It is disappointing, but somehow it isn't quite as awful as when EA shut down Westwood, or Sierra closed Dynamix...honestly, I've seen this coming since FL was released. They were a great developer, but really, the gaming industry has not recieved a crippling blow for their closing. They've had a rich history of great games...but the writing has been on the wall for a while now. It isn't a case of the parent company just up and smashing the developer without warning (again, as happened with Westwood and Dynamix).

Unfortunately, these things do happen- the gaming industry IS an industry, after all. And to throw some credit to MS (I never thought I'd ever say it...), they are hardly the innovation-smashing, dev-stomping steamrollers that EA and VUG are.

Yeah, it sucks, but it is hardly a surprise. Mourn a little, then go looking for other titles that bring something fresh and new into the genre...good games don't come from only one source. There are always new studios opening and turning out new products...they deserve at least as much attention as veteran developers that have made their last game.

Just my $0.02

Well that is a good point we can't let this bring us down. We are just going to have to get over this, pay are repeacts and move on thats all there is to it. if they don't make FL 2 it's ok, the human sparit never dies you know, there will be somebody somewhere making something like this sooner or later. However i think the strall that broke the camel,'s back was the brute force failue.... that game sucked!!!

Edited by - Lancer Rex on 12/2/2005 6:44:54 PM

sorry about that last last post i was in abit of a pissy mood

Im was first surpise with this but than i claim. Well i think there should have a "good admin" to request Microsoft game studio for next release of this series. As many fans await so badly and ***** to hear Microsoft studio just rip DA off.....

So what, big deal? We all knew that Digital Anvil'd get shut down by MicroSoft anyway? In any case, I don't know about you, but MicroSoft are damn helpful when you need them to be and the one thing you can do now is ask MicroSoft kindly to release an SDK for the game, or something in that direction (With that, I mean an SDK for the engine itself, not the game code, which we have to about 98%).

And anyway, who says that there won't be a Freelancer 2? The new Tomb Raider game isn't being developed by the guys who made the original. Fans have made a new 'Falcon' game all by themselves. Heck, there are so many examples of other companies doing work on games originally produced by others that it's nearly unbelievable.

ultimarely its about money a new game will have to be deemed profitable
the sad thing is profitable to m$ is a different ballgame to what another studio can make money at
ultimately the DA name meant very little for a while now and its demise will do little to affect the potential for a sequel /expansion

Yea, ok, ok, DA is dead.
Does anybody has an idea, how we can take or make our own FL ? What is the OpenLancer Project ?

EDIT: Found ! Of course here at TLR !

Edited by - TaknTar on 12/3/2005 8:46:17 AM

blimey there seems to be lots of new members appearing just to express their interest in this one subject...cold85 (3), freelancer192 (1), takntar (1)...I didn't realise that people were that passionate about the subject.

Welcome on board, hope you'll stick around and get as passionate about other subjects.

There has been something like 30 new people registered in the past day or two :O

-make 'em bleed-
Rabbit wants to rule

I have no problem getting my head around the whole "business is business" lark and think that anyone who expects a company to develop a game like FL2 while there are more profitable alternatives is a nut bar. What I find more difficult to get over is how space sims are not more sought after. PC and console gaming is just a perfect platform for entering into a sci-fi space battle adventure and ever since Space Invaders, Asteroids aqnd alike sci-fi space-ship shoot-em-up has been a back bone of gaming. You would have more than a tough time persuading me that a young lad (or lass, sorry sw) these days could not eagerly loose themselves while incharge of a hyper-speed dog fighter. Personally I think that there is a market but it just is not being properly developed. When is the last truly great space adventure movie along the "Last Starfighter", "Battle Star Galactica", "Battle Beyond the Stars", genre that has been made? Don't try to tell me that the genre is dead or played out either, WWII games are still being launched and that style is hardly "current".

---Just Id's 2 cents---

I completely agree Id. I never could get my head around that either...especially as a large majority of gamers are also sci-fi fans. You'd think that space sims would be the most popular genre rather than one of the least popular.

Maybe its a sign of the impatient new generation? Maybe no-one wants games with "real" depth any more? Maybe they just want a reasonably solid story that they can skip if necessary so they can start shooting things as soon as possible?

It strikes me that space sims have more depth, have more formulated reality-driven worlds and with the exception of freelancer, are more of a slow-paced long lasting game genre than a blast-em-out-of-the-skies type genre.

Well, seeing as no one in the game industry will make our games, WE will make freelancer 2.

Openlancer has been started and is exploding in activity. Soon, i have a little treat planned for all of you... Come down to our site and help out!

At least I know I am not imagining it Grom, ta!

One thing that I have noticed is the increasingly "realistic" aspect of games. Not the scene texture but the story and setting. City streets that look as close to what you might see if you look out the window (assuming your locale), real-life scenarios for example of car theft (no points for guessing the game) etc, are the new games aimed at people with less imagination? Okay, we all want a "realistic" feel about the game, but I also look for a bit of escapism. Vaninshing into a universe of aliens and strange new technologies is escape, muggings and car theft I can get by opening the front door.

Are new games aimed at a lazier group who can't be bothered imagining what a space adventure is like? Are newer games more a reflection of reality than an escape from it?

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Openlancer has been started and is exploding in activity. Soon, i have a little treat planned for all of you... Come down to our site and help out!

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Sorry, tried it this afternoon more then once but didnt managed it. Is the site really available or is it perhaps a problem with my IE ?