Kickstarter campaign has launched!
As you may know, we have released a concept track some time ago. Now, one and a half year after, I have decided to uploaded only a short clip of the demo which our composer has been working on to give you an indication as to the quality of sound and so on . It is based on a theme from WC4, (which you can hear starting at the end of the WC4 intro music btw). Its not note for note "exactly" the same (if you want to be picky), but then its wasnt supposed to be. Our composer is working on the big opening tune, this is just a teaser and it will also sound better than this as this is a rough recording with his current gear.Have a listen to the sample, and then let them know what you think.
(Page 124)You can find the entire translation, as well as the original article in PDF format in our new article.Columns 1 (bottom of the page), By the Way...: Insofar as the Kilrathi race was cat-like, the developers decided that their language would also resemble the snarls and rumblings issued by earthly cats. The word "Kilrathi" itself was taken as a basis - the basic sounds of Kilrathi became "k", "h", "r" and "t". Just listen to these splendid names: Rha'hri, Ralghra nar Hhallas, Prince Thrakhath...
Or here, for example, are several quotes from Kilrathi:
"Ek'rah skabak erg Thrak'Kilrah maks Rag'nith!" - "In the name of the glory of Kilra, the Emperor, and the Imperium!"
"H'as aiy'hra n'hakh ri'kahri krikajj, nai korekh sha'yi," - "Behind my enemies back, I have prepared the ground for his destruction" (supposedly, a proverb)
"Kir'kha n'ikh rakh k'har, Sharhi nar Hhallas," - "I, Sharhi nar Hhallas, vow to avenge my honor."
Hey all, Raptor hereHTL continues with the second half of the great "Aftershocks" two-parter, which is written by Joe "Wraith" Guida. As you saw in the last story, pilots from the TCS Yorktown had located the wreckage of the light carrier TCS Endeavour, only for their rescue efforts to be interrupted by the Nephilim. This story picks up from there. Please send any and all comments to Joe at captpowell1@earthlink.net, not to me.
The story is at: http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~theraj/archives/ch197.htm
The HTL writing team would like to wish our fellow Wingnuts a happy and prosperous new year. We have a lot of big events coming up in 2005, not the least of which will be the big finish to the storyline. We'll also be passing some major milestones on the way, including HTL's six anniversary, its 200th chapter, and one million published words. Last but not least, Holding The Line Dot Net will be going online, so stay tuned.
Best, Raptor
"I did my own stunts, being dragged around and sucked out of airlocks five hundred times in one day... it gets a little painful." But that said, (Prinze) is ready to come back, should a Wing Commander II be the order of the day. "I'm already signed on to do it, that's how much faith I had in the project. There are certain movies you want to see another one of, and this is one of them."If you missed it earlier, back in March we ran an update on the technique for creating the flight deck. Only one side was actually built/used at once. You can find this companion piece here.
Starman and the Saga Team have finalized the design for their WC3 era Kilrathi Destroyer.
Confederation intelligence has been tracking an object rapidly approaching the Sol system. While attempts at communication with the object have been met with silence on all channels, a long distance drone has managed to obtain images which appear to show a Sleigh class transport. Intel believes the transport may have lost all drive power since the craft is being towed by nine ships of a design similar to reindeer, the first of which is emitting a bright red glow. Our limited intelligence indicates that the transport may be loaded with Christmas presents destined for Sol III. Until we know more, we have released this radar image showing the craft's current position and flight path.
Edit: You can find this and other wallpapers in our wallpaper section here.
The big day has arrived - the Standoff prologue episode has been released! Before going on with the details, here is the important bit: DOWNLOAD LINK.
Still with us? Good. Once you have downloaded the 67MB file, simply run it and the installer will hunt down your Secret Ops installation and install everything you need. If you run in to any problems, I'm sure people are standing by to answer questions in the Standoff forums. It's also a good place to send your praise to the team behind the mod. Other than that, enjoy!
A new shard is born -- Origin. The Origin shard is now open to all Samurai Empire players. This shard is a place where you can get a fresh start, claim that prime piece of real estate you’ve always had your eye on, or just rediscover the lands of Britannia.Because we have many demo and free trial programs available, this shard is only available to Ultima Online: Samurai Empire account holders for the first month. By limiting access in this way, we can ensure that our loyal customers have the first opportunity to claim the real estate and goods provided by the launch of the Origin shard. This restriction will be lifted in mid-January.
