Holding The Line Chapter 115 Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Here's Raptor to introduce the next chapter in the Holding The Line fanfic.
Hey all, Raptor here.

HTL continues with the "Further Down The Spiral" series, which is jointly written by all the writers assigned to the Valley Forge. The Valley Forge is a Confed Concordia class fleet carrier assigned to the Combined Fleet that is fighting the Nephilim. She is one of the hunters in the elaborate trap that Admiral Hantion has laid out the Nephilim, and is tasked with hunting down and destroying a Tiamat class dreadnaught and its escorts. Please send any and all comments to the Forge group's co-ordinator, James Andrew "JAG" Greenhow, at Rambo.123uk@btinternet.com.

The designations we use for the "Further Down The Spiral" series might be a little confusing to some, so I'll explain them here. Like the "Tiger Hunt" series, the FDTS series consists of multiple chapters that run through the Loki battle. The story itself is divided into three parts, designated FDTS1, FDTS 2 and FDTS 3 respectively. However, each part is the size of several standard stories, and is broken down further into chapters. FDTS 1, for example, consists of three chapters. You're reading the first, which is designated FTDS 1 (1/3). The next chapter will be FDTS 1 (2/3), and so on.

Best, Raptor

You can read our local copy here.

Eric Peterson Interviewed Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Computer and Video Games has published an interview with Eric Peterson. Peterson had some involvement in the development of Wing Commander IV and Privateer II. Here's a snippet.
Chris is one of my best friends, but he's also a pain in the arse because he's such a perfectionist. When Chris is focussed, he's unbelievable, but I think Chris now wants to make movies. It became very difficult to get him to make day-to-day decisions on games.
He also voiced his opinion of the Wing Commander Movie.
I thought it was shit.
The interview can be found here. Credit goes to Filip Verstraeten and Beef.

Wing Commander Movie Tool Update Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

HCl has released a new version (1.1) of his WC Movie Player. It is capable of playing movie files from WC3, WC4, Prophecy and Privateer 2. This new version adds the ability to export the files from their native format to AVI. You can download the new version from HCl's site.

Holding The Line Chapter 114 Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

It's the weekend. Time for another Holding The Line chapter! So here's Raptor.
HTL continues with Part Five of the Tiger Hunt series, "Hammer and Anvil". This chapter follows on directly from "Eyes of The Fleet". Lieutenant Colonel Lofton's sacrifice has allowed the Valkyries to remain undetected, while the information gained by the Ghost Warriors has given them a clear picture of the enemy force that is hunting them. Now, the Border Worlders have the chance to bloody the enemy's nose a little, and they're going to make the most of it. This chapter is written by yours truly, so please send any and all comments to me at theraj@es.co.nz

In other news, the HTL archives have had a major update, with two dozen of our backlogged chapters archived, including some chapters that have yet to be posted on the CIC. Seeing as the original plan was to gradually merge the stories posted weekly on the CIC with the fortnightly Aces list chapters until the two ran in parallel, I'm going to continue posting the chapters in sequence here. The way I see it, there's no sense in messing with something that's working well by leapfrogging ahead by a dozen chapters. Those who simply can't wait to read more HTL though, can find it at:

http://blance.com/wcl/wclegacy/HTL/htl-main.html

While the award HTL received in the CIC fan project contest wasn't *quite* the one we were aiming for, it was a very nice one to win nonetheless. Many thanks to all those who voted for us. The HTL writers put in a heck of a lot of time and effort into the storyline, and it's nice to know that our efforts are appreciated by our fellow WC fans.

Last but not least, seeing as this will be the last chapter posted before the holidays, I want to wish all Wingnuts a very merry Christmas. Have fun,and don't get so drunk you're too hung over to read the next HTL chapter. ;-)

We've got our usual local copy here.

Another Word About Awards Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Black Joker from the WC in Russia website sent along this word of thanks:
On behalf of all crew members of WC in Russia project I want to thank all devoted fans who voted in the recent Fansite/Project of the Year contest. Also I want to thank and greet the CIC for their efforts to keep WC community alive and united. And of course I want to offer our special gratitude for all fans who voted for our site. We are deeply honored.

Announcing The Winners Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Here we go! Let's cut to the chase: the winners of the 2001 CIC awards are as follows.

