Exclusive: Elite IV Confirmed For PS3
To infinity and beyond! But not for a while. Till then, see how high you can count. Related stories (more)Digital Distribution: Is It The Future?
Article written by Pixl1983 in Hot, PS3 News, on Tuesday, June 16, 2009 at 9:00.
Back in May I saw that one of our ever resourceful readers, Tuffcub, had posted in the forums about a little meeting of industry heads in my home town. How could I not go? Whilst I didn’t exactly know what to expect it turned out to be totally worth the effort. It brought forth some really interesting thoughts which I’ll be letting you all know about later on in the week.
Get to the good stuff, right? I will, however it does require a small explanation. You see, one of the speakers at the lecture was none other than the much loved co creator of the original Elite and Chairman of Frontier, David Braben (you whippersnappers might have to do some googling). I have the slideshows that accompanied his very entertaining talk and in the section introducing himself, as if he needs to, he details that Elite IV, the often dismissed sequel is set to release on the PC, the 360 and, as you might have guessed, the PS3.
This is, of course, great news as back in the day Elite was one of the most forward thinking concepts out there. A huge chunk of the games industry will quite happily admit that some of the roots of many current strategy genres owe Elite big time. We have no clue as to when Elite IV will surface but it’s bound to be under wraps untill Frontier have The Outsider in the bag, which, as a side note, I’m most definitely looking forward to.
Oh, and here’s hoping that ‘more lost winds’ comes our way too.
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
Watchful | 16/06/2009 09:10
Team TSA: Writer
2037 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
Fingers firmly crossed. Spent far too much time playing Elite (BBC and Speccy) and Elite Plus (PC).
Kevling | 16/06/2009 09:17
Member
1846 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
Through the wrong choice of 8-bit home computer, the original Elite passed me by, but I spent many many hours in Frontier on the Amiga, so am really excited about this. It’s been said that Elite 4 has been in the works for ages, but it’s good to know it’s coming to consoles too…
cc_star | 16/06/2009 10:32
Team TSA: Writer
5826 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
You bypassed the Speccy?
Shame on you
Kevling | 16/06/2009 11:19
Member
1846 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
Yes, my Mum though to a good idea to buy an Atari 400, mainly because we had a VCS before.
gnipper | 16/06/2009 11:19
Member
666 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
Or C64? or BBC?
Severn2j | 16/06/2009 11:36
Member
1254 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
I bypassed the Speccy.. We had a C64 instead.
DarthSharkey | 16/06/2009 09:27
Member
1038 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
I have never played Elite but did hear lots and lots about it, looking forward to finally getting a chance to play one now.
gnipper | 16/06/2009 09:42
Member
666 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
Elite and Frontier are my two favourite games ever EVER. Im SO excited about this – I just hope they dont dumb it down (which is a danger these days)….
This has made my day
Shrui | 16/06/2009 09:45
Member
258 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
Its a shame, no matter how good it is this will get crushed by expectation of all those who grew up on some version of Elite or other.
If it does make it then lets hope its not another PS3 version of Fallout 3!
Lanselta | 16/06/2009 09:55
Member
414 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Awesome news! A successfull MMO would be a tough challenge for this type of genre, but the payoff would be as game as special as Elite itself. Imagine trading with other players in live time, building industries and trade routes, establishing syndicates. We could make our own TSA trade federation.
Anyone jonesing for this type of play now (only one player though) should checkout X2 or X3 for PC. Some great stuff there, and a great online community.
Watchful | 16/06/2009 10:10
Team TSA: Writer
2037 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
Or try EVE Online.
dillonradio | 16/06/2009 10:19
Member
61 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Elite was my favourite game ever (I played the Amiga version) but I just couldn’t get into Eve Online…
Lanselta | 16/06/2009 11:00
Member
414 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Ahh, I’ve never looked into Eve. I maintain a policy of not playing games which require a paid subscription. Im sure its a blast, and thanks for the correction
Roarster | 16/06/2009 10:09
Member
148 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2008
Kind of lost interest in Elite after the super buggy sequels. Wonder if they’ll have to send a floppy disk with a patch out to everyone again?
Tuffcub | 16/06/2009 10:10
Team TSA: Writer
3415 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
Yay!
mcphatty | 16/06/2009 10:27
Member
253 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2008
Christ, this will be brilliant, I can’t wait!! The lost genre of space-trading sims finally returns with a bang… and by this sweeping statement I acknowledge that I’m ignoring every game released under that banner since Elite, hah.
Hodgi92 | 16/06/2009 10:48
The Thumb
966 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Cool
theshockwave | 16/06/2009 11:51
Member
1715 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2008
I presume that you, like me, also haven’t a clue what has been said up there.
BryOnRye | 16/06/2009 11:12
Member
773 TSA Points | Member since: Jan 2009
Elite is where I first learned about narcotics!
gnipper | 16/06/2009 13:10
Member
666 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
LOL yeah, it was where I discovered Slaves…
willow-mouse | 16/06/2009 11:13
Member
7 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
Now this is literally the first news I’ve heard about the PS3 that’s got me excited. I’ve been wanting a Freelancer-esque game for ages, ever since I had Frontier on the Amiga 600.
Bring it on!
double-o-dave | 16/06/2009 11:32
Member
814 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2008
You can’t be the original on the speccy.
I didn’t even know there was an Elite 2 and 3.
Kevling | 16/06/2009 11:36
Member
1846 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
Frontier was subtitled Elite II, so I guess technically, Frontier 2 was Elite 3?
Watchful | 16/06/2009 11:39
Team TSA: Writer
2037 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
Yeah. Elite, Frontier: Elite II then Frontier: First Encounters.
gnipper | 16/06/2009 13:11
Member
666 TSA Points | Member since: May 2009
Yeah, they intended to release FFE as “Elite 3″ I think, but it got bogged down in other stuff that was going on and got released in a bit of a buggy mess. Frontier is still the one to beat for me.
Watchful | 16/06/2009 11:36
Team TSA: Writer
2037 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2008
You mean the original on the BBC Micro.
Severn2j | 16/06/2009 11:41
Member
1254 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2008
While great news, Elite IV has been on the cards about as long as Duke Nukem Forever, so gawd knows when it will actually appear.. I’ve been looking forward to a decent succsessor to Elite for decades (literally!) and there still isnt a contender. Freelancer came about the closest I think, but it was much smaller in scale.
It says a lot about a game that its still unbeaten in its genre, even tho it was released in 1984!
double-o-dave | 16/06/2009 12:09
Member
814 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2008
Well if it has exactly the same style gameplay as the first and your roaming around large empty areas of space, when you do encounter other spacecrafts or get close to a planet, in heinseit the graphics should be amazing!