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Large Amount of Star Citizen Art Assets Leaked

Posted by samzenpus on from the pre-pre-release dept.

jones_supa writes: A huge batch of work-in-progress assets for Star Citizen have leaked to the public. An unknown person, likely connected with Cloud Imperium Games in some way, provided a link to the 48 gigabytes of content. The link has now been taken down, but as we know, it's hard to remove material from Internet after once put there. Being a CryEngine game, it has been suggested that it might be possible to view some of the assets using CryEngine development tools. Leaks are always quite the conundrum with the opportunities they present to curious fans and competitor companies, but can also be very depressing for the developers and publisher of the game.

107 comments

  1. Happy Monday from The Golden Girls by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Thank you for being a friend
    Traveled down the road and back again
    Your heart is true, you're a pal and a cosmonaut.

    And if you threw a party
    Invited everyone you knew
    You would see the biggest gift would be from me
    And the card attached would say, thank you for being a friend.

  2. But is the game any good? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've been burned before. Laser-burned.

  3. How long until we see... by chris200x9 · · Score: 1

    ...Star Citizen community edition?

    1. Re:How long until we see... by msauve · · Score: 1

      A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    2. Re:How long until we see... by dimeglio · · Score: 1

      I'm sure one can play both chess and Star Citizen at the same time.

      --
      Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the author.
    3. Re:How long until we see... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You will probably be able to play chess IN Star Citizen...

    4. Re:How long until we see... by AntiAntagonist · · Score: 1

      CIG did promise they would allow people to host their own private servers.

    5. Re: How long until we see... by nitehawk214 · · Score: 1

      You are thinking of X:Rebirth.

      But X:Afterbirth is just another shining example of why you should never ever preorder games.

      --
      I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
  4. Wasnt an inside leak by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just an accident, from the article:

      It appears that a community manager from Cloud Imperium Games hastily posted some photos of WIP assets that unfortunately contained enough of the CDN link to be accessible by some very clever fans. This led to the subsequent leaking of the mentioned assets.

    1. Re:Wasnt an inside leak by KGIII · · Score: 1

      Information wants to be free.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    2. Re:Wasnt an inside leak by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      very clever? you mean they had them all in an aws bucket with no access limits?

      anyways, the assets as such wouldn't be so interesting as would be to get to know how far they are at modifying the cryengine to fit a free roaming space simulator. because THATS what i'm skeptical about in the project. I'm sure they can produce pretty spaceship models and all that, I'm just not so sure they grok what it takes to change the engine so that the space doesn't feel like couple of arenas(like x2 or freelancer).

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    3. Re:Wasnt an inside leak by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Information wishes people would stop anthropomorphizing it.

    4. Re: Wasnt an inside leak by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You first.

    5. Re:Wasnt an inside leak by Falos · · Score: 1

      Knowledge is a contagion, then.

      Thoughtproperty doesn't need "desire" in the equation to populate.

    6. Re:Wasnt an inside leak by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Until you can prove that we aren't in a simulation I will treat information like people, just to be sure.

    7. Re:Wasnt an inside leak by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Information wants to be free.

      We'll see about that when you write your first book and someone leaks an unfinished copy to KickassTorrents.

    8. Re:Wasnt an inside leak by Calydor · · Score: 1

      I thought information couldn't be destroyed?

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    9. Re:Wasnt an inside leak by weilawei · · Score: 1

      Information can be destroyed. Mass and energy must be conserved, but entropic processes destroy information.

    10. Re:Wasnt an inside leak by byornski · · Score: 1

      Mass does not need to be conserved - momentum does. Nuclear fission and fusion along with particle creation and annihilation are examples where mass is not conserved.

    11. Re:Wasnt an inside leak by weilawei · · Score: 1

      You confuse mass and matter. You should read the wiki article for details.

      The law of conservation of mass, or principle of mass conservation, states that for any system closed to all transfers of matter and energy (both of which have mass), the mass of the system must remain constant over time, as system mass cannot change quantity if it is not added or removed. Hence, the quantity of mass is "conserved" over time. The law implies that mass can neither be created nor destroyed, although it may be rearranged in space, or the entities associated with it may be changed in form, as for example when light or physical work is transformed into particles that contribute the same mass to the system as the light or work had contributed. The law implies (requires) that during any chemical reaction, nuclear reaction, or radioactive decay in an isolated system, the total mass of the reactants or starting materials must be equal to the mass of the products.

