I have never been so moved by a computer game as I was when Elite first came out all those years ago. In the early days of home computers, Horace the Skier was nothing more than a blob on my Commador Vic 20. I can't remember whether it was during my Acorn Computer or my Atari years when Elite first arrived but I do remember being totally gripped and immersed in a world far beyond the one I was actually on... and that new world was just blobs and lines. I have seen the development of many a product and purchased a few, mainly simulators. MS FlightSim even helped me get my full pilots licence and the quality of the products and add-ons produced by developers there is absolutely mind blowing. But having said that... I have never been moved to tears by a game before. When I heard that Elite was being re-made I couldn't wait to join in. I have been a small player in the Beta stage but have read the forums each day... all my issues with the game had already been reported and any crashes I encountered a report went in from my machine. Now I have a product before me that I just don't know where to start... I know I should be trying hard to make credits, buying and selling stuff... but I just can't help looking out of the window on a universe that I could only have dreamed of when I was a small boy. I am of the space race era, of Apollo missions, with Steve Zodiac and Fireball XL5 on the TV in black and white. 'Tomorrows World' never featured anything like this on it's weekly programme. I am honoured to have been part of the BETA stages and am in awe at the product that is now before me. David Braben and the team at FD are now up there with the greats as far as I am concerned and fully deserving of any awards.
I know that some say that computer games can influence young minds and that we have to be very careful. I was conscious of the fact that I was walking through the high street today feeling as though I was just a visitor... on this planet! What an amazing feeling for a 57 year old. If I could offer my encouragement to David Braben and the team at FD to just keep going... when polishing anything there are always a few stuborn marks to remove, the final result is well worth the effort.