Electronic Arts (Nasdaq:ERTS) today announced an investment in international game developer and publisher UbiSoft Entertainment, headquartered in Rennes, France. The investment represents approximately 19.9 percent interest in the company -- shares purchased as a block from Talpa Beheer B.V. to be completed upon obtaining antitrust clearance from the U.S. government. Financial terms were not disclosed.
It has been a few years now since Neil Young worked at Origin as their General Manager. Of course we all know how Origin ended up, but he was supportive of the Wing Commander community when it was part of his jurisdiction. There has since been no shortage of demand for Neil's talents. Following Origin, he became head of Maxis, another major member of EA's vast network. He produced Majestic, the spooky online/real life game that played you, and he has been in charge of the fun Lord of the Rings console games. Neil has now taken on the job of head of EA's Playa Vista studio in California. EALA is responsible for franchises such as Command & Conquer and Medal of Honor. It is also the same studio where ChrisReid got chased from when he was caught sight-seeing in May.
Neil will now be expected to "build improved processes that ensure high quality games are built on workable schedules." Sounds like fun. Here at the CIC we'd like to wish Neil luck in his new role.
Hey all, Raptor hereIf you haven't voted for your favorite site and project of the year yet, you can find all the details you need right here.HTL continues with a great two parter called "Aftershocks", written by Joe "Wraith" Guida. As you've seen in past chapters, the TCS Yorktown has taken a battering in her battles with a Nephilim dreadnaught, and the TCS Endeavour has been lost in her own battle with an enemy carrier group. Now the fates of the two battlegroups intersect. Please send any and all comments to Joe at captpowell1@earthlink.net, not to me.
The story is at: http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~theraj/archives/ch196.htm
On a differant topic: Vote for HTL. Vote, damn you. Vote, I say! ;-)
Best, Raptor
In related news, our most recent batch of CIC polo shirts also arrived last week. If you had a pending order for a custom sleeve name, you should have gotten an email about this. Most of those are going out today as well. If you're still waiting on a CIC glass or CCG trading, the current plan is to get those out on Monday. Everyone should get a package or email soon. If you have any sort of pending item you're still waiting on, feel free to email me to check up on the progress, especially if you don't hear anything within a reasonable amount of time from now.
If there is an item you're thinking about picking up, it's still possible to get into this Monday shipment. You'd have to Paypal me this weekend for that. If you're not trying to get something specifically for the holidays, we can once again do orders on all merchandise while our stock lasts. The one exception is the flight suit, as we're currently looking for a new seamstress again. Feel free to send us an email if you have any questions about the different promotional items we have.
I've been working on my modeling for awhile now, and finally hit the point where I felt comfortable trying to make some WC models. Although my models are rather low poly, and the textures aren't all that great (compare my stuff with something by the Saga guys, Eder, or Howie Day, and mine's downright horrible ), I'd like to think my Hornet and Drayman came out ok. The planet...well, let's just say it's tough to make something close to that old blue planet from the WC1/WC2 backgrounds.
I got this inspiration last night on the Ranger class carrier of WC3. If its supposed to be really old, then it might have originally been similar to ships of the WC1 era. So I messed with the bridge and the launch bay and - blah blah blah. Now I've come up with something... interesting. I think I like it but, and this is why somebody on the other end is reading this (I hope), I need opinons.
'What was the name of the turncoat Kilrathi in Wing Commander 3, who ended up being an implanted enemy agent?'The answer can be found here (13 megs, that particular file requires an unrar program and the divx codec). Lower res versions of that this file and other interesting videos are available in the Files area.
A bigger question, perhaps, is what happens five years down the road. Will the license be hotly contested – or has EA, in essence, bought a lifelong deal with the NFL? One of the chief expenses in sports games is the cost to render the players' likenesses - in other words, to create lifelike animated facial models, which give in-game players a photo-realistic appearance.You can find the complete article here.When the EA/NFL/NFL Players deal expires, no company will have renders of the league's 1,400 players, which would cost millions – and could discourage bidding.
A new batch of in-game screenshots has been released for WC Saga. They're quite a bit more interesting than static renders. We see Hellcats and Arrows on duty and a flight taking off from the TCS Hermes in these shots.
What they escort is a secret. :)I expect we'll see more shots such as these as the game nears completion.
