Elite: Dangerous

Developer(s)	Frontier Developments
Designer(s)	David Braben
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, OS X
Release date(s)	WW March 2014
Genre(s)	Space trading and combat
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer

Elite: Dangerous is a forthcoming space trading and combat simulator that represents the fourth instalment in the Elite video game series. Having been unable to agree a funding deal with a publisher for many years,the developers crowdfunded the project through a Kickstarter campaign. The Windows version is due to be released in March 2014, with a Mac OS version three months later. On the 10th October 2013, it was announced that the game will officially support the Oculus Rift VR headset.

Elite: Dangerous retains the basic premise of previous games - players start with a spaceship and a small amount of money and make their own way in an open galaxy. Players will choose how much they interact with others,from completely offline play to something approaching an MMO.The extensively procedurally generated universe is expected to be vast both in scope and detail, perhaps allowing players to fly down into a unique cloudscape for every planet of every size in a universe containing hundreds of billions stars.Unlike previous games in the series, procedural generation of economic and political aspects of the universe will be based largely on player input, so for example a concerted campaign by players against a star system could destabilise the local government, turning it from a stable system into an anarchic one.

Many elements of previous games will be retained, with the most playable parts taken from each.For example, space flight will be more like the original Elite,whereas players will be able to buy and customise ships like in the Frontier games.The creators have often noted how the previous games lend themselves naturally to modern online gaming - for example, destroying an innocent ship has always led to a criminal record and to police attention in systems rich enough to afford law enforcement, which would provide a powerful anti-griefing mechanism in a multiplayer game.

Twenty-five ships will be available at launch, including the Eagle Mk II Fighter, Sidewinder, Cobra Mk III and Anaconda.Despite showing significant design work for the Viper Mk II and concept art for the Krait, it has not been officially confirmed whether these will be part of the initial twenty-five.