Streaming Origin’s Newly Rediscovered Academy Missions Tonight! Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

True to my word, I will play these missions LIVE tonight! Tune in at 8 PM Eastern to talk Academy and fly some Origin-made Wing Commander missions for the first time.
The search for the 'PC Player' Wing Commander Academy missions continues... but it HAS spun off something even more exciting: a set of five demo missions that Origin made in house and posted to their BBS in September 1993?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

I've also collected about one hundred fan made missions from old BBSes and Warez CDs during the hunt! Except a feature with downloads soon.

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Do Bring a Knife to a Space Fight Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Alright, I can't think of a good reason for this, but here's the Wing Commander knife post. To start, WC always loved using knives to show a character was troubled. The one Cobra is sharpening in WC III is a Marto-Brewer Explora, a Spanish survival knife from the 1980s. Hawk’s thematically similar knife in Wing Commander Prophecy is called a hunting knife in stage directions but the actual prop is a United Cutlery Bushmaster survival knife. These are still made! Seether’s knife in Wing Commander IV is a Hibben Double Shadow, a design often used in sci fi productions including Star Trek and Babylon 5. The script calls it a “laser-blade” which it describes as “a curved handle with a lethal thread of light that pulses from one end of the handle to the other”. As a result, the novelization refers to Seether’s blade as a “laser knife” and says they are “plunging weapons that could also inflict severe surface burns depending on whether the attack was a pierce or a slash.” Double Shadows are still sold by United Cutlery today and they’re a pretty affordable and cool Wing Commander token to have! Another big knife is the Pilgrim dagger-cross from the movie. Here’s the official explanation of its meaning from the Handbook. (I want a glowing one!) There are four Pilgrim Crosses in the movie: Blair’s, Paladin’s, Wilson’s (cut) and Sansky’s (glimpsed only briefly). Of course there are more in the followup novels! Replica Pilgrim Cross knives were produced by United Cutlery back in 1999. They’re pretty collectible today! They came with a certificate with a little more lore background. There’s even a Pilgrim Cross trading card included with one of the action figures! In the original cut of the movie, Gerald battles Blair with a fighting knife on the concom. The novel says it is “not standard-issue to be sure” and that it “bear(s) a charge of winking silver.” (As of yet unidentified!) Meanwhile, the Handbook tried to explain its origins by giving all the marines a standard knife. D’oh! Must refer to something else… Another good Pilgrim Cross blade shot from the finished cut of the movie. We've got to eat, too! Here are dinner knives at the meal Damon Karnes has for Blair and Maniac… … and then dinner knives in the mess halls of the Tiger's Claw and the Intrepid! Now let's talk about the novels! False Colors tells us that Landreich pilots carry utility knives; we see Jason Bondarevsky use his to help treat one of his wounded pilots during a boarding action.

The same novel also introduces us to FRL marine Colonel Bhaktadil Rai, who carries a kukri, a type of large curved combat knife from Nepal.

Confederation Marines carry durasteel knives. The First Commando Battalion's flag has crossed knives over a Kilrathi skull. Decker's men in Wing Commander IV are armed with trench knives, which they used for close fighting aboard the TCS Princeton. There are two big knife fights in the books, too: False Colors has one Landreich delegate pulling a knife on another, a bit of a Brooks–Sumner Affair-style event intended to get across that the FRL is an analog for the rough and rowdy early days of the United States' legislature. Then there's a big moment in Action Stations where Ensign Tolwyn and company come across a group of aliens betting on a makeshift arena knife fight between two humans and a Kilrathi. And speaking of the Kilrathi…

Kilrathi typically do not use knives as combat weapons, favoring their own claws for close range fighting (and larger swords and polearms for medium combat). Nevertheless, knives serve a number of utility and ceremonial purposes in Kilrathi society.

The most famous Kilrathi knife is the vorshaki dueling blade or claw knife. These curved daggers can disembowel with the flick of a wrist. They are carried on the belts of noblemen and captured daggers have been adopted by Confederation marines. Vorshaki blades feature notches representing the noble clans of Kilrah. They are used in ritual duels to the death and for other ceremonial purposes. Barons throw their daggers in the "Pledging of Knives" to vote their support for the Emperor (who carries a golden version). In practice, the dueling aspect of claw daggers means that they are often brandished threateningly by important kil during political or interpersonal disputes. They are also used in mourning: a lord will cut his forehead to display their honor for the dead.

