And now for something a little different……
If the picture below means anything to you then probably :-
– you’re in your forties
– you’re a little more round in the middle than you would like
– you owned a BBC Micro (or at least like me you had a father who bought one)
– you spent quite a bit of time playing arguably the best computer game ever – Elite
And the reason for this nostalgic post? David Braben (one of the original creators of Elite along with Ian Bell) has a Kickstarter fundraiser running to enable a new version of this classic game to be produced.
The Kickstarter page is here and contains a lot of information about the game including gameplay videos, concept art and interviews. It currently has 11 days left to go and as I type still needs £313,062 to meet its target.
So what are you waiting for? If you want to re-live your youth then go and pledge some money. If you don’t want to re-live yours or you’re one of those disgustingly young people then pledge some money so I can re-live mine.
Your description of me is almost on the money…I’m from Canada, so the BBC micro never really took off. However, the Commodore 64 did, and Elite was ported to it! I must admit I devote too many hours to Elite (and then Privateer). (And, sad to say, last year I even bought Privateer from GOGO.com and replayed it, lo these many decades later).
That being said, I’m a bit disappointed that the new kickstarter is only going to be available for the PC. Not surprised really, but since Valve is discovering the advantages of OpenGL as opposed to DirectX, one can hope that smaller studios will also begin gently tiptoeing that way.
By the way, if you’re nostalgic about Elite, there is always Oolite. (www.oolite.org)
I got Elite for Christmas 1984 and spent the following couple of weeks sitting at the computer in the corner of the living room playing it non-stop. I’ve still got the Beeb, the external floppy drives, the joystick and of course the game (still in its original box with all of the books). I’ve been hunting for a BBC Cub monitor on eBay so I can relive the experience.
My house is 100% Mac so to play the new game I’m going to have to buy a PC for the first time in over 10 years.
Best video game moment ever when I became “Elite”.