Gaming Press Warms to P2 Over Summer 1996 Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Today we've got a double feature of articles from Computer Games Strategy Plus. The first one is a brief blurb in the follow-up to E3 that year. There's not much info on the game, but a few elements really date the article. First, in 1996, we were still a ways from E3 being a giant online spectacle. Given standard lead times, it would just be natural that news from the springtime event would be trickling out in the August issue (which would have appeared on shelves 1-2 months afterwards). Also on the game picking up the "Privateer" title, they note gamers have "always wanted an updated version of that classic." That's a funny take from our perspective nearly thirty years after P1's release.

The second article is the big one. It's got a fantastic cover celebrating the game, plus a huge two-page feature with plenty of exotic art. They talk about the interactive movie's story, open world setting, fancy new engine and more.

'Hidden Gem' Wing Commander Celebrated in '90s Rundown Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Marvelous Videos has put together a feature on underappreciated sci-fi films from the 1990s. Yeah, it's a little click-baity and their pronunciation of certain terms is just bizarre, but they lead off with Wing Commander as the first must-see film on the list. I also wholeheartedly agree that "fans will be amazed to see how loyal the story is to the film," but perhaps not in the same manner as they intended it.
Given how extensive the subject matter actually is, there is no other film genre that can match up to the creativeness and originality of science fiction. Thanks to this particular genre, we have been able to witness an exciting array of remarkable, mind-boggling movies. But, while it is true that we fondly remember flicks like The Terminator, Independence Day, Men In Black, The Matrix, Inception, and Avatar amongst many others, there also seems to be an entire range of the sci-fi genre that has simply been brushed aside. So, in today’s video, we are going to take a peek at 11 of these underrated gems from the ’90s that undoubtedly deserve your time.

Raptor's Last Stand Streamed to the World Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

AD found this spectacularly awesome clip of doctorcdcs playing The Secret Missions 2. We've all been there before: head to head against a Dralthi, guns destroyed, out of missiles, out of afterburner fuel, no more front armor and splash damage erupting all around. But do we call it quits? No! doctorcdcs demonstrates exactly what makes the original Wing Commander such a perfect game. You can just feel the tension right through your screen as if you were there. Watch the one-minute snippet to see how it ends!

Who needs guns and afterburners when all you really need is a ship and a dream?

Wing Commander Added to Movies Anywhere Sale, Watch Parties Also Available Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

AD came along an interesting Wing Commander sale at Movies Anywhere. As we reported a number of years ago, Movies Anywhere is a unifying service that allows your digital purchase from one storefront to appear in your library at many others. This includes Apple/iTunes, Amazon, Microsoft/Xbox, Google/YouTube and Vudu. Today's sale offers up free access to one of ten films if you buy one of a corresponding movie, including Wing Commander. Interestingly enough, WC is included in the Disney/Fox category, although the distribution rights have been a bit murky since reverting to Chris Roberts a few years back. Wing Commander briefly disappeared from storefronts and the disc copies went out of print, but it's since become widely available in digital format again for about $10.

As we continue into year two of the coronavirus pandemic, a small number of virtual conveniences have cropped up that I hope are here to stay. Movies Anywhere and Amazon, for example, give viewers the ability to host a "watch party" where groups of friends across several households can jointly control (play/pause/stop/rewind) the viewing experience and watch together over chat/phone/video calling. We used to do this together manually ("3, 2, 1, play!") in #Wingnut twenty years ago, so it's neat to see the rest of the world catching up! Generally, everyone needs to buy or rent a copy themselves, but Movies Anywhere gives owners several "screen passes" to digitally loan to friends or add to a party for free, which is a nice bonus. Hopefully this feature sticks around. This, and drop-off food delivery. I love not having to talk to the delivery person.

Animated Hornet Flying in WC1 Engine Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

DefianceIndustries has managed to insert another animated-style Wing Commander ship to the original WC1 engine. This time it's the Hornet, and the process turned out to be a little bit trickier than the Tiger's Claw import. The results are very cool though!

