Egosoft updates X3: Reunion, X2: The Threat

Gone a long way since you’ve plopped your first Solar Power Plant into Argon Prime? Or perhaps you’re retaking a sector infested with Kha’ak ships with a slew of M2 destroyers and M1 carriers. Whatever you’re doing, you might want to spend that Salvage Insurance for a save, because Egosoft has a special New Jazura’s Year’s present to X fans on X3: Reunion and X2: The Threat. And no, they aren’t date schedules with sultry ace Saya; they’re spanking brand new patches!

In a stunning move before the new year, Germany-based Egosoft, creators of the X Universe, have released another update to years-old X3: Reunion and even older X2: The Threat. Patch version 2.5 and 1.5 for X3 and X2, respectively, interestingly add just a single augmentation to the aging yet still widely played popular space simulations: statistics uploading to the Internet or “uplinking”.

Now it’s true that all of the X games so far are strictly a solo affair. There are no multiplayer modes in the series, despite other space simulations of note toting multiplayer assets of their own.

The uplinking included into the update, while not a full-fledged multiplayer experience, is a new way of introducing inter-player competition into the mix. Egosoft hopes to achieve just that by using a novel way of storing authentic, up-to-date, and accurate statistical data into a locally stored file and then uploading them to a central database for viewing and comparison.

While inquiries into whether players using scripts will be allowed to upload their skewed statistics turned up inconclusive, it has been noted that the uplinking mechanic is purely voluntary. There’s also speculation that this new approach for the two most recent X Universe games is yet another step closer to Egosoft’s dreams of creating a robust online X Universe, codenamed X Online (otherwise called ONLINE-UNIVERSE.NET).

Both patches are available to most versions of both X2 and X3, including German and European copies. These updates have also been sent to Valve’s Steam online service, so executing either game will automatically upgrade that title to the most recent update. More developments on the X Universe as they happen.

Via Steam