Status Update Brings WCP & SO Model Upgrade Pack News Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

DefianceIndustries has an update on the next big release for the Prophecy & Secret Ops Model Upgrade Pack. He's laid out a list of expected features for the upcoming version, and there's some neat stuff in there! At the top of the list, the game will work with ODVS' high definition video packs. There are a number of technical improvements, plus more gorgeous ships. Stay tuned for more news in the future!
Hey all - It's been a while, but the recent activity on this thread has nudged us to moving forward with version 1 release of the MUP. Right now I'm in the process of cleaning up the Beta files - there are a number of recent bugs to fix as well. However the new release will have the following new features:
  1. The long-awaited HD video fix incorporated into the DLLs so the MUP will play nice with ODVS' HD packs.
  2. Quality of life improvements for collision spheres on asteroids.
  3. Implementation of normal mapping on Confed ships (Bugs don't really need it)
  4. Fixing the panther texture issue in the install
  5. Cerberus V2
  6. Twilite Purchase
  7. Thunderbolt VII V2
Aside from that there are still some outstanding Nephilim models, notably the CommFac and the Tiamat. I will get to those if possible. No solid ETA yet but I wouldn't expect too long a wait on it. I'll update this thread once we have a date for the release.
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DIY Adapter Enhances Legacy WC Joystick Support on Modern PCs Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Necroware has posted an extensive video about a project to create a more capable USB to Gameport adapter. Plenty of basic dongles already exist, but they are apparently limited in function with some of the more capable old school sticks. This experimental device uses an Arduino Pro Micro to emulate/pass along some of the more complete functions. A full rundown is available in the video. The creator is a huge WC fan and uses various WC games to test the device. Scroll to the 28:00 mark for a few minutes of WC3 and Prophecy in action with an old MS Sidewinder. You can read more about the project here.
How does it work?

The adapter is built around Arduino Pro Micro, which uses the same ATmega32U4 microcontroller as Leonardo. This microcontroller has built-in USB HID capabilities and can be used to build HID input devices, like joysticks. The adapter itself is super simple, the main brainwork was invested into the software. Very much simplified, it reads the joystick states and sends the data via the USB to the computer, which in the end thinks, that it communicates with an USB joystick.

What is special about this one?

There are already plenty of gameport to USB adapters for basic analog joysticks and, as far as I know, there were some efforts to communicate with Sidewinder joysticks by Microsoft as well. But there are no universal adapter, which would work with different types of joysticks. This adapter implements multiple drivers for various analog and digital joysticks with an option to add more in the future.

Features overview:

  • Support for generic analog joysticks with 2/4 buttons and 2/4 axes
  • Four switches to select joystick type
  • Autodetection for digital Microsoft Sidwinder joysticks
  • Auto-Calibration

Absolute Territory Adds VR & Numerous Upgrades Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

If you're looking for something to help pass the long weekend, the WC-inspired shooter Absolute Territory has gotten a big graphical upgrade and support for VR headsets. On top of the improved visuals, there are also practical improvements to help with travel between waypoints, the user interface and with the simulator. There's a new trailer, and more info can be found at the game's Steam page. centaurianmudpig has the details below!
Allow me to introduce you to this huge title update bringing all-new VR mode! For those without VR headsets, there is a host of visual improvements and upgrades to pleasure your eyes.

VR provides a first-person experience piloting every starfighter available to fly. Each fighter has a 3D modeled cockpit to look around for improved situational awareness.

