NASA may enter game publishing realm with space exploration MMO

by Griffin McElroy { Jan 19th 2008 at 10:30AM }

Though space-themed MMOs have a tendency of hastily going the way of the dodo (sometimes before they're ever released), NASA is considering throwing their lot into the ever-growing MMO market with an online space exploration game that will allow players to "simulate real Nasa engineering and science missions" with thousands of other wannabe cosmonauts. That is, if a thousand people purchase the game -- an unlikely scenario, considering the title doesn't include the words "world", "of", "war", or "craft".

We love the idea of an MMO based on real-life space experiments, however, we doubt the game will appeal to the Barrens Chat crowd without the timely addition of "lazorz" and "totally crazy aliens". Actually, that might be a good thing -- we shudder to think of the implications of the creation of "Uranus Chat".

Tags: MMO, NASA, Onlinegaming, PC, Space, WoW

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

playwhutyalike @ Jan 19th 2008 10:36AM

Add catastrophe to your hotbar, Kyle.

...Jan... @ Jan 19th 2008 10:43AM

- Sounds...boring. I mean, real space exploration is fun. But, why would I want to do it virtually? What am I going to do; walk on a barren virtual moon? Take a 8 month mission to Mars only to get a rock and come back? Those are great goals in real life science, but, not much fun for a game.
- Also, I'd rather NASA put that millions of dollars in development into their real space program.

Obie @ Jan 19th 2008 10:51AM

Exlusive features:
Repair satelites with state of the art rickety NASA hardware.
Enjoy countless launch delays due to 1970's designed tech!
Get stuck in the International space station as the shuttle is on the fritz...again!
Explore and study...space bacteria!

NASA stopped being cool 20 years ago. Wake me up if we ever explore Mars.

Obie @ Jan 19th 2008 10:51AM

FlyLikeAMouse @ Jan 19th 2008 11:00AM

The way of the emu? Surely you mean Dodo? I'm fairly sure Emu's are still around
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emu

Jerk Face @ Jan 19th 2008 11:40AM

LOL, that was what I was about to ask! Apparently he meant that space MMO's often end up as domesticated farm birds.

Griffin McElroy @ Jan 19th 2008 12:09PM

Actually, I meant to type emo. That whole scene is SOOOOO last year.

tc @ Jan 19th 2008 11:58AM

instead, why don't they spend their time....going to space?

do i get anything for being consistently cynical?

NotASenator @ Jan 19th 2008 12:08PM

The barrens chat crowd isn't the target audience.

http://procurement.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/eps/synopsis.cgi?acqid=128415

The thousands of gamers would be the students of the schools who buy the mmo.

Mr Intel @ Jan 19th 2008 12:22PM

i miss earth and beyond

Bryan T @ Jan 19th 2008 12:29PM

Space Shuttle Project 2?

(NES reference)

ssuk @ Jan 19th 2008 12:36PM

Well shit, it seems I'm completely ignorant for not realising WoW was the only MMO game ever created.

Despite the fact that this is merely an MMO and not an MMORPG, what part of this news required you to completely ignore the main point of this game (and target audience) and compare it to WoW (and it's target audience)? That's like comparing Final Fantasy to Halo. Like comparing Milk to Bread.

DeltaOps101 @ Jan 19th 2008 12:43PM

World of Spacecraft?

Geist @ Jan 19th 2008 1:04PM

Name it World of Space-WarCraft and you've got a top seller.

WillTheSecond @ Jan 19th 2008 1:01PM

There would have to be a sci-fi element.

I don't mean aliens, I mean missions to Mars, Jupiter, whatever.

Evan @ Jan 19th 2008 1:13PM

Heh, this sounded kind of exciting to me. Doesn't have to be an MMO though, how about just a regular game.

Mighty Shockwave @ Jan 19th 2008 1:37PM

If it's like Real Life, then it fails. Like mentioned earlier, most of this star system is barren and lifeless. However, if there exists intricate ruins on some of the planets to discover (like the Prothean ruins on Mars in Mass Effect), then I'm willing to give it a shot.

Mr Khan @ Jan 19th 2008 2:54PM

Everything to say has been said

Real Space Exploration is boring, unless you're doing it yourself, personally

BigD145 @ Jan 19th 2008 3:41PM

I'll take Spore over this any day of the week. In fact, I want Spore this day of this week.

ThornedVenom @ Jan 19th 2008 7:53PM

I really wonder how 1) they're going to make the objectives fun and 2) how they'd be able to explain thousands of astronaut players in outer space.

It better not be a simulator experience, because it'd be a lot more fun if you could colonize planets, like Mars for example.

Darkbhudda @ Jan 19th 2008 8:26PM

Thwart communist spies!

Discredit people who claim the moon landings were a hoax!

Look out for those dastardly private space exploration agencies!

Assassinate Richard Branson!

Falsely claim the invention of velcro!

Use dangerous tiles on your shuttle that threaten your crew's safety but make environmentalists happy!