Elite IV is not Vapourware

In a recent CVG interview, David Braben talks about the next version of Elite. Confirmation that Elite IV (No better name exists publically yet) is not vapourware as some have been saying.

Obviously they’ve not been listening to David and the passion with which he speaks of a future Elite.

Elite will be Frontier’s next big next-gen game after the political thriller The Outsider ships. The Outsider is going to be a game that breaks a lot of new ground in gameplay and immersiveness, ideas and technology that is required to make Elite what Braben dreams it could be.

Also confirmed is that the next incarnation of Elite will be a single player game at first, with a small LAN based multiplayer element. Followed later, after more development and technical advances, by a proposed Massive Multiplayer Online version of the game. Something that a lot of Elite fans have been fantasising about for many years.

David Braben on the PS3

In a recent interview with CVG, Elite creator David Braben speaks of how he believes Sony got their decisions about the PS3 absolutely right.

There’s been plenty of bashing of Sony’s handling of the PS3 launch and little to be said from anyone in defence.

Braben though thinks differently:

“I’m very wary …at the moment there’s a fashion to knock Sony and I think it’s a big mistake. The fact that they have succeeded very well twice, they’re one of the few companies to have gone outside core gamers. Don’t write them off.”

Braben continues to express his belief that the choice to go with a completely open net access service, as opposed to a closed service such as Micosoft’s XBox Live, will be key to the PS3’s success.

“That shows a very different approach. It’s not a narrow gateway, highly controlled by one person. I think that is very very positive.”

He also believes that the PS3 should be considered more than a console.

“When you put it together with the fact that it supports a keyboard and things like that, people may start to regard it more as a cheap PC than an expensive console. Or a new thing that’s somewhere in between.”

Well it remains to be seen, but I respect the positive attitude. I’m going to a talk by Braben on Monday, I wonder if this will arise in the after lecture questions.