Return of the Space Sim Recap Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Today we have a third entry in a recent string of articles dug up by the X-Wing Game Series Twitter account. This is another "state of the space sim genre" type of spread, which was a recurring theme at the time. It's interesting to see what they had to say at this point in time while the franchise was really still in its early days. Most of these types of pieces would hit on the usual suspects: Wing Commander, X-Wing and Elite plus a few of the newer novel entrants. Although this actually predates Wing Commander 3, even the original few WC games were known for their cinematic qualities. The caption to the WC image is "Wing Commander brought the movies to your PC." Also, what's up with the weird three-pip Picard on top?!
Far more exciting than Epic ever was was Wing Commander, designed by Chris Roberts and released by Origin in 1990. This was a pure all-action combat simulation which abandoned vector graphics and opted for expanding sprites to create the 3D visuals. The gameplay was fast and fun blasting stuff, with a Buck Roger-ish storyline about invading cat people linking the missions together.

Love Your Dad Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

...and other bizarre Mercenaries Guild advertisements from the Gemini Sector.

Translated Privateer Helped Reach More European Fans Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Man-Jimaru posted some neat pics of the French version of Privateer. The box clearly showed that it's the "Français" edition, but we get both English and German translations on the box. The manuals seem to be purely in French, however. These were made and distributed out of England for the European market. It's great that such a wonderful game got such a wide release!
Here is my #CIBSunday with the great Wing Commander Privateer big box for PC. Always been a fan of Space Sim games as Star Wars but Wing Commander is certainly my favorite one with Elite. This one combines space trading & combat as a merchant, pirate or mercenary.

Mega CD Port Provides Unique Experience Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

The Sega CD port of Wing Commander is well known as "the one with full speech," which is awesome on its own, but it's often overlooked that the equivalent Sega Mega CD version also has full Japanese speech! Kaze no retorogēmu-kan or "Cold Retro Game Hall" has posted playthroughs of the first couple missions. They give you a great look at some of the Japanese text changes to the user interface as well as the audible enhancements to the original. I have an especially soft spot for the console WC1 graphics and music, so I could watch these all day!

Excalibur Now Has a Carrier to Land On Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Last week we posted a neat piece of Excalibur water color art. At the time, we noted how unusual and novel that was, but it was apparently not unique! Plywood Fiend dug deep and found his own water color version of Confed carrier that he painted long ago. Sure, it's not a fully modeled and textured 3D asset ready for a 4K game engine, but it represents the desire to create WC content that has kept the WC community going for so many years! It also gives us a great excuse to show off the swanky WC4 Concordia render.
Good Lord; I think I was a teenager when I painted this, which was farther back now than I care to admit to.

Funnily enough, I had a bit of a cleanout a few days ago and stumbled across this, painted around the same time. I'm not sure what inspired me to do a watercolour of a piece of a carrier but there we are.

Super Nintendo Cheat Codes to Enable Pro Action Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

We've reported on Game Genie codes before, but news on the Pro Action Replay has been sparse. It was the "other" game modification device popular in the '90s and early 2000s. Both had Super Nintendo versions and therefore could modify Wing Commander / The Secret Missions in ways that no other cheats would allow. AD recently found a set of WC codes for the PAR at Almar's Guides, so it's important that we record them here. Their Genie entry looks good, so these are probably legit as well. If it's anything like the Game Genie, the first batch of codes may only apply to SM1 while the shields and armor entries work for WC1. If you have a test setup and can verify, let us know your results!
Unlimited Fuel: 7E1D61:1F
Invulnerability Always On: 7E08A8:00
Earn Medals More Often: 7E0546:FF
Have Major Rank: 7E05AE:03
Unlimited Gun Energy: 7E15A964

Front Shield Increased on Hornet: 8B9BAD3C
Mega Front Shields on Hornet: 8B9BAEFF
Rear Shield Increased on Hornet: 8B9C213C
Mega Rear Shields on Hornet : 8B9C22FF

Front Shield Increased on Scimitar: 8B9BAD3C
Mega Front Shields on Scimitar: 8B9BB255
Rear Shield Increased on Scimitar: 8B9C2563
Mega Rear Shields on Scimitar: 8B9C2655

Front Armor increased on Hornet: 8B9C9540
Front Armor increased on Scimitar: 8B9C9963
Rear Armor increased on Hornet: 8B9D0940
Rear Armor increased on Scimitar: 8B9D0D63

Right Side Armor increased on Hornet: 8B9D7D40
Right Side Armor increased on Scimitar: 8B9D8163
Left Side Armor increased on Hornet: 8B9DF140
Left Side Armor increased on Scimitar: 8B9DF563

Unlimited Shells
7E153D:63
7E154F:63

Not sure what the "shells" refer to. That may be a mistake.

GOG Summer Sale Capitalizes on Video Game Excitement Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

It's that time of the year! E3 is in full swing, and all of the digital storefronts are having their summer sales while video games are on people's brain. GOG.com is no exception, so that means the Wing Commander games are available at a hefty discount. At 75% off, individual packages are just $1.49 or under $12 for the vast swath of DOS/Windows WC titles. Of course, we're huge proponents for collecting the physical boxes as well, but it's hard to beat the ease of digital copies at your fingertips!

Cutting Edge Dralthi Influences Fan Sketch Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Today we have a sketch from 213thBattalion on his take on the Dralthi VII. The "roll bar" feature might make some think that this was inspired by the Drakhri, but the VII has the same component and has its guns mounted on the inner wings rather than under the nose. He's got a first cut that's more of a 1:1 translation of the design, and then there's a bonus bomber variant as well. It's a beefed up version that makes room for more ordnance. If you're going to draw a Kilrathi ship, you can't go wrong with a Dralthi!
Inspired by the Kilrathi fighter in "Privateer"

Wing Leader Showcases Frenetic Space Combat Action Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

There's been lots of gorgeous character and shipboard art for Wing Leader shown off over these past few months, but people are also interested in the project for its space combat. Howard Day has made some tweaks to the spaceflight engine and created some great examples of the latest build's gameplay. You can see everything from both the Kilrathi and Confed fighter perspectives below. The dogfighting is intense, fluid and explosive. Check it out below!
Doing some code refactoring about how the AIs control the ships. They're no longer able to turn faster than the player - and a bunch of hacks have been actually re-coded to work in a more straightforward, honest way. I've also been working on Reticles. As you can tell, these now shift around a bit as you maneuver. Makes the whole thing feel 1000% more dynamic.
Bonus video! This one's got the front/left/right/rear directional cockpit view enabled. It's also testing out the look with a CRT filter enabled.

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