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Joystiq Streams: Space Engineers and the horror of the void [UPDATE: Relive the stream!]
At the moment, NASA is building a new Mars rover to launch sometime around 2020. The little robot successor to the Curiosity rover, who's still chilling on the red planet collecting rocks and looking for water, will cost about $1.5 billion to make. The Center for Strategic and International studies, a foreign policy think tank, estimates that an internationally backed moon base will cost about $35 billion to build and around $7.4 billion to maintain year-round. In short: Space is expensive, y'all. If we're going to get our plans for a Joystiq party house built on Titan by 2017, we'd better get cracking and think economically. Keen Software House's Space Engineers is helping us cut costs by letting the Joystiq crew build all kinds of space ships and exoplanetary facilities in a safe, consequence free environment. Maybe we're going to build an 80-story party house on an asteroid! Who will stop us? Maybe you will, since we're giving away multiple copies of the game at 4PM EST on Twitch.tv/Joystiq. Come hang with us as we stream Space Engineers alongside creator Marek Rosa at 4PM EST on the Joystiq Twitch channel and right here at Joystiq.com. Free games and wild space dreams; what more do you need? Joystiq Streams broadcasts every Tuesday and Thursday at 4PM EST.
Space Engineers touches down on Steam Early Access
Space Engineers, the sandbox engineering simulator dedicated to living out your "what if?" scenarios in space, has made contact with Steam Early Access. Players who dive in now will be able to suggest improvements as developer Keen Software House approaches the game's official liftoff. Exploring Space Engineers is a lot like exploring space, in that you're not really sure how things work until you watch a terrifying movie see for yourself. Players take on daring missions like the maintaining of space stations, constructing ships, and generally trying not to blow everything up. When frustrations peak, the game can also be played as a tactical shooter, but Keen Software expects players "to avoid engaging in direct man-to-man combat and instead use their creativity and engineering skills to build war machines and fortifications." So in other words, if you're going to fight, do it once you figure out how to build an awesome weapon. The forces of gravity and electricity are realistically implemented while building with the game's provided blocks, so it seems like you'll need to think your crafts through instead of just building shoddy abominations. PC owners can currently launch themselves into Space Engineers' universe for $14.99 and will gain access to the full version once it's released.
Keen Software House announces pre-order deals for Miner Wars MMO
Czech studio Keen Software House has announced a pre-order sale for its in-development title, Miner Wars MMO. The game is described on its official site as taking place in "a post-apocalyptic inner Solar System, approximately 10 years after the destruction of Earth." Players must learn to deal with life in space with limited resources. All players control mining spaceships and can explore the galaxy, harvest valuable resources, upgrade their ships, engage in epic-scale battles, and more. If this catches your fancy, the title is currently on pre-sale for $19.99 US. But wait, just like a good informercial, there's more. If you purchase the game as part of this early presale package, "you can play the game for at least two years (guaranteed) without any subscription fees." That's right, the studio is offering to nix subscription fees for two years for anyone who throws down cash on the game right here, right now. Why, though? Well, for one, it will allow the studio to gauge interest in the project (as compared to the MMO's single-player counterpart, Miner Wars 2081) while also providing the studio with funds to "hire a larger team [to] make the game earlier and better." For the full details on the pre-order deals, just head on over to the title's official site. [Source: Keen Software House press release]
Miner Wars, an MMO for PC and ... XBLA?
File this one under the "We couldn't have seen it coming from a mile away" category: Keen Software House announced today its forthcoming game, a space shooter MMO named Miner Wars, for release on PC and Xbox Live Arcade. Yep, that's right folks, an MMO could quite possibly hit the Xbox 360's Live Arcade service before landing on the console proper, as this one's billed for an "Autumn 2009 World Premiere." Wait, does that mean a fall release? KSH's Marek Rosa told Joystiq, "World premiere means game release, but it's possible we will move this date to Q1/2010, because we don't want to fight with games like Call Of Duty, etc., but the official date right now is Autumn 2009." And will Miner Wars support cross-platform play between the Xbox 360 and PC? Hmmm? "Cross-platform PC and Xbox is something I would like to have -- there will probably be some compromises, but I will fight for it," Rosa told us. He says since the game is being developed currently using the XNA development tools, a PlayStation 3 port is unlikely, though a 2D iteration of Miner Wars is planned for the PSP and iPhone following the completion of the XBLA/PC game.[Via Big Download]%Gallery-68085%
