As seen on Blues News:
QuoteUndead publisher MicroProse announces it has acquired the rights to the Falcon series of combat flight simulators. These were quite a big deal in their day, which unfortunately was during the last century, as the last installment in the series was Falcon 4.0 in 1998. The plan is to create new games based on the license: "MicroProse is thrilled to continue the Falcon franchise with new products in the future, building on the legacy of this iconic series." In the meantime, the previous Falcon games are now available at a discount. You can find Falcon on Steam, Falcon A.T. on Steam, Falcon Gold on Steam, and Falcon 4.0 on Steam, each at 20% off. These games are also bundled together in The Falcon Collection on GOG.com* and Steam with an even larger discount. The announcement also acknowledges the volunteer work of Benchmark Sims in supporting Falcon 4.0 with a huge community modification, saying this will receive cooperation and support going forward. Here's a Falcon BMS version 4.37 trailer showing the latest version of the mod, which includes VR support.
https://www.bluesnews.com/s/259349/falcon-series-flies-again-at-microprose
:Wow: :planepilot: :planepilot: :planepilot: :planepilot: :planepilot: :planepilot: :planepilot: :Wow:
Necron Falcons ARISE!!
I don't want to make the Admiral mad, because he has a temper and I'm scared of him, but I honestly find this news disconcerting. I'm yet to see the new Microprose deliver anything noteworthy along the lines of the old classics, despite a number of big announcements over the years and I'm hard pressed to imagine that this will not impact BMS or the community negatively in some way. It is certainly reassuring to read that Microprose supports BMS, but I'll believe it when I see it. If Microprose didn't plan on controlling the IP or profiting from it, why acquire it? I hope to be proven wrong, but this makes me nervous. BMS has done a fantastic job independently and I don't see any publisher doing anything better at this time, unless they're going to remake the sim from the ground up.
:outtahere:
I got the email from Microprose on this earlier today and admit that I squeeeed.
Well they are certainly acting the phoenix and pulling their old IP back in house. Great stuff.
I suspect they will try to do another Falcon game in the spirit of BMS... then hope the BMS fans move across.
The initial statement from the BMS team is certainly positive..
QuoteHi Everyone:
You may have already seen an announcement from MicroProse that talks about BMS. I'm happy to confirm the details here.
Benchmark Sims are delighted to announce that the Falcon Series has returned to its original home at MicroProse, and we at Benchmark Sims are excited to continue our work with their full blessing and support.
Our team is committed to delivering the best possible experience to our fans of Falcon. With MicroProse's endorsement and support assured, there is no end in sight for the BMS Mod or the Falcon Series. We would like to thank the community for their continued support, and we look forward to sharing more updates with you in the near future.
Stay tuned for more exciting news from Benchmark Sims and MicroProse!
Apparently this is already in my Steam library from a previous purchase. It is not a re-release (yet).
Does anybody remember whether it had disappeared from Steam sales in the meantime?
Wait, my memory seems faulty: did Microprose sell it to Spectrum Holobyte? :huh:
Quote from: JasonPratt on May 05, 2023, 02:55:39 PMWait, my memory seems faulty: did Microprose sell it to Spectrum Holobyte? :huh:
Both companies merged in 1993 as Microprose Inc. but kept using their original names for a while after when releasing games.
I'd love to see microprose spend money to upgrade the graphics engine for falcon while coordinating with BMS at the same time or even merging / employing them as one unified dev team.
I'd pay 20 to 30 bucks to fly falcon with dcs level graphics. I'd even pay 100 bucks for a complete rebuild of the game, but I'm not sure that's necessary as BMS has proven how viable this campaign engine really is and hasn't been replicated in 2023.