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Microprose is back and may use TitanIM/Outerra engine


Galileo

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LOL....Well the first tank game I played was Steel Thunder...

So the original Steel Beasts was just incredible to me, and IIRC I was STILL playing it for 2 or 3 years after Pro PE came out just due to the cost of Pro PE.  Thankfully I don't have to go back to that lol.

 

 

Edited by Maj.Hans
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1 hour ago, stormrider_sp said:

Since nobody posted it, this one was one of my all time favorite games

 

 

Thought it odd nobody had mentioned M1 Tank Platoon. Played the original version on my son's Amiga 500 and I remember having to spend a small fortune on a Voodoo 3dfx graphics card to get M1TP II to run on my PC. I was so disappointed when M1TP III was cancelled, but, someone at Microprose sent me an email with a link and said I might be interested in this..............

 

It was a link to the demo version of 'Steel Beasts'

 

 

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15 hours ago, Maj.Hans said:

LOL....Well the first tank game I played was Steel Thunder...

So the original Steel Beasts was just incredible to me, and IIRC I was STILL playing it for 2 or 3 years after Pro PE came out just due to the cost of Pro PE.  Thankfully I don't have to go back to that lol.

 

 

This was my first Tank sim, had it on the C64.

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10 hours ago, hawes said:

Thought it odd nobody had mentioned M1 Tank Platoon. Played the original version on my son's Amiga 500 and I remember having to spend a small fortune on a Voodoo 3dfx graphics card to get M1TP II to run on my PC. I was so disappointed when M1TP III was cancelled, but, someone at Microprose sent me an email with a link and said I might be interested in this..............

 

It was a link to the demo version of 'Steel Beasts'

 

 

I got a feeling it was through M1TP2 that I found SB, but by that time you were onto Version 2.235? (Or Something, was 2 versions before the Public Beta came out.)

 

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No, M1TP2 hit the shelves about a year before Steel Beasts 1.0, and I remember how anxious I was that they would steal all our thunder; half a year later we would start our underground marketing campaign with the version 0.9something demo version. Once that I received the M1TP2 copy I was much relieved simply because I knew that we had a much better representation of the fire control system's behavior. That M1TP2 looked better in some areas I didn't mind, I knew we couldn't compete on that level.

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6 hours ago, Hoover said:

 

We were C-64 owners once and young...

yes! ^_^ I hope to can buy this one (someday...)

 

 

But I still have my old AMIGA 500 fully working with monitor, external floppy drive and original mouse B|

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6 hours ago, Vikingo said:

But I still have my old AMIGA 500 fully working with monitor, external floppy drive and original mouse B|

I knew I had it stored somewhere. My copy of the original M1 Tank Platoon. £14.99 back in 1994!

M1TP.jpg

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8 hours ago, Vikingo said:

But I still have my old AMIGA 500 fully working with monitor, external floppy drive and original mouse

Cool, back then I sold my Commodore C-64 and Amiga 1000 in order to afford the Atari ST. It seems crazy today, but the only reason for buying the Atari was that MicroProse had a that time an Apache Gunship simulation out and Commodore for the Amiga not.
It was incredible exciting at the dawn of the computer age. I immediately got addicted to these grey and brown boxes.

MicroProse’s Simulation-Industrial Complex (or, The Ballad of Sid and Wild Bill)

I'm sure, I have spent too much time in my life coding and simulating things and too less doing stuff in reality.

Looking forward to 4.1. 😉

 

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The Hasbro years?

I never believed it back then.

 

Now - well, I will believe it when I'm seeing something other than Warbirds 202x, or at least Warbirds 20xx actually using the Outerra engine, marketed under Microprose. Even then, at this point Microprose is but a marketing label. The Microprose that everybody remembers fondly were people like Sid Meier, Arnold Hendrick, Scott Elson, and others. And they all moved on. Wouldn't rule out that something decent could be made, but again this sounds a lot like the "military simulation only" Microprose that would have died no later than 1992; the merger with Spectrum Holobyte saved them for all the non-military games such as UFO, Civilization, Master of Orion, Formula 1 GP. As much as some of us might love seeing Microprose come back from the dead, I just don't see how they could make a living from flight sims alone even if the Outerra engine is beautiful. They'd have to compete with Eagle Dynamics in the military field, with the IL2 series for historical flight sims, with X-Plane and MSFS in the non-military field. The old brand might create a receptive audience but at the end of the day any product that they crank out will have to stand on its own legs, to carve a significant share from a market that's divided up and stagnant for at least 25 if not 30 years.

 

I wish them luck but I won't hold my breath.

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when gunship! was released and did not chart as well as the pre release hype, as I recall, hasbro' s statement was that they did not believe the simulation genre was the right move for mp, they pulled the plug on m1tp III  (which apparently was near finished), and released a handful of titles at most unrelated to simulations but more what was in line with the philosophy of a toy company. after that the name microprose was acquired by someone else, including infogrames  ( re-releasing games of other developers rather than original content creators). after that I lost track. I would not expect much from it now from what I see

Edited by Captain_Colossus
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On 7/1/2019 at 3:49 PM, Ssnake said:

No, M1TP2 hit the shelves about a year before Steel Beasts 1.0, and I remember how anxious I was that they would steal all our thunder; half a year later we would start our underground marketing campaign with the version 0.9something demo version. Once that I received the M1TP2 copy I was much relieved simply because I knew that we had a much better representation of the fire control system's behavior. That M1TP2 looked better in some areas I didn't mind, I knew we couldn't compete on that level.

