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Star Citizen crowdfunding campaign reaches $30 million
Cloud Imperium Games's crowdfunding campaign for Star Citizen continues to barrel along and doesn't seem intent on stopping yet, as creator Chris Roberts has announced that the campaign has officially reached the milestone of 30 million US dollars. A new milestone means new rewards. Along with the announcement, Roberts included a gallery of concept art for the Gladiator ship "created to show how the rear-facing turret can be changed with different upgrades." In addition, Roberts revealed that players voted for a salvage ship in the $32 million "ship role" poll. As a result, the post unveils the first details of the Aegis Surveyor ship. Described as "an industrial-quality salvage ship," the Aegis Surveyor is perfect for retrieving the remains of some poor chump's wrecked ride. Lastly, Roberts reminds players that they can vote for the role $33 million stretch goal ship (right below the post, to boot), so to have your say, head over to the game's official site.
The Daily Grind: Could you make your own MMO for $30 million?
Massively gets a certain amount of grief for writing news stories about Richard Garriott. While it's true that he hasn't made a major contribution to the MMO industry since the 1990s, it's also true that he's something of a touchstone when it comes to geekery and ambition. If a guy can go from being a young astronaut hopeful to having a spare $30 million to burn on a spaceflight, that's got to count for something, doesn't it? While we're on the subject of a spare $30 million, yesterday's Garriott piece got me to thinking about what I would do if I had that kind of pocket change. While spaceflight and a lifetime supply of Hershey's kisses are certainly high on the list, I'd use a good chunk of the money to make my own MMO. What about you, Massively crew? Would you self-finance an MMO if you could, and what would it be like? Would $30 million be enough? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
First 'Skype booth' opens at Estonian airport as company reaches 30 million simultaneous users
Phone booths are old hat, we know that much for sure. But Skype booths? Tallinn Airport in Estonia's capital has become the first site to host a dedicated Skype station, which allows you to video chat with your friends or call them on their phones using Skype credit, exactly as you might do on your computer at home. There's a 22-inch touchscreen up front and a headset nearby, only thing you'll need are some actual friends you want to communicate with. The idea's being put into action by three Estonian companies, all of whom are quite happy to remind us Skype originated in their fine Northern European nation, and the plan is to roll the futuristic-looking booths out to other airports, hotels, shopping malls, hospitals, and the like. In the meantime, Skype usage keeps growing and the company recently recorded 30 million simultaneous users online, breaking its previous record by a trivial three million extra souls.
30 million Wiis sold in the US
If you went out this week to pick up a Wii, congratulations! You're part of history. Nintendo just announced that the Wii has now exceeded 30 million units sold in the US, forty-five months after its launch. To celebrate the occasion, Nintendo released some rare sales data, disclosing not only the top ten Nintendo-published Wii games (as of the end of June), but the top ten third-party games as well. Nothing from 2010 is on the list, reaffirming the belief that many Nintendo titles enjoy high sales alongside long tails. If that list isn't to your liking, however, perhaps you should go buy several copies of Sin & Punishment: Star Successor to move things along.
30 million Windows Phone 7 devices sold by the end of 2011? Microsoft says yes (update: not exactly)
We've got to hand it to Microsoft -- when it sets a goal, it really sets a goal. As you can see in the slide above shown during a ReMix event in Paris yesterday, Microsoft is apparently expecting to sell 30 million Windows Phone 7 devices by the end of 2011, based on IDC projections. To state the obvious, that's pretty ambitious any way you slice it -- especially considering that the first Windows Phone 7 devices are still quite a few months away from hitting the market, giving Microsoft just over a year to reach that mark. Even more impressive is the fact that the figure apparently doesn't include other "Windows Phone" devices like the Kin, but maybe that'd just make 30 million a piece of cake. [Thanks, Greg] Update: Well, it looks like Microsoft may not be quite this ambitious after all. As John Paczkowski of All Things Digital reports, IDC says the numbers cited by Microsoft are actually for all Windows Mobile devices combined, not just Windows Phone 7, and even that figure is a bit off -- the actual number is 32 million. Microsoft itself has also now admitted the error, saying the slide was "inaccurate" and that it isn't providing any sales forecasts for Windows Phone.
