Fralthi, Fralthra and Snakeirs -- Oh My!
A whole mess of new X-Wing Alliance WCTC screenshots -- showing off the above ships.
Wing Commander
SF-Action (12 years and older)Brave pilots go to battle with impressive spaceships with the nefarious Kilrathi.
Awaiting all 4 Star Wars films, which will be aired next month on Canal+, science-fiction fans can alredy enjoy beautiful space battles here. The Kilrathi are threatening Earth and brave pilots begin a breathtaking race against the clock to stop them. One of the pilots, 'Maniac' Marshall, can never cease to show off while landing. His friend Chris has the abillity to navigate space without a computer. Their youthfull bravery and courage are needed for the coming battle but must be lead by the Wing commander from the title. To their suprise it is a beautiful young woman. Uncoïncidentialy, Jürgen Prochnow, who you may know as the captain of "Das Boot", is also the captain. The huge space ships use techniques like the ones used in submarines, like firing torpedos and keeping quiet from enemys, excitment guaranteed.
CHICKEN KIEV
SPAGHETTI
MISO SOUP
MEATLOAF
SOYLENT GREEN
LEMONADE
MERINGUE PIE
RICE PUDDING
Welcome to Game Three, Week Eighteen Trivia. We play each week. Every Monday two main questions and one bonus question are posted to alt.games.wing-commander and listed at the CIC. Please email answers to CReid1701@aol.com or ChrisReid@wcnews.com. Be sure to include a name you would like to be known under for the Scoreboard that will be up soon. Have your answers in before this coming Sunday (March 3, 2001) to ensure your answers are recorded. Answers submitted early may be returned and you may be able to fix incorrect answers, time permitting. Main questions answered correctly are good for 5 points, bonuses good for 3.-------
Answers to Questions from Week 17 (starting February 19, 2001):Question 33: How does a Porcupine weapon work?
Answer: A common mine that can be used in various ways from single fighter drops to large scale area saturation.Question 34: How does a Mace weapon work?
Answer: The famous tactical nuke used for overwhelming force against tight fighter formations and stubborn capital locations.Bonus 17: How does a Coneburst weapon work?
Answer: Specialized missile that concentrates numerous energy blasts in one general direction.------
New Questions for Week 18 (starting February 26, 2001):Question 35: What is a Pewter Planet?
Question 36: What is something made of Tungsten?
Bonus 18: What is a mineral the TCS Devereaux examined?
Submissions are due by March 3, 2001.
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Please email answers to ChrisReid@wcnews.com and do not post directly to the Newsgroup.
If you haven't spent a weekend watching Wing Commander IV DVD one frame at a time, you haven't lived. Luckily, I've done enough living for all of us...
It's in our Games / Simulation section. After the NEW items everything is alphabetized so WCP is at the bottom.
Well, since there was no new Wing Commander available, I started playing other SF Sims. One of them is "Allegiance" by Microsoft. It is an online game, where you can choose to be the bomber pilot, the turret gunner, the fighter escort, the home defense, the capital ship pilot or the commander of your team. The positions are not fixed, you can do anything you want to. The graphics are incredible, if you think of normal online games. The game has one disadvantage, it is not popular. Micrsosoft didnt start a marketing campaign, harldy anyboy noticed it. It was described "the best game noone played" by ZDnet.Why do I tell you about it? I just thought, you could tell all the Wing commander fans out there about it. The game is fantastic, it is how we wanted WC online to be. Well, I hope you have a look, and perhaps you can mention it somewhere on your page. The game deserves better.
You may upgrade from Wing Commander Prophecy to Wing Commander Prophecy Gold for $24.95. (includes shipping and handling.) To take advantage of this offer you must mail in a check or money order for $24.95 US and a copy of the Manual or CD to direct sales, which is:Electronic Arts Direct
PO Box 9013
Redwood City, CA 94063-9013They can be reached at 1-800-245-4525 or at eadirect@ea.com.
Welcome to Game Three, Week Seventeen Trivia. We play each week. Every Monday two main questions and one bonus question are posted to alt.games.wing-commander and listed at the CIC. Please email answers to CReid1701@aol.com or ChrisReid@wcnews.com. Be sure to include a name you would like to be known under for the Scoreboard that will be up soon. Have your answers in before this coming Sunday (February 25, 2001) to ensure your answers are recorded. Answers submitted early may be returned and you may be able to fix incorrect answers, time permitting. Main questions answered correctly are good for 5 points, bonuses good for 3.-------
Answers to Questions from Week 16 (starting February 12, 2001):Question 31: What was a Confederation ship taken over by Pilgrims in the 2650's?
