"NASA-the guys who fly to Mars and stuff- will, apparently, develop a video game of their own. And they will do this at your expense, to be more exact, they will take money out of your taxes. According to beyondunreal.com, NASA's Learning Technologies Office got some money to develop a NASA-based game. For the time being, they are planning to develop a prototype game, which will last about 10 to 20 minutes. They are collaborating with America's Army development team and the Federation of American Scientists and they will use Epic's Unreal 3 engine. Trough this game’s prototype, they plan to make people more familiar with space exploration, and introduce them into NASA’s Vision for Space Exploration. NASA has big plans for the future, their goal being to go back to the moon by 2025, and to get a human on Mars by 2035. The Unreal 3 engine was designed specially for DX9 and next-gen consoles like the Xbox 360 and PS3. Epic has used it to develop Gears of War and Unreal Tournament 2007. Considering the great detail in Gears of War, I guess it’s safe to say that NASA's game will be a spectacular one, but I don't understand why they have to develop it on taxpayers' expense."
Well may be because this will be one of the mor and more reducing chances to enspire people and make children LEARN or READ. As I wach ot TV - you - americans have more and more problems in Education system and i can only be sorry for that. I hoped to come in USA and take my Ph.D. there, but after I hear that i'll reconsider. I'm thinking that this is very good idea for increasing interest and curiosity in young people.
Interesting, a NASA developed game, that will be brilliant. I'm sure it's not only young people who will benefit from this, adults play games as well. And yeah after playing Gears of war it should turn out pretty good.
To the question of why the game must be made on the tax payer's dollar if it is to be made: As NASA is an organization run by the government, all of their cash must come either through taxes, or through grants from corporations or other Citizens. Personally I feel far better about the prospect some of my tax dollars going to this project, rather than any aspect of the future of my government's space program being even more directly in the hands of corporations. As for why, given that it is on the tax payer's dollar, it should be made: I don't really see any huge difference between this game, and the games used by military branches. It is a method of getting positive PR, and as an interactive form of entertainment, will gain a greater purchase on the imagination of those who play it than would, say, a TV commercial. Gone are the days where every American was glued to the TV for every space mission, or watched every download of the Hubble telescope with awe. Modern day space travel has lost the imaginations and hearts of the American people, and with them, NASA has lost much of it's funding. This is likely not only a way to get the talent of America's youth interested in space travel, but also to recapture the imagination of the every day citizen, thus gaining a greater share of the tax payer's pie for the space projects that need direct funding.
With the tax payer's money issue aside..What will draw kids to the game? I don't see how the game play could be that fun, considering all astronauts do in space are experiments. It's not like they're shooting aliens up there. So takeoff, run experiments, land on mars, fly back, game over...
Why do people play flight simulators with no combat involved? This one has the added atraction of variable atmosphere, and exotic (space) locations for the landing, as well as craft you are unlikely to be able to pilot in other games.
Let me just say that I will be telling my stepfather about this when I get home, and he will probably be so Elated he will be scouring the Nasa web page and beyondunreal.com for info.
That was my thought, yeah. Keep in mind, many space ships fly through the atmosphere AND through space. They also already have computer simulations of potential designs they are planning. Perhaps they will put some of those potential designs in the game as well, let people know the potetnial of near-future space travel of only Nasa gets more money.
First of all they need to develop theyer server securitys romanian hackers crack theyer servers like other chat .... just now here is a big scandal as one of the romanian hackers hackerd 100 of there servers just to show them they are not secure ) in this ritm we may reach mars in like 300 years
*wince* yeah, not being able to trust critcal data that lives, and billion (trillion?) dollar projects rest on is never a good thing.
That is true, but I see part of the reason flight simulators are successful is because they are realistic AND able to be applied to a normal person's life. I can fly a plane in real life if I feel like taking flying lessons, but I can't really take astronaut lessons to fly a space shuttle. I suppose the market...and/or NASAs persistence, will have the last say in whether this will be successful.
Actually, a lot of flight simulators out there are popular because they give aeronautical enthusiasts the chance to fly aircraft they would never get to fly in situations they would never get to fly them in, which is even more true of the NASA project. Those enthusiasts might get others to try the game, where if they like it, will become enthused about space travel themselves.