Warp to new horizons​

  • To keep you firmly seated in your cockpit, warp speed has been invented for transitioning to new areas during multi-staged missions faster than the speed of light.
Visual Enhancements​
  • A range of visual enhancements brings increased fidelity to the original graphics along with:
  • Increase fighter texture quality for all Endophora fighters.
  • Lighting improvements for explosion effects.
  • 16 new skyboxes (updated in campaign, tutorial, waves, and gauntlet modes) along with their own unique lighting
New Graphics Options​
  • PCs have always been synonymous with configurability. 2.0 brings a wide range of video options to configure to either increase performance or increase visual quality.
  • The Enhanced Graphics option brings greater flexibility for increasing performance at the cost of visual quality or increasing visual quality at the cost of performance. Or you can just keep it disabled and use the default settings for the chosen Overall Quality setting.
User Accessibility​
  • You can disable all camera shakes if you suffer from motion sickness.
  • Field of view provided in Standard mode,
Simulator Modes​
  • Longevity brought to Waves and Gauntlet with ship selection. Test your flying skills with all 6 Imperial fighters along with full weapon load-outs.
  • Gauntlet now provides shield recharging and ammo restock at the end of each mission.

Destroyers and Corvettes Duke It Out Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Let's slide into this weekend with a nice painting from Rear Admiral Tarsus. He has a really simplistic art style that still manages to convey a lot. The Gilgamesh and Venture class ships are very distinct, as are the burning Ralatha and Kamekh. I would love to actually see this battle go down!
Edited 5/29 with fighters, ordnance and more!

F-103 Model Gets Its Own Base Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Chronocidal Guy is back with a new update on his impressive 3D printed Excalibur model. He's not quite ready to share changes on the actual fighter, but he's got a new display stand that's custom fit for the design. I have a few impressive WC models that fans have made before, and figuring out how to best display them is always a consideration. It might seem like a minor detail, but it makes a big difference!
I did manage to print a stand for it, which was a quickie I did at lower resolution, and it resulted in a little bit of a rough finish, but it's enough to tell it's a good design. Still need to build up the detail panels. I might not print them myself, but I want to fix them so they're a part of the model, rather than the current blank spots.

I should be getting the details started sometime after Memorial day, so will try and get some updates here soon.

Extensive Lineart Collection Runs the WC Gamut Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Today we have a trove of nifty Wing Commander line art made by Autofire1979. He's created numerous designs that run the full spectrum from Wing Commanders 1 through 4. A varied sampling of his creations are below, but you can find a whole bunch more at his DeviantArt page - including different paint schemes for certain ships. They're broken out into two galleries: Terran Confederation and Kilrathi. It's one thing to make the popular dreadnoughts, and I included them below for obvious reasons, but he also drew the Drayman, Kilrathi Starbase and Caernaven. That's dedication!

Moongate II Softcover Ships, Hardbound Printing Now Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

There's an update on the fulfillment of the Through the Moongate, from Wing Commander and Ultima VII to Portalarium campaign! People that ordered the paperback version of the book should now have their item in the mail. Author Andrea Contato reports that the hardcover edition is printing now and almost ready, which means backers of the higher end tiers are another step closer to getting their items. This includes the fancy Denis Loubet bookmark and Manda cloth artwork. The team shared a few behind-the-scenes shots of the cloth art being prepped. If you pledged for these and haven't completed your survey, be sure to log in and let them know where to send everything!
We have much good news.

100% of softcover books have been shipped. A good part of them has already been received. Have you got your book? Let us know with a picture on Twitter or Facebook :)

Hardcover books are being printed right now, along with the magnetic black boxes. Finally, we have an ETA: two weeks, three at worst. Everything else is ready and all is coming along in the right way: Manda signed her artwork printed on cloth and sent them to Edward Vitralis; Loubet signed his bookmarks and just shipped them back. They are expected to arrive soon.

Edward did his magic with the cloth artwork and with the certificates signed by Lord British. Here are some pictures so that you can judge by yourself the result. We think it's awesome, don't you?

PS: There are still 17 backers who didn't fill the survey. Please check your personal page on Kickstarter and fill with the required info to allow us to deliver your rewards.

Please also note that only the artworks printed on cloth that was signed by Manda (top 30 backers) were sewed by Edward and have borders.

Wind Leader Rolls Out the Red Carpet Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Howard Day has new some artwork to share, and it coincides nicely with our new CIC Poll. He's beautifully recreated a WC1-style briefing room - complete with red light, weathering and podium/lectern. It's not supposed to directly be from the Tiger's Claw, but it's a pretty sweet recreation from a ship of that era! There are also some nice updates to Maniac and Chef, two of his key pilots.
Here's the latest on the TCS Orszaga's briefing room - Supposed to be of a similar build/era to the TCS Tigers Claw, just smaller and a bit more battle-worn. Oh, and the latest on Chef and Maniac!

