X³: Albion Prelude announced for December 15 release on Steam
Deep Silver has announced its to publish Egosoft's X³: Albion Prelude on PC and Mac via Steam. The game takes place between the old and the new X Universe which is to be depicted in X Rebirth.
Here's official word on the what the game's plot entails, straight from the publisher:
"The X universe is undergoing a period of massive change. What started as a conflict of interest between the Earth and the races of the X Universe has now escalated into a full scale war. Play a part in a war scenario bigger than anything the X Universe has ever seen before.
"With the war as a backdrop, corporations are vying for power and are driving the X Universe in a new direction. A technological breakthrough will soon allow massive accelerators, forming highways in space and allowing the economy to expand in an unprecedented scale. Highways, a key feature of X Rebirth, are not yet ready, but you can see them being built and participate in the power struggles around the construction of much larger self sustaining economies."
Feature in the game include:
- A new plot throws you into the power struggle between corporations at a time of war.
- More than 30 new ships and stations.
- New Stock Exchange feature allows advanced investment strategies.
- Improved graphics quality setting for high-end machines.
- Improved user interface introducing charts to visualize economic developments.
- Support for head tracking.
While X³: Albion Prelude will not be compatible with save-games from X³: Terran Conflict, the developer makes up for this by handing the game out for free to owners of X: Superbox. If you don't already own it, buy it, and Prelude will become free.
If you own X³: Terran Conflict, the game can be bought as an add-on for $9.99/€9.99, and should you choose to purchase the Gold Package for $19.99/€19.99, it will include both X³: Terran Conflict and X³: Albion Prelude.
A stand-alone Mac OSX version will be made available on the Mac App store soon, while the PC version is set for release on December 15.
Following the Steam release, Deep Silver will also release a special new retail edition with additional content in Q1 2012. Watch the trailer below.
