Microprose reborn!!!!

[Sonarman]

Seems some guys left Atari and purchased the name.
Looks like they are mostly focussed on hardware at the moment but....

quote
"Software development has also begun and an all new line of strategic simulations are on the horizon in the same spirit of quality and exciting gameplay that players expect from Microprose.
"
see more here (http://www.microprosesystems.com/default.htm)


Even More Good news!!!!

not only is Microprose back but Major Bill Stealey is back too! with a new company (not Microprose)....

"good news folks, Wild Bill Stealey is back, with a company that sounds a lot like the classic Microprose.

Thriller Publishing will develop, market, publish and distribute wholly-owned properties based on military and espionage themes."

get the full story on their new site here (http://www.thriller-games.com/)


And Even More....
And here is a third piece of news out of this!!!

Microprose started out in a place called Hunt Valley in Maryland, but they of course are not there any more but another games company is ... The imaginatively titled "Hunt vallley Games"

Let's take a look at the CVs of the guys who started this company...

"Bruce C. Milligan — CEO:
Mr. Milligan has held management and game design positions with the Federation of American Scientists, America Online, General Electric Information Services (GEnie), Interactive Magic, The 3DO Company, WebTV, Microprose Software, Inc., Ubisoft (in Germany) and The Avalon Hill Game Company. He was a member of the design teams for the very successful strategy games Rise of Nations (Microsoft, 2003), and Settlers: Heritage of Kings (Ubisoft, 2005). He was also a member of the development teams for the hit computer games Civilization and F-117A Stealth Fighter; both published by Microprose Software, Inc., of Hunt Valley, Maryland.


William T. Becker – President and Chief Operating Officer:
In addition to his outstanding credentials as a computer game programmer, Bill Becker was for seven years the president of Aeon Software, Incorporated, located in Hunt Valley, Maryland. Aeon’s best-known product, the Silent Hunter World War II submarine simulation, was considered by many to be the finest product of its type ever developed, and eventually Silent Hunter and its sequel products produced sales of more than 400,000 units, and the generation of net revenues in excess of $6 million. Most recently, he was the lead programmer for A Force More Powerful, a training simulation created by BreakAway, Ltd., for the York-Zimmerman International Center to help instruct people around the world how repressive governments can be influenced or replaced via the application of non-violent methods.


Kim Biscoe – Vice-President and Creative Director:
Kim Biscoe has over 18 years experience in computer game software development, production and management. He is credited with shipping over 20 game titles for such companies as Aeon Electronic Entertainment, MindScape, SSI, Microprose, Zombie and Disney Interactive. He has been at the helm of several innovative Internet startups and has played a crucial role in contract procurement and negotiations in both the game industry and Internet space. Mr. Biscoe’s ability to conceive, direct and manage the artistic and aesthetic vision of a project, as well as his deep understanding of what it takes to generate traffic to Web sites, will be critical assets to Hunt Valley Games’ long-term business strategies.
"

Here is a list of the products (http://huntvalleygames.com/Experience.html)these guys have been involved in.... Your jaws will hit the floor!!!

[Skybird]

:) the spirit lives!

[stabiz]

:rock:

[Oberon]

:rock: :rock: :up: :up: :up: :rock: :rock:

Yeeessss!!

[Kapitan_Phillips]

Here's to European Air War 2!:D

[Dowly]

Here's to European Air War 2!:D
:up::up:

EDIT: Might aswell go and check if my friend still has the CD of EAW. ;)

[Syxx_Killer]

I hope they make a new F-117 flight sim! :rotfl:

[Sonarman]

You guys shoud be ashamed of yourselves!... EAW, F117A ... flight sims!:down:

What about Red Storm Rising, Task Force 1942!:up:

[Jaeger]

most important point is: ubi gets competition, when microprose releases silent service 3. so they must offer bugfree games or the gamers will go to microprose... competition is the best keeper of quality :smug:

[Egan]

most important point is: ubi gets competition, when microprose releases silent service 3. so they must offer bugfree games or the gamers will go to microprose... competition is the best keeper of quality :smug:

Amen to that. This might be very interesting indeed. :up:

[Sonarman]

most important point is: ubi gets competition, when microprose releases silent service 3. so they must offer bugfree games or the gamers will go to microprose... competition is the best keeper of quality :smug:

Except that Silent Service 3 does not belong to Microprose it's a Sid Meier game and as such was sold back to him by Atari so if there is a SS3 it will be a Firaxis title! There would be more hope for a Red Storm Rising 2 as I don't think that was part of the deal Sid I think didn't want it as he knew that to make another game titled as Red Storm Rising would mean paying masssive royalties to Tom Clancy.

