nasa-mmo
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Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond renamed to Starlite with beta incoming
In the wake of NASA successfully landing a robot rover on Mars recently, you might be wondering what happened to the NASA-themed MMO titled Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond. The first thing that's happened to it is that the project has been retitled Starlite. Project Whitecard Studios Inc. hopes the new name will be less cumbersome and also provide a better idea of what the game is about at a glance. Development has progressed on the game as well, with a beta expected to begin sometime before the end of 2012. Prospective players can experience the game on mobile devices and browsers to minimize barriers to entry. If you're interested in a game focused on the technical side of space travel and exploring to the boundary of our solar system, keep a close watch for news on the upcoming beta. [Source: Project Whitecard Studios Inc. press release]
First look at NASA's Unreal Engine 3 MMO
Big Download took a look (one of the very first, in fact) at the Unreal Engine 3 powered NASA MMO. They came out the the experience with two pages of information. Some of the more interesting facts are that the game is actually set in the year 2035, and is designed to spark a fire of infatuation with space and NASA in those who play it -- similar to what America's Army was all about.So head on over and take a look, if getting your virtual space walk on (trainable at level 40, we hear) is something you'd be more than happy to participate in. Don't say we didn't warn you about those urine packs, though. Gallery: Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond
NASA MMO hopes to awaken a stale engineering workforce
We're guessing the interest in a NASA career is dying down after the last hype wave during the Space Camp years. So now the government space agency is looking for a fresh way to get young people interested in reaching for the stars, by following through with their earlier-reported plans of creating a NASA MMO. Hey, the online career-promotion thing worked for America's Army, didn't it? The NASA MMO, still being in the infant stages of searching for an actual developer, is interested in making this the first educational MMO using the "STEM discipline". This promotes Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics within the game to get people interested in these subjects, and help them better understand how to pursue a career incorporating these skills. If you think about it, many MMOS already use this system, but the trick is disguising it in a thin veil of fun. That is the biggest challenge to creating a government-sponsored online game that aims to educate a particular target audience. But with the recent insane growth of games like EVE Online, we don't think the target audience will be a problem.
