Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

The term "redshirt" comes from the original Star Trek, referring to the inevitably doomed Enterprise crew that would appear in landing parties alongside the main cast. And Wing Commander II has them too: pilots beyond the main group you encounter in the story that adds a level of immersion showing that the Victory has more than just seven or eight people on it. The redshirts all share one 'profile' and set of comms… but they sure add to the universe!

And WC3's redshirts aren't just for immersion. You may have noticed that they appear in all four of the game's scramble missions. That's for a practical design reason: these missions need to have wingmen that the game can guarantee aren't dead. By having a roster of scramble-specific pilots, mission designers don't have to worry about cases where main characters might have been killed in a previous mission. Today we have a quick guide to finding all of

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Sorthak! Doesn't the very (code) name strike terror into your hearts? That's a tradition that goes all the way back to Wing Commander III's manual, Victory Streak, which terrified players with a vague report about a large fighter that had wiped out eighteen Confederation ships in a single attack.

INTELL: ENEMY FIGHTER UPDATE
>tcn.victory.intell

Codename: Sorthak

Two weeks ago, a routine naval air transfer ended in the destruction of eighteen fighters, including five Arrows, nine Thunderbolts, and four Longbow bombers. The exact circumstances are unclear, but black box data recovered from the debris indicate that an unusually large Kilrathi fighter attacked the group during its flight to Vega Sector. Apparently equipped with heavy shields and armor, the ship was described on digital tape as “a cross between a Vaktoth and a destroyer, with massive guns protruding from both the front and rear.” Other pilot

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Sometimes I take a risk with a magazine I see on eBay that purports to have a Wing Commander article that isn't available online. This circa 1997 copy of UK-based PlayStation Solutions magazines (Vol. 1, Issue 5 of the US version) seemed like it might have something worthwhile as it has Wing Commander IV as a cover story and promises a complete guide to the game. The actual article ended up being somewhat disappointing, four pages of information taken mostly from the game's then-active official website. But I scanned a copy for posterity anyway, so enjoy!

The magazine also includes a simple two-page spread for something called an "Electronic Arts Competition" which offers, among other prizes, a copy of Wing Commander IV.

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Vox Galactica business analyst Marlon Royce has published a feature piece on October Consortium CEO Lexi October:
"Few figures in the Core Systems command as much quiet influence as Lexi October in recent months."
"Known for identifying promising technologies before rivals recognise their value, October has built a portfolio spanning advanced engineering, pharmaceuticals and personal tech. Exobiological research is the next challenge."
"Her hands-on approach came to light in 3305, when the Consortium rescued struggling tech firm Supratech. The investment stabilised the company after poor sales of its Torc computing system and enabled further development of products such as the Artemis exploration suit."
"October's reputation for discretion was reinforced in 3307 when she hosted an exclusive gathering for the secretive Joker's Deck, attended by political and corporate elites including Zachary

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Despite being a mid-century war movie, Go for Broke! was an interesting experience; if nothing else it was fascinating to see how quickly the government can take a stand against bigotry… when it's in the best interests of geopolitics, of course. For this week, we decided to go with something animated… and the channel overwhelmingly voted for a Gundam movie! So we're going to show the very first one, Mobile Suit Gundam I (1981), which was an adaptation of the first section of episodes from the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam series. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

If you don't already know Gundam, and it seems like a lot of our members do!, it probably looks like a goofy 1970s cartoon. This week will hopefully prove differently as it's actually a very serious science fiction war story that can sit right up there with things like Starship Troopers. And while it didn't become

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Before their was AI slop there was GOG slop! Here's an odd bit of ephemera we thought it would be good to preserve for future generations: the unusual background graphics that GOG created for their Wing Commander store listings. Some of them are clearly modified from official art... while some of them are totally inexplicable, especially the Wing Commander Academy graphic! But they do look pretty arranged like this...

GOG also created their own logos for most of the games, which we've preserved below. If you look closely at them you'll find they really don't match the real titles at all! Note that Prophecy and Armada don't have their own logo graphics; if you look at their store listings you'll see the space is just empty!

Wing Commander I, Wing Commander II and Secret Ops also have unique titles but they're only visible in thumbnail form since they aren't sold individually. The newly created Secret Ops