The life of Interplay Entertainment Corporation has been a rocky one. Most well known for publishing Baldur’s Gate and the original Fallout games, as well as a spectacular brush with near-bankruptcy, saved only by the selling of Fallout to Bethesda, the company has still managed to stay afloat for ten years.
Now it appears it’s back on the up and up, although ultimately driven only through small successes of indie titles and the re-release of MDK2 HD. Perhaps the latter has galvanized hope for another re-released hit because Interplay recently purchased the Freespace intellectual property from THQ and Volition for peanuts.
According to a court document filed on June 4, it was for a whopping price of $7,500.
Cars cost more money.
…Used cars cost more money.
While the space simulator genre has seen a certain decline in the current gaming era, once upon a time Descent: Freespace – The Great War could stand toe-to-toe with the celebrated Wing Commander: Prophecy and X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter games, and Freespace 2, which was released a year later to great acclaim with a number of awards and nominations was simply wonderful for its time.
Very rarely has a space sim managed to achieve any level of actual story behind the fly-and-gun, but Freespace 2 managed it, and with a stunning level of believability. While dated, a fan community of modders has ensured that the game could be carried through to the modern day with little trouble.
Whether or not this will someday culminate in a Freespace 2 HD or possibly even a Freespace 3 remains to be seen.
