What old games would you like to see "reinvented"?

[issreliant]

I always wanted an updated Altered Beast game!!!

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Descent Freespace

Came with my Windows 98 PC and it was an awesome game. I tried the sequel but could never finish it

Freespace 2 was awesome (and not that hard to finish?), but sadly it ends on a bit of a cliffhanger.

Yeah, I wish the Freespace series had continued. I really enjoyed it.

 

[Dusty Ayres]

Goldeneye but for the 360

Not bloody likely-it's most likely completely owned lock, stock and barrel by Nintendo.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Goldeneye but for the 360

Not bloody likely-it's most likely completely owned lock, stock and barrel by Nintendo.

Yeah, there was one planned a few years ago, but it got tangled up in rights and got shelved.

 

[Accountsden]

I have played Road Rash and Warrior Of Rome in my childhood. I want they were reinvented....

 

[D Man]

I always wanted an updated Altered Beast game!!!

"RIIIISE FROM YOUR GRAVE."

 

[Owain Taggart]

I have played Road Rash and Warrior Of Rome in my childhood. I want they were reinvented....

Yeah, I hear you on Road Rash. Played those games to death on my Genesis. Nothing's been done with the series since the 3D0/N64 days. I'd like to see what they could do with modern graphics technology and physics.

 

[TtotheC]

Descent Freespace

Came with my Windows 98 PC and it was an awesome game. I tried the sequel but could never finish it

You Sir, are now my favourite person...ever. Well at least for the rest of this comment. I was reading through pages, getting more nervous about joining a Sci-Fi forum where a thread about re-made computer games didn't mention the single best space-sim franchise made.

Freespace provided a great storyline with a seemingly impossible enemy, who's defeat didn't feel like a shining victory, but a chance for humanity and the versudians to draw breath and pull their back from off the wall. But whilst it was a fantastic game, Freespace 2 perfected the genre. It wasn't original in game play, but it took the space flight sim and polished it to perfection. The story though was Freespace on steroids. It was both bleak and intense, and very much a game filled with desperation. It's also the only game where I've shouted no at when you-know-which ship went down, and the KIA ending is enough to make a man's vision blur and throat hurt.

But it never finished the story, and damn it, it's a story that deserves an ending. I want to know why the Shivans did what they did, and I want to know what condition Earth was in after they reconstructed the jump node. Did the Shivans return to finish the job? Why did they make the Sun in the Capella system go Nova?! Will we ever get to be Alpha-One again?!?!?!

Aaaaargh.

How come ya never finished Freespace 2?


Also Freespace still holds the record in my books for one of the most dramatic, tense intros for a computer game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ-xcgBL1mY

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Descent Freespace

Came with my Windows 98 PC and it was an awesome game. I tried the sequel but could never finish it

You Sir, are now my favourite person...ever. Well at least for the rest of this comment. I was reading through pages, getting more nervous about joining a Sci-Fi forum where a thread about re-made computer games didn't mention the single best space-sim franchise made.

Freespace provided a great storyline with a seemingly impossible enemy, who's defeat didn't feel like a shining victory, but a chance for humanity and the versudians to draw breath and pull their back from off the wall. But whilst it was a fantastic game, Freespace 2 perfected the genre. It wasn't original in game play, but it took the space flight sim and polished it to perfection. The story though was Freespace on steroids. It was both bleak and intense, and very much a game filled with desperation. It's also the only game where I've shouted no at when you-know-which ship went down, and the KIA ending is enough to make a man's vision blur and throat hurt.

But it never finished the story, and damn it, it's a story that deserves an ending. I want to know why the Shivans did what they did, and I want to know what condition Earth was in after they reconstructed the jump node. Did the Shivans return to finish the job? Why did they make the Sun in the Capella system go Nova?! Will we ever get to be Alpha-One again?!?!?!

Aaaaargh.

How come ya never finished Freespace 2?


Also Freespace still holds the record in my books for one of the most dramatic, tense intros for a computer game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ-xcgBL1mY

I love the Freespace games but I didn't suggest them for a remake because I don't see how they'd be improved other than having flashier graphics. To me, that's not enough to warrant a remake. I'd rather get sequels or prequels. Like maybe a game about the Vasudan War, or even a game from the perspective of the Shivans. That would be pretty awesome.

Unfortunately, the whole genre just about up and died after FS2.

 

[TtotheC]

Descent Freespace

Came with my Windows 98 PC and it was an awesome game. I tried the sequel but could never finish it

You Sir, are now my favourite person...ever. Well at least for the rest of this comment. I was reading through pages, getting more nervous about joining a Sci-Fi forum where a thread about re-made computer games didn't mention the single best space-sim franchise made.

Freespace provided a great storyline with a seemingly impossible enemy, who's defeat didn't feel like a shining victory, but a chance for humanity and the versudians to draw breath and pull their back from off the wall. But whilst it was a fantastic game, Freespace 2 perfected the genre. It wasn't original in game play, but it took the space flight sim and polished it to perfection. The story though was Freespace on steroids. It was both bleak and intense, and very much a game filled with desperation. It's also the only game where I've shouted no at when you-know-which ship went down, and the KIA ending is enough to make a man's vision blur and throat hurt.

