Repetition Stresses Image Details - RSI Concept Breakdown Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Update ID

Some of you may have been wondering why I left out one of the concept images in the previous update. You were probably wondering where that nifty carrier from the 'enlist' page was. It was intentional so we can talk more specifically about the images themselves!

This carrier concept is nicely detailed and reminiscent of the early Wing Commander carriers. Considering the Privateerish concept we highlighted yesterday, does this weight the chances in favor of a Wing Commander-style game?

Also, something was nagging me about the image after I had stared at it for a while, and my focus seemed to drift over the little "carrier" title block on the bottom right. The writing is blurry, but the shape seems familiar. I was reminded of my time scouring the web for Outlander information.

One of the concept artists that worked on Outlander was recently featured on Kotaku and is probably why my memory made the connection, but is it possible Chris Roberts went all out and got Ryan Church - of Star Wars Episodes 2 and 3 fame to sketch up these amazing images? I'm just throwing this out there, so judge for yourself and let us know what you think in the comments.

Now let's look a little closer at the rest of the shots... The majority of these images seem to be elements of a ship. In fact the bridge picture from the RSI website actually had "Wing Commander" in the file name - for a while anyway.

Personally I think that the control center image reminds me a lot of the bridge of the Concordia in Wing Commander 2 and TCS Victory's bridge in Wing Commander 3. The hallway is generic enough, but still in line with the Wing Commander style. Both images have the ship orbiting a planet, and one of the large screens seems to have an altitude gauge.

The deck image shows what looks like a detailed layout of some kind of capital ship or starbase... the various decks appear to be connected by a vertical tube that seems like an elevator. Again, I'm reminded of the way the player hunted around the TCS Victory in WC3 in search of the next story videos.

The following images could be interpreted a number of ways but it's interesting that the map image lists Sol for earth and has a hexagon pattern around what looks like a jump-line between it and the "Croshaw System." Are these temporary names? Or hints at something more?

The pod could be anything... Is it a bomber's turret? The nose of a weird fighter? An escape pod? TrainSim? A futuristic latrine?

BREAKING NEWS: Roberts Space Industries: Big Announcement Coming In October Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Update ID

The website for Roberts Space Industries came to life today. The major headline is that Chris Roberts' new project, having been in the works for around a year, is set to be revealed this October 10th! As many commentators have pointed out, this happens to coincide with the Game Developer Conference in Austin. Right now, it's not known if this will be a new title in either the Wing Commander or Freelancer franchises, or a spiritual successor. Be sure to sign up and explore the RSI website for yourself, and check back throughout the day for updates and analysis. In case you missed it, we also ran a piece on Chris Roberts' new venture yesterday.

Until the project is revealed, the website aims to bring together fans of Wing Commander, Privateer, Starlancer and Freelancer. It has the following sections:

  • Special welcome message from Chris Roberts!
  • Bits of concept art and renders all around the site! (also collected below)
  • Comm-link: Primary method of RSI staff to reach out to fans.
  • Forums: Discuss previous (Origin / Digital Anvil) Roberts titles and speculate about the new game.
  • Time Capsule 2075: First fiction teaser!
  • RSI Museum: Meet the team behind the Wing Commander and Freelancer games. Currently has a Chris Roberts bio.
  • Golden ticket: Sign up now to receive a Golden Ticket. Promises to let you participate during the development phase. No details right now. What's interesting is that it mentions a 24-month development cycle.
  • Polls: The current poll wants to know if you like to see cockpits in your space sims. Vote now!
  • The secret code is 42, a reference to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

These sections are currently unavailable:

  • Engineering: insights from the dev team
  • Possibly a overall game description section
  • The Holo-viewer: "attend a screening of the latest space epic" - possible trailer section?
  • Galactapedia: in-universe information?
AD has collected the concept art from the website.

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