What's Your Favorite Briefing Room? Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

We've got a new poll up today that asks about your favorite briefing rooms in the main Wing Commander games. These spaces hold a special place in the heart of WC fans, and the each have their own special character to them. From the red light of the Tiger's Claw, bright blues on the Concordia or dim shadows of the Victory, what's your favorite? Don't forget that the latter three options all had awesome physical sets! Sorry Cerberus fans, we left you out this time.

The old poll asked about the worst places to ditch your fighter. Many pilots were averse to ejecting in the Kilrah System or Nephilim Fluid-space, but the winner is the lonely Delta Prime System well off the established space lanes in the Gemini Sector. Funny enough, four of the five lowest ranking choices were the ones where the indicated pilots actually died!

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Reaches Space from New Mexico Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Wing Commander, at its core, is a game all about fancy space planes, so today we're recognizing a real life space plane that's achieved yet another milestone. SpaceX gets a lot of attention for its record breaking feats, but Boeing, Blue Origin and others are trying to accomplish a similar mission. Virgin Galactic is one with a fairly novel approach: their ship launches from an aerial carrier and then rockets up. The program has been seemingly stalled for a while, but today's successful flight is the first in more than two years. With today's exciting test under its belt, the company is a big step closer to offering commercial tour flights up into space. Check out the clips below. The first shows the detachment from the carrier and the third video shows the ship rotate up in the dark reaches of the atmosphere with the curvature of the Earth in the background. It's pretty cool to be living in the future!
Welcome to space.

Highlights from the #UNITY21 spaceflight:

Location: Spaceport America, New Mexico
Speed: Mach 3
Space Altitude: 55.45mi

Kilrathi Saga Manual Reimagined for German Wingnuts Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Maze has put together a really cool Kilrathi war companion for German Wing Commander fans. It's heavily based off the Kilrathi Saga manual with a lot of borrowed imagery from a mix of games and fan projects. KS didn't get the same manual in Germany, so this is a really lavish and colorful treat for Wingnuts there. If you're on top of your WC documentation, you basically know what everything says, so it's actually worth everyone taking a look even as just a visual treat. Everything clocks in at 175 pages and nearly 185 megabytes. It's a PDF that your browser might handle, but I would strongly recommend saving to your desktop for proper viewing. Grab the "Wing Commander The Kilrathi Saga - Ultimativer Info Guide" here and have fun!
Check out more sample pages and provide feedback at the CIC Forums!
Unfortunately there was never a complete Kilrathi Saga manual in German .. I have create a wonderful German eBook and upload it as a complete PDF file.

Private Righteous Fire Translated into Spanish Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

L@Zar0 is back with another impressive translation of a Wing Commander game! He's previously converted WC1, WC2, the Secret Missions and the Special Operations, and now he's done the same for both Privateer and Righteous Fire. It appears to be really well done. Cinematics and dialogue have new text, the spaceflight interface has been converted, and even the planetside menus and Quine computer are all seamlessly displayed in the new language. It's just wonderful to see fans pull off these comprehensive upgrades to our Wing Commander classics. This is another mod made possible by UnnamedCharacter's WC Toolbox. You can download the translation and apply it to your GOG or CD installation here (135 meg zip). Specific installation instructions are included. Hopefully there's a whole bunch of Wingnuts out there who will enjoy this!
This translation includes the translation of both texts and graphics into Spanish, for WCP. The translation has been done on the GOG version, which is based on the original CD version, with FULL SPEECH (with all voices). The original English version occupies about 200Mb. I doubt that the floppy versions will work properly, as the files are different.

This time, the game has been prepared to have VOICES + SUBTITLES (subs in Spanish), both for the dialogs in play and for communications. The only exception are the voices of the intro cinematics, which have been dubbed into Spanish, although the quality is not professional.

