mostly up to no good on behalf of the Retros or pirates, but occasionally the Confed Militia will trot a few out as well. The Talon might be a bland workhorse in Privateer, but these updated renders are gorgeous!
I finally finished up my F-38 Talon. These things litter the Gemini sector and everybody has at least ten. From the Retros, to pirates, to in-system security - you can't throw a rock and not hit one; even the Kilrathi have a few. But I currently only did two paint schemes. By far the most famous - and obnoxious:
DIE BY THE VERY WEAPONS YOU ADORE!!!!!
And to counteract the crazies - here's a Confed ISS version: Best not be carrying any contraband around these guys - oh, who am I kidding, they're made entirely of tissue paper. Anyway - enjoy!
Jan
…
We've got a new poll up now, and this time we're asking about the worst places to need to eject. The options in this survey are bit deeper lore than we usually include, so here's a fuller rundown of the choices available:
- Planet Pisces is the place where Krulan nar Ragitagha is stalked by the infamous Arthrosquids
- Angel is forced to eject after taking out the skipper missile bearing down on the Claw
- Minx is in an escape pod poisoned by radiation after the destruction of Ayer's Rock
- Vagabond loses a fight against a wing of Darket in the Kilrah System on the Temblor Run
- This is the pilot that Seether executes if you stay aboard the Lexington
- Hawk reveals to Casey that Iceman saved him in B'shriss, but he was found and captured by the Kilrathi - the remains in the pod retrieved by Blair weren't pretty
- I can only imagine what new challenges Arena's Nephilim fluid-space presented to ejected pilots
- The pilot of
Dec
A new addition to the collection! These are “Vidpro” cards for Wing Commander III and IV Playstation, part of the point of purchase security system used by big box stores like Toys R Us. You’d bring the card to a lockup counter to buy the desired game. You can also see what the Super Nintendo version looked like here.
Aug
Weird choice for a publication to rank games on a scale of 1 to 57, but it takes all sorts!
Team Nerd: Bill Walsh College Football (Mega Drive) / Wing Commander Secret Missions (Super Nintendo) - reviews from Computer And Video Games Issue 144 - November 1993. #RETROGAMING
Sep
You're just saying what we're all thinking, red HOOK UP stamp.
Dec
Here’s an interesting find! Very, very early Privateer screenshots released at ECTS in 1992 and published in the November issue of PC Games. All gameflow, probably just renders…
In-game versions of these same assets. You can see nothing was close to final!
