Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

We thought it would be fun to catalog where uniform wings appear in the Wing Commander games. In the real military, wings, which are formally called aircrew badges, are not awarded only to pilots. Instead, they are worn by many different positions that operate aircraft. Astronaut wings are awarded to anyone that has flown in space. United States Army and United States Air Force aircrew badges are silver while the Navy equivalent is famously gold. In Wing Commander it's not totally clear… as we'll see below! In the original Wing Commander, pilots have wings on their service uniforms above the ribbons. The wings are silver and seem to feature a heart. Only active pilots are seen wearing them although Colonel Halcyon wears a similar pair of wings on his cap.

Wing Commander II is not 100% clear. The dress uniforms worn by Blair and Jazz have wings in the same place as the original game's service uniforms

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Last year we reported that Apple's new app store rules had finally opened up an entire world of emulation to iPhones and iPads, including access to great classics like Wing Commander/SM1 on the SNES and Prophecy on the Game Boy Advance. Programs like the Delta emulator have only gotten better, and new apps like ArcEmu have arrived on the scene. One particular noteworthy feature of the ArcEmu is that it has an Apple Watch interface! This means you can now play your favorite Game Boy games on your wrist. I wouldn't necessarily say this is the best way to play, but in my testing here, it's surprising decent and very impressive that they managed to fit the controls into the tiny screen. There's an easy video tutorial below on how to get it started, or you can find more info here. The program is $2, but that's well worth it for the novelty alone.

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Everyone in the Wing Commander movie club agrees: Contact is a great film! It was especially nice to introduce it to one of our younger members so we could make sure it wasn't just our increasingly-old-man memories playing tricks on us. But it turns out it still has a message that resonates today… and we were more than a little sad seeing such a well done representation of a world that at least considers investing in science.

Contact is one of several movies that was used to 'temp track' developing cuts of the 1999 Wing Commander movie. We covered the track itself in the intro post so I thought it would be fun to run through one of Wing Commander's famous 'first contact' scenarios. No, not the Kilrathi; we've already covered the "Iason incident" pretty extensively. No, I'm talking about the Double Helix, a race often discussed but never actually seen. The original Claw Marks' Comm Relay section

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that are referenced by Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Zulu (1964) and you can find details on why we're watching it in the announcement post here. The movie will start at 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

In late 1994, PC Games magazine commissioned famed UK comic artist Simon Bisley to create six covers for their magazine. The February 1995 issue featured Wing Commander III in honor of the magazine's review of the game. We've taken a look at the issue itself to get a closer look!

Wing Commander III is the cover story and the artwork is reprinted several times…

... including in a nice clear full page just before the review itself! Neat.

The 'team talk' section also has the magazine's crew praising Wing Commander III. And the issue included a cover disc that had both the Wing Commander III demo and a copy of the Behind the Screens program!

Display More

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Hard? Cor! Is a techno dance commune which performed a Tribal Rainforest Chip-Shop Alkali Soul set which incorporates local cultures. It was fronted by singer Wok-Eyes, who is known for his laid back, disinterested personality. The band has been described as "techno wizards" and "calcium-challenged bleep gods" and their music as "electic." They became popular with young people around 2790; fans called themselves the "Universe crew". They signed a three-album deal with Zak Skintight's Startled Productions that year. Wok-eyes commented "yeah, it's alright I suppose. Zak's a nice bloke, and we'll get to go to some really good parties. Can I go now?"

Also in 2790, Hard? Cor! hosted a series of three-day "be ins" on planets around the Tri-System including Janus IV which offered music, dancing, ethnic education and spiritual exploration. These were very popular among Hard? Cor!'s young audience but they