The translation has been tested a lot, especially the dialogues and in-flight communications, and no special situations have been detected that need to be discussed. If there are any problems, please post in the forums at clandlan.net. As always, thank you for using this translation.

Please, if anybody knows how to edit WC3/WC4/WC5/Priv2 texts, let me know. Right now it is not possible with WCToolbox 6.0.0 beta. Thanks a lot to UnnamedCharacter again. He has been credited as the author of the tool while I have done the translation.

Learn About 'Wing People' in Helpful Guide Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Here's a super retro magazine scan from the December 1993 issue of PC Review. Bear in mind that this was still the early 1990s, and the topic of the article is how space has become the "cluttered frontier." Apparently there were so many space combat and sci-fi games that people don't know where to start. In hindsight, it seems like Wing Commander, X-Wing, Elite, a couple Star Treks and a few more less popular titles was a navigable space, but they created a three page spread to help organize things. This includes a glossary of space themed terms you should know like "aliens," "light year" and "tractor beam." The best part? It's got to be those off-color marbled backgrounds behind each subsection. It was 1993, after all.

Lightspeed: Velocity attained when a starship equals the speed of light photons.
Thanks to the X-Wing Game Series Twitter for digging this one up!

Tri-System Artifact Explained Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

AD was doing some digital deep diving into Privateer 2's code and managed to extract this tantalizing menu image. It's a lot different than the game's own menus, PAD interface or anything else in the game, so he set out to learn more. P2 developer Paul Hughes explained that this was actually from a separate tool that allowed for fast travel and easy debugging of the game during development. That app may be lost to time, but it's neat to see this remnant that survived!
AD: I pulled this pic out of Privateer 2. There's some minor references readable in the code, but what nobody has been able to figure out is if there's actually a way to access this in the actual shipped game. Any insight?

Paul Hughes: Gosh, that takes me back, I had to trawl back through the code to remember what I did. That was actually a standalone app written by Tony S that tested different sub-sections of the game - the PAD, the missions, the Booth trading and the scripting piecemeal.

Alas, it didn't ship with the game, but there will still be references in the modules that combine to make the full game.

Listen to WC2 Through an Emulated Raspberry Pi MT-32 Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

A Korean YouTuber that Google Translate says is named Wonder Chome has posted a neat experiment. They're using the mt32-pi here, a program that transforms a Raspberry Pi into a device that can emulate the amped up MT-32 audio. The original Wing Commanders were designed to sound their best on the Roland sound board, but it wasn't something that most player had available to them. It's amazing to see fans exploring new ways to do this after nearly 30 years! The first part of the video below is setup, so jump to about the 0:55 mark to cut straight to the music.
I tried running wing commander II by connecting mt32 pi and cd rom to Jome station.
If you'd like to hear the Sound Blaster and Roland audio tracks (and several others) side by side, check out these clips by pcuser1541.

Wing Leader Improves Several Critical Elements Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Here's something new and different in Howard Day's Wing Leader project. We've seen a lot of the pilots and their helmets lately, and Howard took this one step further to merge these characters with the exciting cockpit scenes shown off a while back. Check out Angel in the green VDU! To flip the camera around, the fighter seats have also been bulked up and fit a bit better with their flight suits. There's also a neat test of a pilot in the briefing room. You can see they're all the same person, but a lot of work goes into getting the scaling and light tones right. It's cool to see these difference pieces come together!
Bulked up the seats, fixed the padding stitching and wrinkles to blend/look better, added more helmet art, rank insignia on the respirators, and seatbelts!

Perennial Rumor: Wing Commander Making a Comeback? Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

The German Shock 2 gaming site has posted a new speculation piece about the potential for a new Wing Commander game. They base this on comments in Jeff Grubb's GamesBeats show. As the story goes, EA Motive of Star Wars Squadrons fame is working on a new game that's a comeback of a popular franchise. For many years, Wing Commander was in a distant third place behind Electronic Arts' other space sim franchises, Star Wars and Mass Effect, so prospects were slim. A lot has changed lately with Star Wars going non-exclusive and the mixed fortunes of the Mass Effect franchise. This means Wing Commander is certainly a potential contender once again, although the stars would need to align for a viable project to actually see the light of day. It's only a matter of time though, and we'll be here to bring you the news when it happens!
Google's translate features are working better than ever these days, so you can find a well translated copy of the original article here. While you're there, you can also find another fun piece titled "Games I Miss # 170: Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi" here.

