Bandit LOAF
Long Live the Confederation!
It was just last week when we featured a post by PC Gamer UK remembering the February 1995 (#15) issue of their magazine... which surprised us all because it featured a long forgotten portrait of Prince Thrakhath! Thanks to X-Wing Game Series we have an excellent quality scan of the magazine and we've pulled out all the Wing Commander material for you.
The most exciting discovery was the story behind the painting... along with an unobstructed, high resolution scan of the full piece! It turns out it was painted by Paul Kidby, an English artist notable for his work in Terry Prachett's worlds, and the original was given away in an Electronic Arts contest run through the magazine. How did history forget this?!
The review itself is comprehensive and accurate... Wing Commander III is an immaculate game!
The issue also included a short article on actors appearing in CD-ROMs that features a photograph of Mark Hamill as Colonel Blair.
It also turns out that the issue's cover disc, a new development at the time, includes some pretty impressive Wing Commander material: copies of the Wing Commander III demo AND the 'Behind the Screens' application.
You can download a disc image here (500 meg).
... but wait, there's more! Original Videogame Art has even better imagery of the original painting! The site says it's a 40cm x 59cm acrylic and airbrush painting and it even has a set of detail insets:
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Original update published on March 4, 2023
The most exciting discovery was the story behind the painting... along with an unobstructed, high resolution scan of the full piece! It turns out it was painted by Paul Kidby, an English artist notable for his work in Terry Prachett's worlds, and the original was given away in an Electronic Arts contest run through the magazine. How did history forget this?!
The review itself is comprehensive and accurate... Wing Commander III is an immaculate game!
The issue also included a short article on actors appearing in CD-ROMs that features a photograph of Mark Hamill as Colonel Blair.
It also turns out that the issue's cover disc, a new development at the time, includes some pretty impressive Wing Commander material: copies of the Wing Commander III demo AND the 'Behind the Screens' application.
You can download a disc image here (500 meg).
... but wait, there's more! Original Videogame Art has even better imagery of the original painting! The site says it's a 40cm x 59cm acrylic and airbrush painting and it even has a set of detail insets:
--
Original update published on March 4, 2023
