Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.space-sim (
More info?)
On 31 Aug 2004 16:14:37 -0700, bdu_majorfreak@hotmail.com (MajorFreak)
wrote:
>I believe it's mainly due to microsoft's continual abandonment or
>shoddy support of the sci-fi space sim genre. Major case in point was
>Allegiance (dropped, according to most, because it was used as a pilot
>project for directX); Other case in point was the Star/Freelancer
>stuff (lack of joystick support for the latter).
While it might be convenient to blame MS, this is blatantly untrue.
Was it Microsoft who made Sierra cancel their Babylon 5 based sim?
Was it Microsoft who forced Particle Systems to not make I-War 3?
What about a new FreeSpace? A new X-Wing/TIE Fighter game?
In fact, it is the X-Box that got the Battlestar Gallatica game...
NOT the PC. Hmmm.
>nice thing is they do release source codes once in a while. lol.
>http://www.microsoft.com/games/allegiance/home.htm
>
>Things ARE improving though, since you've got Eve-online proving that
>this stuff does have a market...which is a HELL of a lot better than
>the days where Derek Smarticus looked to be the saviour of a dying
>genre. *shudder*
All the games you lives as being a ray of light are ONLINE games. I
tried Allegiance when it came out. It was beautiful. Controls were
nice, action was good, etc. However, the lack of a single player game
killed it for me. Playing with clueless people killed it for me. It
slowly became a game where people just wanted to dogfight, and not do
much else. Scouting, tactics, etc., we hard to find. True, you can
put in time effort to find a clueful sqaud, but that gets old (to me,
at least). And don't forget lag, latency, cheats, etc., all of which
go along with online gaming.
EVE is another online game. I don't want online. I am a space-sim
fan. I want games like the Wing Commander series, like FreeSpace 2,
like I-War 1/2, like the X-Wing games, etc. I want a game with single
player support, a detailed campaign, different ships to fly, a
Newtonian physics model, variety of weapons, variety of missions, etc.
I am in the minority.
Watch for posts from Stephen from Particle Systems. I have never seen
him blame MS for a lack of interest in another I-War game. What he
HAS mentioned is not enough people buying space-sim games to warrant
the expense of development of a new space-sim.
It is the end-user responsible for a lack of space-sims. People want
flashy graphics instead over complexity (Freelancer). They want
online so much they they are willing to give up on having a complex
single player campaign. Gamers have become to enjoy simpler,
arcade-style fluff like FPS games, console games, etc.
I mean, when was the last time a GOOD flight sim came out? I mean
complex, realistic physics, flight model, etc.? Falcon 4? What about
a good tank sim? Sub sim? Even mech sims have been dumbed down (in
this case by Microsoft), and there hasn't been a new mech sim in
years.
The problem, unfortunately, lies with the public, and their apparent
lack of interest in such complex games. Not that people would not buy
them; they would. However, it is more financially feasible for a
software house to buy the rights to an FPS engine, give it a makeover,
and release a whopping hit that it is to create their own graphics
engine, their own physics mode, etc. That is what killed the B5 game,
btw.
Please replace the "NoSpam" with "MCI" in my email address in order to
reply.
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Joe Granto Joe.Granto@NoSpam.Com
Senior Engineer Intel Engineering,MCI
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