      The closely related concept of matter conservation was found to hold good in chemistry to such high approximation that it failed only for the high energies treated by the later refinements of relativity theory, but otherwise remains useful and sufficiently accurate for most chemical calculations, even in modern practice.

      In special relativity, mass is not converted to energy, since mass and energy cannot be destroyed, and energy in all of its forms always retains its equivalent amount of mass throughout any transformation to a different type of energy within a system (or translocation into or out of a system). Certain types of matter (a different concept) may be created or destroyed, but in all of these processes, the energy and mass associated with such matter remains unchanged in quantity (although type of energy associated with the matter may change form).

      In general relativity, mass (and energy) conservation in expanding volumes of space is a complex concept, subject to different definitions, and neither mass nor energy is as strictly and simply conserved as is the case in special relativity and in Minkowski space. For a discussion, see mass in general relativity.

    12. Re:Wasnt an inside leak by KGIII · · Score: 1

      I understand your point but am not going to write a book. I am happily retired. I merely pointed out the oft spoken words that I see here.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    13. Re:Wasnt an inside leak by AntiAntagonist · · Score: 1

      They have been at it for a while. IIRC they recently upgraded the floating point address spaces to 64bit so that the "levels" could be larger than the ~8km. They're also working a lot on the net code and (dynamic) instancing system.

  5. Not planned at all by Dunbal · · Score: 0

    This couldn't be a marketing ploy to increase pledges for the next stretch goal(s) at all...

    --
    Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    1. Re:Not planned at all by BradleyUffner · · Score: 1

      This couldn't be a marketing ploy to increase pledges for the next stretch goal(s) at all...

      There are no more (monetary) stretch goals.
      http://www.pcgamer.com/star-ci...

    2. Re:Not planned at all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This time it wasn't.

      A community manager made a screenshot to tease an upcoming content patch but there was a partial url in a corner of his desktop uncropped and people guessed the rest of it to download the files.

    3. Re:Not planned at all by AbRASiON · · Score: 1

      They've been selling virtual ships for hundreds of dollars a pop instead.
      This thing is damn near a ponzi scheme, I can't wait to see the collapse it's going to be EPIC, just incredible online.

    4. Re:Not planned at all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but you can be sure as shit they'll be selling a tonne more in game items for ludicrous sums of money for years to come before the game is complete.

    5. Re:Not planned at all by sexconker · · Score: 1

      They will, however, keep selling more and more ridiculous ship designs for more and more ridiculous amounts of money before the game is finished.

    6. Re:Not planned at all by NaughtyNimitz · · Score: 1

      But as always stated, these ships will be available for in-game credits you can earn by playing the game. Some advantages of buying them know are: often you have an extended period / lifetime insurance on that ship , you back the game and get more (hangar, model, art-work, ...), you are a fan and you want to express it,...
      Chris Roberts stresses on this all the time: using real-world money should in no averse way effect the game play for others.

    7. Re:Not planned at all by Aereus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What scheme would that be? You can buy the game for as low as $30. Earning your way into something like a Hornet has been planned for a handful of days and something like a Constellation about two weeks. Buying massive capital ships won't necessarily do you any good, because you won't be able to afford the maintenance, fuel, and equipment costs to even fly the thing at release. All you get is the base hull with basic fittings. Ships also fulfill certain roles, so there is far far more lateral mobility in hull purchases than vertical. It's been my perception that the more vocal people are about doomsaying Star Citizen, the less they actually know about the game. And that's not to say it's even going to be a huge success—there are a lot of uncertainties related to seeing all of the various modules/systems to the game come together as one cohesive whole. But they've been making consistent progress, and while their have been some delays, they are explained and fall within the usual scope of development uncertainty.

    8. Re:Not planned at all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      do you work for them, or are you just a major investor?

      the thing reeks - i knew nothing of it before today, this leak is clearly an attention grab, and to shamelessly offer an 'all of the ships' package for 15,000 dollars on their site is ludicrous.

      it looks like a lot of fun, and the art looks great, but as soon as i saw triple digit prices for in-game assets, i knew it wasn't for me.

      filthy hardcore casuals.

    9. Re:Not planned at all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      " i knew nothing of it before today,"

      Then you've been in a hole for over 5 years.

    10. Re:Not planned at all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      oh man, I'm *sure* the game is almost done with development and scheduled for an imminent release, then?

    11. Re:Not planned at all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since I've never heard of Star Citizen before this you might be on to something.

