Harpoon (computer game)

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Harpoon

Developer(s)	Three-Sixty Pacific (now bankrupt),ACSI->AGSI
Publisher(s)	Matrix Games
Designer(s)	Larry Bond
Engine	Proprietary
Release date(s)	1989, 2001, 2004, 2006
Genre(s)	Military
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	Several awards.
Platform(s)	Depcreciated: (MS-DOS Amiga PC Currently:MS-Windows), Macintosh
Media	Depcreciated: Floppy disk, Currently: CD, Download
System requirements	Originally EGA, 8088, 512kb RAM, 1.2mb Floppy Disk. Presently P3+, .5Gb, 120mb

Harpoon is a realistic air and naval combat simulation computer game based upon Larry Bond's miniatures game of the same name. A Player can play one side: Blue or Red, in simulated naval combat situation, both local conflicts, as well as in Cold War confrontation between the Superpowers. Missions differ from small missile boat engagements to large oceanic battles with tens of vessels and hundreds of aircraft. Also, a large database containing many types of real world ships, submarines and planes is available.

The simulation has a small but very dedicated fan base with several websites offering a varying style of scenarios and discussion forum. Often described as a 'niche withing a niche market', development of the simulation has progressed steadily over the years in the face of overwhelming superiority by First-Person-Shooter types such as Half-Life, and Real-Time-Strategy games such as Starcraft. AGSI, developers of Harpoon, current distribute the simulation through Matrix games with technical support being handled on a co-operative bases via AGSI and Matrix games employees.

Originally developed by Three-Sixty Pacific, the game had several development paths and publishers, but now all computer rights rest with Advanced Gaming Systems. The Harpoon History is quite long and and sometimes confusing. Especially considering that there were two separate versions of the game on the market. Harpoon Classic and Harpoon II (later Harpoon III ANW).

Harpoon is unique in that in doesn't emphasize many of the attributes that are common to the more popular FPS and RTS games. For example, Harpoon doesn't utilize high end 3D graphics for the simple reason that it doesn't have a requirement for it via its CIC style of interface (i.e. you see the same thing that you would see in a warship at battle). There has been considerable debate in the community about the decision of the developers to utilize 3D graphics in later versions of the program. Current planning for implementation of 3D graphics will involve a toggle that will allow the user to switch between the standard NTDS type (or another) display and the 3D graphics view, in a manner similar to the canceled Harpoon4. Previous emphasis was on the fixing of bugs and the activation of code in Harpoon III (the previous implementation, Harpoon II, was basically functional, but offered little in the way of advanced options such as Underway Replenishment, Mid-Air Refueling, etc.). After the release of 3.8 the expected emphasis is to shift over to the database structure that makes Harpoon unique in its genre.

It is expected that the new user-interface will be part of v4.0 of simulation.

Harpoon Classic and Harpoon III ANW are offered by AGSI civilian customers. Military customers are offered Harpoon III Pro which is tailored for customer specifications. Development of both versions is on going with v3.8 basically complete and in the final stages of beta. Further development of the civilian variant will include a totally new user-interface and improved graphics capability.

[edit] Titles and Release Dates

Harpoon
Harpoon II (1994) becomes Harpoon III
Harpoon Classic (1994, 1997, 2002) - also for Windows - becomes Commander's Edition below
Harpoon III (2001) (Updated 2004) - Mac only - ended at v3.6.3. Windows version becomes Harpoon Advanced Naval Warfare
Harpoon 3 Professional (2002,2006,2007) - Windows only
Harpoon 3: Advanced Naval Warfare (v3.7 June 14, 2006, v3.8 Feb 2007)- Windows only
Harpoon Commanders Edition (v1.0 Early 2007) - Windows only