Hint: One had a functional modern hopper drive]
Answers Included: TCS OlympusQuestion 32: What was a Confederation ship taken over by Kilrathi in the 2650's?
Hint: One had a prototype Rapier squadron
Answers Included: TCS GwenhyvarBonus 16: What was a Confederation station taken over by Confederate rogues in the 2660's?
Hint: One had a connection to a prototype Crossbow squadron
Answers Included: Rigel Depot------
New Questions for Week 17 (starting February 19, 2001):Question 33: How does a Porcupine weapon work?
Question 34: How does a Mace weapon work?
Bonus 17: How does a Coneburst weapon work?
Submissions are due by February 25, 2001.
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Please email answers to ChrisReid@wcnews.com and do not post directly to the Newsgroup.
Gaming Moments (p. 74) includes the following letter:
While Playing Ultime VII. I came across a crashed spaceship in a farm field. When questioning the farmer about the ship, he recalled a stranger mumbling something about "killing someone named Rathy." Obviously a reference to Wing Commander and the Kilrathi. I felt a certain kinship with Origin and gamers everywhere that shared a little world (at that time) known as Computer Gaming. - Jesse Olivo.And in 'Under the Hood' (p. 124) by Dave Salvator:
Ad Lib Sound Card/Sound Canvas. The original PC had a speaker, but it lacked an audio processor and so was limited to "squeak, honk, and fart" audio. But along came a little game called WING COMMANDER that suddenly made it loud and clear that game audio didn't have to squeak, honk, and well, you know. WING COMMANDER's soundtrack also showed the power of a good General MIDI synthesizer, and the Roland SoundCanvas suddenly found a home in gamers' systems. Special mention should go to the Sound Blaster sound card for creating an industry-wide PC audio standard, and to John Miles and company for creating the much-needed development tools."
While doing one of my semi-regular used book crawls, I decided to lug in 'End Run', mainly to see if the (quite insane) level of pricing you guys described on the auction websites existed elsewhere as well.Bottom line: if it was a spectacularly mint copy, $85 likely isn't terribly much overpriced, but never the less still rather high.
If one goes to http://www.bookfinder.com and enters 'End Run' as the title (no authors, some list the book as written by Forstchen only, others by Stasheff only), the general price range for what amounts to some less-than-mint books is between $20 and $35.
One is for $2.50, but don't ask me what a 'readers copy' is. Might be all f'd up, might be in superb condition (in which case reader = moron).
Half.com, which also can have some nice used stuff up at any given time has what sounds like a very clean copy for $32 (straight up, no auction nonsense) at:
http://www.half.com/products/books/detail.cfm?item=2693085
Based on these somewhat lesser grade books going in the $20-35 range, I suspect a truly immaculate copy (no yellowing, no creasing, no wear, pages still very crisp, etc) is worth roughly $65-70 or so, with most any other near-mint book probably around $45-55.
Which really is an amazing yield for what amounts to a media-based book and as well as a mass market trade paper back. The fact that the market *HAS* escalated upwards like this shows that there is a pretty sizeable following of WC out there that has continuously sought after these books, thereby stimulating the market and driving the prices up. It may all sound kind of silly, but y'know...that's kind of how folks kept star trek going way back when. Once you convince the boffins in the suits that there are people out there shelling out some serious bucks to get some of this stuff, they usually have some sort of marketing epiphany eventually...
Figured i'd share.
It's February and love is in the air -- best wishes from the CIC staff to all you WingNuts and your loved ones... Screw it, here's the love arrow. It loves you!
Welcome to Game Three, Week Sixteen Trivia. We play each week. Every Monday two main questions and one bonus question are posted to alt.games.wing-commander and listed at the CIC. Please email answers to CReid1701@aol.com or ChrisReid@wcnews.com. Be sure to include a name you would like to be known under for the Scoreboard that will be up soon. Have your answers in before this coming Sunday (February 18, 2001) to ensure your answers are recorded. Answers submitted early may be returned and you may be able to fix incorrect answers, time permitting. Main questions answered correctly are good for 5 points, bonuses good for 3.-------
Answers to Questions from Week 15 (starting February 4, 2001):Question 29: Who was a companion of Christopher Blair that was near retirement in the 2650's?