    12. Re:Not planned at all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Chris Roberts stresses on this all the time: using real-world money should in no averse way effect the game play for others.

      Sure, and monetary purchases have no negative effect on eve players, wow players, and every other MMO like game. Just like the class divide in north America no adverse effect on the life of people in the lower income brackets.

      Having huge expensive items alienates more people than you realize

  6. Bob Dole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Has garlic in his rectum.

    1. Re:Bob Dole by Grog6 · · Score: 0

      It's to keep Vampires like Rumsfeld and Cheney out of there, Duh! :)

      --
      Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
  7. 48GB?! by ArcadeMan · · Score: 0

    How big is thing thing going to be? This is the first time in nearly a decade that I hope a game is available on optical media, but my gaming PC doesn't even have one. Between Battle.net and Steam, I never had the need for one.

    And with my monthly data quota of about 40GB, this makes it unlikely that I'm going to download so much data for a single game.

    --
    Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    1. Re:48GB?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have not seen the leak. However, it is entirely possible that this includes all the source files, e.g. the files that went into rendering the models. The end product might be significantly less.

    2. Re:48GB?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      These are design files most likely. Files much larger then the compressed version that will make it into the final game. Though really, from what I seen, the game itself will be very large. They are expecting it to be around 100gb in it's final form.

      http://www.pcgamer.com/star-citizen-client-expected-to-be-around-100gb/

    3. Re:48GB?! by Skidborg · · Score: 4, Informative

      Art assets are always many times larger than what goes into the actual game. Ultra-resolution textures, different versions of models, placeholders, etc. Most of which are trimmed or discarded long before release.

      --
      Supporter of the +1 Over Dramatic mod option. In memory of apk.
    4. Re:48GB?! by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      I hope they ship on Blu-Ray because that's going to be too many DVDs and a lot of Canadians have very low monthly data caps thanks to ISP monopolies in a lot of areas.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    5. Re:48GB?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Looks like he is continuing a well worn tradition of Origin games needing more computer than will be available for 2-4 years :)

    6. Re:48GB?! by gstoddart · · Score: 2

      How big is thing thing going to be?

      In my experience, the development environment for software is larger than the actual software.

      Working copies, and interim copies, and what have you. Tools, pieces, and parts.

      Now imagine something as massive as a video game, specifically involving art and computer graphics ... models, mockups, rendered seqeunces, things I don't even know what might be in there.

      I'm betting the amount of source material which feeds into a finished game is likely many thousands of times the end-product. Because you probably have various edits and do-overs of stuff which took a long time to make, and is probably valuable.

      I can't imagine how many terabytes it takes to build a modern video game.

      But 40GB of cool stuff? Yeah, I totally buy that as possible.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    7. Re:48GB?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait, Origin? Since when was this an Origin game?

    8. Re:48GB?! by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

      It's not and they didn't say it was. Chris Roberts worked at Origin. That was the joke.

    9. Re:48GB?! by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      And with my monthly data quota of about 40GB

      Man, that's horrible. What part of the world has ISPs with 40GB data limits?

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    10. Re:48GB?! by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Never mind. I see in a later post that you're in Canada. Do you mind me asking, is this a rural area or a metropolitan area?

      Oh, and GO BLACKHAWKS.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    11. Re:48GB?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And with my monthly data quota of about 40GB

      Man, that's horrible. What part of the world has ISPs with 40GB data limits?

      New Zealand.

    12. Re:48GB?! by Dunbal · · Score: 1

      40GB should be enough for anybody. In fact since you complain, your ISP will probably lower it to 20GB.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    13. Re:48GB?! by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

      Man, that's horrible. What part of the world has ISPs with 40GB data limits?

      - New Zealand.

      Yeah, but on the plus side, you get to live in New Zealand. I'm not sure I wouldn't trade my higher data limit for a chance to live over there. I've never been there, but it looks like a wonderful place.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    14. Re:48GB?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The game RAGE had over a TB of source files, according to the authors. It was reduced down to 20-25GB BluRay release and install. Games are generally made with high resolution assets, with uncompressed images. Many artists just save the PSD, and then converting to games specific texture formats as a final step.

      3D models are generally stored uncompressed, but they actually compress really well, as in a 3ds max file can go from a 16MB file to less than a MB depending on its content. That all gets compressed to a game specific format that throws out all irrelevant data.