Captain Sarah Molynieux - For the past 5 years Sarah has carried the callsign "Widowmaker." This was a title she has earned rather than necessarily claimed. Aggressive to the point of stubbornness, Sarah has never backed down from any fight. Always ready for action, adventure and often the life of any party (including the illegal ones), Sarah is a poster child of optimism and courage. She would have been promoted further had it not been for her repeated instances of disobeying direct orders and disciplinary lapses. Despite these frequent marks on her record, her knack for resolving matters quickly and effectively have kept her on the flight roster.
Major Jack Bradley - His wingmen have called him "Stoneman" since his first sortie, Jack inspires respect and awe with his cold, efficient and deadly piloting skills. Orphaned at a young age and filled with a desire for revenge, Jack applied for the Academy when he was still a full two years below their required age. They rejected his application and so he joined with the marines (it was later determined that he "incorrectly" submitted his age on the Marine application). After his two years with the Marines were finished, Jack requested transfer to the Academy to become a pilot. His request was granted and finally, Jack was admitted to the Academy to train. Jack sailed through the Academy with high marks and glowing recommendations, he was assigned to the TCS Tiger Claw upon his graduation in 2644. Jack served during the Claw's participation at Custer's Carnival and flew with distinction that earned him a Silver Star. He continued to serve aboard the Claw until 2651 when he reassigned to the TCS Falcon.
"We are excited about the opportunity to further enhance our relationship with the NFL and PLAYERS INC," said Larry Probst, Chairman and CEO of Electronic Arts. "The five-year agreements will usher NFL fans through the console technology transition with new ideas and innovative game play experiences."GameSpot and Slashdot have some additional commentary on the issue as well.Both agreements are exclusive for action simulation, arcade-style and manager games on the PC, handheld game devices and consoles -- including console online features. The agreements do not include exclusive rights to other types of games or games accessible from the Internet or wireless devices, including cellular phones.
Tolwyn has released some shots of WC Saga's TCS Wellington in space (or perhaps floating on clouds of delicious cotton candy). As usual, you can get some tiny peeks at the story dialogue by checking out the comm subtitles in each screenshot.
It has been exactly ten years since the third major Wing Commander installment was released by Origin Systems Inc. Yesterday and today in 1994 eager fans received preordered copies of the premiere edition. Retail standard issue copies arrived a couple days later. The launch of Wing Commander was a huge step up for the entertainment industry. WC3 pioneered 3d graphics, live actor video, games on CD and more. It was one of the first games to take advantage of a multimillion dollar budget and went on to sell over a million copies, numbers that were quite substantial even to parent Electronic Arts back in the day.
I remember picking up my copy of Wing Commander Armada in the summer of 1994 and receiving a little card telling me to get my computer ready. Much like Wing Commander 2 with the sound card and Wing Commander Prophecy with the 3d accelerator, Wing Commander 3 encouraged a legion of PC gamers to go out and buy a CD-ROM drive for hundreds of dollars. In little over four years we went from a handful of floppy disks to a stack of CDs. Once computers had their CD-ROM installed, systems with only 8 megabytes of RAM sufferred 5+ minute load times before the missions. Still, we happily waited for one of the most incredible gaming experiences ever.
I've put together a little bit of Wing Commander 3 related memorabilia below. I've been told that this might make a neat wallpaper, so a high res version is available here.
From left to right (top third): Wing Commander playing cards, Wing Commander customizable card game booster pack and card, Wing Commander 3 "blue box" classic edition (one of many different rereleases), Wing Commander Armada WC3 preparation advertisement, WC3 for the Playstation, WC3 for the 3DO, Terran Confederation patch, Wing Commander card game advertisement, WC3 premiere edition poster, WC3 development team shirt, WC3 3DO dev team shirt, (middle third): color Warbirds poster, WC3 ultimate unauthorized strategy guide, WC3 PC standard edition, WC3 official guide advertisement, WC3 premiere edition box, Making of WC3 VHS tape, the Victory Streak manual, WC3 premiere film reel tin and discs, WC3 playguide and Kilrathi Saga manual, WC3 premiere edition t-shirt, (bottom third) WC3 demo, WC3 official guide, WC3 authorized combat guide, Wing Commander Kilrathi Saga, Wing Commander card game booster box and starter pack, and Wing Commander 3 novelization: The Heart of the Tiger.Each and every Wing Commander game was at the forefront of technology and innovative gameplay when they were released. Games today still rarely exceed the polish and production values associated with installments in the series. Wing Commander fans around the world share a special bond. We'd like to wish this gaming classic a Happy Tenth Birthday!