Lights, Camera, Puns Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

I found a 1996 PlayStation magazine article about Wing Commander III with a truly amazing title:

author avatar
LOAF

P2 Director's Cut of High Quality Footage Remastered Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

ODVS is back with another exciting video enhancement. While the lion's share of his work has been focused on WC3, WC4 and Prophecy over the last year, today's sample focuses on Privateer 2! About a year ago, P2 director Steve Hilliker posted a wonderful compilation of enhanced footage pulled from some of the best source material still in existence. While it was a nice bump from what was included in the game, modern enhancement techniques can do some amazing things. AD and Owen worked together to add some excellent detail, and this teaser shows both side-by-side. You can grab the full 68 minute video here (2.7 gig mkv)!
*PLEASE ENSURE YOU'RE WATCHING THE 4K QUALITY STREAM TO SEE ALL IMPROVEMENTS*

AD got in touch to let me know he was cleaning up Steve Hilliker's "The Darkening" 25th Anniversary Remaster and asked if I'd like to get my "AI upscale thing to do its magic" and... er... remaster the remaster.

So here are some comparison samples of the results. AD used AVIsynth to convert the footage back to SD, deinterlace it and clean it up (Mr. Hilliker's version had a lot of combing artefacts that arose from converting interlaced PAL footage to 1080p progressive) and I used Topaz Labs Video Enhance AI to return it to erzats 1080p HD. Enjoy!

Special shout out to Elend, who recreated the Privateer 2 logo I used in the title card and thumbnail.

NYT Catches Up With Fat Man & Team Fat Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Here's one from deep in the archives. AD found an interview with the Fat Man and Team Fat in an early 1995 article of the New York Times, before they even started posting stories online in 1996. This one's been turned into a digital story for completeness so future generations can learn a little about the state of early game audio. It goes a little bit deeper than your typical magazine blurb. The conversation begins very similarly to many other interviews George Sanger has given over the years, but it also delves into some of the side-projects and other attempts that he was trying to use to expand his business. These are portrayed as controversial, but it sounds more like they were trying to throw everything at the wall to see what stuck - which a lot of folks were doing in this new media space at the time! You can read up on the whole article here.
Starting with "Loom," one of the first computer games to appear on CD-ROM, the Fat Man and Team Fat have broken from the ice cream truck school of composition to generate a medley of hits for leading game developers like Lucas Arts, Electronic Arts, Origin Systems and Compton's New Media.

Mr. Govett, who created the soundtrack for Origin's "Wing Commander" and other popular games, lists Stravinsky and John Williams among his main influences.

------------------------

"I didn't know it then, but it was the great crash of '84," Mr. Sanger recalled. Before long, he said, he was "writing custom music for $79.95, up to three minutes, and planning on making three figures a year."

He moved to Austin in 1985, convinced that his skills in the developing high-technology region would make him a "fat man," the one to whom everyone turned for recording assistance. His fortunes turned with the offer to write tunes for some Nintendo games. Mr. Govett joined him, and within a short time both "Loom" and "Wing Commander" were at the top of the charts.

Kilrathi Warrior Read to Rip Your Face Off Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

MW Art has put together an awesome time lapse of what it takes to build a Kilrathi warrior. He's meticulously sculpted everything in Zbrush. Even though the clock is sped up, I'm amazed to see how fast the head comes together. It's also interesting to see how items like the claws get so much attention. The texture/coloring seems like it should take a long time as well (and I'm sure it did!), but Martijn makes it look like a breeze!
Space is a very scary place, so why not make it even more scary by adding some Tigers in there! Big fan of Wing Commander games and the Kilrathi Antagonists, I still think they should appear in Star Citizen, I tried to make a concept of what they would look like in a modern game, Hope you like it!

