elite posts

The Game Developers Conference is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year and as part of its celebration the conference will be holding some special post mortem panels. These panels will focus on some of the most influential games of all time. 11 such panels will be held during the event in San Fransisco on February 28-March 4.

The post mortem panels will include a look back at the development of a number of classic PC games. The list of games includes Prince of Persia (with Jordan Mechner), Doom (with John Romero), Bejeweled (with Jason Kapalka) Populus (with Peter Molyneux), Elite (with David Braben) and Manic Mansion (with Ron Gilbert).

Last September, UK-based developer Frontier Developments launched a web site to celebrate the 25 anniversary of the release of the first game in the Elite series. The space trading-action game series remains one of the most influential game titles of all time and there's been speculation that a fourth game in the series is in the works.

Today Eurogamer is reporting that Elite IV is indeed in the works.While the web site states their sources have told them that the game has been put on hold recently after some pre-production work, Frontier's founder David Braben told the site, "There have been recent staff changes on the project, and our commitment to the game is as strong as ever."

25 years ago this month, UK based Frontier Developments released Elite. the space trading-combat game became a classic in the PC genre with many fans even today. Today Frontier Developments has launched a new web site to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Elite.

The site has info about the game and its sequels, a video narrated by Elite creator David Braben and more. On September 23, Braben will participate in a Twitter chat about the game and if your question gets picked you will get a limited edition Elite t-shirt or perhaps the grand prize of Elite artwork signed by Braben. We will take a shot in the dark here and predict that one of the questions asked is if there will ever be any more Elite games made. Is it possible that this whole nostalgia trip is setting us up for an Elite revival?

Okay, quick gamer quiz. Do you know what Elite is? If you answered no, hand in your gamer card. You are no longer considered a gamer. Leave here forever, and hang your head in shame! We kid, we kid, but Elite is considered one of the incredible classics of gaming. The open-world, dynamic gameplay made it an instant hit, and even inspired an entire sub-genre called "elite-likes" which include such greats as the X series and EVE Online. Speaking to a group of assembled developers at Develop, David Braben, one of the original developers of the series, had this to say:

"We started, we stopped, we started, we stopped. We do have people working 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."

Here's looking to losing our lives in Elite once again! We can't wait.