BREAKING NEWS: Restored Privateer 2 Footage Available (May 20, 2020)

Bandit LOAF

Long Live the Confederation!
Very exciting news today that we just can't wait to share: Privateer 2 director Steve Hilliker has posted over an hour of footage from the game's FMV shoot to YouTube! The footage is sourced from a Beta SP tape and has been further restored by a genuine professional... resulting in a better look at the Tri-System than we've ever seen before! You'll see beautiful sets, props, extras and more for the very first time. You can access the footage here.


25 years ago I directed live action film sequences for the first interactive movie in Europe. Originally it was called 'The Darkening' but became better known as 'Privateer 2 The Darkening' for Electronic Arts.
We had a great cast including Clive Owen, John Hurt, Christopher Walken, David Warner, Mathilda May, Brian Blessed, Jurgen Procknow, David McCallum, etc.

Recently I discovered that all the master tapes were sadly destroyed many years ago. Using only my surviving domestic Digital 8 copy (rescued from the loft) which was recorded from a 2nd generation Beta SP I have used DaVinci Resolve Studio Super Upscale 'AI 'software to save and regrade what I can. Obviously this can never match the original masters.
As most of the cast and crew never saw a single frame of the original (they weren't gamers!) and there was no press screenings or premiere of the footage I thought it was fitting after all these years to try and put something together. I haven't included any gameplay, only movie footage with one interactive 'short' pathway.

Pure Nostalgia - I had a great cast and crew! So this is especially for them and any one else who is interested in what we got up to on four stages at Pinewood during those very hot months of April and May 1995!

But wait, there's more! Mr. Hilliker has also posted fascinating nine-minute 'making of' segment containing more clips from the game. (Warning: includes holographic nudity.) It's available here.


Again, I rescued this from my Loft! Bradley Borum gave me this VHS way back in 1995!

Bradley made 'The Making Of The Darkening'
Hope she doesn't mind me uploading this now!

--
Original update published on May 20, 2020
 
Nice introduction - 2 million pounds would still have been an almost unheard of amount of money for a video game shoot back then (aside from Wing Commander, of course). Heh, faster than Eastenders...

Interesting thought about the cast never having seen the final product. I suppose it would be the same for most games that involve professional actors, whether voice-only or FMV, if they are not interested in playing games themselves.

I have a recollection of seeing the 'making of' video before, but nice ti see it restored as well.
 
While I had the feeling that WC/Privateer is slowly drifting out of my life, this has been a great blast of nostalgia. Wonderful find, LOAF!

Now should I go and reinstall my Darkening CD copy on one of the old rigs, or silently pray for @ODVS to break out the video enhancement kit and make the game even more stunning than before (if that is even possible..)?
 
While I had the feeling that WC/Privateer is slowly drifting out of my life, this has been a great blast of nostalgia. Wonderful find, LOAF!

Now should I go and reinstall my Darkening CD copy on one of the old rigs, or silently pray for @ODVS to break out the video enhancement kit and make the game even more stunning than before (if that is even possible..)?

We should be able to use HCL's .dll hijack method to hack Privateer2's windows .exe file to run an external video player. The same should be possible for the other WC games' Windows versions to get remasters done.
 
Back
Top