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Ben Lesnick

@banditloaf.wcnews.com

1.5K followers 390 following 4.9K posts

Like so many Americans, he was trying to construct a life that made sense from things he found in gift shops. (he/him)

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Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · Nov 15

Hello Bluesky! My name is Ben but my old friends call me LOAF. I’m best known for helping Chris Roberts dream up Star Citizen but I mostly skeet about Wing Commander esoterica and my life with two wonderful black cats and beautiful wife Ali (plus dumb jokes and nonsense about other media I love).

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Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 16h

Those are handsome! I’ll keep an eye out for them while I dig.

Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 20h

Anyway the spirit compels me to collect screenshots of all 234 stories for the wiki, so look forward to that! I'm about half way there.

Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 20h

Also: notice the "/" in the headline? I'm pretty sure someone tried to comment this one out but missed a character. This may be the exact line where someone said you know, on second thought this one is too goofy for The Darkening.

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Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 20h

So I charted out how the text is organized in the game itself and I found the 'hole' pretty quickly! It looks like that specific story was renamed "Carts of Parts hit the Marts" between the guide sign off and the game going gold.

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Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 21h

The official guide lists the ones that change the market... but while organizing for a project yesterday I noticed that one doesn't appear in the game's files. "I'm just an 'armless orphan, guv" should cause a 20% reduction in human organ prices.

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Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 21h

Privateer 2 selects from one of 232 'news bulletins' to offer each time you land. 8 unlock new store items, 135 mark limited time changes to commodity values and the rest are all world building and extremely silly jokes.

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Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 22h

As I was saying, Lumi is insane today:

Alexis @patterned.bsky.social · 22h

Oh you mean like this?

Reposted by Ben Lesnick

Dinosaur Dracula 🦖🧛 @dinosaurdracula.bsky.social · 22h

Imagine going your whole life never experiencing the thrill of a Lisa Frank Halloween puzzle from the 1990s.

Lisa Frank Halloween party favors from the 1990s, in typically drab colors.

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Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 23h

What a beauty! I got a discount by picking up the two pack:

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Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 23h

The arrival of a cool autumn breeze and Lumi’s favorite type of box has activated the wild rumpus. They’re pouncing and chasing each other endlessly!

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Reposted by Ben Lesnick

SpaceboyG @spaceboyg.bsky.social · 1d

Back at it with another episode of #letsplay #XWingAlliance. I also make another WING COMMANDER reference as seen here.

Watch the rest at the link below. This installment will be up at 12:00 EDT.

youtu.be/-DsMMy_lkVs

#XWing #XWAU #StarWars #LucasArts #TIEFighter #YWing #retrogaming #retrogamer

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Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 1d

Here's a copy of the PC version on the Internet Archive: archive.org/details/rama...

RAMA Sierra Online (1996) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Rama is a first-person adventure game developed and published by Sierra On-Line in 1996. The game is based on Arthur C. Clarke's books Rendezvous with Rama and...

archive.org

Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 1d

I suspect Clarke's estate being involved makes it tougher to license this one. I assume there's a reason Gentry Lee hasn't kept writing Rama novels!

Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 1d

This is what it's all about.

Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 1d

There were actually two Rama games! The first one was a largely-text adventure game and then this one was a FMV-stuffed Myst competitor!

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Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 1d

I have never seen such a handsome Rama collectors edition before. How cool!

Citizen Erased @citizen3rased.bsky.social · 1d

Héritage du daron, l'étrange édition collector de RAMA qui contenait le jeu PC, mais aussi (et surtout) les bouquins aux éditions J'ai Lu.

Je trouve que ça juste, incroyable. Malheureusement dans mon cas, je crois que la boîte est vide...

Edition collector de RAMA sur PC, contenant une boîte à CD contenant 3 disques et 4 livres au format poche : Rendez-vous avec RAMA, RAMA II, Les Jardins de RAMA et RAMA Révélé

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Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 1d

You are not alone.

Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 1d

Thank you! Like pretty much everyone these days, I was long overdue for a win.

Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 1d

My mom is being discharged tomorrow! She says she is already able to breathe and walk again. I’m so happy.

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Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 1d

I’ve got bad news about something that happens in the Wing Commander IV novel.

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Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 1d

Good advice.

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Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 1d

oh no

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Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 1d

The future Johnny Rico oohing over Colonel Blair always sticks out to me!

Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 1d

Happy to see the world learning about this!

Gary Alexander @garyalexander.bsky.social · 2d

Walton Goggins, best known for his role as Border Worlds Pilot #3 (callsign "Moose") in the video game Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (1995).

A young Walton Goggins flying a space fighter, his face mostly obscured by a helmet with the label MOOSE.

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Ben Lesnick @banditloaf.wcnews.com · 2d

As if we could learn anything topical about a president whose incapacitating stroke was kept hidden!