Breaking News: Electronic Arts 'Taps Privateer (March 9, 2006)

Bandit LOAF

Bandit LOAF

Long Live the Confederation!
Several days ago we reported on the news that Electronic Arts would be releasing Ultima I-VI through the Gametap online service. At the time speculation was that they might release Wing Commander titles in the future... well, the future is here! Fatcat reports that his copy of Command and Conquer: The First Decade include a flyer advertising the service... which confirms that Privateer will soon be available!


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This is amazing: Privateer -- no, Wing Commander Privateer -- listed right alongside the earliest iterations of Electronic Arts' premiere modern franchises (Ultima, Command and Conquer and The Sims). This is a very positive indication that Electronic Arts sees a future for the franchise... and even more than that, fans need suffer through confusing DOS emulators and poorly conceived remakes no longer: Privateer will be available! Things are looking up!

A Privateer screenshot appears at the GameTap website here.


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Original update published on March 9, 2006
 
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Pitty I won't be able to play that in brazil.
especially the ultimas, as i'm playing priv fine on dosbox. but it is handsome good news
 
GameTap is still a very new service. Like most things, if it's successful, I'm sure they'll deliver it internationally (and with all the EA backing, there's a good chance it'll be quite successful, I've even seen ads on tv). I can't wait to subscribe and check out how it is!
 
How does it work, anyway? Do the game run on the local machine, or remotely? Anyway, it's amazing.
 
hey hey... some of us liked Gemini Gold... give it a bit of credit... that aside... this has been an amazing month as far as announcements have gone.
 
'DOS' technically doesnt exist and hasnt been part of a standard computer for several years. Why wouldn't it be ported?
Either way we should get behind this effort, harras people to buy it, etc etc....and use this as a stepping stone for Wing Commanders return to it's rightful place among the stars! Show the little kiddies what a real game is ;)
 
BachManiac said:
The big question is: "will that be the original DOS-version of privateer or a ported new windows-version???????"
Click to expand...


The website makes it clear that it is some kind of multiplatform emulator for running all these games in XP
 
Gee I wonder what kind of "multiplatform emulator" they could be using?

(cough DOSBOX cough cough)

I hope someone reports back on how this service works.
 
Sonic TH said:
Gee I wonder what kind of "multiplatform emulator" they could be using?

(cough DOSBOX cough cough)

I hope someone reports back on how this service works.
Click to expand...


It's for XP so it doesnt run on multiple platforms... yet. But it emulates multiple platforms including DOS, and various consoles. I have no Idea what they use to emulate DOS though its possible it has connections to dosbox. The promptional blurbs on the site though seem to indicate that whatever the method, once gametap is installed running specific games shouldnt require any special customization and what not. If it is as simple as click-and-play that's really great.
 
Sonic TH said:
Gee I wonder what kind of "multiplatform emulator" they could be using?

(cough DOSBOX cough cough)

I hope someone reports back on how this service works.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's not actually DOSBox. I'm not going to dig up the details, but even open source stuff will carry the "free for noncommercial use" type of disclaimer. DOSBox is great, but it has its own set up bugs and quirks. This isn't some guy who just automated DOSBox at all. The whole process would have to be a lot more complex. Gametap has invested millions of dollars in this venture, and they definitely have their own proprietary method for making the games work.
 
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