But it never finished the story, and damn it, it's a story that deserves an ending. I want to know why the Shivans did what they did, and I want to know what condition Earth was in after they reconstructed the jump node. Did the Shivans return to finish the job? Why did they make the Sun in the Capella system go Nova?! Will we ever get to be Alpha-One again?!?!?!

Aaaaargh.

How come ya never finished Freespace 2?


Also Freespace still holds the record in my books for one of the most dramatic, tense intros for a computer game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ-xcgBL1mY

I love the Freespace games but I didn't suggest them for a remake because I don't see how they'd be improved other than having flashier graphics. To me, that's not enough to warrant a remake. I'd rather get sequels or prequels. Like maybe a game about the Vasudan War, or even a game from the perspective of the Shivans. That would be pretty awesome.

Unfortunately, the whole genre just about up and died after FS2.

You could tweak the engine a little, redesign or up the detail on the capital ships and fighters, but to be honest I would just hold out for exactly the reasons you've stated - we need a final chapter!

I'm not sure a Vesudan/Terran prequel would hold much muster against the scale of the the first two chapters, but it would make for a decent expansion campaign. The problem is you'd go from the Shivans (unbeatable, menacing with countless numbers) to a more mundane empire conflict. It'd be more an after thought and maybe self indulgence where none was needed.


Ah-huh...RIP Space sims. You went out on one hell of a note.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

You Sir, are now my favourite person...ever. Well at least for the rest of this comment. I was reading through pages, getting more nervous about joining a Sci-Fi forum where a thread about re-made computer games didn't mention the single best space-sim franchise made.

Freespace provided a great storyline with a seemingly impossible enemy, who's defeat didn't feel like a shining victory, but a chance for humanity and the versudians to draw breath and pull their back from off the wall. But whilst it was a fantastic game, Freespace 2 perfected the genre. It wasn't original in game play, but it took the space flight sim and polished it to perfection. The story though was Freespace on steroids. It was both bleak and intense, and very much a game filled with desperation. It's also the only game where I've shouted no at when you-know-which ship went down, and the KIA ending is enough to make a man's vision blur and throat hurt.

But it never finished the story, and damn it, it's a story that deserves an ending. I want to know why the Shivans did what they did, and I want to know what condition Earth was in after they reconstructed the jump node. Did the Shivans return to finish the job? Why did they make the Sun in the Capella system go Nova?! Will we ever get to be Alpha-One again?!?!?!

Aaaaargh.

How come ya never finished Freespace 2?


Also Freespace still holds the record in my books for one of the most dramatic, tense intros for a computer game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ-xcgBL1mY

I love the Freespace games but I didn't suggest them for a remake because I don't see how they'd be improved other than having flashier graphics. To me, that's not enough to warrant a remake. I'd rather get sequels or prequels. Like maybe a game about the Vasudan War, or even a game from the perspective of the Shivans. That would be pretty awesome.

Unfortunately, the whole genre just about up and died after FS2.

You could tweak the engine a little, redesign or up the detail on the capital ships and fighters, but to be honest I would just hold out for exactly the reasons you've stated - we need a final chapter!

I'm not sure a Vesudan/Terran prequel would hold much muster against the scale of the the first two chapters, but it would make for a decent expansion campaign. The problem is you'd go from the Shivans (unbeatable, menacing with countless numbers) to a more mundane empire conflict. It'd be more an after thought and maybe self indulgence where none was needed.


Ah-huh...RIP Space sims. You went out on one hell of a note.

Well, it depends. I don't know how much background the games gave on the Terran/Vasudan War, but I was thinking maybe you could have a game set at the outset of the war, and the Terrans got caught with their pants down, technologically inferior, etc. Just to make it challenging, so you'd have primitive space fighters going up against seasoned and tested Vasudan technology. Come to think of it, there's a shortage of good "retro" space combat sims. Maybe something with the design sensibilities of a Fallout game, but in space.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Freespace is a Descent spinoff, isn't it? I heard that there's a spiritual successor to Descent being made called Miner Wars, and according to the screenshots, looks like it will be both like Descent and Freespace:

http://www.minerwars.com/Index.aspx

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Freespace is a Descent spinoff, isn't it? I heard that there's a spiritual successor to Descent being made called Miner Wars, and according to the screenshots, looks like it will be both like Descent and Freespace:

http://www.minerwars.com/Index.aspx

You know, I never did figure out exactly what made Freespace part of the Descent universe. In fact, I didn't see any elements of the Descent "canon" in Freespace so I'm pretty sure they were just trading on the name recognition.

 

[Jadzia]

I never did figure out exactly what made Freespace part of the Descent universe. In fact, I didn't see any elements of the Descent "canon" in Freespace so I'm pretty sure they were just trading on the name recognition.

