NASA Launches Moonbase Alpha 230
Several readers have sent word that today NASA launched Moonbase Alpha, an online game with single- and multi-player capability that "allows participants to step into the role of an exploration team member in a futuristic 3-D lunar settlement." The game is available now through Steam for free. Moonbase Alpha was built as a precursor to an upcoming NASA MMO called Astronaut: Moon, Mars & Beyond, and they hope it will be "a proof of concept to show how NASA content can be combined with a cutting-edge game engine to inspire, engage and educate students about agency technologies, job opportunities and the future of space exploration."
Re:Moonbase Alpha BBS? (Score:3, Informative)
Um, all the world lives in one area code, do they? ;)
Re:Only 11 years late... (Score:2, Informative)
"Black Sun" was kinda cool. And the Eagles are some of the greatest-looking fictional spaceships ever, even though from the vernier rockets layout it's never exactly clear how they can yaw or traslate on the X-axis.
Recommended System Requirements (Score:3, Informative)
Win XP SP3 / Vista / Windows 7
I wonder if it will run under WINE?
Re:Steam, but Windows-only (Score:4, Informative)
It depends on the game Engine.
I am currently downloading Mass-Effect 2 onto my Ubuntu system. Used Steam to download the demo. It worked. So I bought the game.
Anything I am going to buy from Steam I am going to want to run the demo of first to check for compatibility. Silly thing is the Steam store only works from windows. I have a really old system that gets the job done. My main system is pure Linux.
Getting way off track here but
Steam+demo is the best way to sell the windows games into the Linux market. Try it first, then buy. It lets you know it will work.
STO should work according to the Wine forums. The demo did not for me. So it's out.
Re:This is government-funded—where's the sou (Score:4, Informative)
I work for Los Angeles County and we do not give out our source code without one. We have given out the source but it involves several legal issues and "hold harmless" agreements that are way above me. (I'm not condoning or condemning the process, just stating what has happened in the past.)
Brainless (Score:3, Informative)
Oh for crissakes. This is a stupid article that draws together two unrelated events. The first is an interview with Al-Jazera which (surprise!) emphasizes NASA's importance to the Muslim world. Which isn't all that big, but what do you expect him to say?
Then the writer manages to tie in this interview with Obama's Cairo speech [huffingtonpost.com] which doesn't even mention NASA. Since this happened at about the same time, it somehow "proves" that Obama is only interested in NASA for helping him make nice with the Arabs.
Brainless.
Re:Only 11 years late... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Only 11 years late... (Score:2, Informative)
I have two of them and yes, I remember the thrusters on the landing gears' pods. However, Apollo had them on a cylindrical body while the Eagles have them positioned differently, and there's no engine bell on the X-Axis. Oh, well, it's fiction. I also have Roberto Baldassarri's blueprints framed, by the way (http://www.space1999.net/eagle/).