For a while, all interpreters / emulators were banned from the iTunes App Store. This meant no Flash, no Java, no .NET, etc. Curiously, Flight of the Amazon Queen (which used ScummVM) was accepted in 2009. This policy changed in 2010, with restrictions. See this document about Flash, for...

Yes, you press F8 and get a message saying "Missile Camera Enabled". Fire a missile and the camera follows it. Press F8 again to switch the missile camera off. The demo is a remarkable achievement in in-engine cinematics. It's a bit sad, really, that both the WC1 and WC2 demos have such...

Spinning Space Stations Yes, I should have acknowledged real-world plans for mushroom-shaped space stations using centripetal force to simulate gravity, like Wernher von Braun's 1946 design. For fixing them in the our imagination, we should also acknowledge Chesley Bonestell. 21st century...

While this is a fun game to play, many WC designs seem simply logical (for visual media, not for real spacecraft). - Need a threatening thing that flies? Model it on a predatory bird. It worked for the Klingons, and it can work for you. More generally, any spaceship that looks like an...

Creative aliens Thanks for clarifying that, since it's left me wondering for 15 years. Aliens are tough in any medium; they need to be accessible to newcomers, without becoming stereotypes. I used to complain about insufficiently creative aliens, until I played Master of Orion 3. The aliens...

SWC Secret Missions 1.5 Sadly, there are no Firekkans in SWC - instead of Secret Missions 2, it has "Secret Missions 1.5". The SM1.5 missions cover most SM2 plot points and add some foreshadowing about stealth technology, but lack the new aliens. SWC was made during the move towards live...

Yes, I definitely would have played a Wing Commander with a female lead. However, I always find it odd when people ask the question. The whole point of most computer games is to be something we're not - whether it's a 27th-century fighter pilot, a spellcasting elf, or an MIT physics PhD with a...

Thanks for linking to that; it explains a lot about both WC1 and the later games. On the other hand, I'm happy that they discarded this feature. It's also amusing, considering that WC1 was ultimately noteworthy for its moving hand and joystick. Oh, and Chris Roberts invented Enviro-Bear...

I agree that Wing Commander I was a magnificent game, and some of its best features were never repeated... but that alone isn't reason to hate the sequels. It's easy to assume Chris Roberts wanted to make our favorite game, and executive meddling dictated otherwise... but take a look at the...

Epic I imagine LucasArts would eventually have made X-Wing, even in a world without Wing Commander. On the other hand, without the perceived need to compete with WC1, they'd probably have reused the bitmap engine from Battlehawks 1942 and Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe. As previously noted...

Galaxy on Fire 2 Story From playing the demo, and looking at the files (the demo contains the complete script), Galaxy on Fire 2 has the same story problems the first game did. At least this one lets you start doing side missions part way through the story. It seems a shame - the story is...

Ejection music There's an interesting tune in that list: http://ftp.df.lth.se/pub/media/soamc/soamc_mp3/Trackers_Games/Wing_Commander/mod.w.c.eject-lost_T01_ORG.mp3 It starts like the regular ejection music, but ends very grimly. In the DOS version of WC1, you're always rescued if you...

ScummVM can emulate a Roland MT-32, but only if you have the ROMs, which are copyright. If you happen to have an MT-32 and the right tools you can extract the ROMs yourself, but if you own an original MT-32 you can use it directly anyway. If you just want to hear the music again, Quest...

Here's the most comprehensive Space Quest fansite I know: http://www.spacequest.net It has the Space Quest 6 demo Bob McDob mentioned, and the collection of minigames AD mentioned. It also has vast swathes of trivia on each game in the series. Unfortunately their last news update was in...

I had no problem running it under CrossOver Games (a WINE front end for Mac OS). Dakota 1 indeed has 5 Draymans. You only escort 2; the other 3 are parked next to the Claw. You can see this in the game if you turn around immediately after you launch. On the other hand, Hell's Kitchen 1...

Is this what you're looking for? You can hear half of it in rehearsal over here.

The 'Crimes Against Humanity' puzzles me for a different reason: what about his crimes against the Kilrathi? I'm hoping that any Privateer-style game set post-WC4 will have a group of rogue Kilrathi plotting to find and steal Tolwyn's corpse just so they can destroy it in a ritual act of...

I usually let the Drayman jump in, get its "Glad to have you with us" message, then afterburn (don't autopilot) towards the Tiger's Claw. When the Salthi arrive, they fly straight towards the Drayman, which by then is thousands of km away. Even Bhurak ignores you as you position yourself...