Most Popular Answer: James TaggartQuestion 30: Who was a companion of Christopher Blair that was near retirement in the 2660's?
Most Popular Answer: Elizabeth NorwoodBonus 15: Who was a companion of Lance Casey that was near retirement in the 2670's?
Most Popular Answer: Christopher Blair------
New Questions for Week 16 (starting February 12, 2001):Question 31: What was a Confederation ship taken over by Pilgrims in the 2650's?
Hint: One had a functional modern hopper driveQuestion 32: What was a Confederation ship taken over by Kilrathi in the 2650's?
Hint: One had a prototype Rapier squadronBonus 16: What was a Confederation station taken over by Confederate rogues in the 2660's?
Hint: One had a connection to a prototype Crossbow squadronSubmissions are due by February 18, 2001.
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Please email answers to ChrisReid@wcnews.com and do not post directly to the Newsgroup.
"There's apparently a script floating around, but neither EA nor OSI are familiar with it and I can't speak for Fox, but I'm pretty sure they don't know about it either," the spokesperson said. "EA and Origin have not approved any script regarding Crusader."
That's a committed fan! And that reminds me, don't forget to email your End Run typos to Jetlag so he can compile a final release.I went to WCnews today to read about End Run on various auctions. The one copy that was sold for 85 dollars was sold to me. I got it almost two months after it was paid. I will read it after I'm finished with Freedom Flight. I read the novels in chronological order. When I'm done I'll start all over. It's the 4th time I've started on my books.
85 bucks seems like a high price. I don't even dare to tell my friends about it, but I just HAD to have it. Would any real wingnut blame me? :-) It was the last book to complete my collection. Now I'm happy and somewhat poor.
BTW, I downloaded the pdf-file when it was available.
5. No popular character names may be taken from existing fiction or pop culture (Sorry Colonel Blair, Shodan, and Maniac!).If this sounds like your kind of thing, you can find the original page here.
The CGW Readers' Choice Top Ten BestWe can only imagine would have happened if the CIC got wind of the voting beforehand. Anyhow, this issue also looks back at some past rankings. In their November 1996 150th Issue, Wing Commander ranked seventh, again just behind Sim City, but also behind Ultima IV and a few others. It's interesting to note that in November 1996 Wing Commander Armada and Wing Commander 3 were just two years old, and Wing Commander 4 wasn't even a year old. Plus, WC fans were looking forward to Privateer 2 in a month. Needless to say, there were a lot of hyped up Wing Commander fans around. Yet in 2001, Wing Commander fans can not only maintain the series' position, they can improve its ranking and so nearly dominate the polls. Wing Commander fans are certainly keeping the spirit alive. Also, this issue also contains various other mentions including a historical look at a "PC Gaming Timeline" from 1990 and a blurb about Wing Commander 2 by Thierry 'Scooter' Nguyen that TC typed up.
1) Half-Life (1,971 votes)
2) SimCity (1,542 votes)
3) Castle Wolfenstein (1,541 votes)
4) Wing Commander (1,532 votes)
5) DOOM (1,448 votes)
6) StarCraft (1,392 votes)
7) Sid Meier's Civilization (1,331 votes)
8) Diablo (1,188 votes)
9) Zork (1,153 votes)
10) X-COM (1,100 votes)
WING COMMANDER II: VENGANCE OF THE KILRATHIThis is the CGW in the gold foil cover. It also comes with a CD that includes twenty old games. There was a rumor going about that Wing Commander 2 might be on this disc. This is *not* true. War Craft 2 is the nearest game (namewise that is.. X-Com, Elite or Elite Plus would be the nearest genre-wise I suppose). Since there's so much in this mag, it can be a hard one to found. The first four stores I checked were sold out. And if Wing Commander 2 were indeed on this disc, the fifth store would now be sold out too.