Check out my artstation for some Hi-Res Renders.

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Chinese Search Terms to Help Your Collecting Adventures Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Here's a great sampling of Asian Wing Commander games that AD dug up while searching various online marketplaces. The majority are Taiwanese, although the Armada there is Japanese. We've posted most of these in various forms over the years, but it's fun to see them all in one place. One that's new to me is the Academy ad with faux cockpit struts added. WC3, Armada and the Privateers remain pretty elusive, even in bootleg form (as the loose bagged copies below are). The legit versions are those earlier ones published by Soft World. AD has also summarized a list of Chinese language search terms you can use if you're trying to bulk up your own International Wing Commander collection. Find those below!
《银河飞将》（Wing Commander）
《银河飞将：秘密任务》（WC: The Secret Missions）
《银河飞将：秘密任务2》（WC: The Secret Missions 2）

《银河飞将II：帝国逆袭》（Wing Commander II: Vengeance of the Kilrathi）
《银河飞将II：特别任务1》（WCII: Special Operations 1）
《银河飞将II：特别任务2》（WCII: Special Operations 2）
《银河飞将II：语音资料片》（WCII: Speech Pack）

《银河飞将军官学校》（Wing Commander Academy）

《银河飞将：私掠者》（Wing Commander: Privateer）
《银河飞将私掠者：语音资料片》（WC Privateer: Speech Pack）
《银河飞将私掠者：正义出击》（WC Privateer: Righteous Fire）

《银河飞将无敌舰队》（Wing Commander Armada）

《银河飞将III：虎之心》（Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger）

《银河飞将IV：自由的代价》（Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom）

《基拉锡三部曲》（Wing Commander: The Kilrathi Saga）

《私掠者2：黯星枭雄》（Privateer 2: The Darkening）

《银河飞将：神谕》（Wing Commander: Prophecy）

《秘密行动》（Secret Ops）

The brackets are basically chinese quotation marks or something and can be removed

Maniac Ready to Break and Attack Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

There's been more great progress this week on Howard Day's Wing Leader pilots. The big news is that he's added Maniac to the mix, but the characters have also gotten helmets, which is also nice to see. There's even some cockpit chair visible now as well. In what seems like a fairly short span of time, this squadron seems to be really forming up!
Some more Wing Leader nonsense, working way too late. Supposed to look like a young Tom Wilson.. Basically just Biff Tannen. Flattened some perspective, got some better contrast on materials, added the iconic WC2 Terran pilot chair. Enjoy!

WC Audio Interview Happening Saturday Morning Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

The LoveRetroBTW streamer is hosting a morning show this weekend with Wing Commander sound designer Marc Schaefgen. He worked on most all the WC games from WC1 through Privateer, plus some Ultimas, Strike Commander and more. It'll be part of their Cafe, BTW podcast at 8 AM Pacific time on May 8 on Twitch. Getting up early on a Saturday morning to talk Wing Commander sounds like fun to us! Check it out here.

PC Zone Recaps Space Sim History Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Today we've got a historical profile from the July 2000 issue of PC Zone. It works two ways: the article is a recap on the highlights of the PC space sim genre from 1984 to 2000, but at the same time, it's ancient history itself. While there was quite a lull in the space sims during the 2000s, the past decade has certainly seen something of a revival, and I look forward to reading that recap someday. I vaguely remember this article when it was new, and it's kind of amazing that more time has passed since it was published now than the mere 16 years of timeline that they were covering back then. They hit on the big three: Elite, Wing Commander and Star Wars - before finishing off with a bit about some of the late '90s entrants like X and Starlancer. There are also some fun quotes from the editor of A Talent for War, which was a space sim community hub that started up around the same time as the CIC.
Thanks to the X-Wing Game Series Twitter for resurfacing this one. You can also find this issue and the complete series of PC Zone magazines scanned by Pix here.