Now would be a good time to hook up your flightsticks and get some flying practice as Eder has announced that you're getting a present you can open early. Standoff, one of the most promising Wing Commander fan projects right now, will be releasing its first chapter to the world on Thursday December 23rd, 2004!
Starkey has been lucky enough to get a sneak preview, and here are some of his first impressions.
I found it GREAT so far. It is really not only a step up from UE, but a whole ladder up, IMHO. I am very pleased with the ships models, in-game fiction, backgrounds, characters and, specially, the gameplay and the dynamics of the game.You can read the rest of his impressions here, but for now mark December 23rd on your calendar.Few times in WC I have seen such intense dogfights, and not in a SO-kind of way, where you and your 2 wingmen could beat up a whole Nephilim fleet. Now, a squadron of light fighters really have to sweat to beat 2 or 3 heavy fighters, and every missile counts a lot. You can´t waste a second chasing the enemies, and, unlike other WC games, you can´t just let your wingmen eject and finish the mission Rambo-like. In post-truce times, resources are very limited. If you don´t watch your buddies´ backs, next mission up they might not have a fighter to fly.
The latest Penny Arcade article discusses how the Doom movie apparently won't feature the central location or enemies from the Doom game, Mars and Demons from Hell. The article mentions the WC movie at least got these two points correct (set in space with space cats). That's about where the compliments end however.
Last year we had the opportunity to hold the article's author hostage while forcing him to play Prophecy Advance. Tycho's a pretty nice guy, and it turns out he used to be a big WC fan too.
Since with the model geometry as it was I could not get the shading right, especially with shinemaps applied; the vertex lighting showed it's ugly face everwhere on the main body when smoothed, and making the model faceted didn't help either, so I've decided to add another odd 100 polies or so to smooth things out; if you look at the picture below, you'll notice that the wings and main body's hard edges are gone. Now the shading is correct.
It's poll time again, and the latest burning question is who is your favorite sidekick? Or perhaps why do their names all begin with M? Ah, where would Thrakhath be without Melek, or Roman Lynch without Miggs? Okay, perhaps those are bad examples. Come to think of it, none of them are particularly helpful. Nevertheless, we want you to choose your favorite!
Our previous poll asked you to choose your favorite mechanic. Rachel won by quite a large margin, followed by Sparks and Pliers. Poor old Nikodaemus didn't get much love. Perhaps you felt that he costs too many muster points.
- 2nd Lieutenant Thomas Halcyon - The only son of decorated war veteran Colonel Peter Halcyon (commander of the TCS Tiger's Claw), Thomas is looking to carve his own record in Confed history. Recently graduated from the Academy, Thomas was known for his consistently good grades and attention to details. Although anxious to get his first combat assignment, Thomas is wise enough to maintain control, an attribute sadly lacking in his fellow classmate Charles "Suicide" Connor. Though fresh from the Academy, Thomas has been dubbed the nickname of "Bishop," a reference to his strict control but impressive performance in the cockpit.
- 2nd Lieutenant Charles Connor - Nicknamed "Suicide" and for a good reason, Charles Connor is English born and quite proud of it, although he's even moreso of his black ancestry. Charles has recently graduated along side 2nd Lt. Halcyon and is spoiling for his first run-in with the Kilrathi. Self-confident to a fault, Connor believes he is the best... and everyone else should believe it as well.
- 1st Lieutenant Jonathan Craft - Jonathan's quiet nature and stealthy manuvors have earned him the callsign, "Shadow." His parents' murder at the hands of Mandarin saboteurs has caused him to become extremely introverted. Even his closest friends rarely have conversations longer than a few minutes with him. Despite his private, and sometimes secretive, lifestyle, Jonathan is an exceptionally skilled pilot with dozens of Kilrathi kills already under his belt.
We're giving you, the public, a shot at coming up with a callsign for our main character, 2nd Lt. Thomas Halcyon. However, there are a few rules...You can post your suggestion here. Please try to think of something appropriate based on his bio above.1. It must be an original name. No names from any other WC source; ie: Maverick, Maniac, Jazz, etc.
2. Any inappropriate or offensive callsign will not only be ignored but will likely cause you to be ridiculed by other forum members.
We'll pick the best one on the evening of Wednesday, December 8th.
