Elite 4

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This article is about the upcoming video game. For the Pokemon team, see Elite Four.

Elite 4 is a video game proposed by Frontier Developments, specifically by David Braben. It can also be written as Elite IV. The project's current status is not known.

It will be a sequel to 1984's Elite, that Braben and his former associate, Ian Bell, wrote primarily for the BBC Micro. Two other sequels, Frontier: Elite II and Frontier: First Encounters, were released in the 1990s, during which time Braben and Bell had an acrimonious falling out.^[1] Frontier's information page for the game notes that Elite IV is a provisional title.^[2]. The game was in development hell since 2001,^{[citation needed]} however, creator David Braben has said that production is ready to begin after the release of Outsider. According to the page, features under consideration for Elite 4 include Newtonian gravity, realistic star systems and the ability to land on planets.

Elite 4 is considered by many to be Vaporware,^[3] i.e. it is suspected that the game may never be released. It was first proposed back in 1998, and while many modern games can take several years to complete (for example, Frontier, which took five-and-a-half-years) there have been no formal previews, screenshots, press releases or progress reports released for Elite 4. A pair of character screenshots, technical background on a real-time animation system, and a brief discussion of its implications for character nuance, were included in an Edge magazine feature on animation circa 2000.^{[citation needed]} Since then, the only details about the game provided by the developers are found in a brief FAQ on Frontier Development's site which does not appear to have been updated since 2001.

[edit] Development

In November 2006, GameSpot conducted an interview with David Braben in which the subject of Elite 4 came up. Braben revealed that Elite 4 began and ceased development as an MMORPG in 2000, abandoned due to the immaturity of technology for online play. When asked if the game would ever be released, Braben responded "We will do Elite 4 after Outsider, so it will benefit from everything we've done in Outsider".^[4]

In August 2007, Game Theory Show put out a podcast in which they had a telephone interview with David Braben.^[5] In the interview Braben indicated once more that Elite 4 will go ahead after his studio's current development, The Outsider. In an interview with Computer and Video Games in September 2007, Braben revealed that Frontier Developments is currently working on new technologies required to deliver the game, and has been for two years.^[6]

At the Gamecity International Interactive Entertainment Festival 2007 event in Nottingham UK, it was revealed that Braben and Frontier Developments are aiming to have Elite 4 released for the current generation of gaming consoles and PC.^[7] Also at the event, Braben, during an interview about courses teaching game development in the UK, revealed that Frontier Developments is recruiting staff to work on existing projects such as Elite IV.^[8]

At the 2008 Game Developers Conference in Germany David Braben hinted that an announcement regarding the game's release would come in 2008. Braben stated that the new version, "would certainly need a better interface, or at least one which is easier to use for modern gamers." ^[9]