New Emulation Rules Bring Classic WC Games to Apple Devices Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

In an exciting reversal of longstanding platform rules, Apple now allows emulation programs on iPhones and iPads. This means a large number of new devices now have access to emulators capable of playing Super Nintendo or Game Boy Advance games, for example. Delta is the first legit console emulator that has made its way to the app store. It's free, and it has some great features such as AirPlay to TV and support for Xbox and other controllers. LOAF did some cartridge WC game tests, and the results were very impressive! Here's some tantalizing screenshots:

The Delta emulator they just released in the iOS App Store is the coolest f*cking thing I’ve ever seen.

Orchestral Album Campaign Reaches Goal With Three Weeks Left To Go! Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Great news! The campaign to make a new album of Wing Commander music achieved a critical milestone last night. It's now at $16,000 and rising. This means composer George Oldziey will be able to move forward with a live orchestra and make this exciting project a reality. There is still quite a bit of leg work yet to complete, but George has already been taking preliminary steps to scout out possibilities and make preparations. Since there's still three weeks left in the Kickstarter, we're also in excellent shape to be able to hit the stretch goal of $24,000 to add in a live choir. Let your friends know or contribute if you can!
Woo hoo!!! We made it to the target of $16,000 in 10 days! You all are AMAZING!! Thank you SO MUCH from the bottom of my heart! ALLTinker put us over the top last night (after my bedtime :). What a great way to wake up today!

So, you are all now guaranteed an orchestral recording of at least 40 more minutes from those great WC games. NEXT, is to go for a stretch goal of another $6K to record a beautiful choir to add to the score with members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, one of the greatest in the world! Please pass the word!

Thank you again, my friends! I can't wait to start the process!

Musically yours,

George

Here's an episode of Composers Play about the music of Wing Commander 3. This episodes interviews Mr. Oldziey and talks about his time working on the series (and beyond!).

Border Worlds Gets Its Turn on the 3D Printer Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Here's a quick Banshee 3D printed by Knight26-77. The time lapse video may only be 30 seconds, but the real work (before, during and after printing) was certainly more time consuming. I do appreciate the slick results though!
Here is lightly modified 3d printed banshee. I mostly just stretched out the back end to make it look more like the game and cutscene model.

How To Stand out From the Crowd Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

I finally got around to taking pictures of a pair of mini standees that I added to the collection last year. They're visually quite different from each other, but were intended for the same function to sit on the counter of a Babbage's/Software Etc/Egghead/Electronic Boutique-type store and generate excitement about the next Wing Commander game. The Prophecy item looks like a box, but it's a triangular A-frame joined at the top with a flat panel on the bottom. The WC4 prop looks like a tiny version of a more traditional standee display. Both are unused (the adhesive tape is still fresh on the bottom of the WCP flap), so I'll be sure to give them a good home!

Read About How the Iconic Sound of WC3 Was Born Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

We're one week into Origin composer George Oldziey's mission to make a new live reorchestration of Wing Commander music, and the numbers are very impressive so far. The campaign is nearly to $15,000, which is very close to the $16,000 minimum threshold when combined with additional support from superfan Matt Hiltner. This gives us great optimism that an additional $6000 to add a live choir to the mix will be possible. Next up, however, is another anecdote about his experience creating the music at Origin in the beginning. It sounds stressful, but the results were well worth it! For additional context, George posted side-by-side photos of him then and now. You can also listen to that final WC3 patrol track below:
Hi everyone. First of all, BRAVO for getting us so close to the target so quickly! I'm already hearing that orchestra in my mind's "ear" :)!

Ten years ago I posted an update for the original campaign about how I got hired by EA/Origin in the first place. It was pretty much a whim when speaking to eventual fellow Origin composer Paul Baker one day in Austin, TX. Paul and I had done many gigs together (he sax, me piano). I ran into him in early 1994 when he told me he'd gotten hired to compose game music. I found that truly intriguing and decided that "I could do that" and told him so. He recommended that I make a demo cassette (remember those??) and so I did. I gave it to Paul to hand in, and a few weeks later I was hired to score Wing Commander 3!

