[Colonol Dekker]

Any luck with this?  Maaaaan, this whole thing is annoying,

Nothing that would get a meaningful response.

in other news interplay is worth about $3 - $3.5 mil on the stock markets from what i could find

Really? That little?

I expected higher, but i can believe it.

[mjn.mixael]

We should raise that much and just buy Interplay. DONE.

[Enzo03]

I have $5.

[Colonol Dekker]

Chuck it on my platinum visa

[Rga_Noris]

The license, while an issue, is actually the smallest of the hurdles in front of FS3.

The Market is the issue. How many top selling Space Sims have been released since FS2? For that matter, how many top selling Space Sims were released in FS2's day? FS2 sure wasn't a top seller. Major publishers want cheap triple A names they can sell for a wide margin. Slap Call of Duty on a box and it will sell, regardless of quality. Put FreeSpace 3 on a box and you will have gained nothing.

THQ needs hits, and they need to spend as little as possible to make them. The FS name is hardly a slam dunk. They cannot rely on the name, so they have to put money into the actual product... far more expensive than making a mediocre game with a great name. Hell, even making a mediocre game is spendy.

Consider that 300K would pay for about one project leader for one year (including benefits and workmans comp), which is one person out of a team of a 100 (or more, considering todays AAA teams), and now add marketing, packaging, shipping, tech support, web sites...

A 300K license is hardly what's stopping FS3.

[Polpolion]

I'm just glad Freespace isn't popular enough to have franchise whores out there trying to use its name to boost sales of an unrelated project, like what Syndicate and XCOM are doing.

[Ulala]

FS2 is one of 's favorite games, maybe their absolute favorite, and they were really crushed when it didn't do well.

It could/should have done well, it's a ****ing superb game; I'm sad for them. When FSO is finished, would it be possible to release on a widely adopted platform (i.e. Steam) that would get FS2 more exposure? (and hopefully more appreciation! FS2 deserves it.)

[MatthTheGeek]

When FSO is finished

Hahahaha

Wat

[Ulala]

When FSO is finished

Hahahaha

Wat

A man can dream, can't he?

[KyadCK]

I'm just glad Freespace isn't popular enough to have franchise whores out there trying to use its name to boost sales of an unrelated project, like what Syndicate and XCOM are doing.

No, FS1 just happened to be the whore 

Descent: FreeSpace – The Great War

When FSO is finished

Hahahaha

Wat

A man can dream, can't he?

Its a rather sick dream to want all the new things and all the possibilities to end. "FSO being finished" == "Hard-Light being dead".

[MatthTheGeek]

A man can dream, can't he?

I'm not sure you understand the whole concept.

The Source Code Project aims at improving the Freespace Open code, making it more optimized, adding features, fixing bugs, etc (not necessarily in that order). By very nature, it is not a project that will have a definite conclusion to its development. Other than, of course, it being eventually abandoned if the SCP team was to ever disband/vanish/whatever. That, my friend, isn't exactly what a man should dream of, right ?

[Ulala]

I of course do not dream of the end of this place, that's preposterous, but thanks for the lovely presumptions. Fine, when FSO reaches a point of consistency that would be acceptable for wide release, would it be possible to release to a more widely adopted platform to get FS2 the exposure it deserves?

[General Battuta]

I of course do not dream of the end of this place, that's preposterous, but thanks for the lovely presumptions. Fine, when FSO reaches a point of consistency that would be acceptable for wide release, would it be possible to release to a widely adopted platform to get FS2 the exposure it deserves?

Well, I think we've been at that point since 3.6.12. It's not really possible for us to do this since we cannot sell FSO.

[Ulala]

Bummer. I'll have to start an awareness campaign then.

[headdie]

Bummer. I'll have to start an awareness campaign then.

The FS source code was released on a not for profit basis, thus short of some very unlikely changes to the legal system internationally regarding software licencing it will never happen because selling any software resulting from the code is illegal

[Ulala]

I never said anything about selling, I was just hoping it could be released in some fashion that achieves greater penetration than the usual loyal followers downloading and unzipping a bunch of **** from our humble little home here.

[jr2]

Well, once 3.6.14 is out, I was going to upload all of the FS mods / TCs / MVPs and FSPort to gameupdates.org.  However, as I just recently moved (again!), this will not likely be possible, as I'll be behind a satellite connection.    Perhaps I'll be able to do it slowly over the course of several months..

[Ulala]

I have high speed internet and would be willing to contribute to that cause if you like. Isn't 3.6.14 is still a ways off?

[jr2]

It's on Release Candidate 5.. so.. maybe not?

[Trivial Psychic]

I have come up with an idea on how to create something which is the closest thing to a real FS3 that there could ever be, but also satisfying us more seasoned members who are reluctant to see such a thing created for fear of it seriously harming canon, or that an unknown might bastardize it.

Firstly, this would have to be understood as being totally non-cannon... at best, fannon.  Secondly, it would preclude the idea of it being on any new game engine.  It would therefore be made for FSO.

Volition, THQ, and Interplay.  All three of these companies hold various portions of the rights to the game, but none are willing or able to do anything with them.  However, even if they did, it is likely that the direction would be so alien from the existing type of story, as to be a complete disappointment to all.  This leaves only one conclusion... the game must be made by the only people that the FS community as a whole trusts with the story... the original game designers themselves.  We already have had contact with at least two of the original developers, story and now music.  If we could coax enough of the original creators, intermixed with HLP campaign alumni, with close partnership with the FSO team, I could see a polished product being released to the community as the "the next best thing to FS3 you'll ever see".  Not saying that campaigns such as BP, Inferno  , and many others aren't awesome and well created campaigns, but this would have the prestige of being the FS3 that the Volition design team wanted to make.  It would of course have to be a non-profit project, just as all the rest of the non-cannon campaigns over the years have been, and that's assuming that the original designers I have mentioned, aren't under some kind of legal restraints preventing them from participating in any FS-related project not authorized by Volition, THQ, Interplay, or whoever owns the story rights, in any way shape or form.

Now, I understand that something like what I have proposed is exceedingly unlikely, and equivalent of a daydream, but it would probably also be the most likely way it could be created, and the most likely it could be accepted by the community as a whole.

I doubt this could actually be done, but I felt like sharing this concept with the community.