2009.108 (April 18, 2009)

Take the New Poll for a Spin

The popular 'introductions' poll has a sequel today. The question has moved beyond the main games and now asks which spin-off had your favorite beginning. Each choice has a pretty unique and interesting offering, and the variety ranges considerably here. The brief Academy start is punctuated with a tantalizing glimpse at the Wraith, while Arena's intro reveals the Halsey class Farragut Naval Base. The Privateers have both animated and live action drama, and the audio and graphical effects between Armada's intro fighters are very sharp. Academy on TV is also included for good measure.

Voters in our last poll found the expensive cinematic productions of WC3/4 most to their liking, with The Heart of the Tiger coming out slightly ahead.

Making the Game: Mission SA1

Not content with only seven 'rookie' training missions, the proposal also adds three 'advanced' missions (which is even more confusing, since three of the rookie missions were called 'advanced', too...). This mission teaches us all about wingman communication (thanks to "Yessman") and how to use the nav map. That last bit would have been good to include, since there is a point in Prophecy where many players get stuck because they can't figure out how to change nav points...

These updates are thanks to John "Captain Johnny" Guentzel, who provided several CD image archives of material used by the Wing Commander Prophecy development team!