2001 Fan Site of the Year : Wing Commander in Russia
2001 Runner Up Fan Site of the Year : Wing Commander Aces
2001 Fan Project of the Year : Unknown Enemy
The position for runner up was tied between two projects, so we'll have two runners up!
2001 Runner Up Fan Projects of the Year :
So there you have it! Congratulations to all involved, everyone did really well.

Last Chance To Vote Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Voting ends at midnight tomorrow so you're running out of time! In case you're forgotten, you can find out how to vote here.

Unknown Enemy Update Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

The latest news is up on the UE site detailing the latest developments. Here's what they have to say:
Another relatively busy two weeks here in UE-land, but again no screenshots - sorry, I'm too busy preparing for the move back to Poland to do a proper website update. Not to mention the usual plague that strikes fan projects this time of the year - end of semester exams :(.
Anyway, first up, Pete has been making great progress on Mission 8, which is in fact the last mission (but not the last cutscene, mind you) that hasn't yet entered the debugging stage... too bad that only two or three missions have actually left the debugging stage, though. But that should change during the Christmas break, when I intend to burn through as many missions as possible. Holidays are overrated anyway ;).
Secondly, thanks once again to HCl, our EXE modifications are now virtually complete. Our resolution-selection menu is definitely looking very neat now, with UE graphics and all. What's more, HCl was able to patch the guns in the EXE, so that we have a bit more control over what guns can do damage to capships - something very important, since most of our missions were originally designed with corvette-type capships in mind, and ended up almost impossibly difficult when we switched to proper capships. So, as far as the EXE goes, we've got virtually everything we could possibly wish for. The res-menu graphics are still being touched up, and a new icon would be nice too - but that's it, as far as the EXE goes.
I think I've almost got the voice-over gathering under control now - I finally have a fair idea of who's doing what and what needs to be done. Too bad I probably won't be able to do much in the next week, since I'll be temporarily computer-less :(. But I'll still be gathering the voice-overs from the people whom I have contacted, and - what's far, far more important - contacting again the people who volunteered ages ago and were, ummm, overlooked in all the chaos. If you are one of those people, we'll be trying to contact you as soon as possible.
Anyway, you may be wondering what all this means in terms of our release date - well, I still don't know, and we've missed so many in the past that I won't even give you an estimate. Suffice to say, as soon as possible, and probably sooner than you might expect.
Sounds like there'll be no UE for Christmas then. Oh well.

eBay Wing Commander Auctions Script Reactivated Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

You've probably noticed the return of the eBay script. The next five eBay Wing Commander auctions are listed below the most recent news. It is updated every half hour, so don't use it to keep track of an item you really want to bid on. The eBay script was originally written by Trelane, but had to be modified significantly due to changes in the eBay layout.

Holding The Line Chapter 113 Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Once more, here's Raptor :
Hey all, Raptor here.

HTL continues with Part Four of the Tiger Hunt series, as the Border Worlds carriers play a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the Nephilim in the ruins of Loki VI. This chapter overlaps slightly with "The Death of Hope" time wise, but is a seperate story, set on board the BWS Valeria rather than the Freedom. This chapter is written by yours truly, so send any questions and comments to me at theraj@es.co.nz.

This chapter introduces a new unit to the story, the Ghost Warrior recon pilots based aboard the Valeria. The Ghost Warriors fly the Arrow, which by the time of WC:P is obsolescent as a dogfighter, but whose speed, agility and small size make ideal for the armed recon role. The job of the Ghost Warriors is to find the enemy as quickly and efficiently as possible, and then call in the big guns to deal with the problem.

Best, Raptor

You can read the latest instalment in the Tiger Hunt series here.

Contest Clarifications Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Okay, just a quick update here.. first of all, fan project and fan site awards are separate. You can vote for one from each category. That's two votes, but you don't have to use both. Secondly, I know I didn't make a list of contest rules, but I didn't think it would be necessary. So let me make this perfectly clear: NO CHEATING. Multiple emails from the same person will not be counted and you run the risk of getting the site you vote for disqualified.

