Long running combat and trading space sim game, the X series, is coming to a grande finale end in the recently announced X3: Gold Edition.

The Gold Edition includes both full, stand-alone X3 games: X3: Reunion and X3: Terran Conflict, along with the Terran Conflict expansion pack 'The Aldrin Missions' that includes even more missions, a new ship, and some new space-features. The Gold Edition also includes a soundtrack of song aural highlights from X3: Terran Conflict. 

If you never played an X3 game, Gold Edition might be a good place to jump into the series. The X3 games are known for their strategic depth: you can build starbases and form a trading empire. You can buy a war fleet of ships; and you can engage in space-combat from fighter-sized craft, all the way up to massive capital ships.

A final touch included in the Gold Edition is a new "Personal Uplink" feature. This appears to be some sort of online leaderboard that players can use to share their achievements in the game, and connect with other X3 fans.

X³: Gold Edition will be released early in the 2nd quarter of 2009.