Maverick Gets Pantsed (February 24, 2018)

ChrisReid

Super Soaker Collector / Administrator
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Actual screenshot from our internal news manager:

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But L.I.F. has a valid point - this spring we'll hit a 15 year streak of news without missing a single day. Fourteen of those years were lacking a new WC game release, but we drive forward. :)

"Slow" also has different dimensions. Sometimes we just have to run with what is quick to write up, since everyone is super busy these days. Balanced against new WC music by the original composer or amazing 3D prints of large scale WC ships, I'm really happy with the community's constant output.

Additionally, there's the intangible quality of 'engagement'. Some awesome content news posts get no comments/twitter likes/etc. Yet this ridiculous one's doing great.
 
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I remember when the 'without missing a news day' record was something worth mentioning. Now we've become accustomed to it, it can be easy to take for granted and forget that there's a team of people to this day still writing daily news updates for Wing Commander, however obscure or obtuse the reference might be. I might not be that impressed with the pants (though Chris makes a good point that you can't have a body without legs), but the fact that we're approaching 15 years of continuous news updates is remarkable. Well done, team!
 
We are going to shame them into making another official game, people!

*hears Blair will be played by Adam Sandler under a Bollywood director and that each FMW will be its own paid DLC Lootbox*

X_X
 
You know, my 2000 self would find my 2018 self so weird on this, but... I really don't mind the lack of new WC products. I'd rather keep it that way, actually. The only thing I wish were different in our fandom, is more fan projects actually getting done. I think the wonderful thing about fan projects is that for all their flaws, such projects usually try to be faithful to the canon to an extent that's basically impossible for a new official product. A new Wing Commander game would need to sell several million units - you don't achieve that by sticking to 20-year-old canon, you do it by modernising the franchise. And frankly, I ain't interested in a modernised Wing Commander.
 
You know, my 2000 self would find my 2018 self so weird on this, but... I really don't mind the lack of new WC products. I'd rather keep it that way, actually.

Yeah, ironically, since one of my main missions in life for the past 20 years has been to advocate for new stuff, I understand where you're coming from here. I find it challenging to keep up with what's going on with Star Citizen - on one hand, all their video shows and globe-spanning convention circuit and such is amazing, but I can only catch it in bits and pieces. And a sudden infusion of a million new fans would certainly change the place, to say the least.

But I also think there's an ideal path forward somewhere between a $200 million budget blockbuster and no new games. I think it would be absolutely lovely for the series to come back gradually via novels, maybe a board/CCG game, maybe some niche games like WC Arena and so forth. And I actually think that's more practical and likely in the near term than a big budget EA game, so that's the angle we continue to push.
 
I remember when the 'without missing a news day' record was something worth mentioning. Now we've become accustomed to it, it can be easy to take for granted and forget that there's a team of people to this day still writing daily news updates for Wing Commander, however obscure or obtuse the reference might be. I might not be that impressed with the pants (though Chris makes a good point that you can't have a body without legs), but the fact that we're approaching 15 years of continuous news updates is remarkable. Well done, team!

I couldn't agree more. Well done, indeed!
 
If you don't like these pants, you are NOT going to like the 300 other sketches of them I've just scanned :D

I would like to see new official Wing Commander material that's dedicated more to this tiny fanbase... I am not so interested in another giant game anymore. But if we could publish a couple of sourcebooks and some new novels, maybe an in-universe magazine... that'd be pretty interesting. :)
 
Agreed. Small products, the kind of stuff that can be safely aimed at the fan base specifically instead of having to attract a bigger audience - that would be a lot of fun.
 
I really don't mind the lack of new WC products. I'd rather keep it that way, actually... I ain't interested in a modernised Wing Commander.
While obviously a lot more active than the WC universe, I feel that way about the Disney Star Wars universe. I will probably still watch the movies but I was sad to see some of the old EU material get relegated to 'Legends', most likely because of the desire to write 'modernised' material that will appeal more to a broader audience. And yes, I know there are a few here who weren't impressed with the Star Wars EU anyway.

