Brian, even though I never played it because I never subbed to SWG, I think that would count, yes.
I did a list of some space combat sims in 2009, on my old blog before I started up sugarfreegamer.com
http://spelkzero.blogspot.com/2009/05/space-combat-sims.html
Plus you might want to check out the community site, SpaceSimCentral
http://www.spacesimcentral.com/
Where they keep and up to date eye on space sims past, present and upcoming.
Oohh, thanks spelk, some good ones on there.
Darkstar One
edit - you did say ever made, correct?
Atari 2600 had Space Shuttle
Thanks, Dan, got it! :)
On a related note, GOG.com has just released I-War Deluxe edition for $5.99
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/independence_war_deluxe
Huh, that looks like it would fit, pyrhic. Thanks!
Privateer had an expansion that you didn’t list. I always regretted not playing that when I heard about it years later. (Since Privateer is one of my favorite games of all time).
It was called
Privateer: Righteous Fire.
I know it, but I’m only listing base games not expansion packs or mods. This list would be RIDIC if I added expansion packs, hell, just for the Wing Commander and X-Wing games alone.
Ah good to know. I got thrown when you included I-war: Defiance, which was an expansion. :P
Isn’t it a stand-alone type expansion thingy, which would warrant its own listing?
You might not want to include freeware stuff in case the list gets out of hand, but there’s Orbiter (realistic simulation) and Noctis (weird exploration).
What about Star Trek Legacy? Sure, it’s more actiony than many of the others, and it’s in third-person, but so is Freelancer (to a certain extent).
Malkari is a 4x space strategy game, ain’t it?
Star Trek Legacy is a space sim? I thought it was some sorta action strategy thingamajic, kinda like the Starfleet Command series (I wonder if those would count…) but not as good…
Yeah, ok. I still get some gameplay aspects confused with Terminus since I played both at around the same time.
Sigh, yeah, that time was like the last great hurrah for space games, it feels like.
FTFY.
That’s one area where we differ Brian. I had such high hopes for Terminus. I was really active on A Talent For War forum in those days, and when both hosted an interview with Vicarious Visions on IRC, I asked lots of questions. I was so excited about that game. I thought it was going to be the ultimate holy grail of Privateer crossed with I-war. But I thought it was a convoluted mess.
The interface was very unfriendly. The font was sooooooo ugly. I couldn’t really tell what the HUD information was trying to tell me in terms of keeping the Newtonian physics under control. Terminus really increased my appreciation for I-war in fact. It really did Newtonian physics right. Even on Manual override mode in I-war, it wasn’t as hard to fly the dreadnaught as flying a ship in Terminus was.
But that was the time of the last hurrah for joystick games, I’ll agree with that. That was when the last big round of space sims were getting made. I-war 2, Freespace 2, Tachyon: the Fringe, Terminus, etc. Mechwarrior 4. They all tanked.