Funny you mention that...

 

Having been born in the late 80's I wasn't necessarily super informed about every PC game released, so naturally I simply missed some of the titles.

I'd been given a copy of "Steel Thunder" as a birthday present in the early 90's, maybe 1992 or 93.  Other than that, I mostly had flight simulators and some first person shooter games.

 

The next tank simulator I actually played was Panzer Elite, and I didn't get my hands on a copy of that until 2001 or 2002.  I had stumbled upon a used-like-new copy of it in a store in the local mall, had been completely unaware of it's existence until that moment, and bought it on a whim despite it looking and being somewhat outdated.  I played the HECK out of that, and it was what got me looking for a modern-era tank sim.

 

At that time, I seem to recall that the most recent releases had been Armored Fist 3, M1 Tank Platoon 2, and Steel Beasts.  I immediately ignored Armored Fist 3 since it looked too much like "Delta Force TANKS!" to me and didn't count as a simulator in my mind.  So by 2002/2003 or so when I went looking for a new tank sim my choice was pretty much between hunting down a copy of M1TP2 or Steel Beasts.  I played the demos, and thought that M1TP2 had the better graphics, but that SB had it beat in almost every other area.

 

Steel Beasts had what I thought was a MUCH better modeled fire control system, combined with MUCH better interface between the player and the sim, better missions/scenarios, etc.  The key settings seemed quite natural, the map menu screen just worked.  No contest.  In fact after a bought a copy, I stumbled across the Gold Edition somewhere cheap and bought a second copy to make sure I didn't lose it.

 

Since then, "T-72 Balkans on Fire", "WW2 Tanks T34 vs Tiger", "Kharkov: 1942" have all come out, and I found them more annoying and irritating rather than entertaining..."Steel Armor Blaze of War" I never even bought because of the YouTube videos I saw of it.  If Pro PE hadn't been released I would probably still be playing the original Steel Beasts.

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3 hours ago, Maj.Hans said:

"Steel Armor Blaze of War" I never even bought because of the YouTube videos I saw of it. 

Please, SABoW isn't that bad, the UI is completely inscrutable and appears to have been designed by aliens. It's not like it literally causes physical injury or anything. :D

Edited by Rotareneg
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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello folks I gathered some info from around the web:

 

David Lagettie (as MicroProse) is working together with iEnterntainment network to create Warbirds 2020. Warbirds is a MMO flight sim unlike any other game (there are only 2 other games in existence that are roughly similar, it is Aces High and world war 2 online).

 

This will be the first game by new MicroProse, starting from 2020 MicroProse will have their own new IPs.

 

As for Warbirds 2020:

 

- Brand new graphics and physics system using unreal engine 4

- free to play  + subscription  (basic planes will be free, subscription will be purchasable for 1 day, 1 week, 1 month)

- The flight modelling code has been opened up to volunteers who are helping in making the most realistic FM's possible.

 

Now things get interesting, as David Lagettie might use some form of outerra/titanim in Warbirds 2020 per what was announced:

 

- New technology to map actual physical locations for more realistic simulation using MicroProse LTY technology.

- Only combat simulation that is world wide in play area rather than small tactical conflicts

 

David Lagettie also got a teaser on his twitter, which looks like will be the 'box art' or logo for Warbirds 2020. See the logo? Yep it is it.... :)

 

2Fu9JlDT_400x400.jpg

Edited by bobm
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why is it necessary to hunt around for this game anywhere else except on microprose's website, why so obscure? my sense is that the developers aren't enthusiastic about something enough to make it clear it was in a state getting ready for prime time. you have a few screenshots turning up, which already look dated, and some vague idea it should be ready soon- and none of that is underscored at microprose.com. possible all this will be a pleasant surprise and I am wrong, but something ain't right

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1 hour ago, Captain_Colossus said:

why is it necessary to hunt around for this game anywhere else except on microprose's website, why so obscure? my sense is that the developers aren't enthusiastic about something enough to make it clear it was in a state getting ready for prime time. you have a few screenshots turning up, which already look dated, and some vague idea it should be ready soon- and none of that is underscored at microprose.com. possible all this will be a pleasant surprise and I am wrong, but something ain't right

 

I'm not sure 100% but from the looks of it, the microprose.com was not yet updated since 2018, and the partnership between MicroProse and IEN was announced in february this year. Time will tell.

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Yeah, it rings a few bells. Could still be legit, I don't think Wild Bill is a fraud, nor David Lagettie. But Warbirds was "a thing" some 20 years ago, haven't followed it much, but various other titles left a bit to be desired, which might indicate a shortage of cahs and staff. That Wild Bill is trying to revive Microprose at least is somewhat authentic, after all he founded it together with Sid Meier. But I think they are trying to capitalize on a brand name that was great some 25 years ago.

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