On the subject of a larger conversion pack, Defiance has some thoughts on how to integrate the different fleets. Some of the ships, like the Tiger's Claw, Scimitar or Fralthi are directly depicted in the cartoon show. But there's no Rapier or Salthi - would a WCA Sabre or Sartha be a good replacement? Check out the proposed swaps and share what you think would be a good fit!

So I continue my playing around and started working on fighters. Fighters are different beasts a bit from the WC1 capships as they have to be scaled appropriately (if you render the sprite too large, they appear giant in the game). My experiments yielded the best results at a 120x120 px render, then cropping the images down to less than 100 px on the long side. Unfortunately this causes the loss of some fine detail, but the result is pretty good. You also have to manually reposition the thruster exhaust sprites. The toolbox does a good job exporting everything into XML, but you have to open each image and establish the position by counting pixels. (It's exciting work believe me).
At some point I'll write up a guide on how to do this. It's a time consuming process as there isn't a lot of automation currently, so there's a lot of cropping, saving, and using the repal function in the toolbox that has to be done manually. I think it takes about 3-4 hours to do a single sprite currently.

However if I were to do a complete pack I had some ideas as there isn't a 1-for-1 match between Academy and the game below are my thoughts, but feel free to weigh in if you feel differently. Just some thoughts, anyone with an opinion please feel free to weigh in (especially where gaps exist).

Lillard Table Read Online, Beadle ad Grimm's Posts Great April Fools Set Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

If you missed Matthew Lillard's Wing Commander Movie script reading on Friday, the segment has been archived on Twitch. It's not overly hammy, which is impressive, and it's genuinely nice to hear what fond memories Mr. Lillard had of the film's production. Most of the Beadles and Grimm's team tried to get into the atmosphere with WC backgrounds and do their best with material that they're not as intimately familiar with as you or I might be. It was also fun to hear Lillard's recollections on the differences between early script and finished movie.

And that's not all! They really got into the spirit of things with a full scale Wing Commander-themed April Fools joke on Thursday. It's the perfect kind of prank where you wonder for a split second if it's real, but without any kind of crushing letdown that mocks the reader or anyone else. The idea is that they were putting together a "Platinum Maniac Edition" box set. They created artwork, a map, orders, a minidisc and more. Check it out here! Since awesome things like this on the web have a habit of disappearing eventually, we've also archived it for future generations. I would definitely be down for one of these if it were real!

'Cliffs Notes' Take on Wing Commander Makes for Efficient Viewing Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Interested in the Wing Commander Movie but not willing to commit the 95 minutes it takes to watch the whole thing? Or do you have a friend you need to quickly get up to speed without watching the entire film? The Movie Fanatic channel has you covered with a five-minute mini cut with key scenes and a comprehensive story overview. The weird content farm nature of their channel and the computerized narration voice comes across as pretty sketchy, but it's actually not the worst summary edit of the film I've ever seen. If it's been a while since your last viewing, this is a nice quick watch to jog your memory.

BREAKING NEWS: Matthew Lillard WC Table Read Today! Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

There's a very cool event happening this evening on the Beadle & Grimm's Twitch stream. Matthew Lillard and the streamers will be doing a table read of key scenes from the Wing Commander Movie! This could be a ton of ridiculous fun. Head over to their channel here at 7 pm Pacific time / 10 pm Eastern and tune in!
Come tune in for a table read of select scenes from Wing Commander tonight at 7pm PT!

You might recall this 1999 sci-fi film was preceded by the first-ever trailer to Star Wars: A Phantom Menace.

Now you get to see it again, but with a *slightly* smaller budget.

Trailer Drops for WC4 Video Enhancement Pack 6.0: Cinematic Edition Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

ODVS is always on the forefront of video editing technology, and his latest explorations have enabled a new level of visual fidelity here. Except this time, he's given version 6.0 a more modern cinematic flair...
I'm very excited to reveal this sneak preview of the upcoming Wing Commander IV HD Pack V6.0 - Cinematic Edition.

I've reconfigured the aspect ratio to cinematic widescreen and painstakingly recreated all the visual improvements that come from shooting with expensive, high-end anamorphic lenses. This is how WCIV would look if it were a modern day Hollywood blockbuster!

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