Spoony Streams Space Sims: WC3 Update ID

Popular video blogger Spoony recently dedicated his live stream gaming show to Wing Commander 3. He's dabbled in Wing Commander stuff over the years, so it's interesting to see his take here. Perhaps even more interesting are the live reactions from the audience. It's a credit to WC3's engaging FMV and spaceflight engine that it still holds up remarkably well nearly 25 years later. This also speaks to the pace of advancement in the early '90s. This came just a few years after WC1&2, yet it's often a significantly easier point of entry to the series due to how much more it resembles a modern game.
We can also help clarify one mystery in the vid. At 1:30:30 he encounters a 'bug' where he appears to be zooming away from his target backwards. It looks like what happened was that he accidentally engaged auto slide (with the / key), which temporarily disables the atmospheric flight style and throws your weight in the directions of your momentum while you continue to maneuver. It's a very cool trick that they offered expert pilots, but I don't think very many people used it very often. And thanks to Heart of the Tiger for the tip!

A Glimpse of Old New Constantinople Update ID

Found a nugget tonight: an tiny uncatalogued Privateer pre-release screenshot in a 1993 Mindscape catalog! An earlier version of the New Constantinople landing pad.

Wing Commander Art Portfolio Campaign Announced Update ID

Video game artist Mike Winterbauer has shown off the first images of his latest project, a Wing Commander Art Portfolio! Mr. Winterbauer was the person commissioned in 1992 to hand paint the box art for the SNES version of Wing Commander, among many other cool contemporary pieces. These were showcased last year in a book launched via a successful Kickstarter campaign. Next month he plans to launch a followup that specifically focuses on the process of creating his well known WC design. Along the way, there will be opportunities to have your name included in the book as well as pick up a very slick metal reproduction. Stay tuned for more info as the campaign approaches!

Hello backers of Classic Game Covers! I hope you all are doing great.

Be sure to look for my up coming Kickstarter campaign call Wing Commander Art. It will feature a beautiful hard cover portfolio art book showcasing the art process of my Wing Commander 1992 painting and all the advertising that used the painting. Also, there will be exceptional print rewards all signed like the stunning metal print shown below. ... Cool backers who get the beautiful signed Wing Commander hardback portfolio will get their name on the second page as shown below!

Shown here is the cover and some interior pages of this super beautiful Wing Commander Art Portfolio.

Thanks,

Mike

Intrepid Enters Spacedock Update ID

Spacedock has profiled another Wing Commander vessel! The BWS Intrepid is the star this episode of "Sci-Fi Ships You've Never Heard Of." Daniel, the author, has a huge soft spot for the WC series, and he's especially fond of this one. He pulls from a mix of high res original renders and fan project shots for gorgeous exterior imagery, and he even goes inside to highlight the FMV sets built for WC4. While Spacedock is known for its videos on Star Wars, Star Trek and other mainstream media, they've recently kicked off a weekly Wednesday livestream of the WC series. They've just started WC3 and will move on the The Price of Freedom after that! Check them out on Twitch!
I break down a ship I'm very fond of that might have escaped your attention.

Sienta la Ciencia y la Ficción Update ID

Christian Klein marches ever closer to having a complete set of Wing Commander games translated for Spain. This looks like a pretty thorough job with everything from the box to disc to manuals in Spanish, although no in-game audio has been revamped. The front doesn't have the big Midway flap that opens, but the static front and rearranged rear screenshot collage make it its own unique collectible! Compare to the original packaging here.
This Wing Commander Prophecy version arrived today, and now my Spanish Wing Commander collection is almost complete. \o/

Homeworld Mod Locks & Loads Update ID

The Homeworld Remastered Mod has gotten another update to more fully implement the fuel & ammunition mechanics that L.I.F. has been working on for some time. There have been some intricate coding hurdles that had to be scaled, but the results seem to add a nice dynamic to the fighter/bomber versus capship style of play. The game still looks great as well! You can grab the update via Steam Workshop here.
The Steam version of the main mod has been updated to the 2.5 version of Flag Commander, which is defined by complete rework of the ammunition and fuel management system.

As you can see in the screenshot above, there is a new feature appearing in the unit screen on bottom-left. In the vanilla game, you can see three stats items, the speed (green arrow), average damage per second (red target) and HP (blue shield). From now on, however, there are two more items for fighters and bombers, the remaining fuel indicator (radioactive sign) and the torpedo indicator (small torpedo below the fuel sign).

Most fighters/bombers have limited fuel, in different amounts, with crafts like the Arrow being able to patrol for a long time compared to other ones, for example. Now, however, you'll be able to see much more effectively the remaining fuel in a given plane (I'll try to have a fuel bar present at all times in a later update). The big change was in the way torpedo launches are accounted for, given that there is pretty much no built-in feature in the game to allow this.

The new system is currently only for the Wing Commander III and IV factions, the I and II waiting a bit for some feedback. You'll notice that some crafts do not have limited fuel, such as the Excalibur, Dragon, Asteroid Fighter, Sorthak, etc., which give them another tactical use compared to cheaper alternatives (note the "N/A" on the second picture). Oh, and since I was on a streak, I went back on the solo mission I made a long time ago and updated it to work again before uploading it in the main mod (the upload should be online in a few minutes from the time I post this). The whole ammunition schtick should be really interesting for campaign editing.

The Edge of The Darkening Update ID

We've unearthed a fascinating piece of pre-history: a detailed preview of Privateer 2: The Darkening from the August 1996 issue of Edge magazine... written when the game was still just called 'The Darkening!' The article includes a beautiful two-page gallery of artwork, plenty of pre-release screenshots and a surprising amount of technical detail about the game's development team. "Owen Roberts" is a first, though!

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