Yes, Astoundment is Apparently a Real Word Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

The new blog/movie website Shirts of Astoundment has posted a new article titled 4 Things About The Wing Commander Movie That Are Actually Cool. I'm much more of a CinemaWins than a CinemaSins kind of guy, so this is right up my alley (also the Wing Commander part). The internet already has ten thousand think pieces rehashing the film's flaws, and it takes some courage to flip the script and focus on the positive aspects of something. Their analysis focuses on the music, international cast and CGI as high points, which are aspects we've been trying to emphasize for years. There's also some discussion about being able to see the Phantom Menace trailer. While a lot of people cite that anecdote, I photographed the no refunds signs on opening weekend. So if that many people actually did go see Wing Commander for the new Star Wars trailer, it probably would have done better than seventh place on opening weekend! Anyhow, check out the full article here.

Concept Card Art Reveals Beautiful Set Pieces Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Sci-fi artist Alan Gutierrez has posted some new images dating back to his mid '90s contributions to the Wing Commander CCG. He's released a steady stream of sample images over many years, and they've provided a fascinating look into the downselection process for card art. These are no different! First up is the source for the Epsilon nav art, which reveals a pair of exotic planets that didn't make it into the nav point we got. A similar thing happens where the Nebula card art is the top half of a scene with an icy planetscape beneath. The Kilrathi Capture Pilot card gets mirrored, and the final piece gets distributed across three cards! The Terran Recover Pilot card just focuses on the pilot, while both Terran and Kilrathi Asteroid modifiers are different crops of the background. Very cool! You can find this art and many more pieces of WC CCG imagery and lore in our WCPedia section here.
Alan Gutierrez posted another painting from the Wing Commander card game on his DeviantArt. Entire planets were cropped off of the final card!

Graphical Novel Adds Dark Ships and Light Expressions Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

It's been a while since we reported on his progress, but EmuMusicFan has been steadily moving forward with his graphical novel project. The latest exciting addition includes ships! His first example is a Dralthi silhouette based on a 3D model by DefianceIndustries. There are also a couple of new expressions for both Kilrathi and Firekkan characters. Looking forward, Emu will be working to develop some of the more interactive aspects of the project so that fans can engage with the story and affect how it unfolds.
Thanks so much to DefianceIndustries for the fantastic 3D models! Now I could add ships to my visual novel!

New Pilots Ready to Lead Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Last week we got a peek at Howard Day's new pilot models, which were a fun new take on Hunter and Angel. He's further redesigned the characters to give Hunter his iconic cigar and Angel a more accurate expression. As an extra bonus, there's also a pair of new pilots done in the same style. Let him know what you think at the CIC Forums!
So! Some updates to this. I added Hunter's scowl and stoagie, as well as the updated Casual/Flightready uniform set that I made for Angel. I also have angel with *eyebrows* now (Do'h!) and her signature earrings - but not in flight-ready mode, tho.

I also went ahead and added some more variation to the flightsuits - a data/control connection plug and a oxygen tube. Both will connect to the helmets they wear in-cockpits.

This is Capt "Conan" Doyle, one of the senior pilots on the Tolmacs-class light carrier you'll serve on in the campaign. As always, it's a straight 3DSMax render, no editing. :D I decided to do one more, callsign "Chef" Any and all feedback is wonderful.

WC3 Streaming: Watch It For the Culture Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Docteur J from Oldies Games TV is back with a new Wing Commander series. He's covered a number of Wing Commander games on his French YouTube channel over the years, and now it's time for a playthrough of Wing Commander 3. As a special bonus, he's manually splicing in the dramatically enhanced HD videos from ODVS so everything is super sharp. When he started all of this, the audience was mostly limited to French speakers, but YouTube's auto translate feature opens the world up to everyone. Hit the closed captions icon in the bottom and the gear logo for your preferred language. If you're only used to hearing Wing Commander in just one language, it can be a whole new experience to hear a new dub!
Hi all! Here is the start of Let's Play on Wing Commander 3 with the videos in 1080p. ;) Bravo to Owen Davies for his work on the videos.

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All Wings Considered
Episode 37 - Back to Gemini!
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