I also alluded some years back to the fact that I'd never heard of the Wing Commander series at that time, nor was I much on playing games, but I did have a Masters degree in composition as well as lots of experience performing in various genres. I also was totally devoid of any technical knowledge in terms of MIDI scoring and basically learned it all on the job from February 1994 up to the release of WC3 in Thanksgiving of that same year.

When I arrived at Origin, and had absolutely no clue of what was expected of me, I was needless to say very malleable in terms of what to do. Martin Galway, the audio director of WC3, met with me shortly after my arrival and seemed to assume the role of my coach. I was immediately given the task of submitting some demos to Chris Roberts our esteemed producer regarding the musical direction I would take the project. Martin assured me that he new what Chris wanted, since they both went back a long way. He directed me to create a Kilrathi theme that would seem very big and cat-like, with musical cat roars in it. I was like, "OK" and proceeded to do so, but also composing a few cues that were not of that ilk. We didn't bounce out audio at the time, so I sent Chris and game director Frank Savage MIDI files of my early compositions.

The next day I was summoned to Chris' office, just me, Chris and Frank in attendance. At first, Chris played the Kilrathi music I created based on Martin's advice and they both burst into laughter and started strutting around the room like big, lumbering cats as the music played. I smiled but sunk deeply into my chair, feeling TOTALLY embarrassed and thought I was going to be fired right then and there. Then they opened another track I gave them which I called "Patrol", and they were transfixed. Both Chris and Frank both said, "THAT is the sound!" Thankfully from that moment forward I was not second guessed for the next 1 hour of gameplay music plus 3.5 hours of cutscene (movie) music. And thus an artistic relationship was born that transcended that and the first sequel.

You can join the project here.

German PC Games Magazine Includes Lengthy WC3 Feature Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

We post magazine scans of Wing Commander articles from time to time, but most of those date back to the '90s. It's not too common for those kinds of pieces to show up much past 2000, but AD spotted what appears to be an extensive WC3 article in the latest edition of German magazine PC Games. Their May 2024 issue has an extensive retrospective on the game. It looks like the writeup is also available online here, but it'd be a pretty cool pickup in person as well! Here's the English translation for those who need it.
You can get the new PC Games 05/24 from your newsagent from April 19th - either as a magazine edition for 6.50 euros or as a particularly lavish extended version with 16 extra pages, two full magazine DVDs and digital full version for 8.50 euros.
Wing Commander 3 was brilliant 30 years ago - and is still a masterpiece today

In 1994, Wing Commander 3 pushed PC systems to their limits and impressed with its cinematic staging. The space epic, directed by Chris Roberts, still gives you goosebumps 30 years later.

Those were good times in 1994! When there were still big leaps in technology that literally beamed you into another sphere. Wing Commander 3: Heart of the Tiger will forever hold a special place in my heart - if only because of the bad romance between "Maverick" and Rachel.

Stretch Goal Adds Choir To Wing Commander Reorchestration Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

If you haven't figured it out already, we've having a blast following the exciting progress of the orchestral album campaign this week! We would have expected things to level off a bit after the first few days, but it continues a steady upward beat. So with that in mind, George Oldziey has announced the first stretch goal. He's priced out what it would take to add a comprehensive choral arrangement to the album, and it looks like that will be possible with an additional $6000. That would come to a new Kickstarter target of $24,000. We've still got about four weeks, so I think we can do it! For another sample of what you have to look forward to, here's an awesome mix of Mr. Oldziey's previous live orchestration of Wing Commander music combined with ODVS' advanced video enhancements:
Greetings all you amazing fans. We are already approaching the $14K mark in less than a week! I'm still keeping my fingers and toes crossed but things are looking so good I wanted to talk about the first of some possible stretch goals once we hit $16k.