I find it challenging to keep up with what's going on with Star Citizen - on one hand, all their video shows and globe-spanning convention circuit and such is amazing, but I can only catch it in bits and pieces.
I only check RSI news every now and then - progress seems to be gradual, anyway. I still believe something viable will come out of it eventually, despite the critics and nay-sayers, but I am concerned (in spite of claims to the contrary) that it'll become a pay-to-win kind of game (or at the very least, it will become hard for a new player to get into over time, once its universe becomes established). I really wanted a new Wing Commander-ish kind of game (in spirit, if not in name), so I'm more interested in Squadron 42 rather than the persistent-universe Star Citizen, but it's the latter that will bring in the steady money.

BTW, is LOAF still involved much with Star Citizen / CIG these days?

I would like to see new official Wing Commander material that's dedicated more to this tiny fanbase... I am not so interested in another giant game anymore.
I hoped for a continuation and resolution of the story begun with Prophecy. I know we sort of see the end point with the material that was published for Arena, but it would be nice to see how we got there. I really don't like unfinished stories (yes, I know Prophecy and Secret Ops had a conclusion, but they were clearly geared for further sequels).
 
I hoped for a continuation and resolution of the story begun with Prophecy. I know we sort of see the end point with the material that was published for Arena, but it would be nice to see how we got there. I really don't like unfinished stories (yes, I know Prophecy and Secret Ops had a conclusion, but they were clearly geared for further sequels).

Likely at this point that will be left up to we the fans. I'm with you though the Prophecy design docs mentioned other aliens pulling the Nephilim's strings. It would be interesting to delve into what happened and how it all gets resolved.
 
While obviously a lot more active than the WC universe, I feel that way about the Disney Star Wars universe. I will probably still watch the movies but I was sad to see some of the old EU material get relegated to 'Legends', most likely because of the desire to write 'modernised' material that will appeal more to a broader audience. And yes, I know there are a few here who weren't impressed with the Star Wars EU anyway.
I think their decision probably had more to do with wanting to trim back the canon to an extent where they would be able to ensure all new products slotted into a single unified canon instead of having different levels of canonicity. But I totally get people being sad about it. There goes half the universe, after all, and even people who took relatively little interest in Star Wars all lost something. For example, I never took even the least bit of interest in the EU novels and I did think the post-ROTJ stories sounded utterly ridiculous; but I certainly wasn't happy about them throwing out the X-Wing games.

I hoped for a continuation and resolution of the story begun with Prophecy. I know we sort of see the end point with the material that was published for Arena, but it would be nice to see how we got there. I really don't like unfinished stories (yes, I know Prophecy and Secret Ops had a conclusion, but they were clearly geared for further sequels).
See, that's actually something that bothers me about Arena. I really appreciate all the efforts taken to make a game set decades after SO fit in with the universe, but there is a price to pay for that: by fast-forwarding through all those stories, you make them harder to tell, if not impossible. Inevitable defeats work well in books and films, but they're harder to pull off in games.
 
I think their decision probably had more to do with wanting to trim back the canon to an extent where they would be able to ensure all new products slotted into a single unified canon instead of having different levels of canonicity.
Yeah, I'll concede the multiple levels of 'canon' didn't really help.

For example, I never took even the least bit of interest in the EU novels and I did think the post-ROTJ stories sounded utterly ridiculous; but I certainly wasn't happy about them throwing out the X-Wing games.
Well, funnily enough I may not have got into them for myself at all, if it wasn't for a birthday present from a girlfriend in high school. And yes, many of the stories weren't great, especially the further away in time from the movies they got - not sad to see them go. But some great characterisations have been lost too - in particular the stories based on those very same X-Wing games were among my favourite (hence my choice of on-line alias that dates back to 2000). One might think how does one go about writing a novel based on those games - strong character development is a big part of that, in my opinion. And I did like that they at least tried to make a unified story across all the novels, comics, and other media, even with the different grades of 'canon'.

....by fast-forwarding through all those stories, you make them harder to tell, if not impossible. Inevitable defeats work well in books and films, but they're harder to pull off in games.
A valid point, but I thought the Confederation eventually triumphed. Unless you're referring to the 'inevitable defeat' of the Nephilim?
 
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