SpaceSimCentral

Well I don't know how many people check up on DS1 nowadays but the main website is down and so is the forums. The NA site is still up but any links to mods/forums are down. Looks like it is dying a slow death So i emailed the contacts that I could find to see if I can get permission to be a mirror for support or just a community reference for all the people that may be looking for a place to chat about DS1. I will hopefully hear something back. I did have a DS1 area for a while but no one showed any interest in it and there was no active mod community so I pulled the plug. Well if anything you can find DS1 online for under $10 Gives you something to do while you wait on all these great games that are coming.-D1-

I've got DS1, not a bad game. Actually I'm surprise nobody showed any interest in it, based on some of the games that people DO show interest in here. I never finished it though, got through half way and started getting bored with the same old missions types over & over. The cut scenes were great though, the story was good, and I will finish it at some point. Definitely better than many space sims I've played.

Agreed. I never finished it myself and I think one of the only reasons it isn't that popular was the support the game got and no modding capabilities. DS1 website is totally down now

Not being a true die-hard with space sims (experience-wise at least), I never realized that the ability to mod was so important. I just assumed that only a fraction of the gaming public would even know how to mod in the first place. So is mod capability a pre-requisite of greatness for all space-sims then?

It is a big one I think FL, FS and IWAR still having mods created for them or least mods in general to enhance or add to the game experience. There has been a dry spell in the world of space sim games and without the modding I think a lot of the games would be on a shelf. Look at WC games (great and epic in my mind) but after you have played them 1-2x it gets old because there is nothing but the story and if you know it by hard it gets boring.I have played some great FL mods and now some FS2 mods with the FSO project. Plus you let your community keep your game alive and current.

Makes sense enough, but I'm wondering how many more games the companies involved would sell by adding support/mod capability. They don't really have a mechanism to make money on either, and I'm guessing mod or no mods, those inclined to play space sims will buy the game either way. BTW, I've never tried the WC games, having only been playing PC games for the last year or so. But I keep hearing about the series. I'm tempted to try them but I really question whether or not I can enjoy a game made in the mid 90s'. FS2 was done in 2000, I-war 2 thereabouts, and I'm finding those graphics hard to tolerate. Heck FL was older than I wanted to go, but I'm sure glad I made the exception there.

Shant wrote:
BTW, I've never tried the WC games, having only been playing PC games for the last year or so. But I keep hearing about the series. I'm tempted to try them but I really question whether or not I can enjoy a game made in the mid 90s'. FS2 was done in 2000, I-war 2 thereabouts, and I'm finding those graphics hard to tolerate. Heck FL was older than I wanted to go, but I'm sure glad I made the exception there.
You will problerly have a bad time if you cant hack the look of Freespace/I-War2,but thay are worth playing.Wing Commander Wing Commander 3

Thanks for those, mate. I'm really tempted to try them. Were there any mods made to upgrade the graphics, perhaps?

You know I don't know,there has been a number of fan games/remakes based on Wing Commander,best place to look is on the CIC site.[url]http://www.wcnews.com/[/url]

Yeah, there's no way I can handle that. I don't know what I was thinking to consider going back that far. BTW, was that Kirsten Duntz in that second video?? And Luke Skywalker???

Shant wrote:
Yeah, there's no way I can handle that. I don't know what I was thinking to consider going back that far. BTW, was that Kirsten Duntz in that second video?? And Luke Skywalker???
Nope its the porn star Ginger Lynn Allen and yep Luke wandering around with Malcolm McDowelland John Rhys-Davies among others.

Shant wrote:
I don't know what I was thinking to consider going back that far.
Aww you are really missing out on a great game. Origin Systems did great things with this series and yeah its a bit dated but the story telling is great... least that's my opinion but I am a WC fanboy

I want to try man, really do. But I wouldn't feel like I'm in space, I'd feel like I was in an Atari 2600 nightmare.

If you have the time Shant, check this post out and download and watch the movies since you say you might not play the games. See mark Hamill in action....http://www.spacesimcentral.com/wing-commander-series-f43/full-length-and-movies-t641.html

Is the combat portion of WC4 a big improvement over WC3? Haven't seen it yet. Maybe if it looks much better than 3 I could suck it up and try.

Well they stepped it up each time, WC5 has the best visually but you have to remember the games are still old WC5 is 1997, WC4 is 1995 and WC3 is 1994.

Everyone is different... I really don't care about graphics quality. Especially when I add up the money I have spent on video cards over the years. I had more fun with Duke Nukem's simple graphics than with Quake 3's fancy-creepy-shadowy-ultra-graphics.To each his own.But thanks for reminding me about Ginger Lynn... she was so great as the shop mechanic! There should be more girls in these sci-fi games. I miss Angel's voice from Wing Commander... Colonel Jeannette Devereaux, where are you now?B

I realize graphics don't make the game, but for me in a space sim, so much of my enjoyment is the beauty of space and feeling like I'm out there. And you have the subtle differences that make it possible to distinguish systems, like gas clouds, asteroid belts, etc...You don't get any of that when you back to the 90s'.

I'm watching WC 3 as we speak...Hobbs that traitor what a bastard!

To me the WC series is all about the story. You do the space missions just to advance the story.