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#alt.fan.elite IRC channel update

The channel seems to have stayed stuck to the ZiRC network. Currently, you'll need to connect to 'us.zirc.org' rather than 'irc.zirc.org' - but the channel and everyone in it is still there.

Winston 11:19, 13 July 2007 (BST)

Trouble for the #alt.fan.elite IRC channel

It looks like changes are being thrust on the #alt.fan.elite irc channel. This has happily lived on the ZIRC network for the last couple of years, but unknown to us, ZIRC was having a self-destructive internal power struggle between its admins, and many servers have broken away to form a network called SynIRC. Since no one in the channel was aware of this stupidity, we've been caught by it unawares so half the channel is probably on ZIRC and half the channel is probably on SynIRC. Hopefully we can figure out soon enough were we all are and settle on one or the other (or a completely new) network. Watch this space.

Winston 09:49, 11 July 2007 (BST)

Oolite Test Release 1.69

Oolite Test Release 1.69 is now available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux

Ahruman 10:11, 2 July 2007 (BST)

The Battle of Rocky Fields

The adventures of the Azure Sunset continue in the lastest installment of the HPA 2 Saga. Part 2 of the Battle of Rocky Fields is now out and available at all good BBS'

Jack Hamilton 06:28, 21 May 2007 (BST)

25th Anniversary of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum

On the 23rd of April, 1982, Britain's most influential computer of the 1980s was launched by Sinclair Research. An eventual target for Elite, the Spectrum and other 8 bitters (including the mighty BBC Microcomputer) taught a generation to code as well as reach Elite.

Get a dose of nostalgia here: Hey Hey 16K!

The ZX Spectrum still has a healthy following. Thanks to Amstrad's enlightened approach to emulation, unlike the BBC and other computers, the Spectrum ROM is legally available to emulators - and the Spectrum scene as a result is still vibrant. World of Spectrum also has the vast majority of titles produced for this machine, and the spirit of openness has rubbed off on most authors of Spectrum software, who have granted permission to redistribute.

Winston 19:53, 24 April 2007 (BST)

1/48th-ish Cobra Model shaping up

Raytheon's Cobra Model - in this case, the pictures say what a mere Frontier News article can't!

Winston 11:33, 27 March 2007 (BST)

Frontier involved in another legal battle

...except, this time Frontier wasn't the instigator. According to The Register, they've been dragged into the dispute between Chris Sawyer and Atari over the rights to 'Sawyer's Rollercoaster Tycoon', and Atari have been allowed to appeal to the House of Lords for a ruling. Story at The Register is here. Thanks to Frantic on alt.fan.elite for this tip.

Winston 14:58, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Elite knocked off top spot

For quite a long time (years, perhaps) Elite has ranked as #1 as the Best ZX Spectrum game, over at World of Spectrum. However... this weekend it finally has been knocked off the top perch by the game "Hero Quest, Return of the Witch Lord", a 3D isometric game for the 128K Spectrum. Of course, purists will say it doesn't entirely count because unlike Elite, it won't run on a rubber key 48K, only the later 'toastrack' machines and the Spectrums that Amstrad produced. Also, it only has a few high rated votes, unlike Elite's many, many high rated votes - so this might not last long...

Winston 15:56, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Oolite moves to GPL license

Oolite, the extensible multiplatform Elite tribute, is changing from the Creative Commons license to the GNU General Public License version 2. This won't affect most users, however, it will allow Oolite to be bundled with Linux distributions such as Debian which require packages in the main repositories to have GPL-compatible licenses. The stock data (i.e. ship models, textures etc.) will be made available in a dual license - either GPL v2, or Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike, so that OXP authors can still use the Creative Commons license if they derive their expansions from existing materials. Oolite website.

Additionally, Oosat 2 is pretty much back to its former glory, with a lot of new material available for download.

Winston 16:30, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Deepspace: Another Elite remake

'John Blythe' on the EBBS has told us that he's making another Elite remake called 'Deepspace'. It looks like a 'classic Elite' remake (i.e. not an FE:2 or FFE remake). The project is at an early stage at the moment, but in-progress screen shots are available. Deepspace website

Winston 16:23, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Starlance: Online Elite tribute game

'Smith' on the EBBS writes to tell us about a new massively multiplayer online tribute game at http://www.starlance.co.uk/. Called Starlance, it's a Web 2.0 online game - just play it with your browser, and it works with any connection of 28.8K or better. It looks a bit different in emphasis to Ulite (http://www.ulite.de) whose emphasis is more on alliance and station building - and more aimed at one-on-one kinds of encounters.

Winston 17:25, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

2006: The Year In Review

Happy new year!

As is traditional, the Frontier News has 2006 In Review, along with some predictions for 2007. Read it to recap on the last year's happenings.

Winston 16:50, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Cambridge Evening News talks to The Breadbin

David Braben's local newspaper recently interviewed the man himself. The article of course mentions Elite (in the very first paragraph) - but there's no news about Elite 4 - just a little about "The Outsider", and Braben's ambitions for future gaming. You can read the article at the following link: [1]

Winston 14:23, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Elite 5 Rumours

Yeah, so it's satire. But Timski posted a link to a site he made about Elite 5, satarising the current Elite 4 speculation... you can read it on his website: http://www.capsu.org/e5/

Winston 17:44, 16 December 2006 (UTC)