[sonar732]

:rock::rock::rock::up::up::up::up:

[SUBMAN1]

Gunship! :D :up:

-S

[Onkel Neal]

Thanks, posting on the Subsim News

[FIREWALL]

While I'm glad to hear about MICROPROSE makeing a comeback and makeing a little competition.

I'm not ready to kick UBISOFT in NUTS yet. :p

[CCIP]

I really hope this is what we dream it is.
Honestly, I think it was the downfall of Microprose and Jane's games that ultimately ended the golden age of sims. And it wasn't the games themselves I believe; there were just technical issues (i.e. the skyrocketing complexity of code that made them expensive and time-consuming, forcing development schedules to break down) that translated poorly into marketing. I think the management had made poor long-term choices and ultimately that brought the whole genre down. Ubisoft, for all the simulation releases, have in fact been simply riding a niche market that survived from the "golden age". They have otherwise proven themselves very poor and incompetent marketers for more serious games. Same goes for most of anyone releasing hardcore military games these days, except possibly Battlefront and Matrix Games.

Honestly, I thought there have been huge technical leaps in the last few years, and some extremely promising new distribution channels that could easily revive the sim market. The problem is the lack of will and the consolidation of power in console-oriented mega-corporations (e.g. EA and Ubi). I'm still convinced that well-marketed sims can be as successful as they were in the 90s. If anything, Microsoft's FS is proving the point over and over again.

So, with all that, here's to hoping that the new Microprose doesn't forget how to make great games while learning also how to market them in today's gaming world.

[GlobalExplorer]

Microprose is back, that's good news, now lets see if it's only a rebirth by name.

Honestly, I thought there have been huge technical leaps in the last few years, and some extremely promising new distribution channels that could easily revive the sim market. The problem is the lack of will and the consolidation of power in console-oriented mega-corporations (e.g. EA and Ubi). I'm still convinced that well-marketed sims can be as successful as they were in the 90s. If anything, Microsoft's FS is proving the point over and over again.

I must agree with you on this. Powerful engines like Ogre3D are available for free meaning already 1 or 2 people can make a great-looking game. Online distribution means you have a chance to survive without a publisher. But it's still difficult to succeed as a business because your game needs to acquire some critical mass - if you get past that you will have a lot of revenue, below that and it will be over. So if you don't own enough money to do what you want anyway, it's still a risky thing ..

[d@rk51d3]

:rock: :rock: :rock:


MICROPROSE put out some of my all time favourite stuff. I've missed them.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Encouraging news :yep:


RDP

[nikimcbee]

Red Storm Rising, Airbourne Ranger, Silent Service:up: :up:
sign me up.

[nikimcbee]

...wait a minute..:hmm:
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=124405

[Laffertytig]

this is just the best news ever, its the news that every sim fan wanted to hear!
when u look at their product catalogue (i had most em) then microprose where without doubt the greatest makers of simulations ever.

noone ever reallt took over their mantle so heres hopin that they get workin on upgrading all those old titles.

and yes, competition is never a bad thing

[Sonarman]

Even More Good news!!!!

not only is Microprose back but Major Bill Stealey is back too! with a new company (not Microprose)....

"good news folks, Wild Bill Stealey is back, with a company that sounds a lot like the classic Microprose.

Thriller Publishing will develop, market, publish and distribute wholly-owned properties based on military and espionage themes."

get the full story here (http://pc.boomtown.net/en_uk/articles/art.view.php?id=15588)

[FIREWALL]

While I'm glad to hear about MICROPROSE makeing a comeback and makeing a little competition.