      One of the final finishing touches to most games, after the gameplay gets ironed out, and the game achieves the look desired by the crew is an optimization pass that bakes multiple images into single images to reduce draw calls, decrease the size of 3D assets if they need it, and reducing the quality of the textures, usually by reducing their size.

      After all of that, the engine itself then "cooks" all the assets into a highly optimized form for its own internal use. This is what is shipped, and this still takes up GBs of space.

    15. Re:48GB?! by Marc_Hawke · · Score: 1

      The current client is 25GB. That includes 5 'maps' or 'instance zones' and about 30 of the smallest ships in the game. Making a guess based on the number of announced ships and locations, that's less than 1/10th of the planned 'content' for the game.

      Currently when the game patches it downloads EVERYTHING again, and overwrites the directory. The compressed 'patch' file is typically 20GB. This is still very early in the game development. I'm sure they'll start optimizing their patching at some point.

      The did make a casual forum statement about the size of the client and 'optimizations of that' Basically, "don't hold your breath." While they will reduce the size of the content as much as they can, they will be adding much much more content, so any optimizations will be overcome by the sheer bulk of what's coming.

      Star Citizen is not skimping on the detail of their game. They've probably pushed that so far that their strength has become a weakness...but it's sure pretty.

      --
      --Welcome to the Realm of the Hawke--
    16. Re:48GB?! by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      how big are the instance zones?

      because, I think, the biggest problem for them will be converting cryengine to handle space simulation scale areas/seamless instance transitions.

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    17. Re:48GB?! by exomondo · · Score: 1

      3D models are generally stored uncompressed, but they actually compress really well, as in a 3ds max file can go from a 16MB file to less than a MB depending on its content.

      Very often the high detail model is created then a low detail mesh is generated from that artist model with a corresponding normal map for the detail. This results in a much smaller file so with the original assets in there I would certainly expect the archive to be huge.

    18. Re:48GB?! by jandrese · · Score: 1

      Unless you get your Internet over the air (Satellite or Cell) your provider's caps are embarrassingly small. That's straight up ridiculous for 2015.

      --

      I read the internet for the articles.
    19. Re:48GB?! by Z80a · · Score: 1

      Also some assets are just naturally bigger before being "processed" into the final format, like 3D models that generally use text based formats like obj.

    20. Re:48GB?! by Pikoro · · Score: 1

      Alaska has caps like that. And the new "unlimited" plan that GCI just rolled out is 10/1Mb 40Gb max for data, then they throttle you down to 1Mb down/ 1Mb up. Oh, and they want like $60 for it.

      --
      "Freedom in the USA is not the ability to do what you want. It is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want"
    21. Re:48GB?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's probably going to start at around 100 GB and grow from there based on some old statements from CR. The game is being designed with the assumption you will dedicate an SSD to it.

    22. Re:48GB?! by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      How big is thing thing going to be?

      Work-in-progress assets will not give you much of an idea about that. I've used 2 gigs of data to generate something that ends up taking less than 10 megabytes of disc-storage. Basically you start big and pair it down.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    23. Re:48GB?! by JazzXP · · Score: 1

      Current internal estimates of the final game are sitting around 100Gb. Now with all the tweaking their doing (procedural damage, etc) this may go down a bit, but I'm sure they'll add more stuff too. Current beta download is around 28Gb.

    24. Re:48GB?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course you wouldn't make that trade. If you had a cap enforcing a lower data limit, you wouldn't be able to see as many pictures of as many wonderful places.

    25. Re:48GB?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And that was mentioned in the last part of my comment.

      "decrease the size of the 3D assets if they need it,"

      Though I didn't go into the details of creating a low res mesh and "baking" the high res data onto it. Or mention the need for multiple low level meshes, with different polycounts, for use as LODs that aid in performance.

      But it's all included.

    26. Re:48GB?! by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      It's cable. And yes it's ridiculous, I keep telling them but their reply is "faster connections have higher data caps". Which are of course a lot more expensive, not to mention the fact that I wouldn't need those faster speeds 99% of the time.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    27. Re:48GB?! by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      This is the first time in nearly a decade that I hope a game is available on optical media, but my gaming PC doesn't even have one. Between Battle.net and Steam, I never had the need for one.

      You're remind those guys who said, "PC gamers don't need DVD's" when PS2 games shipped on them. I said, "You'll want them because eventually even PC games are going to use the storage space."

