Ten years ago, on September 28th, 1999, Homeworld was making its way onto store shelves. The release of that game hinted that the future for Relic Entertainment would be bright. Since then, Relic’s developed six additional titles (with another six expansion packs spread amongst them), with more in development.
Relic’s work with THQ on Dawn of War piqued the publisher’s interest in the studio (who until working with Relic on Dawn of War had only released two titles and one expansion) resulting in Relic’s purchase by THQ. As a result, the vast majority of people who have played Relic’s games have been fans of games other than Homeworld. To correct this, on the tenth anniversary of Homeworld’s release, Relicnews.com is proud to announce the rerelease of the Homeworld Raider Retreat standalone demo of Homeworld.
If you’ve found your way to the Relic community after playing Impossible Creatures, one of the Dawn of War games or expansions, Company of Heroes, “The Outfit” or you are learning about Relic for the first time and never had the chance to play Homeworld, Raider Retreat is a great introduction. Raider Retreat is a version of Homeworld that has five single player missions (including one that was not in the original Homeworld). It also allowed unrestricted skirmish against the AI and full multiplayer over LAN.
We touched on this earlier, but now, thanks to GameRanger and Worthplaying, people who missed out on Homeworld and its slow burn multiplayer can now have the chance.
With the death of Homeworld’s built in multiplayer (WON.net), the small but enthusiastic fan base has moved to other venues, mostly using software that simulates a LAN to enable multiplayer. As Homeworld Raider Retreat has full LAN play, and GameRanger was one of the popular services that Homeworld players were using, we contacted Scott Kevill at GameRanger. As a result, GameRanger has added support for Homeworld Raider Retreat into GameRanger.
The Raider Retreat download is just under 200MB. To help us get this relatively large file distributed, we contacted Worthplaying.com. Rainier at Worthplaying’s usually been the first to contact Relicnews.com with patch mirrors when Relic releases a patch or demo and he stepped up to host this as well.
For more information on this release, download links and multiplayer tips, please see the “Homeworld Quickstart Kit” put together by long time community member molo (and others).
No comments on this post. Add your own. Comments feed?
Posted by Guidestone « blogKap at September 27th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
[...] It’s been ten years since Karan led us from our desert planet to Hiigara. Ten years of that journey, sweet and bittersweet. The pilots that flew for their people, our people, above the darkened skies of Kharak ablaze, though deep space of the Great Wastelands and Diamond Shoals, through the bloody Garden of Kadesh, through the emptiness of the Sea of Lost Souls and Karos Graveyard. To Chapel Perilous, and the final steps above the blue and green fertile planet that is our home. [...]
Posted by Relicnews | Homeworld 10th Anniversary Threads at September 28th, 2009 at 10:29 am
[...] As everyone’s probably seen, we’ve managed to get Raider Retreat rereleased. [...]
Posted by Homeworld’s 10th Anniversary « indie.retro.cool.games at September 29th, 2009 at 4:50 am
[...] 10th Anniversary By littlebugger Leave a Comment Categories: link Tags: 10 year anniversary, demo, homeworld, lan, relic Homeworld,motherfucker! [...]
Posted by Fleet command online for 10 years - Multiplay UK Forums at September 30th, 2009 at 9:18 am
[...] permalink ADVERTISEMENT: 10 years ago Homeworld was released Relicnews | Homeworld’s 10th Anniversary To give everyone an idea of why it was so ****ing awesome, relicnews have rereleased the 5 mission OEM version of homeworld "raiders retreat" with 1 mission not in the original for free. This includes working multiplayer now using a 3rd party service. this is still one of the classic games that is pretty much ageless. IMO with a few gameplay tweaks and pretty shiny graphics it could stand up as a modern release. __________________ Use this sig to make the forum of your dreams**results may vary [...]
Posted by Battlestar Geriatrica: Homeworld Is 10 | Rock, Paper, Shotgun at October 2nd, 2009 at 10:29 am
[...] No, of course we’re just tardy – Homeworld is a game to be celebrated. Ten bloody years! Yet it still seems so fresh and modern in many ways. And, thanks to its creators, it looks as though it’s not going away just yet. (That isn’t a tease for Homeworld 3, I’m afraid – but the news is still good). Though developers Relic are now owned by THQ and spend their days alternately making Dawn of War and Company of Heroes games, they’ve spared a little retrospective love for the space-RTS that made them. [...]
Posted by Relic re-releases original Homeworld | Armchair Diplomat at October 7th, 2009 at 3:18 am
[...] To celebrate it’s 10th anniversary, Relic has released the complete game for download. This is a great chance for any of you who never played the original to see what all the fuss was about. The idea of a three dimensional real-time strategy is something no-one would bat an eyelid at these days, but at the time this was truly ground-breaking stuff. [...]
Posted by Celtic at November 8th, 2009 at 8:52 am
Yea Baby yea