How in hell did this happened? How can we live in an era where every goddamn game made is a first person shooter, and we are in dire need of a new setting, a new way to continue to shoot shit in a first person view before we become bored to death with those military-themed shooters and NO one never thought : Hey you remember those games back in the 90's where you would sit in a spaceship, in a cockpit view and kill stuff all around? 
 
I'm posting this in here because I think XWing vs Tie Fighter was the greatest of all those games. Not only did it captured perfectly the essence of those iconic space battles scenes but the gameplay was great, multiplayer even more so!
 
So why, Giantbomb? Why won't you buy space sim games no more?

i would really want a new one

Fuck I miss Freelancer. It seems like space sims aren't really something people play anymore, which is too bad. If a decent one came out, I'd buy it.

See I don't understand why people don't play these games anymore. They are pretty much fps shooters but in goddamn space!! After decades of killing people in the face, ain't it time to shoot at something else??

my fav part of starwars battlefront 2 was space combat, i would love a modern take on it.

... and this thread is dying just like the space sim genre...

There's actually no good reason why this genre hasn't come back yet. Modern day consoles are perfectly capable of supporting them.

i would love a new one

I've come to the decision after playing some Black Prophecy, that any sort of flight combat simulator is extremely boring. I hate watching dudes fly off screen, turning to meet them, firing two shots and than turning all the way around again.

I've come to the decision after playing some Black Prophecy, that any sort of flight combat simulator is extremely boring. I hate watching dudes fly off screen, turning to meet them, firing two shots and than turning all the way around again.

Man, I miss Tie Fighter. The last time I enjoyed a game in the same genre was Rogue Squadron.

Maybe somebody can persuade Namco to take the Ace Combat games outside the atmosphere?

This reminds me of last year, where me and a couple of friends found that there was a 100-man RPG Freelancer server still up, it was full at almost all times, and they had a wiki filled with lore that they'd made up over the years. Crazy what you'll find on the internet.

As long as they don't revive escort missions, I am all for space sims.

I've sent the question to the bombcast, hopefully it'll get some air and we could get the crew's take on this.

Well its related to the overall death of flight sims.  Hell sims of all kinds.  Flight sims used to be the biggest games out there, now they are an incredibly small niche.  But the same can be said for sub sims, tank sims and mech sims.

Tank and Mech sims are still alive, you can find easily modern games with those elements. They may not be good but they exists, in consoles too. But Space sim? Since Darkstar One it is completely dead, nothing! Black Prophecy hardly counts cause you know, mmo.

I would love a new X-wing game. I think its a combination of there being a number of these types of games in the 90s (like but not as bad as the FPS genre now) and most companies just took a break. I remember reading that there was supposed to be a new x-wing in development a few years back that I guess nothing came of, then there was Battlefront 3 (that would have been epic) but was canned and never picked up by anyone else. There's no real good reason why someone doesn't make a new one but if its specifically about Star Wars they just seem to be pushing all the newer Ep 1 - 3 shit and I doubt it would be as good. Like people mentioned in other posts as long as they don't bring back the escort missions, shit I remember the one at the end of X-wing Alliance where you had to dock with the shuttle inside the station and flay out with it while being shot to shit.

I'd love to have a DECENT space combat sim game. Although i agree that Black Prophecy is pretty lame, it still has nice graphics and very nice effects that i'd really like to see in a good space combat game.
 
PS: Freespace 2 with Open Source Project is still the best.

I would like a space sim the captures the vastness of space and the mysterious frontier aspect of it. I would like an open universe game where I can travel in my ship, actually controlling it mind you, and land on foreign and alien worlds that inspire me with a sense of wonder and awe or terrify me with a sense of dread and fear. I would like to discover alien cultures or find extinct ones on forgotten planets. I would like to fly across random events like a drifting battle damaged hull of an old war ship or cruiser I can get out explore, salvage or even tow back to sell for money.  Or a prison satellite that has mutinied many years ago, but through the generations they became a peaceful society stranded on the edge of the galaxy, but since a distress beacon was accidentally activated the space government in control has now set to destroy it as is standard procedure when a space prison colony has gone rogue and I have to intervene, if I want to. 
 
I would like to be able to customize my ship on a deep level where it becomes an extension of my personality. Maybe I don't want to focus on combat but rather style and speed and become a famous space race pilot. Or maybe I want to become a freelance mercenary and so my ship would reflect that with numerous armaments etc. I would like a character creator that has wealth of races and options to choose from. Personalization must be key. Somethings such as tattoos or piercings etc should be universal to all races, and not just given to some to give them a more "tribal" motif. That's fine if one race is characteristically not tribal looking but your character is and possibly would treated as a sort of taboo in your species amongst npcs. I hate when one characteristic defines a race in fantasy settings. (All elves like nature all dwarves like mines etc. If you have modicum of intelligence and personality you might break from that mold) 
 
 I think it would be cool if you could explore space on your own as a pirate/salvager/smuggler/transporter or rising the ranks in some type of federation. I would like those two factions to not be dichotomies of good and evil either. There should be no morality/karma meter. I want to feel insignificant and have that child like sense of wonder as I fly around. I'd like to be worried about minding my fuel and hoping I don't run out and drift endlessly off into space. I want to have a crew I generally care about. I don't want a story. I want to make my own, having my decisions and my actions determine the story for me. I want to crash land on a planet and find a way to get off of it, hoping the planet is technologically advanced enough I can by parts and if not trying to rebuild my ship to send out a distress call to an npc/multiplayer person to come and save me. If my ship is big enough I want to go down with it and tell my crew it was an honor serving with them as we are bombarded with destructive munitions tearing apart the hull solidifying our burial in the stars. I possibly would like that characters death to be permanent.
 
 
I would like a lot of things. Here's hoping.

God, there's so much potential with today's tech to make a fantastic space sim.  Personally, I'm pulling for another Tachyon, but I'd settle for anything these days.
 
Fuck you, Bobby Kotick. Fuck you.

If only Jumpgate didn't fuck itself over with delays and legal drama QQ. The first game had great sandbox gameplay and the new one could have expanded on that greatly. Now all we have is fucking Star Raiders and Halo Reach's space level.

Fingers crossed David Braben continues with Elite 4 development.

How in hell did this happened? How can we live in an era where every goddamn game made is a first person shooter, and we are in dire need of a new setting, a new way to continue to shoot shit in a first person view before we become bored to death with those military-themed shooters and NO one never thought : Hey you remember those games back in the 90's where you would sit in a spaceship, in a cockpit view and kill stuff all around?   I'm posting this in here because I think XWing vs Tie Fighter was the greatest of all those games. Not only did it captured perfectly the essence of those iconic space battles scenes but the gameplay was great, multiplayer even more so!  So why, Giantbomb? Why won't you buy space sim games no more?

Agreed, I definitely miss the Space Sim genre.
 
I absolutely loved the original Colony Wars on playstation 1.  I would love another game similar to it.

I've sent the question to the bombcast, hopefully it'll get some air and we could get the crew's take on this.

X3: Terran Conflict is a very good space sim.

@demonbear said:

I've sent the question to the bombcast, hopefully it'll get some air and we could get the crew's take on this.

They touched upon your question in this weeks bombcast!