I'm not ready to kick UBISOFT in NUTS yet. :p


Checked out link. Looks promiseing. :yep:

But I don't think we'll see any new pc game software for awhile.

That game controller looks very game consolish. Makes me wonder if their game software will go after that market instead of pc.:hmm:

[Blacklight]

Software development has also begun and an all new line of strategic simulations are on the horizon in the same spirit of quality and exciting gameplay that players expect from Microprose.


WOOOHOOOO !!!!! :rock:

[FIREWALL]

Software development has also begun and an all new line of strategic simulations are on the horizon in the same spirit of quality and exciting gameplay that players expect from Microprose.


WOOOHOOOO !!!!! :rock:


I'm with you Blacklight if it's also for PC. That game controller has me nervous. :rotfl:

[GlobalExplorer]

"good news folks, Wild Bill Stealey is back, with a company that sounds a lot like the classic Microprose.

Great news and thanks for sharing! I just hope he has not lost his creativity like many others, i.e. Sid Meier.

There is a website

http://www.thrillerpublishing.com/

Apart from the fact that they seem to be desperately looking for investors, I would expect even more from this one than from the new Microprose. Because they seem to know what they want, and as it's spionage / thriller / cold war related I would say an excellent idea!

Now do we see a new golden age of independent game developers? The big publishers have given up the PC sim / strategy market altogether, and without small / medium companies to fill the gap, and software technology becoming mature, everyone can have a go (think of Ageod, Stardock).

[Sonarman]

Thanks for that:up:

And here is a third piece of news out of this!!!

Microprose started out in a place called Hunt Valley in Maryland, but they of course are not there any more but another games company is ... The imaginatively titled "Hunt vallley Games"

Let's take a look at the CVs of the guys who started this company...

"Bruce C. Milligan — CEO:
Mr. Milligan has held management and game design positions with the Federation of American Scientists, America Online, General Electric Information Services (GEnie), Interactive Magic, The 3DO Company, WebTV, Microprose Software, Inc., Ubisoft (in Germany) and The Avalon Hill Game Company. He was a member of the design teams for the very successful strategy games Rise of Nations (Microsoft, 2003), and Settlers: Heritage of Kings (Ubisoft, 2005). He was also a member of the development teams for the hit computer games Civilization and F-117A Stealth Fighter; both published by Microprose Software, Inc., of Hunt Valley, Maryland.


William T. Becker – President and Chief Operating Officer:
In addition to his outstanding credentials as a computer game programmer, Bill Becker was for seven years the president of Aeon Software, Incorporated, located in Hunt Valley, Maryland. Aeon’s best-known product, the Silent Hunter World War II submarine simulation, was considered by many to be the finest product of its type ever developed, and eventually Silent Hunter and its sequel products produced sales of more than 400,000 units, and the generation of net revenues in excess of $6 million. Most recently, he was the lead programmer for A Force More Powerful, a training simulation created by BreakAway, Ltd., for the York-Zimmerman International Center to help instruct people around the world how repressive governments can be influenced or replaced via the application of non-violent methods.


Kim Biscoe – Vice-President and Creative Director:
Kim Biscoe has over 18 years experience in computer game software development, production and management. He is credited with shipping over 20 game titles for such companies as Aeon Electronic Entertainment, MindScape, SSI, Microprose, Zombie and Disney Interactive. He has been at the helm of several innovative Internet startups and has played a crucial role in contract procurement and negotiations in both the game industry and Internet space. Mr. Biscoe’s ability to conceive, direct and manage the artistic and aesthetic vision of a project, as well as his deep understanding of what it takes to generate traffic to Web sites, will be critical assets to Hunt Valley Games’ long-term business strategies.
"

Here is a list of the products (http://huntvalleygames.com/Experience.html)these guys have been involved in.... Your jaws will hit the floor!!!

It would be awesome if Neal could secure an interview with these guys for the next Subsim Almanac, with the amount of sims they have been involved in they could probably fill the entire book!

