What ever happened to space sims?

[Wonderboy-]

Where is FreeSpace 3? Wing Commander 6? I used to LOVE those game series.

Is there no demand for them anymore?

 

[philosophicalbastard]

Alright..

This is where Black Arrow's insanity is from if you didn't know:

OT:There are a couple of indy space sims being made, but by the time they're done people will be complaining that its taking Valve to long to release Half Life 2: Episode 4

 

[Wonderboy-]

That was just weird. I´m too old for this s**t.

 

[Leemaster777]

Yeah, I miss space sims, too.

But they kinda died out with the flight stick controller... or vice-versa, I'm not sure.

 

[Caffeine Rage]

Games trends ebb and flow. Right now, the various flavors of shooters is the big thing.

There are some space sims around. On top of Moonbase Alpha, mentioned above, you may want to try the X series from Egosoft. It reminds me a great deal of Freelancer from back in the day, with a grander sense of scale.

 

[Physics Engine]

Space sims lost their audience when computers were capable of rendering more than a few ships and a star dome. Don't get me wrong, I loved Wing Commander/Privateer and X-Wing/Tie Fighter, but the instant racing sims gained some graphical and physical fidelity, the genre pretty much died out.

I think the last really good one was Freespace 2, which is a little dated but still awesome and only $5.99 on GOG.com.

 

[Altorin]

Eve Online, it's about as poignant a space sim as will ever exist. although right now the servers are down for some assinine reasons

 

[Wonderboy-]

Space sims lost their audience when computers were capable of rendering more than a few ships and a star dome. Don't get me wrong, I loved Wing Commander/Privateer and X-Wing/Tie Fighter, but the instant racing sims gained some graphical and physical fidelity, the genre pretty much died out.

Yeah I thought too that it might have something to do with processing power. But still it´s a shame. It´s not very common that a game has a user score of 9.3 (Freespace 2) at Gamespot and doesn´t get a sequel.

I don´t even know where my Combatstick is at the moment, but I sure would like to use it again! Wishful thinking I suppose.
(No I don´t mean that stick.)

 

[Wonderboy-]

Ok sorry I failed at this quoting business.. I´m new to this.

 

[Da Orky Man]

Despite the industry being on the brink, occasionally something good gets released, like Sins of a Solar Empire. Otherwise, you have to look at the indie market. Look up Orbiter, it's horrifically realistic.

 

[Terminal Blue]

X: Rebirth is coming out. That may be a good one to look out for.

Hang on.. I think this news has given me clairvoyance.

1) It will be exactly the same game with a different engine (if you're lucky).

2) The voice acting (or perhaps just the localization) will be excruciating and I will want to eject every character in the game from an airlock.

3) I will nonetheless buy it and not regret doing so for a second.

Such is life for people who like space-sims in the 21st century.

Eve Online, it's about as poignant a space sim as will ever exist. although right now the servers are down for some assinine reasons

Eve Online is kind of an economy simulation which just happens to be in space. While there's an overlap (especially since the whole idea of a space based economy games comes from Elite, which definitely is a space game) it's not really the same kind of game.

 

[Irridium]

X: Rebirth is coming out. That may be a good one to look out for.

Hang on.. I think this news has given me clairvoyance.

1) It will be exactly the same game with a different engine (if you're lucky).

2) The voice acting will be excruciating and I will want to eject every character in the game from an airlock.

3) I will nonetheless buy it and not regret doing so for a second.

Such is life for people who like space-sims in the 21st century.

Pretty much the way things are right now.

 

[The Last Nomad]

I have one word for people who like Space Sims: Noctis.

Although that one word needs quite a bit of explanation, so really I have a lot of words for you, but they won't come from me. So far the best description of the game came from right here at the escapist, which I read after I downloaded the game. But if I hadn't, the first page of this article [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_54/325-Footprints-in-Moondust] would have convinced me to play it.

In case you don't want to read that, I'll fill you in. 70 billion stars (No not a typo, 70 FUCKING BILLION) to travel to, most with a planetary system of their own, with fully explorable planets and moons. Unfortuanatly, you will need a DOS emulator or something, and the graphics are pretty bad, even by DOS standards, but (and I cannot stress this enough), you can explore an entire universe!

 

[Blackpapa]

Let me invoke my favorite quote of all time:

"The '90s generation of gamers all love X-COM Freespace 2 and we own the IP, so we thought 'OK, what do we do with it?' Every studio we had wanted to do it and each one had its own spin on it. But the problem was that turn-based strategy space sim games were no longer the hottest thing on planet Earth. But this is not just a commercial thing -- strategy games space sims are just not contemporary."

 

[x EvilErmine x]

Where is FreeSpace 3? Wing Commander 6? I used to LOVE those game series.

Is there no demand for them anymore?

I know what you mean, I feel the same. If we CBA to go into space for real anymore then at least let me do it in games danm it!

I don't know if you have played it but if you want a really good space sim then try this one.

Spoiler

Jump to 3:40 to see the game in action. I think I'm gonna have to go play this right now.

[Edit]

This is the intro.

Spoiler

 

[Sapphire Knight]

There's no money to be made making them.

 

[icame]

If I'm not mistaken they'd didn't sell well. Like, at all. If there's no money to be made your time is better spent making something that WILL make you money.