Whatever happened to Colony Wars?

[zemmix]

As I was thinking about the PS3 and 360 I started thinking of past games that made me want to buy systems. For the original PSX that game was Colony Wars for me. I loved that game. What ever happened to the series? A new one on the PS3 would look killer!

There aren't any new space sims it seems. No Wing Commander, no Tie Fighter/Xwings, freespace, it's kind of depressing.

[diskoboy]

There aren't any new space sims it seems. No Wing Commander, no Tie Fighter/Xwings, freespace, it's kind of depressing.

Project Sylpheed, anybody?

Alot of people despised it. I personally loved it.

[MrSparkle]

the x-wing series rocked so much harder than the rogue squadron series thats what needs to be ressurected

[j_factor]

The Colony Wars series probably died with Psygnosis in 2000. I doubt any Psygnosis franchise other than WipEout, Destruction Derby, and Lemmings will ever make a revival. Don't be on the lookout for Rollcage Stage 3 or Assault Rigs 2.

[The Great Dane]

The Colony Wars series probably died with Psygnosis in 2000. I doubt any Psygnosis franchise other than WipEout, Destruction Derby, and Lemmings will ever make a revival. Don't be on the lookout for Rollcage Stage 3 or Assault Rigs 2.

I miss Assault Rigs :(
It makes me sad that it never got a proper sequel.

I never got a chance to play Colony Wars, but I always wanted to, as it did look awesome.

Speaking of space sims, I wish that we could get some space exploration games instead of them all being space shooting games. There is an awesome game on the Genesis called Star Flight where you travel from planet to planet, as well as in several different solar systems, in order to find the right type of planet for the people of your home planet to colonize. You also had to mine for different minerals in order to make more money for fuel and equipment.

Its such an awesome game, and an awesome concept not really ever used. I would love a PS3 game just like this.

[8-bitNesMan]

I remember Colony Wars fondly. Ahead of its time IMO. I remember Christmas morning '97, opening it up. Fired up and ready to play, but alas, no disc 1! Only time I have ever opened a factory sealed game and there was something missing. Might have to dust it off and see how bad it looks these days :)

[Kid Ice]

The first Colony Wars is one of my all time favorites. The second one was tedious. The third was underwhelming. It just never took hold as a series.

[roushimsx]

The team mostly split up after the second game (I think it was the second, anyway), with a bunch of guys going off to Warthog and working on Starlancer (PC/DC), Star Trek: Invasion (PS1), Battlestar Galactica (PS2/Xbox), and Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter (PS2/Xbox/PC).

The lead designer (Mike Ellis) wound up working at Crystal Dynamics on the Legacy of Kain and new Tomb Raider games (woo!). One of the programmers (Gavin Dodd) wound up going to Insomniac to work on pretty much every game after the first Spyro. Woo!

A new Colony Wars was planned for PS2 a few years back but it never came to be :( No idea who the developer was supposed to be. Always loved the first one to bits and pieces.

Tangent: It's a shame that the SNES version of Wing Commander 2 was never released and has yet to be dumped. I'd love to see how that turned out, because I enjoyed the PC version even more than Tie Fighter. That's saying something.

...and if you enjoy space combat sims in the slightest, then you owe it to yourself to play Independence War. Good lord is it good. Freespace is hot+wet and all, but IW has the edge in physics and missions that are every bit as awesome.

Oh, and Great Dane and Zemmix, you might want to play Freelancer or X3.

[The Great Dane]

The team mostly split up after the second game (I think it was the second, anyway), with a bunch of guys going off to Warthog and working on Starlancer (PC/DC), Star Trek: Invasion (PS1), Battlestar Galactica (PS2/Xbox), and Mace Griffin: Bounty Hunter (PS2/Xbox/PC).

The lead designer (Mike Ellis) wound up working at Crystal Dynamics on the Legacy of Kain and new Tomb Raider games (woo!). One of the programmers (Gavin Dodd) wound up going to Insomniac to work on pretty much every game after the first Spyro. Woo!

A new Colony Wars was planned for PS2 a few years back but it never came to be :( No idea who the developer was supposed to be. Always loved the first one to bits and pieces.

Tangent: It's a shame that the SNES version of Wing Commander 2 was never released and has yet to be dumped. I'd love to see how that turned out, because I enjoyed the PC version even more than Tie Fighter. That's saying something.

...and if you enjoy space combat sims in the slightest, then you owe it to yourself to play Independence War. Good lord is it good. Freespace is hot+wet and all, but IW has the edge in physics and missions that are every bit as awesome.

Oh, and Great Dane and Zemmix, you might want to play Freelancer or X3.

Thanks for the suggestion. What are those two games like? And what system are they on? I seem to remember the name Freelancer, but I don't know anything about it.

[roushimsx]

Thanks for the suggestion. What are those two games like? And what system are they on? I seem to remember the name Freelancer, but I don't know anything about it.

Both are PC.

Freelancer is a bit like Wing Commander: Privateer or Frontier: Elite 2 but with the sexy graphics that only a decade could bring. I'm not sure if a patch was ever developed, but my one problem with it back when it came out was the lack of joystick control; you fly with the mouse. As a bonus, it's from lead designer Chris Roberts, the guy behind the Wing Commander series. (Demo (http://www.gamershell.com/download_1395.shtml))

X3 is like that taken to 11. It can be fairly complex and the learning curve is a bit steep, but it's insanely rewarding. Giant, living game universe to explore (and exploit). (demo (http://www.egosoft.com/download/x3/demos_en.php))

Both games are fairly inexpensive now a days (you can get X2 w/ X3 for $25 on Steam)...give the demos a shot and see how you take to them.

[The Great Dane]

Both are PC.

Freelancer is a bit like Wing Commander: Privateer or Frontier: Elite 2 but with the sexy graphics that only a decade could bring. I'm not sure if a patch was ever developed, but my one problem with it back when it came out was the lack of joystick control; you fly with the mouse. As a bonus, it's from lead designer Chris Roberts, the guy behind the Wing Commander series. (Demo (http://www.gamershell.com/download_1395.shtml))

X3 is like that taken to 11. It can be fairly complex and the learning curve is a bit steep, but it's insanely rewarding. Giant, living game universe to explore (and exploit). (demo (http://www.egosoft.com/download/x3/demos_en.php))

Both games are fairly inexpensive now a days (you can get X2 w/ X3 for $25 on Steam)...give the demos a shot and see how you take to them.

Thanks, I'm downloading the demo for X3 right now. It sounds pretty awesome.