[GlobalExplorer]

All in very early stage, but this could be a trend these days. It must have to do with digital distribution.

All games I played in 2007/2008 were all more or less indy titles which will be impossible or hard to get in shops: Galactic Civilizations 2, Ageods American Civil War and the BDE/Shockwave version of Battle of Britain 2.

Thinking about it, I could already make a list of other promising indy franchises, and if they all deliver, this could be a happy time like in the old days.

If this is infact a trend I would like to see gamers take notice and create new platforms for information exchange on indy gaming - and in particular, not consider indy games defective anymore - and I am dreaming of a time where the serious, aging (war)gamer can happily ignore the mass market entirely (with some noble exceptions like the Silent Hunter series).

[Sonarman]

Yes I think you are right digital distribution is the way forward, all of the profits going direct to the devteam without the regular "food chain". More money for development. It seems to have worked quite well for the Distant Guns guys, although I think their activation system cost them a lot of sales, a necessary evil to protect their investment. On the plus side of Direct Distribution, Distant Guns has been one of the best supported games I have yet bought with dozens of patches constantly improving & changing things since it was first launched.

[GlobalExplorer]

Sure, Storm Eagle should be on that list, though I don't have DG, maybe I will get Jütland. The demo didn't catch me and there is some criticism of the activation, but I should really have another look at it.

[Sonarman]

I've had no problems with activation so far although I have not yet formatted or bought a new machine, but they seem to have systems in place for that so it should be ok.

[GlobalExplorer]

I think their biggest problem is that DG is a fairly small download, lets say no more than 200 MB. Such games seem to be very popular on the torrent sites. Maybe they should always blow up games with some gigabytes worth of videos, just in order to copy protect.

[Sonarman]

Absolutely, I am interested in getting the new German produced Ports of Call game when it is released in English. The German version came out a couple of days back and now if you type "Ports of Call Deluxe" into Google a massive range of torrents appear.

It's very sad, especially for such a tiny company, trying to satisfy niche areas such as simulation and it will probably mean no more games from them. I saw an article on Gamepro (http://www.gamepro.com/news.cfm?article_id=165488) the other day that estimates PC game piracy is now at 70-80%. So activation may be the only way game companies can survive. Although the forthcoming "three strikes and you are out " (banned from the internet, in the UK at least ) law on copyright material downloads should help. I think other EU countries are implementing something similar, not sure about the US.

[tonibamestre]

Lets see if Microprose devs could be interested on an updated remastered global Fleet Command or something similar,implementing the last graphics,engine,technology and covering the whole globe :up:

[CaptHawkeye]

Oh man i'm going to have a nerdgasm. The likelyhood of sequels to some of the best sims made is now more likely than ever. The FIRST thing I want to see is Task Force 1943. :)

[Sonarman]

You've got my vote, imagine TF1942 with AA & anti-sub added that would be amazing.

[Hellcat]

Great news indeed, so many hours spent flying around in 1942: Pacific Air War, and lets not forget the other greats like gunship, railroad tycoon, colonization and the like.

[Captain Vlad]

I hope they do recapture the spirit of one of the greatest game companies of all time.

And yeah, I would love to here the words 'coming soon' attached to things like F-117...TF 1942...Silent Service 3...and all the other games that everyone else has been mentioning...

...but I think as a race, humanity should divert it's attention from destroying itself, and redirect it's attention to destroying the alien invaders.

X-COM needs funding.

*nods*

[scrapser]

Wouldn't it be great to see a new Silent Service offering? The original was simple and yet so immersive...the ancestor of all that's come since. Imagine what they could do now! I'm thinking it could be just as engaging but not overloaded with so many "realism" features that it gets bogged down like SH3/4 with annoying bugs and glitches.

I know there are a LOT of people who would like to see a new offering of Railroad Tycoon, too. Sid Mier's recently released "Railroads" was a major disappointment and clearly was pulled from the oven a bit too soon (as all software is these days). I seriously believe that sim was Sid's in name only.

Of course, Red Storm Rising goes without saying. I really hope we see a rise of the Phoenix with these new companies starting up.