      The same goes for Blu-ray. When PC gamers said "We don't need Blu-ray, we have Steam." I said, "you can't beat the bandwidth of a truck full of Blu-rays, especially with bandwidth caps.

      That said, I've gone digital with games that aren't too large (Minecraft), ones I know I will play the heck out of, like Diablo UEE. And going digital with MMO's/MMO-ish games makes sense, DCUO and War Thunder are digital only on the PS4.

    28. Re:48GB?! by zacherynuk · · Score: 1

      Why not ship it on a USB stick - just about cheap enough?
      Or allow copies to be made onto your USB media of choice from local game shop..

    29. Re:48GB?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't forget, New Zealand is one of the Five-eyes countries. The beauty is only skin deep.

    30. Re:48GB?! by Scorch_Mechanic · · Score: 1

      Roughly a hundred gigabytes. Probably more, really.

      I seem to recall there being a physical USB key delivery pledge level, but it doesn't appear to be available anymore (problems with VAT because the game is on the stick meaning obnoxious taxes). Obviously anything short of bluray disks are out of the question. The prospect of 25 DVDs makes my heart a-quiver, and I sat and suffered through the six-CD installations of multiple games multiple times (UT2004 and HL2 if you must know).

      I sympathize with your predicament my friend. Who knows? Perhaps closer to release date they'll have a solution of some kind. Maybe download the individual modules separately or something.

      --
      You should turn signatures off.
    31. Re:48GB?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tiny. They're working on a 64-bit conversion for cryengine ...

    32. Re:48GB?! by DamnOregonian · · Score: 1

      You're remind those guys who said, "PC gamers don't need DVD's" when PS2 games shipped on them. I said, "You'll want them because eventually even PC games are going to use the storage space."

      That would be a weird thing for a computer gamer to say since DVD computer games predated the PS2 by 2 years...

  8. oh no by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh No

  9. GTA V by Neo-Rio-101 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Grand Theft Auto V was a 60GB download.

    Should come as no suprise really as these latest-gen AAA games are massive, MASSIVE downloads.

    --
    READY.
    PRINT ""+-0
    1. Re:GTA V by Dunbal · · Score: 1

      It's one way to cut down on piracy.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    2. Re:GTA V by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      There's even a game in all that data, somewhere.

    3. Re:GTA V by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you need to wait a day with todays average connections, big whoop.

    4. Re:GTA V by Lumpy · · Score: 1

      and have massive MASSIVE bugs in them. GTA V for example, It's a unholy mess of griefers because the game's security is like a block of swiss cheese.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    5. Re:GTA V by Dunbal · · Score: 1

      Yeah Titanfall was about that size too - 50-odd GB if I remember.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    6. Re:GTA V by Nyder · · Score: 1

      Grand Theft Auto V was a 60GB download.

      Should come as no suprise really as these latest-gen AAA games are massive, MASSIVE downloads.

      Except anyone who's done any software development that requires assets, like music, art and video that they take up way more space in development then they do in the final product.

      --
      Be seeing you...
    7. Re:GTA V by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The PC release for FF13 was something like 78 GB. That is mostly just localization audio, which once deleted it is about 24 GB, I believe.

    8. Re:GTA V by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do the laws of physics require more storage space than the data required to represent the Universe?

    9. Re:GTA V by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It totally filled my SSD, which is sad. It wasn't a pain to download with a 100Mbit connection as it took no more than 1.5hrs, but curiously it seems the the limiting factors have quickly shifted from the time taken to download it to how many such large games you can fit on a high performing disk.

      I tried how it feels like to play games from a standard HDD after using a ~450MBps RW SSD for a couple of years and it was absolutely.. horrible. Constant stuttering and totally unbearable loading times. Nowadays I have resorted to focusing on one or two larger games at a time and shuffle them on and off from my SSD.

      It's at least a bit comforting to know that most games have cloud-backed save files so you don't lose progress while doing that and with high-speed Internet connections it won't be a problem to download them over and over again. I do understand, though, how re-downloading might not be an option in the US because you guys have those tiny data caps (in the year 2015... I feel your pain).

    10. Re:GTA V by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It's one way to cut down on piracy.

      It isn't, though. The pirates can afford a better net connection, since they're not buying games.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    11. Re:GTA V by rwise2112 · · Score: 1

      It's one way to cut down on piracy.

      It isn't, though. The pirates can afford a better net connection, since they're not buying games.

      Good point! One game is more than the cost of a month's internet, on average.

