Recently got wind of a space sim game, Space Rangers 2 (for the PC):

http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000440064479/

Made by some Russian guys, and apparently the translation isn't great (it's nowhere near as bad as people make it out to be - most Japanese RPGs have dialogue that's FAR worse). Checked out some stuff on the internet, and people were saying all sorts of crazy things about the game - how complete it was, how deep, etc., etc.

So I got it and tried it out.

Most of it plays out like a turn-based strategy game a la Master of Orion. But then you have these planetary battles that are RTS. I've yet to see it, but there are apparently some arcade-style segments of "hyperspace." There are also text adventure segments (if you get thrown into prison). You can trade, you can outfit your ship, you can get alien technology and somehow incorporate it into your ship...

There's a fair amount of text in the game anyways at certain points describing what's going on in the galaxy. Continuous news ticker telling about what's going on in this place or that place.

Right now I'm stuck in the Earth / Mars area - there's a pirate that I can't kill who keeps attacking me. Maybe I can slip out of the system while he's otherwise occupied with another ship.

I've only played for 2-3 hours so far, and it's pretty engrossing. Expect an open-ended mission structure similar to what you might find in Morrowind - nobody tells you where to go and what to do all the time, and you can pretty much do whatever you want. I can see where gamers who want a lot more visceral action would get bored with it, though.

Just thought I'd give a little bit of info on it - Gamespy, IGN, and all those other places don't even mention anything apart from the game's existence. I think you can get the game at Gogamer.com - I got it there for $30. Runs beautifully on my Athlon 1600+ GeForce 3 Ti200 756 Mb RAM computer.