[bishop]

I know there are a LOT of people who would like to see a new offering of Railroad Tycoon, too. Sid Mier's recently released "Railroads" was a major disappointment and clearly was pulled from the oven a bit too soon (as all software is these days). I seriously believe that sim was Sid's in name only.

Actually, Sid was very involved in Railroads as one of the lead designers, it was his idea to remake it and he created the basic prototype of the game...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JjVsBQVK2A

I felt the same way as you did initially about Railroads, so I put the game away and then came back to it later with a more relaxed mindset and found that it's actually a fun game in many ways. It lacks a few things that I miss from the original game, but with the patches it's a nice little diversion from time to time (I love the Christmas scenario). I'm a sucker for anything to do with trains anyway... :D

[GlobalExplorer]

I know there are a LOT of people who would like to see a new offering of Railroad Tycoon, too. Sid Mier's recently released "Railroads" was a major disappointment and clearly was pulled from the oven a bit too soon (as all software is these days). I seriously believe that sim was Sid's in name only.

If you look at all that recent dreck with his name on it, you can't help but wonder if it was really him that designed the likes of Pirates, Civilization and Railroad Tycoon.

[Overkill]

I'm cry'n tears of joy! :D :D :D

[nikimcbee]

Time to brush up the ol' resume!:hmm:

[CaptHawkeye]

According to Wikipedia their new studio is in New York City. I live just an hour away! :D

[Overkill]

I see Red Storm Rising and F15 Strike Eagle are among the games mentioned for developement. Hope TaskForce 1942 and Pacific Air War are also in the works. :up:

[Hylander_1314]

It would be nice if they could get a hold of B-17 The Mighty Eighth, and finish it. But old Microprose had some of the best titles. One of my favorites was 1942 Pacific Air War. Even though it had scripted missions, it was still entertaining as a WWII flying game.

The origial B-17 was real good too.

[TheSatyr]

I hate to put a damper on this,but just because they call the company "Microprose" doesn't mean it will have the same quality as the old Microprose.

It's not going to have the same devs they used to have,(like Sid for one). I just hope it doesn't turn into the debacle that the re-born Atari turned into.

(On the other hand,I would love to see a remake of Birth of the Federation. That game just had so much unfulfilled promise).

[GlobalExplorer]

Obviously. Sid Meier, dumbing down games since 1992.

http://www.christian-wendt.org/CODEX/retarded3.jpg

[CaptHawkeye]

I hate guys like Sid Meier, Peter Molyneux, and Cevat Yerli. Developers who become "celebrities" in video gaming and like to go on and on about their next revolutionary title that will change the way you view life and make coffee for you or something. Whoops, turns out your game is nothing special! It's just another D&D spread sheet spam fest. The only challenge for the player is figuring out the AI patterns and voila. Game ova' man. Game ova.

So the fact that that Mircoprose systems has little to do with Sid Meier thus far is something I consider good. I want Task Force 1942. Not his annoying 1980s holdover bull.

[GlobalExplorer]

We have something in common CH.

Sid Meier is a salivating old man who once created great games (it stopped in the mid nineties). That Molyneux is a genius is a truism - just no one can remember what he actually did that was so special. One just has to read some of his recent discharge - about games that more or less play themselves while the dumbf_ck in front can feel "cool" - to see that never gave a sh_t about games.

I am so sick of these guys. They are a large part of the cancer that has befallen the game industry.

[Blacklight]

Speaking of Sid Meyer's Civilisation, I don't know how the hell it happened, but back in the day, Avalon Hill had a board game called Civilisation which was essentially the same game that Sid Meyer made for the computer MANY years later. It was basically a computer copy of the board game. Avalon Hill sued. They went to court. The ruling was against Avalon Hill and Sid Meyer and the video game company got the copyright. The result was that Avalon Hill had to stop producing and selling Civilisation. This lawsuit also used up enough funds so that it became a contributing factor in Avalon Hill's demise.

I have no idea how that game company swindled the judge to find against Avalon Hill who published that game (a fantastic and very sought after game today) many years before Sid Meyer's Civilisation.:nope: