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It’s been a long time since Elite. Surprisingly nothing has come close to the freedom found in that seminal space game in the last 20 odd years. Chat rooms and boards across the world have always held muttered conversations about such a game, but it seems that the industry does not hear.
Elite was one of the first genuine 3D game on home computers (it claims to be the first according to co-creator David Braben). It allowed you to start with a small ship and even smaller sum of money, then freight cargo between planets for paying customers. The fun came from choosing your destiny by either being a legitimate delivery service or taking on the more risky, and lucrative, contraband cargo, avoiding police and pirates in the process. There were many great things about Elite, and while it isn’t exactly the prettiest thing to look at now, it was graphically a marvel in it’s time.
While other genres have branched out and gone for more freedom in their game engines, the space combat or trading games seem to have gone backwards, either favouring a strong strategy element or going for all out combat with a linear storyline. Once we all thought this would change, as the 16 bit sequel to the original (bar Elite Plus) was awaited with baited breath. Ian Bell and David Braben’s Frontier: Elite 2
But alas it was riddled with bugs and just wasn’t the sequel that everyone hoped for. I won’t even mention First Encounters.
The problem in making a sequel partly lies with the creators differences, with David Braben still trying to sue Ian Bell for slander over his comments on the last Braben game. This means that one or the other could write a game themselves, but never both together.
But do we need a true sequel to Elite? Well, it’s a game that people still play, it has stood the test of time and now legally runs on emulators on many PCs and Macs. The usergroups still talk about it in their thousands and many people want a return to the good old days. What they want is not a sequel in name though, it wouldn’t matter to them if it was called Sausage in Space 2000 (though I would imagine that this might impact on sales slightly). What a new game needs is the ethos behind Elite.
Imagine a console game with the current graphics technology but with Elite’s gameplay. It doesn’t even need to be altered for the game to be any good. In fact, some people might say that altering it would detract from the game. More ships, planets and races could be added, even proper voice communications and animated bartering for cargo, but the main game itself; the docking, fighting and, yes, even a version of Witchspace, should be kept. Increasing the interactivity could be achieved through multi-player internet on both console and PC. Imagine fighting 12 other ships, all human controlled?
So, with programmers trying to find new and exciting game for us all to play games, surely it won’t be long before someone trys a clone of Elite that actually succeeds in being as good as the sequel? Until then we’ll all have to play the original on emulators and hope.
Elite was one of the first genuine 3D game on home computers (it claims to be the first according to co-creator David Braben). It allowed you to start with a small ship and even smaller sum of money, then freight cargo between planets for paying customers. The fun came from choosing your destiny by either being a legitimate delivery service or taking on the more risky, and lucrative, contraband cargo, avoiding police and pirates in the process. There were many great things about Elite, and while it isn’t exactly the prettiest thing to look at now, it was graphically a marvel in it’s time.
While other genres have branched out and gone for more freedom in their game engines, the space combat or trading games seem to have gone backwards, either favouring a strong strategy element or going for all out combat with a linear storyline. Once we all thought this would change, as the 16 bit sequel to the original (bar Elite Plus) was awaited with baited breath. Ian Bell and David Braben’s Frontier: Elite 2
But alas it was riddled with bugs and just wasn’t the sequel that everyone hoped for. I won’t even mention First Encounters.
The problem in making a sequel partly lies with the creators differences, with David Braben still trying to sue Ian Bell for slander over his comments on the last Braben game. This means that one or the other could write a game themselves, but never both together.
But do we need a true sequel to Elite? Well, it’s a game that people still play, it has stood the test of time and now legally runs on emulators on many PCs and Macs. The usergroups still talk about it in their thousands and many people want a return to the good old days. What they want is not a sequel in name though, it wouldn’t matter to them if it was called Sausage in Space 2000 (though I would imagine that this might impact on sales slightly). What a new game needs is the ethos behind Elite.
Imagine a console game with the current graphics technology but with Elite’s gameplay. It doesn’t even need to be altered for the game to be any good. In fact, some people might say that altering it would detract from the game. More ships, planets and races could be added, even proper voice communications and animated bartering for cargo, but the main game itself; the docking, fighting and, yes, even a version of Witchspace, should be kept. Increasing the interactivity could be achieved through multi-player internet on both console and PC. Imagine fighting 12 other ships, all human controlled?
So, with programmers trying to find new and exciting game for us all to play games, surely it won’t be long before someone trys a clone of Elite that actually succeeds in being as good as the sequel? Until then we’ll all have to play the original on emulators and hope.
Call me a spamhandling mungle-felcher if you will, but Morrowind has a remarkably close ethic to Elite, albeit in an FPS-view RPG setting.
Go anywhere, do anything. Blimmin great it is, too.
It's Elite with goblins.
Go anywhere, do anything. Blimmin great it is, too.
It's Elite with goblins.
If you want the original elite, the website below has many different emulated versions, all completely legal and free to use with emulators of your choice. I recommend the Archie one.
http://www.iancgbell.clara.net/elite/
This is the page of the co-producer Ian Bell, who is still as fanatical about the game as he was when he designed it. It has loads of info and history, plus online manuals to download and hints.
http://www.iancgbell.clara.net/elite/
This is the page of the co-producer Ian Bell, who is still as fanatical about the game as he was when he designed it. It has loads of info and history, plus online manuals to download and hints.
Somebody asked if we sell Elite in work today!
Elite was great, And its been rumoured that a sequel is in the making for the Xbox, And maybe playable over Xbox Live.
It’s been a long time since Elite. Surprisingly nothing has come close to the freedom found in that seminal space game in the last 20 odd years. Chat rooms and boards across the world have always held muttered conversations about such a game, but it seems that the industry does not hear.
Elite was one of the first genuine 3D game on home computers (it claims to be the first according to co-creator David Braben). It allowed you to start with a small ship and even smaller sum of money, then freight cargo between planets for paying customers. The fun came from choosing your destiny by either being a legitimate delivery service or taking on the more risky, and lucrative, contraband cargo, avoiding police and pirates in the process. There were many great things about Elite, and while it isn’t exactly the prettiest thing to look at now, it was graphically a marvel in it’s time.
While other genres have branched out and gone for more freedom in their game engines, the space combat or trading games seem to have gone backwards, either favouring a strong strategy element or going for all out combat with a linear storyline. Once we all thought this would change, as the 16 bit sequel to the original (bar Elite Plus) was awaited with baited breath. Ian Bell and David Braben’s Frontier: Elite 2
But alas it was riddled with bugs and just wasn’t the sequel that everyone hoped for. I won’t even mention First Encounters.
The problem in making a sequel partly lies with the creators differences, with David Braben still trying to sue Ian Bell for slander over his comments on the last Braben game. This means that one or the other could write a game themselves, but never both together.
But do we need a true sequel to Elite? Well, it’s a game that people still play, it has stood the test of time and now legally runs on emulators on many PCs and Macs. The usergroups still talk about it in their thousands and many people want a return to the good old days. What they want is not a sequel in name though, it wouldn’t matter to them if it was called Sausage in Space 2000 (though I would imagine that this might impact on sales slightly). What a new game needs is the ethos behind Elite.
Imagine a console game with the current graphics technology but with Elite’s gameplay. It doesn’t even need to be altered for the game to be any good. In fact, some people might say that altering it would detract from the game. More ships, planets and races could be added, even proper voice communications and animated bartering for cargo, but the main game itself; the docking, fighting and, yes, even a version of Witchspace, should be kept. Increasing the interactivity could be achieved through multi-player internet on both console and PC. Imagine fighting 12 other ships, all human controlled?
So, with programmers trying to find new and exciting game for us all to play games, surely it won’t be long before someone trys a clone of Elite that actually succeeds in being as good as the sequel? Until then we’ll all have to play the original on emulators and hope.
Elite was one of the first genuine 3D game on home computers (it claims to be the first according to co-creator David Braben). It allowed you to start with a small ship and even smaller sum of money, then freight cargo between planets for paying customers. The fun came from choosing your destiny by either being a legitimate delivery service or taking on the more risky, and lucrative, contraband cargo, avoiding police and pirates in the process. There were many great things about Elite, and while it isn’t exactly the prettiest thing to look at now, it was graphically a marvel in it’s time.
While other genres have branched out and gone for more freedom in their game engines, the space combat or trading games seem to have gone backwards, either favouring a strong strategy element or going for all out combat with a linear storyline. Once we all thought this would change, as the 16 bit sequel to the original (bar Elite Plus) was awaited with baited breath. Ian Bell and David Braben’s Frontier: Elite 2
But alas it was riddled with bugs and just wasn’t the sequel that everyone hoped for. I won’t even mention First Encounters.
The problem in making a sequel partly lies with the creators differences, with David Braben still trying to sue Ian Bell for slander over his comments on the last Braben game. This means that one or the other could write a game themselves, but never both together.
But do we need a true sequel to Elite? Well, it’s a game that people still play, it has stood the test of time and now legally runs on emulators on many PCs and Macs. The usergroups still talk about it in their thousands and many people want a return to the good old days. What they want is not a sequel in name though, it wouldn’t matter to them if it was called Sausage in Space 2000 (though I would imagine that this might impact on sales slightly). What a new game needs is the ethos behind Elite.
Imagine a console game with the current graphics technology but with Elite’s gameplay. It doesn’t even need to be altered for the game to be any good. In fact, some people might say that altering it would detract from the game. More ships, planets and races could be added, even proper voice communications and animated bartering for cargo, but the main game itself; the docking, fighting and, yes, even a version of Witchspace, should be kept. Increasing the interactivity could be achieved through multi-player internet on both console and PC. Imagine fighting 12 other ships, all human controlled?
So, with programmers trying to find new and exciting game for us all to play games, surely it won’t be long before someone trys a clone of Elite that actually succeeds in being as good as the sequel? Until then we’ll all have to play the original on emulators and hope.