New Vega Strike Release Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

The Vega Strike site has been updated with the latest build. This one features Sol System as well as the ability to go in to Earth's atmosphere. Here is the list:
  • I suffered a sleepless night to get this release out to everyone.
  • Finally you can explore sol and go into planets... in this case the earth!
  • Windows users Download it now!
  • To run it, run vspiii550.exe It may well be slow.
  • Unix users can get the source and the unix data. If the source doesn't work (it was only heavily tested on FAT32 case insensitivity) you can simply check out vegastrike cvs (it's smaller).
  • You have been provided with a ferret-scout to explore the earth. Enjoy the fog.
  • This test has been optimized for high end computers due to the fact that I'm very tired and have no time for making configuration files that will work with slow ones. Edit the vegastrike.config if you have a slow computer or vid card and let me know what you come up with. Hand me any comments at the mailing list
  • Enjoy the grand canyon! If you want to DIE when you crash, edit sol.system and change continuous terrain's mass="100" instead of ".0000001" that will havea more releastic mass...but I figure most of you want to just fly around and don't want to die on crash

Holding The Line Chapter 112 Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Would it surprise you if I told you here's Raptor?
Hey all, Raptor here.

HTL continues with Part 3 of the Tiger Hunt series. After the look at the Confederation and Border Worlds reserves who will be backing us up in the finale, and the Tanfen forces who have reluctantly been drawn into the conflict, we're now shifting back to the main battle in the Loki System. As you saw in past chapters, the Border Worlds carriers were acting as the bait in an elaborate "tiger hunt", drawing the Nephilim in so that they could be destroyed by the rest of the Combined Fleet.

This chapter, which is rather ominously titled "The Death of Hope", is written by Yu Fei "Phalanx" Leung. It follows the Harbingers, a Bearcat squadron based on the BWS Freedom. In the last chapter, the Harbingers had helped ambush and wipe out a Nephilim scouting group sent to find the Border Worlds carriers. However, the victory came at a terrible cost, theloss of four of their own. This chapter picks up from there. Please send any and all comments to Phalanx at ph4l4nx@hotmail.com

PS: Just in case my absent mindedness has everyone thinking HTL doesn't have a website, well, we do. *G* You can find the HTL archives at this address, and it has links to other HTL sites.

http://blance.com/wcl/wclegacy/HTL/htl-main.html

You can find chapter 112 here.

Another Random Link Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

TC's link madness continues with this site. A scary Wing Commander movie cover art image from the Italian DVD. Anyone know if the actual DVD is different to the US version?

WC Movie File List Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

If you have been using HCl's WC movie player, you're probably a bit confused about which file is which. So thanks to Wedge009 and Fenris, we've been able to put together a list of the WC3, 4, and Prophecy movie files. We still need a list of the Privateer 2 movies, but you can find what we have here.

More Of TC's Random Links Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

First up we have this link to a page belonging to a person who did sculpting for Wing Commander 3 showing what I imagine is a mold for a Kilrathi hand. Next up is this page. I'm not certain what it is since it is in German, but I think it is showing renderings created using an Amiga computer. The first and last images are a Hornet and a Dralthi. While we are on the subject of the Amiga, here you can download the music from the Amiga version of WC1, but I don't think it is any different.

B5 Commander News Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Speaking of Babylon 5 Commander, the page has been updated with the latest news on the mod.
We are working on the ship scales and getting the capships into actual WCP/SO capship style. This will allow us more freedom on mission editing, no 6 capships per mission limit, and no 6 turrets limit like into the corvettes. This will take some time and work though. In the mean time, there is a screen showing the scale diff bettween the starfury and the omega.
You can see the screen and the previous news on the mod's site.

Odd Link Of The Day Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

In part two of TC's weird link quest, we have an interesting post from Slashdot from a former Origin employee dated 4th December 2001. Actually I don't have the actual link so I'll quote the post.
Re:EA's mismanagement? (Score:2)
by Moofie (battleangel99NO@SPAMyahoo.com) on Tuesday December 04, @12:01AM(#2652932)
(User #22272 Info | http://moofie.radiopossibility.com/)

They saved the village, by destroying it. I worked at Origin during the Wing Commander IV era, and EA's revolving door management, and utter intolerance for any new ideas out of Austin, made certain that Origin would never do anything innovative again. All EA wanted to hear from Origin was "Yes, Master, the new Ultima/Wing Commander/Crusader game is on schedule and under budget. May we please refrain from laying off our staff this year?"

With the possible exception of UO, which I personally didn't enjoy very much, but other people apparently groove to. And don't get me started about Ultima:Ascention.