      --

      "For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert"
    12. Re:GTA V by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What magical land do you live in where internet costs less then a game?

    13. Re: GTA V by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My 100Mbps connection is about equal to one AAA game, from Comcast no less.

  10. How the leak happened by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How the leak happened isn't a mystery. A person working for CIG (screen-name DiscoLando) posted some screenshots of content for the upcoming first-person-shooter module. In the desktop background to the image was a link to an internal torrent that was not password protected. People used the link to download the data, and then it spread all over the internet. Remember folks, always password-protect!

    1. Re:How the leak happened by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Alt+print screen or cropping out your background does wonders too!

    2. Re:How the leak happened by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or IP restrict. Or have some authentication system. You simply do not put your assets in a place that is visible from the outside world. This is a major IT strewup for them.

  11. Large Amount of Star Citizen Art Ass by turkeydance · · Score: 0

    that's enough right there.

  12. Slashvertisement 101 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No such thing as bad publicity, and it links right to a speculative, non-encyclopedic, yet Wikipedia entry.

    Fail.

  13. What is Star Citizen and why should we care? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Summary could bother to explain a bit more about what Star Citizen is, and why the release of all these materials is such big news.

    1. Re:What is Star Citizen and why should we care? by jones_supa · · Score: 2

      I included the Wikipedia link for that purpose.

    2. Re:What is Star Citizen and why should we care? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a scam that has so far netted $80m for Chris Roberts.

    3. Re:What is Star Citizen and why should we care? by halivar · · Score: 1

      Considering thousands of people are already enjoying their crowdfunding contribution, I'd say you are demonstrably incorrect.

    4. Re:What is Star Citizen and why should we care? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes thousands are enjoying the buggy beta and spending thousands of dollars on in game assets for something that will likely never be finished.

      I'm ashamed to have purchased that game the giant hype machine and money pit it turned into should be an embarrassment to them but it manufactures money like a casino so the chances of us ever getting the game we were promised without.. I want to say micro payments but based on the cost of in games items.. MACRO payments seems more appropriate.

  14. Mr. Zap by the_skywise · · Score: 0

    He ain't got nothin on Mr. Zap...

    (Google it)

  15. A huge batch of work-in-progress assets for Star C by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    A huge batch of work-in-progress assets for Star Citizen have leaked to the public

    http://www.iaspaper.in

  16. As An Aside... by Guy+From+V · · Score: 3

    As one of a lot of "early contributors/gamma testers" I can say this will be a rather good game, at least better and more approachable than EVE Online...which I despise. It has more of a BattleTech/XvT vibe. It won't usher in Ragnarok or raise the dead but it will be worth the wait for most people who would decide to play it anyway.

  17. "after once put there" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    American idiot.

  18. Eh, who cares? by vadim_t · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The art is unusable for any real purposes, as it's clear copyright infringement. No competitor would touch this with a 10 foot pole, and would be even less likely to use it for anything.

    A few curious people will poke around and that's about it.

    1. Re:Eh, who cares? by cyborg_monkey · · Score: -1

      You sure are smart!

      (p.s. you're not, you really are just a boner-nose).

    2. Re:Eh, who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      This game "art assets" are sold by the company as DLC for quite a big money to fund the developing of the game. Rarer spaceship models are being sold on ebay for hundreds even thousands of dollars.

      That's why this leak is so big deal.

    3. Re:Eh, who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You think we buy just the 3D model art assets? What use is it if we can't use it in the MMO universe, which is basically a row in a database that is still secure?

    4. Re:Eh, who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This game "art assets" are sold by the company as DLC for quite a big money to fund the developing of the game.
      [...]

      That's why this leak is so big deal.

      Don't forget that every single one will be obtainable from within the game itself, with no real money involved. They're just a bonus for pre-release donators.

    5. Re:Eh, who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      They aren't buying art assets, they're buying in game items. Who cares about being able to look at the model outside of the game itself? That doesn't do anyone any good.

  19. Faith by g0bshiTe · · Score: 1

    More proof you can trust your data in the cloud.

    Yeah right.

    --
    I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
  20. Password protect by phorm · · Score: 1

    People used the link to download the data, and then it spread all over the internet. Remember folks, always password-protect!

    Or better yet, firewall. Those assets shouldn't have been on public server, but rather somewhere behind a firewall+VPN, etc (password protection would have been an additional good idea though, in case of a breach).