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NASA Launches Moonbase Alpha

Posted by Soulskill on from the to-boldly-grind dept.

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."

24 of 230 comments (clear)

  1. In space... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Nobody can hear you troll.

    1. Re:In space... by tacarat · · Score: 3, Funny

      Actually, this project is to find trolls and their online kin. Who better to send on long duration trips than those that already hate the sun, don't mind "alternative hygiene", live on processed foods and can shirk off a lack of real sex for years at a time?

      Oh shit. /. is next >.>

      --
      "Common sense will be the death of us all"
    2. Re:In space... by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Good God, you're absolutely right. Every geek and nerd in the verse is a perfect target to send on missions to space... We have to warn... Somebody... wait... whats bad about this?

    3. Re:In space... by tacarat · · Score: 3, Funny

      I don't want to risk sharing a ship with telephone sanitizers.

      --
      "Common sense will be the death of us all"
  2. Only 11 years late... by wowbagger · · Score: 3, Funny

    Only 11 years late...

    Some cheats for players:
    1 Stay away from the nuclear waste dump.
    2 Don't shoot energy-absorbing being with a laser - just get them in a powered-down section and wait for them to run out of energy.
    3 Neutron reaction drives won't make you a lot of friends.

    --
    www.eFax.com are spammers
    1. Re:Only 11 years late... by tnk1 · · Score: 5, Funny

      And the instances will be just like playing WoW with shitty pick-up groups.

      Astronaut [party] Okay guys, I'm going up. You ready to make sure my mission is a success?
      Congressman [party] I got all the money you need.
      Contractor [party] All systems go! We got your back.
      Administrator [party] You are cleared for take off.

      Astronaut launches STS-135.
      Astronaut is now 2 km above launch site.
      *Astronaut is attacked by Faulty O-Ring (elite)*
      Astronaut [party] oshitoshitoshit
      Contractor disconnects from the server.
      Administrator casts Blame the Contractor. Administrator teleports out.
      Congressman casts Hookers and Blow. Congressman teleports out.
      Astronaut takes 2389358954390354-e35 damage.
      Astronaut dies.

      Contractor reconnects.
      Contractor [party] Guys? What'd I miss?
      Congressman [party] Uhh yeah, I gotta go. Getting a blow job.
      Astronaut [party] Fucking DIE.
      Administrator [guild] We don't talk that way in the NASA guild.
      Astronaut has been kicked from NASA.

      The End.

    2. Re:Only 11 years late... by pipingguy · · Score: 3, Informative

      But UFO (also by Gerry Anderson) was great! Supposedly there's a movie on the way.

  3. Please... by rshol · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Is this how screwed up NASA is, reduced to releasing video games as opposed to sending people into space?

    1. Re:Please... by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      On the other hand, the Military gets tons of Cash and they have NEVER released a video game.

    2. Re:Please... by AnonymousClown · · Score: 5, Funny

      Is this how screwed up NASA is, reduced to releasing video games as opposed to sending people into space?

      It's a master recruitment plan. See, kids think they're playing a game but in reality, they're being trained and the best of the best of the best will rise until one day, via their "game" they're doing actual exploration without realizing it. I hear they're planning a military version of this too.

      Code name: ENDER

      --
      RIP America

      July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001

    3. Re:Please... by elrous0 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, they've got a lot of experience producing computer animation of craft they never actually build and missions which they never actually launch. So this is just a natural extension.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    4. Re:Please... by blair1q · · Score: 3, Funny

      (kicks you in the nuts)

    5. Re:Please... by elrous0 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      NASA: Treading Water for 40 Years and Counting!

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    6. Re:Please... by amiga3D · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I think this is as close to doing any space work as NASA will come in the future. No one wants to spend money on Space Exploration. Both parties talk about it but wont fund it. We're through in space, the private companies will do earth orbit and maybe Japan or China will go to Mars. The US will make video games.

  4. DAMMIT!!! by A.+B3ttik · · Score: 3, Funny

    My level 19 Rocketeer had fourteen Pristine Moonrock's, I had the fifteenth IN SIGHT, when a level 43 Cosmonaut ganked me and looted everything off my corpse. I took me ten hours of grinding Selenites to get that epic Oxygen Tank of Capacity.

  5. How stimulating. by Snarkalicious · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can only imagine that the excitement curve for the game will be the same as any other MMO or living on an actual moon base.

    Day 1: Woo! I'm on the server/moon!
    Day 2: Wow! I can do like, 6 different things. Sweet!
    Day 12: OH SWEET JESUS WHY CAN'T I ESCAPE THIS EYE-STABBING BOREDOM!!!!!

  6. Moonbase Alpha... Alpha Complex by Local+ID10T · · Score: 3, Funny

    Greetings Friend Citizen!

    It is the future, and you are a proud citizen of Moonbase Alpha, a moonbase run by a benevolent Computer.

    All is foreseen. All is right and just. All is good and pure. All because of The Computer.

    The Computer is Your Friend!

    Welcome to Moonbase Alpha. The Computer is Your Friend!

    --
    "You want to know how to help your kids? Leave them the fuck alone." -George Carlin
  7. Steam by Toonol · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Can you get it from NASA directly? I don't allow steam on any of my machines.

    1. Re:Steam by Toze · · Score: 4, Insightful

      As far as sexual assault goes, groping is the least evil.

      --
      No OS on the planet can protect itself from a user with the admin password. - Yvan256
    2. Re:Steam by camperdave · · Score: 4, Funny

      Neither do I. Condensation wreaks havoc with the circuitry. It also encourages mould growth. Also, I go through enough trouble keeping things cool. Why would I want steam anywhere near my machines? The closest steam should get is the stuff rising from my nice hot coffee.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  8. Re:Steam, but Windows-only by RichMan · · Score: 3, 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.

  9. Re:This is government-funded—where's the sou by filesiteguy · · Score: 3, Informative

    File a Freedom of Information (http://www.justice.gov/oip/) request.

    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.)

    --
    The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
  10. VAC enabled? by TypoNAM · · Score: 3, Funny

    I find it funny that it says the game is "Valve Anti-Cheat enabled" on the Steam product page. So, what exactly are people doing to cheat in this moon base simulator game?

    Cause I just hate it when I'm bunny hopping along on the moon's surface and suddenly get head-shotted by some kid using an aimbot. ;)

    --
    This space is not for rent.
  11. "NASA MMO" - End game strategies by Snufu · · Score: 3, Funny

    The first player to have his his project canceled wins.