That $16k figure, along with an EXTREMELY generous matching offer from superfan Matt Hiltner, will cover all the expenses of the orchestra recording process as well as producing the reward items. However, I didn't include expenses for recording a real choir because I wanted to keep our target amount at a figure that seemed readily attainable after a 30 day campaign. BUT, since we are getting so close so soon I wanted to mention that with an additional $6k we can record a large choir as well.

There are several cues that will be recorded that originally featured choir quite prominently, most notably the WC3 winning endgame with the Destruction of Kilrah. I have great choir sample libraries, but as we all know there is nothing like the real thing! SO, let's see how soon we can burst past the original $16k target and think seriously about recording a beautiful, REAL choir to mix with the orchestra.

Thank you all again from the bottom of my heart. I'm am SO psyched!

George

Wing Commander Album Rewards Clarified Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

It's been another productive day for George Oldziey's campaign to make a new live recording of Wing Commander music. We're less than five days in, and the project has hit $13,500. That's 5/6th of the target amount! During the planning phase, it wasn't clear exactly how difficult it would be to reach $16,000, so stretch goals were a secondary consideration. With the continued productive nature of the campaign, however, some of those additional opportunities for the project are coming into focus and will be firmed up very soon.

Ahead of that, I thought it would be nice to walk through some of the different tiers and highlight what is available. I know this information is readily available inside of the Kickstarter interface, but I also know how Exhausted Millennial Brain works. Reposting the details here removes one layer of mental friction so you can more easily see if something appeals to you. Also, since some of the higher tiers include a reprinted copy of the Wing Commander Bar Music/Jazz Album, here's a 2017 clip that George made to talk about how the Victory's background tunes were developed:

Additionally, Mr. Oldziey just posted this clarification that might help some of you decide what the right contribution level is:
Greetings all. Just to clarify, because my reward tiers might not be terribly clear. As you move up the tiers each tier will include everthing that came before. I apologize for any confusion caused by my excitement about the launch.

And thank you to everyone who has supported the campaign, and who might soon join! We are very much on our way to a hugely successful result I believe.

Here's the breakdown. The first two tiers are for people who support the project but aren't able to support at the higher levels. This does not include the album, but you do get updates in your inbox to help you decide if it's worth increasing later.
Pledge $5 - My Sincerest Thanks and Gratitude

Includes:

  • My Deepest Appreciation


Pledge $10 - More Sincere Thanks and Gratitude :)

Includes:

  • Receives my undying and everlasting gratitude!
$25 is the first tier that gets you an actual copy of the new music. As a bonus, it includes volume 1 as well.
Pledge $25 - Digital Download of Volume 2 Recording

Receives a digital download of the Wing Commander orchestral recordings, Volume 2. Also includes a digital download of volume 1.

Includes:

  • Digital Download of Volume 2
  • Digital Download of Volume 1
$65 is the first tier that includes a physical collectible, the album on CD. It also includes volume 1 and 2 digitally.
Pledge $65 - CD AND Digital Download of Volume 2

You'll receive both a CD and digital download of volume 2 as well as a digital download of volume 1.

Includes:

  • Digital Download of Volume 1
$100 is the first tier that produces a vinyl album of the new album as a reward. Based on the new clarification, it should also include the volume 2 CD as well as volumes 1/2 digitally.
Pledge $100 - Vinyl Version of Vol. 2

Receive a vinyl AND digital download version of volume 2.

Includes:

  • Digital Download of Volume 2
  • Vinyl Version of Volume 2
$150 is an excellent option for people who missed the previous campaigns and want the "complete" compact disc collection. It includes both the new and old live action albums on disc plus the limited run bar music album, which is being reprinted specifically for this effort. As of this writing, there are only a few more slots available at this tier!
Pledge $150 - Deluxe Triple Edition

Receive a CD AND digital download of Volume 2 along with a CD of both Volume 1 AND the Wing Commander Bar Music CD.

