Remember Elite and Wing commander

PsiFox

PsiFox

Prefers Mac over PC any day
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straycat said:
what is this about,you lost me?
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You are to young.

elite was the first 3D space sim, in wire frame.

The Wing Commander series of games were just superb for their time.
 
I remember Elite! Their proud boast was that it was unpirateable. However, at the time I was working for a rival software house, whose programmers saw that as a challenge and the following morning, the publishers of Elite received a package containing 10 copies of their "unpirateable" game! (Apparently done bit by bit)
 
Elite on the Speccy used the Lens Lok device.

I remember buying it on cassette for the Acorn Electron. Great game - docking was hard until you could afford a docking computer.

Looking forward to the new instalment.
 
Nod said:
I remember Elite! Their proud boast was that it was unpirateable.
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Talking about the BBC version, as that is the original and I had a BBC Micro ...

The tape version was vunerable to two tape recorders (unsurprisingly).

The disk version took more effort, the initial loader had code that recursively self-decrypted in a 256*256 loop, which then loaded a second loader for the main game which contained further code designed to ensure it was genuine (I don't remember how this part worked) before the main game launched. I bypassed the initial loader and modified the second stage of the launcher so it didn't do its piracy checks, meaning the game would launch from any disk.

I bought my copies and never distributed the hacked version I created. I might still have the floppy disk in the loft with all my saved games and the cracked version on it. This all about six or seven years before I stated working in IT security. Actually before my O levels I think.

Uncrackable it was not, and I was just a child in their bedroom, albeit with a pretty powerful machine language debugger running in EPROM on my computer :D
 
I've still got it :$ can't run it though for some reason
 
andrewc said:
Elite on the Speccy used the Lens Lok device.

I remember buying it on cassette for the Acorn Electron. Great game - docking was hard until you could afford a docking computer.

Looking forward to the new instalment.
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the good old docking computer...and The Blue Danube! :thumbs:
 
'Twas indeed the BBC B version the chaps copied. Unsure of the technicalities but the did it literally binary bit by bit IIRC.
 
andrewc said:
Elite on the Speccy used the Lens Lok device.

I remember buying it on cassette for the Acorn Electron. Great game - docking was hard until you could afford a docking computer.

Looking forward to the new instalment.
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I always found docking without the DC much quicker and safer

Just used to fly up perpendicular to opening face using left or right view to align centrally, pull back on the stick and simultaneously roll to align perfectly, then just constant roll rate and fly right in. Ah those early proportional joysticks.
 
Elite on a BBC Model B with tube second processor, now those were the days.
 
these 2 are without a doubt my fondest memories of being a gamer in the 80's....

[YOUTUBE]8OrIYrjmCqs[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE]6HEUwFx1gWs[/YOUTUBE]
 
I remember playing elite and certainly remember wing commander, in fact I might still have wing commander somewhere :)
 
i played elite frontier on the amiga and i still play it now using dosbox for pc.

I am also the creator of the only official frontier elite comic. It has had amazing reviews from the elite community, as well as the frontier game developers too

http://dj-comics.com/frontier-elite/
 
PsiFox said:
I always found docking without the DC much quicker and safer

Just used to fly up perpendicular to opening face using left or right view to align centrally, pull back on the stick and simultaneously roll to align perfectly, then just constant roll rate and fly right in. Ah those early proportional joysticks.
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I did much of my early gaming with either a keyboard or a digital joystick rather than an analogue one.
 
Elite was fantastic - My all time best game ever, played on my BBC.

Years ago, feeling nostaligic, I bought a NES off the bay and found Elite too. That is still one great game!!
 
I had a zx81, bought a 16k ram pack for it to play football manager.
Got a spectrum, then a spectrum with built in tape deck, +2 or +4 or something.
Then Commodor's got cheap so I got a 64, from that I went to a MegaDrive.
Played thousands of games on all consoles, for years on, but I still have no idea what the hell Elite or Wing Commander is.
As far as I remember, Elite was a games developer, that's it..:shrug:...it must be a regional southern jesse north/south divide thing
 
Was just about to post a link to this kickstarter but luckily found this first...

Just to bump this thread back to the top for a bit as they are so close to completion! Nice to see they are changing the rewards as time evolves. Loved this game in the early 90's and really hope they make the target!
 
Loved Elite - Frontier! What an amazing game!
 
For those without the original game, but still looking for an Elite type fix, you could try http://www.oolite.org/

It's an open source take on Elite which runs on Mac, Windows and Linux.

TBH I couldn't get into, but some of you might.
 
I have to admit to playing a few retro games on my tablet over the past few days whilst the kids do their thing and play with their new toys in front of the fire.

I have a Nexus 10 and am amazed at just how smoothly it plays emulated N64 and PSone games.

But who can beat Holiday Lemmings on the Amiga, a bit fiddly on the touch screen but much fun all the same.

One game which brings back memories of Christmas is Donkey Kong Country, I remember spending pretty much all Christmas trying to beat it with my friend, it came out just before Christmas if I recall - I remember mum saying I almost didn't get it.

But best gaming moment at Christmas - opening up my Sega Megadrive and sticking in the Sonic 2 cart. Wow. I had a C64 before and the step up in graphics and sound was awesome. Still love playing that game on a rainy Sunday afternoon even now, 20 years later!
 
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used to love the elite on the electron during the 80's but never really bothered with it on any other platform i tried it out on other platforms but it never felt the same
it's gonna be interesting to see how the new elite turns out

another game i would like to see continued is the homeworld series which i got hooked on when they were released
 
Well, they reached their fundraising target in time which means the funding is in place and the game development can continue.

If they get to £ 1.4m they'll release a Mac specific version shortly after the PC version which would be great for me.
 
Elite was an Amazing game, used to come home on the Friday afternoon from work, about 2pm, turn on the C64 and play it till Saturday afternoon non stop.
Could never manage that now though!!!
 
Elite on the BBC model B and Elite II on the Spectrum! Yes. I remember them both well.
 
Elite was a truly groundbreaking game as it didn't have a set goal or story. It was techologically impressive as well, the whole game within 22Kb including clever wire frame graphics (with masked lines removed)

The sequels were clever as well, but had bugs due to pressure to release from publishers.
 
I think Elite was the first game i ever saw with a tv advert. Still got the tape in the attic!
 
andrewc said:
Elite was a truly groundbreaking game as it didn't have a set goal or story. It was techologically impressive as well, the whole game within 22Kb including clever wire frame graphics (with masked lines removed)

The sequels were clever as well, but had bugs due to pressure to release from publishers.
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Didn't Elite on the BBC come with a novella?
 
Yes, it did, The Dark Wheel by Robert Holdstock.

http://www.frontierastro.co.uk/Fiction/elitefiction.html

I would have been 10 when Elite first came out, and I recall quite enjoying the story, but at 10, my abilities to criticise wouldn't have been well developed.

My personal imagination of the future set in space is a cross between Elite and Star Wars. Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica etc never stood up to these two.
 
I wasted a good few hours running drugs, slaves and minerals to become Elite. By the time I had enough money to buy a docking computer I didn't need it..

If it comes out for PS3 I may have to buy it :-)
 
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