Harpoon 3 Advanced Naval Warfare is the current civilian edition of the product. Harpoon Commanders Edition is an updating version based on the game engine of the original series. Since March 2009, two releases are available to AGSI civilian customers. There has been considerable debate in the game's user community about the decision of the developers to utilize 3D graphics in later versions of the program. Harpoon's interface emphasizes technical accuracy over graphical polish, with simple 2D symbols to simulate a warship's radar display. In 2006, AGSI released Harpoon Advanced Naval Warfare (ANW) which allowed players to compete with human opponents for the first time in the game's history.
#Definition harpoon series
Currently all computer rights rest with AGSI, who continues to improve the series with new developments and releases. Despite the widespread success of the game, Three-Sixty Pacific experienced financial difficulties and went under in 1994. Harpoon was originally developed by Three-Sixty Pacific and has had several development paths and publishers. (AGSI), developers of Harpoon 3 Advanced Naval Warfare, currently distributes the simulation through Matrix games with technical support handled on a co-operative basis by AGSI and Matrix games employees.
Often described as a "niche within a niche market," development of the simulation has progressed steadily through the years despite the overwhelming numerical and graphical superiority of first-person shooter and real-time strategy games. The simulation has a growing and dedicated fan base with several websites offering a varying styles of scenarios and discussion forums, especially as the latest edition includes a feature to allow players to create their own scenarios.