Changes
''This entry was copied from english Wikipedia''
[[Image:Elite box.jpg|right|thumb|Cover art for Firebird releases of Elite]]
[[Image:elite.png|right|thumb|Amstrad CPC version screenshot]]
'''''Elite''''' is a seminal space trading computer game, originally published by Acornsoft in 1984 for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers and subsequently ported to many others. The game's title derives from one of the player's goals to raise their combat rating from Harmless, through Mostly Harmless, Poor, Average, Above Average, Competent, Dangerous, and Deadly, before reaching the exalted heights of 'Elite'.
''Elite'' was written and developed by [[David Braben]] and [[Ian Bell]], who had met while both were undergraduates at Jesus College, Cambridge University. Non-Acorn versions of the game were published by [[Firebird]].
== Information ==
{|{{Prettytable|width: 700px; font-size: 2em;}}
|Title:|| '''Elite'''
|-
|Company:|| [[Firebird]]
|-
|Type:|| Strategy
|-
|Year:|| 1986
|-
|}
==Description==
''Elite'' is often credited with inventing the space trading genre, though it was preceded by a number of space trader games, including the original Star Trader from 1974. This genre melds space-borne combat with a "buy low, sell high" freight transport system; the profits are usually used to purchase ship upgrades.
''Elite'''s open ended game model, advanced game engine and revolutionary 3D graphics ensured that it was ported to virtually every home computer system of the day, and earned it a place as a classic and a genre maker in gaming history. Even now, over 20 years after it was published, ''Elite'' is frequently used as a yardstick by which any new space trading game is measured. It has often been said that "''Elite'' has been imitated but never bettered"; while this is perhaps somewhat hyperbolic, it is certainly true to say that ''Elite'' is by far the most original, and creatively successful space trading game ever made; the game had a huge impact on many other games, in many other genres.
== Note on Amstrad version ==
The Spectrum developers (Torus) only had a [[6502]] dump of code to base their conversion upon, so they ditched that and played the BBC original to death, and then tried to make the Spectrum version look as close to it as they could. What they had hoped would only take 3-4 months to code eventually took them a whole year! The CPC conversion took much less time thanks to the introduction of the [[PDS development system]].
==Sequels==
*When the docking computer is activated in the Commodore 64 version and some other versions, a musical rendition of The Blue Danube Waltz is played, which is a nod to a spaceflight sequence in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film ''2001: A Space Odyssey''.
*Much of the game's content is derived from the ''Traveller'' [[RPG]], including the default commander name of Jameson.
*The original ''Space Trader's Flight Training Manual'', which accompanied the game, provided a monochrome illustration of the cockpit of the Cobra Mk III. In the centre of the console, a BBC Micro keyboard could clearly be seen.
*''Elite'' was originally intended to contain 2<sup>48</sup> (approximately 282,000,000,000,000) galaxies. However, the number was limited to eight when Acornsoft noted that such a gigantic number would make the artificiality of the game universe evident to the player.
== Videos ==
'''CPC version'''
{{YT|PpgDqqbGd_g}}
PC - CGA Version
{{#ev:youtube|qYwSc8taTi0|300200}}
Commodore 64 Version
{{#ev:youtube|4lKKy3l_5YI|300200}}
BBC Version
{{#ev:youtube|AuvbZpH1QuE|300200}}
Amiga Version
{{#ev:youtube|Ypo50hN-50M|300200}}
Atari ST Version
{{#ev:youtube|pELBnGnl-5k|300200}}
== Cover ==
<gallery caption="Elite cover">
Image:EliteGold 01.jpg
Image:EliteGold 02.jpg
Image:EliteGold 03.jpg
</gallery>
== Adverts/Reviews ==
<gallery caption="Review/adverts">
Image:Elite adv bug.jpg|Bug in the Amstrad version
Image:Elite adv uk.jpg|Elite Advert
Image:Elite rev amtix1.jpg|Amtix review
Image:Elite rev amtix2.jpg|Amtix review (cont)
Image:Elite-beebug.jpg|Elite review by Beebug
</gallery>
==Links==
*{{CPCPower|801}}
*{{EnWiki|Elite_(video_game)}}
*[http://www.cpcwiki.eu/forum/index.php?topic=2729 English and German versions] patched to work with the '''Plus''' machines by '''redbox'''!
* [http://tacgr.emuunlim.com/downloads/filedetail.php?recid=284 The Amstrad CPC Games Resource]
* [http://www.cpczone.net/game/1579 CPC game base from cpczone]
* [http://www.iancgbell.clara.net/elite/ Ian Bell's ''Elite'' pages]
* [http://www.frontier.co.uk Frontier Developments] David Braben's games company
* [http://www.eliteclub.co.uk/ Elite Club], with downloadable shareware versions of the ''Frontier'' games
* [http://robertholdstock.com/ Robert Holdstock]
* [http://www.spectrum.lovely.net/Elite.html ZX Spectrum ''Elite''] emulated for Java enabled browsers
* [http://www.lotf.co.uk/ ''Life On the Frontier'' site]
* [http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=alt.fan.elite ''Elite'' newsgroup]
* [http://www.nvg.ntnu.no/bbc/doc/games/EliteFAQ.htm alt.fan.elite FAQ]
* [http://opendirectoryproject.org/Games/Video_Games/Action/Space_Combat/Elite_Series/ OPD ''Elite Series''] links
* [http://oolite.aegidian.org/ ''Oolite'']: ''Elite''-alike for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux
* The [http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Main_Page ''EliteWiki''] project
* [http://www.downloadfreegames.co.uk/games/details.asp?id=37 '''Elite: The New Kind'']: ''Elite''-alike for Windows
* [http://armchairarcade.com/neo/node/750 Firebird's Elite: A Look Back at the Greatest Game Ever Made] article about the game
* [http://www.frontierastro.co.uk/ ''FrontierAstro''] a site covering ''Elite'', Frontier and Astronomy
* [http://www.cpcgamereviews.com/e/index.html#elite CPC Game Reviews review of Elite]
[[Category:Games]] [[Category:Games 1986]] [[Category:Video contents]][[Category:3D]]
