Stardock Corporation, the publisher of 4X strategy, announced today that they've acquired the rights to thefranchise. They plan to begin work on a new game in the series later in 2013."We expect the newto come in the form of a reboot, similar to what Firaxis did with the XCOM series last year,” said Brad Wardell, president and CEO of Stardock. "We are looking atas a major source of inspiration.”, released in 1992, is considered one of the best PC games of all time. It took place in the aftermath of a war between Earth and the Hierarchy of Battle Thralls. The Earth lost this war and is now encased inside a slave shield. The player, one of the last remaining free humans, must journey across the galaxy and recruit other alien races into a new alliance that can battle the Hierarchy.Branching dialogues were a big part of the game. Players had to act diplomatic to the strange alien species that they encountered. When diplomacy failed, they had to fight these aliens in real-time battles. The player could use their flagship or one of the other alien ships in their fleet in battle. Each ship had different attributes and abilities to master.As you might've guessed from my Twitter profile is easily one of my favorite PC games. It might not be at the top of the list but it's up there withand. The game had an engaging story and perhaps the funniest set of alien races this side of. The combat itself hasn't aged well - I didn't even enjoy it back in the nineties, to be honest - so I'm very curious to see how Stardock will update that side of the game.It's not clear whether Stardock will simply be publishing thereboot or developing it as well. They have extensive experience as a developer, having shipped PC strategy games likeand. I think they'll be great at upgrading the mechanics offor a modern audience.The quality of writing is a concern for me, though. The reasonworked so well is the story. I hope Stardock has a good scribe lined up. I'd say that they should recruitwriter Paul Reiche III for the job but it might be hard for him to balance that task with being CEO of Toys for Bob, currently in charge of the hugely successful Skylanders series . Hopefully he can at least play a consulting role.Additional details on the reboot will be revealed soon. In the meantime, if you're curious about, you should check out the free HD remake developed by fans . The first and second game are available in a bundle on GOG as well.