Kilrathi also have ceremonial "zu'kara knives" used for ritual suicide which they carry in sheathes at their thighs. These daggers have ornate handles carved of rare wood from the sacred forest of Kovokum and are fitted to an individual's paws. Formal Zu'kara involves stabbing ones heart or cutting ones throat. If a kil's knife is not available, they may regain their honor using whatever is available: their own claws, the vacuum of space and so on.

Kilrathi interrogators use knives for what they call "kalkrath", a form of physical torture. Thrak'hra lords may not be interrogated via kalkrath without the express permission of the Emperor.

Their culture places significant meaning on the method of an execution. Knives occupy something of a middle ground in this spectrum, lacking the respect of being dispatched directly but also avoiding the insult of disintegration. (See Ragark's execution of Ghadhark nar Volles).

While Imperial guardsmen carried energy weapons and large polearms during the Kiranka regime, many of those competing for power after the surrender preferred knife-wielding warriors. Chancellor Melek's guards carried knives, as did those protecting Governor Ragark.

Sivar priestesses also carry ritual knives; Hassa prepares to defend herself with hers in Freedom Flight. Finally, Kilrathi soldiers also carry utility knives; here we see one warrior using his claws to release a prisoner while the other wields a knife for the same purpose. And in Freedom Flight, the warrior who challenges Hunter to a duel specifically removes his utility knife. If you can think of any other knives in the Wing Commander universe (keeping in mind that I avoided any ship name jokes!) add them here and we'll keep... on... knifing...
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Searching for October 1993 PC Player Cover Disk Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

German friends! We are still looking for this diskette. Do you know any packrats or collectors?
Requesting assistance from the German retro gaming community! It looks like the October 1993 PC Player cover diskette had a Wing Commander Academy campaign on it. Does anyone have a copy?
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Concordia Crosses the Horizon Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Mac is back with a fabulous new wallpaper. It depicts Klavs' exquisite Concordia model with the sun at its back. This casts a dark and moody light on the superstructure of the ship while various running lights, engine components and weapon emplacements light up the landscape. There's also a full complement of Sabre and Rapier escorts in tow to round out this very imposing scene!
It is time. #wingcommander

One, Two, Three... Single Engine Fighters Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

A certain former president (not Jimmy Carter) recently said some goofy stuff about single-engine fighters recently which got me to thinking: do we fly any single engine space fighters in Wing Commander?

Most Confederation fighters have between two and six engines... but I can think of three exceptions! The Ferret in Wing Commander II and the Piranha in Prophecy are both single-engine patrol ships meant to seem like a cockpit glued to a rocket.

Prophecy's Devastator torpedo bomber also has a single engine but the visual intent is reversed: it's supposed to seem like a powerful ship with a powerplant that's similar to those of a capital ship. I will also note that the Ferret seen in Wing Commander Academy actually had three engines; must've been the A or B model! Why does the Academy Ferret look so unlike the game one when the other Academy ships are pitch perfect? It's actually modeled on a toy prototype created for the series which had for some reason been commissioned in advance of any reference material. 'But the Ferret wasn't around in 2654!!!!!' - listen, the Confederation Handbook has Ferrets in 2638 as part of the Iason's boat complement. Paladin flies one!
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Happy Birthday Wing Commander! Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Happy birthday to Wing Commander I, which was released 33 years ago today! It marked an epochal shift in how computer games were played, made and sold... and I guess you could say it has been pretty big in my life, too!

It is often hard to assign a single date for when a game was released in the early 90s; it could be days to weeks to go from sign off to duplication to actually arriving in stores. There was no concept of a set ‘street date’ - but Origin celebrated “ship day” internally and that’s what we cite as a birthday when it’s known. Here’s an account of that day from Mike Harrison’s excellent contemporary making of piece:
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Goodbye David McCallum Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

