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Space Sim First Look: Smugglers IV
Is it a smuggler far off the normal space lanes? Wing Commander fans may remember Smugglers II and III from some years ago -- addictive 4X space games set in a Wing Commander-style world. Well, now there's another one! Lead developer Niels Bauer says:
Smugglers 4 is a turn-based science-fiction space-trading game. You have the option to be a greedy trader, an ambitious bounty hunter, a ruthless pirate, or a multitude of the many professions that the game has to offer. Through trading, fulfilling missions, or pirating, you earn the money and skills necessary to buy new ships and upgrade your equipment. Additionally, you'll have to manage a crew, board & plunder enemy ships, and even conquer star systems.
The game offers an open-ended gameplay where the opportunities are virtually limitless, and your actions will ultimately have an impact on the galactic scale.
You can learn more (and try the demo) at the official site.
[LOAF] [# 9005] [Show comments]  
Making the Games: Wing Commander IV Fighters
Back in 1996, Origin's Wing Commander IV website was all the rage, for one good reason: unlike the game's manual, it had complete specifications for every fighter -- and with those specifications was a beautiful 'action' shot of each ship. These images (which also appear in the Official Guide) were copied and pasted from Geocities to Xoom back in the day, but are fairly difficult to find today. Captain Johnny's treasure does us one better: higher-than-ever-before resolution images of these same pictures, allowing you to examine the beautiful textures developed for Wing Commander IV. Unfortunately, three are missing - the Banshee, Lance and Dralthi. Did anyone save the web versions? To make up for this, though, you'll see two versions you haven't seen before: alternate paint schemes for the Arrow and the Thunderbolt (Confederation and Pirate, respectively)!
Thanks to Captain Johnny for both archiving and providing this material!
[LOAF] [# 9044] [Show comments]
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