Elite IV

Got to be interesting to a few, I wonder what a new Elite would be like.

When questioned by the assembled throng of developers, Braben conceded that development on Elite IV is scheduled, but not until he's finished current projects. "We started, we stopped, we started, we stopped," Braben said with a hint of frustration. "We do have people working on…" He paused, seemingly not wanting to reveal too much, but then went on: "…it's a very difficult game to realise. The plan is to do it after The Outsider. I know it's been an awfully long time, but we are, in terms of technology, very nearly there."

Its been in the works for quite somtime but I havent heard much from it. Im more interested of the new paradox game - Dark Horizons:

Dark Horizon follows along the same lines of classics like Wing Commander and Freelancer, and it will be a great addition to our portfolio this year,” said Paradox Interactive Executive Vice President Fredrik Wester.

Dark Horizon contains over 22 challenging missions, laced with special features such as full ship customization, original weapon creation, joystick support, and several modes of combat.

Dark Horizon is scheduled to ship worldwide sometime this Fall so check back with us often because sooner or later Paradox Interactive will decide to send us more than a press release. Hopefully, next time it will include some screens and maybe a back story as well.

22 missions sounds a bit dubious but I do hope that we could finally get atleast one real space sim after all these years (even if its a short one).

Then theres of course X3 terran conflict: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=L0gZ-pvktqg

And the new jumpate mmo that is suppose (unlike in eve) to have space sim style flying:

Engage in Dog-Fights
Jumpgate Evolution offers a unique twitch-based combat system which allows you to challenge thousands of foes with your own skill and determination, offering the most exhilarating, jaw-dropping experience in online gaming to date.

Not to forget infamous derek smarts new game Galactic Command – KnightBlade in which you can walk inside the space carrier and fly missions from it:

Galactic Command – KnightBlade brings total immersion to the space combat genre. Gamers will live out and experience their entire career within the confines of their assigned command carrier. All in first person perspective inside the 350m long GCV-KnightBlade; the second carrier in the Engstrom class to be built by GALCOM.

Players will experience the thrill of deep space life – both as a combat pilot and a marine - as well
as the angst of living inside a battlecruiser under attack both from within and outside. From the thrill of
rushing out of your quarters to Operations for a mission debrief, to the adrenaline rush of racing through
the carrier to the Flight Deck, climbing into in your fighter then launching and engaging hostile forces. As
a marine your combat assignments will include engaging hostile forces who board your carrier, as well as
deploying to distant planets aboard shuttles or via transporters on combat engagements.

Im also waiting for the wing commander saga (fan made game) to be finished. Its based on improved freespace2 engine and is suppose to be quite good.

Frontier was extremely impressive considering the time of release.

I've always wanted another space sim with similar features, as long as they add some kind of long-term goal or story aspect. I'm a big fan of the ability to land on planets without any kind of transition or cutscene, as I find that particularly impressive.

With modern technology, it could be quite something.

Does anyone really have faith that Braben can pull off the same success as the original Elite? I'm not convinced it will ever be released but if it is, I'll be fascinated to see if he can bring something genuinely new to the table.

Originally Posted by Dhruin
Does anyone really have faith that Braben can pull off the same success as the original Elite? I'm not convinced it will ever be released but if it is, I'll be fascinated to see if he can bring something genuinely new to the table.

Well, the gaming world is very different now. I'm not sure how he could stay faithful to Elite/Frontier without going bankrupt, but I'd love a game of the same complexity. X3 is somewhat close, but it lacks the whole planetary aspect, and is more about doing well financially. I would hope there's still room for the free-roaming almost-RPG in space that Frontier was. Something like Oblivion (done right) in space - and I guess that COULD do well in todays market.

There are few new freeroam space sims like evechron renegades and bc3000ad that have planetary travel but that has never been a big selling point for me. Usually they are either mostly empty or full of non-interesting randomly generated stuff.

I dont think I ever even liked elite that much. I read only the mediocre reviews of the earlier elites (there were few diff editions) and didnt play it until the frontier which was a disappointment. The first elite might have been good for its time but I never had the machinery to try it back then.

Originally Posted by zakhal
There are few new freeroam space sims like evechron renegades and bc3000ad that have planetary travel but that has never been a big selling point for me. Usually they are either mostly empty or full of non-interesting randomly generated stuff.

I dont think I ever even liked elite that much. I read only the mediocre reviews of the earlier elites (there were few diff editions) and didnt play it until the frontier which was a disappointment. The first elite might have been good for its time but I never had the machinery to try it back then.

The thing about Elite and Frontier is how far ahead of their time they were. Compared with todays offerings, they're naturally not very impressive.

I don't advocate empty planets - but I'm a huge fan of seamless worlds in general.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
The thing about Elite and Frontier is how far ahead of their time they were. Compared with todays offerings, they're naturally not very impressive.

Elite 2 frontier was released 1993 but the first one I played was the 1995 released frontier called first encounters. It was highly buggy and very unimpressive even though I did try to like it. But by then it was propably too dated allready.

Originally Posted by DArtagnan
I don't advocate empty planets - but I'm a huge fan of seamless worlds in general.

Too many planets to fill up in the galaxy. You would need a space mmo with mllions of players - then it might be possible to fill them all with somthing more than just few randomly generated cities/enemy bases. Use the players to create the content.

Not sure if jumpgate evolution has planets modelled. Eve played with the idea and made demo video but havent gone further than that.

Originally Posted by zakhal
Elite 2 frontier was released 1993 but the first one I played was the 1995 released frontier called first encounters. It was highly buggy and very unimpressive even though I did try to like it. But by then it was propably too dated allready.

First Encounters was indeed very buggy and nearly unplayable - but Frontier was a quality product.

Too many planets to fill up in the galaxy. You would need a space mmo with mllions of players - then it might be possible to fill them all with somthing more than just few randomly generated cities/enemy bases. Use the players to create the content.

Why would you want to fill up an entire galaxy?

Nah, I could do with a handful of solar systems and just add some main points of interests on the planets. Create a system that randomly generates believable planetary surfaces and add whatever bases/cities are relevant for the story.