X³: Reunion

X3: Reunion is a space trading and combat game developed by Egosoft for Windows. It has been ported to Linux and Mac OS X; Mac OS X for release in August 2007; the Linux version followed December 5, 2008.

X3: Reunion is the third full game in Egosoft's X series. It is the sequel to X2: The Threat (2003), which in turn followed X: Beyond the Frontier (1999). The X series is often compared to the classic Elite, in that these first-person space adventure games focus on trade and exploration, as well as combat.

This game began as project X2: The Return, Egosoft's planned extension for X2: The Threat. However, as the project advanced, it soon outgrew the constraints of the 'X2 Engine'. In April 2005, Egosoft announced that X2: The Return was cancelled; the next game - using the new X3 Engine - would become X3: Reunion. A month later, they demonstrated the power of the 'X2 Reality Engine' in May's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), stunning industry insiders with high-definition moving renders of space stations, planets, and other scenes. X3 was released five months later in October.

It quickly emerged that a number of flaws existed in the retail version of X3 - including a bug which prevented the player from completing the game. Egosoft quickly released a series of patches to fix it, but some reviewers - and players - remained critical, suggesting Egosoft had released the game before it was ready.

Egosoft have continued to expand and develop this game since release: adding new ships, new equipment, a new kind of station, new modding tools, and a new series of missions. New material for this game - official and fan made - is frequently released through Egosoft's Official website.

Source: Wikipedia,"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X3:_Reunion," available under the CC-BY-SA License.