Say, Bob McDob, what are you cooking there?
Why, a delicious can of 'Campbell's Dumb Privateer 2 Argument'
What are you, twelve? Chicken and Stars was great in 1996... but now that we're all grown up, it's time for a tasty can of Progresso Canned Privateer 2 Response Post!
Mmmm! You can smell the Talongratha confusion!
(That's right, boys and girls, it's the only topic awful enough to be prefaced by a soup commercial parody.)
CANNED ANSWER FOLLOWS {ANGRY VERSION}
Is Privateer 2 part of the Wing Commander universe? It's the question so stupid that Origin actually deigned to answer it in a
FAQ! Quote:
Does Privateer 2: The Darkening take place in the Wing Commander Universe?
Privateer 2: The Darkening takes place in an isolated section of the Wing Commander universe. The Tri-System is not currently a part of the Confederation.
Well, okay, that makes sense. Doesn't hurt me, doesn't hurt you. Everything sort of fits into place. Satisfied? Of course not, this is the internet! We'll ignore the Talon, the database references to Confed and the timeline relationship (this is, afterall, ANGRY VERSION) and get right to the heart of the matter:
"But, but, but, but, but! My brothers cousin's uncle's pal's friend Broddo said they just added 'Privateer 2' to sell the game! TO SELL THE GAME!"
While I of course agree that trying to
sell a game is the worst of all possible sins - after all, not selling games is what made titles like Daikatana, that Derek Smart crapfest and Freespace 2 some of the most noteworthy titles of all time. Some of the most expensive and therefore best game consoles of all times were built around the concept of not selling games, accessories or even the initial units themselves. Clearly, this corporate 'sales driven' computer game culture that produced Privateer 2 could learn a lot from the Phillips CD-i.
Hotel Mario aside, there are two responses to such an idiotic claim.
Response the first: Duh.
Response the second: It's slightly more complicated than that. Privateer 2 started life as "Privateer: The Darkening", designed as a 'spinoff' of the Privateer concept. You'd have the same basic gameplay setup, but you'd have a new character, a new area of space and so on. This was developed simultaneously with another game called... Privateer 2. This Privateer 2 {Original} was to be a followup to the original, featuring Brownhair/Grayson Burrows/Etc. having new adventures in Gemini.
In late 1995/early 1996 EA decided to avoid confusion. The direct followup to Privateer would be Privateer 2, and Darkening would be sold on its merits as an interactive movie rather than as a Privateer spinoff. It became The Darkening, and was advertised as such in a Wing Commander IV insert.
Then, Chris Roberts left (or was asked to leave, depending on who you ask) Origin. With his departure died the direct Privateer followup. Let me say this in big letters so that people who are skimming this because it has too many awful jokes can see it: READ BACKWARDS SEVERAL WORDS. THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE ANGRY ABOUT. NOT HOW BRITISH THE DARKENING IS. Without a direct sequel, Darkening went back to being Privateer: The Darkening for the last several (six?) months of its development.
Okay, so far, so good. If you were a remotely reasonable person you'd have stopped caring by now. But as I already pointed out, this is the internet... so you want to know -- why add the '2'? The reason that they publically announced at the time was that in late 1996 EA had begun a campaign to rerelease modernized versions of old games: Kilrathi Saga was to be the first, followed by an Ultima pack and then the original Privateer. The claim is that the '2' was added to distinguish Privateer: The Darkening from a planned rerelease of the original Privateer.
I know, you don't believe that. But think about it: Privateer 1 was not a huge success. It's a cult hit - people still talk about it today, but it didn't sell a whole lot when such things actually mattered. There's no huge commercial value to following it with a sequel (given the law of diminishing returns assosciated with such products).
And that's the long way of saying that Privateer 2 was originally concieved and developed as a Privateer game. I mean - how can it not have been? It's the same freaking gameplay, however flawed. You can't really sell it as anything else. Look at how much people beat EA up over their budget space sim back in 1998 (Darklight? Something like that?).
(Incidentally, the re-release idea flopped. Nobody bought Kilrathi Saga, the Ultima release ended up being shovelware and Privateer never made it out. I blame everyone but me.)
And what do you think, LOAF, mightiest of all men?
Good question.