The Story of Elite...
by George Hooper

    It was 20 years ago in a place far, far away...Cambridge, U.K. to be exact, that two college friends decided to create a space trading game in their spare time while attending the University. Little did they know that their endeavor was about to rock the game industry to its very foundations! The release of Elite for the BBC micro computer in 1984 was an overwhelming success. The British gaming press released many articles and interviews about this fantastic game. Competitions were held to see who could become Elite in the least possible time. The authors found themselves suddenly famous and financially successful.

    Soon many versions of the game were released for just about every home computer on the market, and well as a version for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Several sequels were also released over the years including Archimedes Elite, often considered to be the best version, and Elite Plus which was the best version for the IBM PC. Then Frontier Developments, Inc. was created which continued the legacy and produced Frontier Elite II in 1993, and finally Frontier First Encounters released in 1995.

    But the story does not end there. Today there are thousands of fans who still enjoy the games. Many players have dedicated computers just to play these games, and the games are highly regarded as collector's items. Many professional programmers have also freely provided their time and talents to upgrade the games from their original beginnings, to operate on today's advanced computer systems. Dozens of websites are dedicated to the different versions with a wealth of information on all things Elite. The games even have their own alt.fan.elite news group which is still very active.

    Why all this excitement about a computer game? Elite was the first successful 3-D space adventure game brought to the gaming public. It is a virtural world of living a life of your own choosing in a universe full of wonders and opportunities. Elite is an open ended game where there is no fixed winning or losing. You live in a universe and choose your own path to fame and fortune as you desire. You can be trader, bounty hunter, smuggler, pirate, or a combination of these in your quest to obtain the coveted Combat Rating of Elite. Many attempt this, few succeed. As in life, a worthy goal is never easy.

    And so it is with great pleasure that we present to you our version of the Elite games, updated to play on the latest technology of the Pocket PC. Many thanks to Ian Bell and David Braben, the co-authors of Elite, who brought to the world the best game ever created.

    It is now over 10 years since starting this project and we never did get permission to officially release the game. So, it is perhaps now time to abandon all hope of ever seeing this game made available. Therefore I am making the decision to close down this web site and project shortly. If anyone wishes to take up the challenge of getting this game released, please contact me with an offer to purchase the web site and free access to the source code and resources which make up the game.

WARNING!What you are about to see may cost you considerably in the purchase
of new hardware to play our version of this fantastic game !

Game Ships Manual Novella Support Credits Links


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Pocket PC Elite
Created by Jon Welch & George Hooper

Website © 2003 by Jon Welch          Website design by George Hooper