Includes:

  • Volume 1 CD
  • WC Bar Music CD
$200 is basically the vinyl-centric version of the above tier. It includes both the new and old live action albums on a vinyl record. It's the cheapest tier that gets you the original album on vinyl, since there is not a standalone alternative. I imagine most collectors seriously interested in the first album would also be strongly considering both. This tier also only has a handful of slots open at the moment!
Pledge $200 - Double Vinyl Edition

Receives a vinyl version of both volume 2 AND the original 2014 recording of volume. Also receives a digital download of volume 2.

Includes:

  • Vinyl Version of Volume 2
  • Digital Download of Volume 2
  • Vinyl Version of Volume 1
$300 is the super completionist collector's level with a full set of both CDs and vinyl albums.
Pledge $300 - Vinyl and CD Extravaganza!

You will receive vinyl versions of both volume 2 AND volume 1 along with CDs of Volume 1, Volume 2, and the WC Bar Music. You also receive digital download of volume 2.

Includes:

  • Vinyl Version of Volume 2
  • Vinyl Version of Volume 1
  • Volume 1 CD
  • WC Bar Music CD
$400 is like the $300 tier - plus includes a zoom link to watch the recording sessions live streamed when they are being produced.
Pledge $400 - Zoom Link to Recording Sessions

You will receive a Zoom link to watch and hear the live recording sessions as well as a Vinyl, CD and digital download of Volume 2

Includes:

  • Zoom Link to Recording Sessions
  • Vinyl Version of Volume 2
$500 is again similar to the $300 and $400 levels, but includes both the zoom link and an exclusive copy of the printed score autographed by Mr. Oldziey!
Pledge $500 - Autographed Orchestral Score

You will receive an autographed printed score of one of the pieces to be recorded (conductor's copy) as well as a Zoom link to the recording sessions and a vinyl, CD and digital download of the volume 2 music.

Includes:

  • Autographed Conductor Score
  • Vinyl Version of Volume 2
  • Zoom Link to Recording Sessions
$1000 gets you dinner with the composer, George Oldziey himself! Travel is not included, so it's admittedly much more practical of an option for those in the Northeastern US.
Pledge $1000 - Dinner with the Composer

Share dinner and lively conversation with the composer George Oldziey at his home in Lenox, MA (travel and lodging not included). The date and time would be set by mutual availability. You also receive a vinyl copy and digital download of volume 2 as well as a Zoom link to the recording sessions.

Includes:

  • Dinner with the composer
  • Vinyl Version of Volume 2
  • Zoom Link to Recording Sessions
$1500 is the big one! Get your name in the credits as an associate producer on the project. This option might only be for high rollers, but two of the ten available are already spoken for!
Pledge $1500 - Associate Producer Credit

Receives an Associate Producer credit on both the volume 2 vinyl and CD editions. You also receive a vinyl copy, CD and digital download of volume 2 as well as a Zoom link to the live recording sessions.

Includes:

  • Associate Producer Credit
  • Zoom Link to Recording Sessions
  • Vinyl Version of Volume 2
If you still have questions or there are items that are still unclear, feel free to post a comment. And if one of the above options looks good to you, add your contribution to the project here!

WC Movie Fan Art Introduces Maniac in a New Light Update ID Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Switching gears today, LOAF found a Tumblrer named NMA Nekro who specializes in fan art of Matthew Lillard. That means we get to see their glorious take on Todd "Maniac" Marshall. It's pretty amazing that people are still making content like this after 25 years. The Buzz Lightyear-style action figure is also a nice touch. As a point of comparison, the actual action figure features Maniac in his shipboard uniform and not a flight suit!
How you doing? Allow me to introduce myself. Lieutenant Todd Marshall!

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Live Orchestral Recording Vol. 2

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