It's just like how Rainbow islands was marketed as Bubble Bobble 2, even though it had nothing in common with the original game.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I never did figure out exactly what made Freespace part of the Descent universe. In fact, I didn't see any elements of the Descent "canon" in Freespace so I'm pretty sure they were just trading on the name recognition.

It's just like how Rainbow islands was marketed as Bubble Bobble 2, even though it had nothing in common with the original game.

Wiki says it was called Descent: FreeSpace to avoid trademark infringement on the unrelated "Freespace" utility. That makes more sense.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I never did figure out exactly what made Freespace part of the Descent universe. In fact, I didn't see any elements of the Descent "canon" in Freespace so I'm pretty sure they were just trading on the name recognition.

It's just like how Rainbow islands was marketed as Bubble Bobble 2, even though it had nothing in common with the original game.

Wiki says it was called Descent: FreeSpace to avoid trademark infringement on the unrelated "Freespace" utility. That makes more sense.

That's what I remembered, hence my spinoff comment. The new game seems to have indoor and space locations, probably meant to appeal to fans of both. It's interesting to note that Descent was originally a 3DRealms game.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

It's just like how Rainbow islands was marketed as Bubble Bobble 2, even though it had nothing in common with the original game.

Wiki says it was called Descent: FreeSpace to avoid trademark infringement on the unrelated "Freespace" utility. That makes more sense.

That's what I remembered, hence my spinoff comment. The new game seems to have indoor and space locations, probably meant to appeal to fans of both. It's interesting to note that Descent was originally a 3DRealms game.

I don't think 3D Realms ever had anything to do with Descent. Sure you aren't thinking of Terminal Velocity?

 

[23skidoo]

Back in 1978 a company called Edu-ware put out a brilliant game based on The Prisoner. I never was able to win it (nor its sequel, Prisoner 2). Reportedly it was so mind-frelling the CIA used it as a training tool for its agents, so the story goes.

Also in 1978 I played one of the first graphical RPGs, predating Ultima. It was called "Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure". It's still a lot of fun if you can track down a copy on an Apple II emulator.

I'd love to see the return of text-only adventures. Imagine what a DVD-R full of choices would be like! And they could incorporate music, dialogue, and even the occasional video bit to keep people from getting bored.

On a more recent note, there were two interactive movies I wish they'd put out again: the Blade Runner-esque "Angel Devoid" and a first-generation Playstation game called "Psychic Detective".

Alex

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Interactive fiction games were always a niche, but the cool thing is there are tons of them out there now, and free tools for making your own. Some of them also support multimedia.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Wiki says it was called Descent: FreeSpace to avoid trademark infringement on the unrelated "Freespace" utility. That makes more sense.

That's what I remembered, hence my spinoff comment. The new game seems to have indoor and space locations, probably meant to appeal to fans of both. It's interesting to note that Descent was originally a 3DRealms game.

I don't think 3D Realms ever had anything to do with Descent. Sure you aren't thinking of Terminal Velocity?

Nope. It's rather an obscure bit of trivia though. Actually, it was Apogee, but they're really the same thing. They also had a non-exclusive rights to Freespace before those got sold to Interplay. They've got a question about Descent in the Apogee FAQ and they have this to say:

[2.7.3] What's Apogee's relationship with Parallax?

Originally, the game Descent, written by Parallax and distributed by Interplay,
was to be an Apogee game. And indeed, Parallax and Apogee worked on it
together for seven or eight months. But due to financial issues, Apogee
cancelled it in January of 1995. Interplay picked it up, impressed by
the working demo Parallax then had after its association with Apogee, and
the rest is history.

Part of the deal Apogee made with Interplay when the Descent rights were
sold was that Apogee would get a cut of Parallax's next new game. Descent II
didn't qualify for that, but Descent: Freespace did. Initially, the plan
was for 3D Realms to release the shareware version of Descent: Freespace and
sell the registered version exclusively for three months, at which point
Interplay would start selling it too. However, in late April 1998, Interplay
bought the full rights to the game. Apogee no longer has anything to do
with Descent: Freespace or any of the other Descent games.

In the credits for Descent, there is a thank you note to "Scott Miller and
Apogee Software."

http://www.3drealms.com/faq/apfaq72.txt

And in an interview with Scott Miller, there are more details:

He said that Blood started as an Apogee project -- and that was something I didn't know at the time. Why did you sell it to them?

SM: Well, trying to fund all of these games became a very expensive proposition. Another game that we initially started was a game called Descent. That was another 3D Realms project, and we funded that for about a year.
But we got to the point where funding all these was becoming so expensive. For instance, the Descent team -- that studio was called Parallax Software at the time -- I think we were sending them $18,000 a month and they needed to get up to $30,000 a month. Other teams also needed to grow at the time. So we looked at our project slate and said, "You know, we can't support all these projects. We need to basically sell off some of these." And so we ended up just keeping Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior. We kept Shadow Warrior mainly because it was a fairly inexpensive project. But the others were getting very expensive and we had to sell the rights off.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4112/20_years_of_evolution_scott_.php?page=9