There's sad news for the Wing Commander family of performers tonight: veteran actor David McCallum passed away earlier today. McCallum, 90, started his career as a leading man on television shows like The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and went on to serve as a jack-of-all-trades who could pop up anywhere and everywhere. His nearly endless resume included a variety of guest appearances on cult genre shows including The Outer Limits, seaQuest DSV and Babylon 5. He joined the Wing Commander universe in 1996 in a short but memorable appearance in Privateer 2: The Darkening. You can find an obituary with a more complete retrospective of his career at Variety. McCallum appeared in Privateer 2's opening scene as the captain of the doomed freighter Canera. He commands Don Warrington's Helmsman, Nichola Cordey's Second Officer and stuntman Riky Ash's Communications Officer through the game's opening that ends in all of their fiery deaths. In the short, dramatic sequence he bravely attempts to command the Canera's crew to save the transport after it is ambushed before finally realizing the futility and resigning to his fate and crashing into the planet below.
For those that have trouble following Privateer 2's largely British-accented dialogue, the transcript follows:
HELSMAN: Crius planet control, this is cargo 1-0-4-6 Canera. On plan and requesting ejection marker 1-1-5.
CRIUS PLANET CONTROL: Very well, Canera. You are cleared for re-entry. Proceed to Mendra spaceport. Good day.
CAPTAIN: Who are those clowns?
SECOND OFFICER: We're in unequivocal commit! We can't even manage a skip out!
HELSMAN: So much for staying hypersonic. And we're too big for them to tractor in...
CAPTAIN: ... and keep us from bouncing. Range to Mendra?
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER: Six hundred fifty.
CAPTAIN: Hit it now!
HELSMAN: Nothing left but altitude dials.
CAPTAIN: Launch all communications. Tell them to scramble all emergency equipment to Mendra. Nice try, Rog, nice try.
Although he has only four lines in a two minute segment his involvement in the project cast a long shadow and the fact that 'the Man from U.N.C.L.E.' was included in the game's all star cast was frequently cited in the game's marketing. He was included in Electronic Arts' press junket for the game, charming interviewers with his honesty about his single day of shooting. As a result, his involvement was recorded heavily in the press. British gaming magazine PC Zone attended McCallum's day on set and included a gonzo-style description of the work in their October 1996 supplement on the game:
In Studio Two they've already started shooting one of the spaceship crash scenes. David McCallum is rigged up to a complicated pulley system and six burly looking blokes are clutching the rope at the other end, tug-o-war style. The director screams for total silence and everyone holds their breath.

BANG! WHOOSH! The six blokes holding the rope tear across the studio and David McCallum flies into the air, landing a few seconds later in a heap on the floor.

Debris and smoke fill the set. The director screams "CUT!" and a flurry of make-up and costume people dash, coughing, through the smoke to swiftly patch up Mr McCallum's face and intergalactic apparel. The rest of the crew stare expectantly at the director, who just shakes his head. Shoulders slump and the crew automatically begin to set up the shot once again with an air robotic precision which, if you didn't know better, could easily be mistaken for abject boredom. David McCallum pulls himself to his feet and prepares himself for another re-take. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was a very long time ago.

Approximately one hour later they are still shooting the same scene. Incredibly, once it's been edited and re-edited this small part of footage will last for no longer than a few seconds in the final game. It's already taken a whole morning to get this far and time is running out. Tension is understandably high and everyone's keen to move onto the next scene.
Electronic Arts also produced a number of interviews with Privateer 2's cast for interested outlets. This jovial video with McCallum was included in the January 1996 issue of EQ Magazine:
The Wing Commander CIC team is very sorry to hear about Mr. McCallum's passing; we'd like to send our condolences to anyone that loved him. He helped create a lot of timeless art in his career and we're honored that we can share so much detail about the one small part of that that we're responsible for remembering.
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Classic Reviews Cover '91-'93 Landscape Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Today we've got a wonderful pile of old reviews from Maxi de Sokar. First up is a WC2 from the Spanish OKPC magazine. They give it a solid 85% and comes with lots of gorgeous screenshots. There's also a Special Operations preview, and although it's short, it packs in tons of great little references that really date game development to the era (1991-1992). Then we shift gears into a PC Review review of WC Academy. The game only gets 5 (out of 10, I suppose), but they had enough to talk about to fill a two page article. We often point out that there was genuine demand for something like this and it filled a niche that was pretty unique back in the day. With all that being said, the same author returns to review Wing Commander Privateer... and he also gave it a 5/10! So maybe that says something more about him than the game. In the end, I guess I'm not mad about Academy being rated on the same level as the world-renowned Privateer!

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