A vast horde of alien battleships is approaching our solar system. Due to maintenance problems only one fighter craft is ready to defend the planet. Fly dangerous missions against huge battlecruisers, dogfight with enemy fighters in asteroid fields and destroy the alien fleet before it enslaves Earth. Can you face them alone?The game unfortunately seems to lack any multiplayer mode as well. This is disappointing since the Gizmondo is claiming to be a multiplayer pioneer with wireless play through the cell networks and GPS assisted gameplay. More handheld space sims are definitely welcome, but it seems that IF2 has yet to live up to its full potential. As it seems the game is still in the early stages, there may yet be further developments as the game gets closer.
Hey all, Raptor hereHTL continues with Part Twelve of the "Into The Inferno" series, which is written by yours truly. As you saw in the last chapter, a small Border Worlds strike force had taken out the light escorts of a Nephilim carrier group. In the battle though, the escort carrier BWS Defiance had been crippled, and Nephilim fighters were chasing the attackers as they broke off. This story picks up from there. Your feedback is most welcome, so please send any and all comments back to me.
http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~theraj/archives/ch195.htm
Best, Raptor
As much as I don’t like what’s been said about our company and our industry, I recognize that at the heart of the matter is a core truth: the work is getting harder, the tasks are more complex and the hours needed to accomplish them have become a burden. We haven’t yet cracked the code on how to fully minimize the crunches in the development and production process. Net, there are things we just need to fix. And the solutions don’t apply to just our studios -- the people who market, sell, distribute and support the great games that our Studios create, all share a demanding workload...You can find the complete memo here.We are looking at reclassifying some jobs to overtime eligible in the new Fiscal Year. We have resisted this in the past, not because we don’t want to pay overtime, but because we believe that the wage and hour laws have not kept pace with the kind of work done at technology companies, the kind of employees those companies attract and the kind of compensation packages their employees prefer. We consider our artists to be “creative” people and our engineers to be “skilled” professionals who relish flexibility but others use the outdated wage and hour laws to argue in favor of a workforce that is paid hourly like more traditional industries and conforming to set schedules.
We are working on the orchestrations. We're about a month behind where I thought we'd be by now, but we _are_ making progress.You can download a tiny sample of what this album will feature here. The Fatman and Team Fat were responsible for the early WC1-2 era Wing Commander tracks. George Oldziey took over during the WC3-Prophecy timeframe, and he is also working on some updates for his website.
I've been swamped working on a new game project, which is described on my web site. When that's done I'll do my best to get some [Wing Commander] reorchestrations up on the site. Thanks for your interestGeorge Sanger from Team Fat is on the left and George Oldziey is on the right. Both teams are universally hailed as having added a tremendous amount to Wing Commander's atmosphere, so I'm quite excited to see what new stuff they'll bring us.
Here's an update on the features I've partially completed for Flight Commander1) Dynamic lighting. As you fire a weapon, the light from the weapon shines on objects around it. Fire a laser, and objects around it are shaded red.
2) Turrets are coming along nicely. I've got rendering down mostly ok, just need to add constraints and some AI.
3) Shadows appear in the takeoff and landing cutscenes.
4) Thrusters look better, and are partially transparent.
The differences are somewhat substantial. The DS improves upon the GBA's 240x160x32,000 color screen with its own pair of 256x192x260,000 color displays. You can choose to have GBA games displayed on the top or bottom screen. The frontlight on the original GBA has been vastly improved with the new lighting coming from the sides and behind. The images look much less washed out now. The space is very clearly black instead of a milky blue.
Sound is also dramatically improved. Many GBA games are programmed with stereo effects that can only be heard through headphones. The DS now has two stereo speakers mounted on the unit itself. Max volume has been increased and the quality of sound is much better.
The buttons on the DS face are slightly smaller, which may put off some people, but the horizontal orientation (like the original GBA moreso than the SP) is a bit more comfortable. It would have been very very nice if you had the ability to map controls to the new X and Y buttons, because Prophecy has somewhat complicated controls. As was the case with the move to the Game Boy Player, using Select to drop decoys is easier now. Before you sell off your original Game Boy though, be aware that the DS does not support system link multiplayer with GBA cartridges. You'll be stuck in single player mode if you only have a DS.
I'm asking for trouble here... but what ONE change from 008 does Privateer Remake 1.0 actually *need*You can answer here.
Please each person post only the most important thing.There are no guarantees that anything here actually happens...for now assume it'll be exactly like 008.
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