In 1990 Chris Roberts' Wing Commander was first released for the PC MS-DOS. The game is known for bringing space combat to video games on a level approaching the Star Wars films.
The game is set in the year 2654 features a multinational cast of pilots from the Terran Confederation as they fly missions against an aggressive race called the Kilrathi, a feline warrior.
Roberts went on to direct the film adaptation of "Wing Commander," the film starred Freddie Prinze Jr. and featuring visual effects from Digital Anvil, but the film failed to garner box office success or critical praise.
After many sequels to the Wing Commander series, Roberts left the game industry to found Point of No Return Entertainment, but the film company never produced a film. He then founded Ascendant Pictures in 2002 and produced films including "The Punisher," "The Jacket" and "Lord of War."
In 2011, Roberts returned to the gaming industry and founded Cloud Imperium Games Corporation. He has been working a new game that will be a successor to his previous games like Wing Commander and Freelancer. In a recent interview that appeared in Time.com, Roberts said he feels developers have stopped innovating.
"In recent years, game designers have stopped innovating and pushing the boundaries of what you can do in this genre," Roberts said. "I plan on bringing that kind of development mentality back into PC gaming and space sims in particular."
Roberts also believes his new game will be a wake-up call to an industry that has gravitated towards social-mobile.
"There is a lot of noise out there regarding social and mobile games right now, and I think PC gamers are feeling a little left out of the mix," Roberts said. "But the PC is still incredibly capable of presenting an experience that doesn't take a back seat to any other platform out there, including consoles. With my game, I want PC gamers to stand up, be counted and get excited again about all the great experiences their computer can deliver."
Star Citizen is space trading and combat simulator game for the PC and uses a modified version of the CryEngine, and is expected to release sometime between 2014 and 2015.
Watch the announcement trailer below...
