Frontier Development, the UK-based studio that created the long-running Elite series, has revealed that it is developing a fourth game in the series. According to the studio, the game will be released sometime in 2002 at the earliest. It will feature realistic physics, and flight behavior will be similar to that found in the original Elite. In addition, the game universe will include realistic stellar systems that feature detailed planet surfaces, and it will be possible to land ships on planets. The game will also feature a multiplayer mode, although no details about multiplayer have been revealed.

　　The original Elite, which was released in 1984, was the first fully 3D game for home computers, and it featured both space combat and trade. Frontier: Elite II was released in 1993, and it added a number of improvements to the previous game, including full-sized planets, curved surfaces, and correctly orbiting planets and moons. First Encounters, the third game in the series, was released in 1995 and also included new features, such as procedural textures and colored lighting.

　　For more information, visit the official Frontier Development Web site.