A high-concept, summer-blockbuster space opera -- that's the best way to describe Chris Robert's magnum opus. There are those who feel that either the third or fourth WING COMMANDER games were the best that Roberts put out, but they're just plain wrong. WCII did what modern action games are trying to do: It fused narrative and action together into a tight package. It gave you a compelling reason to fly forth and tear those Kilrathi ships in battle. It made you care about its various characters, and then taunted you by killing them off. It also tapped into the inner Star Wars geek within, by providing one of the first opportunities to flitter around in space and blow things up. Hopefully, Chris Roberts will find a way to use current technology to replicate the experience, and not try to make any more movies."
The original page has been taken down, but you can still find the above yourself by going to auctions.amazon.com, doing an advanced search with keyword Stasheff, search by title, show only completed auctions and sort by featured. That's a worse mark-up than some of these Kilrathi Saga auctions.
What a week.. and it's only Tuesday! Peter Telep has graciously released an outline for Wing Commander Pilgrim Truth. He can't release the full novel of course, as Harper Collins is still sitting on the rights and may yet publish the entire book. I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. It could have ranged from a one page summary to another fleshed out preview chapter (such as the False Colors prologue). What we received however is a full blown fifteen page chapter-by-chapter synopsis. It's pretty neat stuff. Mr. Telep resolves the huge cliff hanger left over from Pilgrim Stars, then goes on to effectively wrap up the Pilgrims and explain why we don't hear much about them after the 2650's. It's a great read. You can find the synopsis here. It's a relatively small .doc.
Edit: The synopsis is also available locally here.
Joining us this week is special guest Chris Roberts of Wing Commander fame. He talks about game development and games that influenced him to upgrade his PC.Wow, legendary game series creators have to buy their own PC upgrades?
Welcome to Game Three, Week Fifteen Trivia. We play each week. Every Monday two main questions and one bonus question are posted to alt.games.wing-commander and listed at the CIC. Please email answers to CReid1701@aol.com or ChrisReid@wcnews.com. Be sure to include a name you would like to be known under for the Scoreboard that will be up soon. Have your answers in before this coming Sunday (February 11, 2001) to ensure your answers are recorded. Answers submitted early may be returned and you may be able to fix incorrect answers, time permitting. Main questions answered correctly are good for 5 points, bonuses good for 3.
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Answers to Questions from Week 14 (starting January 29, 2001):Question 27: What are two distinct types of weaponry that make the Confederation Class Dreadnoughts powerful?
Most Popular Answer: Anti-Matter Guns and the Phase Transit CannonQuestion 28: What are two distinct types of weaponry that make the Plunkett Class Cruisers powerful?
Most Popular Answer: Triple Heavy Plasma Cannon and Triple Heavy Particle CannonsBonus 14: What are two distinct types of weaponry that make the code named Tiamat Dreadnoughts powerful?
Answer: Capital Killer Plasma Weapon and numerous Maser Turrets------
New Questions for Week 15 (starting February 5, 2001):Question 29: Who was a companion of Christopher Blair that was near retirement in the 2650's?
Question 30: Who was a companion of Christopher Blair that was near retirement in the 2660's?
Bonus 15: Who was a companion of Lance Casey that was near retirement in the 2670's?
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Please email answers to ChrisReid@wcnews.com. Thanks,
HTL is looking for 3 to 5 good writers who are interested in writing for Confed or the Union. As with any long running project, we need a little new blood every now and then. There are some prime spots up for grabs, including a space superiority fighter unit and a cruiser squadron. While HTL is an Aces project, people outside the club who are interested in writing fanfic are welcome. The only pre-requisite is having played Prophecy(as HTL is set during that time) and preferably Secret Ops. Being familiar with the Aces would be an advantage, but not necessary. Anyone who is interested can get more details by mailing me.As we reported the other day, this project has been consistent for over two years now, so if you're interested in working on good fan fiction, you should contact Raptor.
I've got some news to my WC-movie "Final Conflict". Because I had very much problems creating the perfect ship-engine under 3D-Studio Max 3, I will now change my working program. Thanks to Pheonix (who is producing a WC-Movie as well) I will continue working with Cinema4D. Only for special scenes I'll use 3D Studio Max. Cinema4D is easier to handle and renders the movies much more fast. Please be patient - the "Final Conflict" page will be updated when I start working with Cinema4D. New ship-engines will be no problem then. OK - now you know the facts.The movie (means Scene1 and Scene2 which I already rendered) has to be re-designed completly - and that might take a while... - I'll create a new Scene1 and Scene2 with Cinema4D (which should be faster).
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