Star Citizen Gets Luxurious with the 300i

[IanDavis]

Star Citizen Gets Luxurious with the 300i

A fake TV spot and brochure detail the qualities of the space sim's top-tier spacecrafts.

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After crowdsourcing [a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/124843-Star-Citizen-Breaks-10-Million-in-Crowdfunding$10 million dollars] $10 million dollars[/a], Star Citizen is bringing space back to the masses. Robert Space Industries, helmed by Chris Roberts (of Wing Commander fame) has been hard at work on the ambitious new simulator. Similar to his classic Wing Commander: Privateer, Star Citizen will be a massive universe filled with combat, trading, and exploration. Owning a new virtual spaceship carries a certain thrill, something that Star Citizen is eager to exploit with its new, automotive-inspired ads.

The 300 series, lovingly crafted by the fictional "Origin Jumpworks" company, is displayed through a sensual tv spot and [a href=http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2821399/300series_brochure.pdf]brochure[/a]. Featuring "beauty you can touch" and "looks that can kill", they are the "BMW 3 or 5 series", Roberts says. "It looks cool and it performs well, though it might be slightly over-priced for what you get."

Just because the 300i is flashy doesn't mean it's automatically better. As Roberts says, "there's no ship that's like a 90-level character that's always going to kill a 7-level character... There's always an element of skill. "

However, RSI isn't just designing slick looking ships, it's also making them fully functional. As lead vehicle artist Chris Smith says, "The way we make these is a lot more high fidelity compared to other games... It requires a different building technique." That difference comes from the fact that players aren't just locked into a HUD. They'll have to physically walk about the ship to access systems not at the cockpit. Each ship has a full interior, and is designed as if it existed in real life.

Star Citizen is currently looking at a late 2014 release on the PC.

Source: [a href=http://robertsspaceindustries.com/the-300-series-revealed/]RSI[/a] via [a href=http://www.polygon.com/2013/6/21/4453530/first-look-at-star-citizens-bmw-spaceship-the-300i]Polygon[/a]

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[Shadowsetzer]

Huh. This actually made me interested in this game. Now I've just gotta wait the year and change.

 

[synobal]

Kinda a fail ad in my opinion. Advertising for a spaceship yet only showing in atmosphere flight. Talking about speed while showing it going at what is no doubt it's slowest speeds. Also it looks an awful lot like an airplane, I do hope that the creators of this game understand that space combat is not air combat.

 

[Scars Unseen]

whelp, now I do got to get abetter gaming PC.

now we just need more 4x games and even more space sims and I might stay a PC gamer.

For 4X gaming, Distant Worlds [http://www.codeforce.co.nz/] is my game of choice right now. It started out kind of bumpy [http://www.spacesector.com/blog/2011/02/distant-worlds-review/], but has gotten progressively better with each of its three expansions, Return of the Shakturi, [http://www.spacesector.com/blog/2011/10/distant-worlds-return-of-the-shakturi-review/] Legends, [http://www.spacesector.com/blog/2011/12/distant-worlds-legends-review/] and Shadows. [http://www.spacesector.com/blog/2013/06/distant-worlds-shadows-review/] I highly recommend it.

OT: Yeah, I loved how the 300i reveal felt like a luxury car ad. It's my pledge ship too, so I glad the ship turned out so amazing.

 

[Playful Pony]

They already took my money, and thanks to Wingmans Hangar it is a joy to see things happening! Have been waiting for this game since Freelancer...

 

[Shinsei-J]

I keep trying not to get hyped for a game that's going to be well over a year away but this one just keeps drawing me in.
Once this game is in my hands, I may never leave my home again.

PS. Mmm, dat thruster.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Kinda a fail ad in my opinion. Advertising for a spaceship yet only showing in atmosphere flight. Talking about speed while showing it going at what is no doubt it's slowest speeds. Also it looks an awful lot like an airplane, I do hope that the creators of this game understand that space combat is not air combat.

You're missing the point. It's an in universe ad, and an in atmo presentation would sell the ship better because it doesn't matter how fast it is, but rather how fast it seems. Space is too empty, and everything visible is too large. The stirring music wouldn't work as well if the ship was just flying through the void instead of clouds, and that sudden acceleration at the end wouldn't have had the same effect if hadn't had something as small as a nearby planet to move against.