I can't speak to Mr. Garriott's company management skills. Hell, I certainly wouldn't have the first idea how to run a company like that...I don't think anybody really does. He did, at one point, have a unique gift for storytelling in the medium of computer games. Unfortunately, that got buried under creeping featuritis. Hopefully, he'll be able to start with a clean slate (or a Tabula Rasa...wonder if that name is more than just coincidental? : ) and get back to his unique visionary roots.

I sure hope so. U6 is one of my favourite games ever.
Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!

Another Vote Needs You Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

The BBC is asking for your nominations for their "Great Britons" contest. Naturally several WC actors apply and Malcolm MacDowell (WC3/4 Admiral Tolwyn) seems to be the favorite among WC fans right now. Saffron Burrows (Movie Angel), David Suchet (Movie Captain Sansky), and 90% of the Privateer 2 cast also apply. If you aren't sure about someone you can check with IMDB. The BBC's nominations page is here.

Odd Link Of The Day Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Local Oddball TC suffered insomnia last night which apparently meant that he had to send all kinds of links to us. Now you can suffer too! First link is this article which features Richard Garriott explain how EA thinks that there's no future in MMO (massively multiplayer online) games. Strange since that's exactly the opposite of what they've been doing!

Last Call For Nominations Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Remember folks - today is the last day for submitting nominations for the Best Fan Site of 2001 award and the Best Fan Project of 2001 award. Send us an email here with your nominations by the end of the day, then check back tomorrow for the actual voting procedure. For more details about nominating, check the original update here.

WC Movie Player Complete Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Thanks to the incredible work of HCl, you can now play the FMV from WC3, WC4, WCP, and Privateer 2 without having to play through the games! An even more useful feature is a front-end which will allow you to play the files direct from CD - no more ripping required. Only trouble is it is guesswork which file is which but perhaps someone will make a list. You can download this new version from HCl's site.

Holding The Line Chapter 111 Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

What would a weekend be without a new Holding The Line chapter? I don't know, but here's Raptor to tell you about this latest one.
Hey all, Raptor here.

HTL continues with Part Three of the "Fate's Edge" Series, written by Kevin "Leeloo" Tan. As you saw in the last chapter, the Tanfen Corp's pilots and soldiers were trying to defend Border Worlds civilians against a large enemy raiding group. By rigging one of their transports as a pilotless bomb, they were able to seriously maul the incoming enemy force, but were then left facing a battle against overwhelming odds. This chapter picks up from there.Please send any and all comments to Kevin at leeloo8@hotmail.com, not to me.

Just an explanatory note on the Tanfen Homeguards. The HG, also referred to as the Tanfen Aero-Space Corps or TASC, are militia units raised and financed by the Tanfen Corp. As the worlds colonised by the Familes are part of the Union, the Corp enjoys the right to have forces equivalent to a system militia, including fighters such as Hellcats and Thunderbolts and light capital ships. This benefits the Corporation by allowing it to provide effective protection for its personnel and its business operations, and benefits the Union by providing extra reserves that can be called on in times of trouble. Despite their outdated equipment when compared with frontline Union units, TASC pilots have a reputation as tenacious and implacable opponents.

Best, Raptor

You can read chapter 111 here.

Another Vega Strike Release Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Although I personally had no problems, apparently several people had trouble running the previous release of Vega Strike. So now there is a new release which should work for everybody, but unfortunately it is yet another 12 meg download. Here's the 'press release':
For those of you dying to relive the brilliant run at Kilrah...wait no longer... I have taken accurate sat data from the grand canyon and put you in a nova class fighter to explore this wonder of the world!

Yes Vegastrike-0.1.2 is out, with a test version of terrain! You can expect 0.2.0 out on December 6th with a more polished "planetary" feel (more to come on that soon)
But this version lets you explore an endless terrain that brings you right back to home...to Kilrah!

Please mail me any comments. Some have reported compatability problems with Athalon machines, but I believe they have been resolved. 256 MB of ram is recommended for this incredibly detailed 2 million vertex data set :-)
http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/

New John Rhys-Davies Clip Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

If you've been keeping track of the many WC actors, you'll know that John Rhys-Davies (AKA Paladin) features in the new Lord of the Rings movie (and will be in the following two LotR movies). AICN has a new clip of his latest work, but be warned if you haven't yet seen the movie since the clip contains spoilers. Thanks to TyeDyeBoy for pointing this out.

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