I actually wouldn't be terribly excited about a new Descent.
I wasn't terribly pleased with the change in direction from D2 to D3 (it was still a damned good game, mind you), and I would imagine that anything made today would be even further away from the core game than D3 was.
Descent really was a franchise based on the multiplayer experience over LAN / Internet. The single player portion of the game wasn't anything to write home about. Though descent 2 made the descent universe more fleshed out and had great cut-scenes, the single player game left a lot to be desired. The original D1 was really nothing to write home about since it released in the pre-internet environment. Descent 2 came along with dial up and kali / kahn lan emulators to play over the net.
Descent REALLY could use an update with all the lessons game developers have learned in making cinematic based games. Problem is, vehicular combat has been incorporated into first person shooters/third person shooters like Unreal Tournament, Halo, etc, etc. We've had 'genre convergence' as first person shooters started incorporating simulating other aspects of the world. But I'm not confident any game dev team would know what to do with it. The reality was Descent 3 was a botched job. The whole flying outside thing screwed up the game and the developers didn't take any care replicating the feel of D1/D2's ship weapons and physics characteritsics. If I were to do descent today, I'd go over D2 with a fine tooth comb figuring out the exact size/shape of weapons, their characteristics and replicating the feel exactly in some new engine.
I liked what 343 studios did with their update to Halo 1, I think they called it halo anniversary. It basically allows you to switch between the old game and new game graphics in real time. I'd love for a developer to do that with say descent 2. D2 had the beginnings of a cool universe for descent that was never expanded on. That whole starship at the end could have been flung into something interesting.
Ending cinematic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KGPSz_MfacToday people rather have vehicles as an option and play as a man with a gun/super powers in some pseudo-action movie semi-videogame that they pump out today. Rather then be forced into a vehicle for the whole game.
What volition has been making after freespace was shooters /w vehicles, either first or third person.