Think of it this way: How many car ads take place on looped race tracks, and how many take place on roads with interesting scenery?

 

[Da Orky Man]

Kinda a fail ad in my opinion. Advertising for a spaceship yet only showing in atmosphere flight. Talking about speed while showing it going at what is no doubt it's slowest speeds. Also it looks an awful lot like an airplane, I do hope that the creators of this game understand that space combat is not air combat.

Speed in space is a misnomer. Delta-V is what you need to worry about.

 

[falcon1985]

Whelp, that's another $65 gone. Damn their smooth sales pitch!

PS. Mmm, dat thruster.

That is one tasty looking Aircraft.

 

[Jamous]

Sweet. Very much looking forward to this; this is my tier!

 

[sid]

I'm dead-scared of Star Citizen because it's managed to rack up 10 million bucks selling people ships for a game that doesn't exist yet. At least right now, it is microtransaction haven, so my hope for this game is that people who donated themselves into death stars won't have a horribly unfair advantage, or at least that a user who has dished out no more money than is necessary to buy the game can still reach an overpaying user's potential.

 

[Eppy (Bored)]

I used to build ship meshes for another Roberts space game, Freelancer (basically the last one that got put out before the market basically died and EVE scooped up the remnants of that gamer demographic). This design is actually very derivative of two design languages from that game, both from the Borderworlds; it's sort of a kludge of the Eagle and the Saber.

And I love it. I want it. I needs it, yes I does, I needs the Precious-

*oh god, it's happening to me again*

 

[HanFyren]

I'm dead-scared of Star Citizen because it's managed to rack up 10 million bucks selling people ships for a game that doesn't exist yet. At least right now, it is microtransaction haven, so my hope for this game is that people who donated themselves into death stars won't have a horribly unfair advantage, or at least that a user who has dished out no more money than is necessary to buy the game can still reach an overpaying user's potential.

All the items available in the fundraising process can be bought for in game money. And once the game is released, in game money can be bought for real world money.

While 10 millions is a lot. If you divide it by the 191383 backers it comes out to less than 60$ each. Making it a more involved preorder.

Now some people have gone way overboard. And I hope they keep doing that, because the money gained through microtransactions will fund the development of more content.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

That difference comes from the fact that players aren't just locked into a HUD. They'll have to physically walk about the ship to access systems not at the cockpit. Each ship has a full interior, and is designed as if it existed in real life.

Okay, that right there is something I've been wanting ever since I first played Elite. However, it does worry me that this is going to be yet another Elite clone in the vein of the X series, with the fighter pilot story line being a borderline minigame. Elite clones have ruled for too danged long, I want a successor to Wing Commander.

 

[gabycms]

Speed in space is a misnomer. Delta-V is what you need to worry about.

Yea..., ya' know we just consider acceleration since Newton invented calculus. You got your x (distance) then d(x)/dt=v (speed) and finally d(v)/dt=a acceleration. Delta-v would be by definition delta(v)=v1-v2, if you don't divide that by a relevant time period you don't get much general information.

 

[AldUK]

I am incredibly hyped for this game. If it delivers on even half what is promised it's gonna be spectacular. I love that they are doing ads for the ships as though they were real, so clever.

CAPTCHA: heart break

 

[digital warrior]

I find it hilarious that companies have been telling us for years, space sims, or strategy games don't sell, than kickstarter comes along and these games get like 10 mil. Now i know that these are niche markets but they are still viable market, stuff like the new x-com game prove that. Ha look at me looking for proper budgeting and foresight from game companies I must live in a fantasy world

 

[Wicky_42]

Every time I think about this game (or at least, what it tells me it's going to be), I get shivers of excitement. Really looking forward to it's release

Also, I love the idea of producing high quality adverts for in-game equipment like this - not only does it advertise the game in an unusual way, but it can also be used to build in-game lore, character and setting. You could very easily establish important in-game characters through their spots in adverts, eg major corporation CEOs making personal appearances, or political party infomercials. Think how Cave Johnson became such an established character in Portal 2 through only audio logs, and how that informed the player's experience of huge parts of that game; commercials like this could be another way of establishing such characters