If you like Freelancer, you guys should definitely consider getting X3 Reunion. From what I have heard and read it is really more the open ended "GTA 3 in space" game that Freelancer was originally intended to be.

Better graphics, much deeper gameplay, joystick support, and very open ended. You can not only upgrade your ships or trade up, but you can acquire and control fleets of ships, and because it does not rely on the arcadish mouse flight control of Freelancer, it truely does have a 3 dimentional feel.

The game had a few issues when it was first released in 2005 plus it originally came with the much despised Starforce copy protection system, but it still got decent reviews.

Now it has been totally patched, revamped and re-released as version 2.0 on DVD with Starforce completely removed. A couple of my die hard space sim fans have been raving about it, so I picked it up this week at Wal-Mart for only $19.95. I also saw it available for download on Steam last week. I just loaded it on my system last night and really haven't had much time to play yet

I am told it is not as quick or easy to get into as Freelancer, but everybody that I know who have played both games assure me that X3 has ten times the playability and re-playability of lancer game.

Here's one of the better reviews:

http://pc.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r26092.htm

Cheers