Remember growing up when people used to want to be astronauts? Well tomorrow’s people walk this planet today, and while space exploration budgets are cut and we still don’t have jet packs, today’s the day the NASA-developed ‘Moonbase Alpha’ game hits the Valve Steam servers for some PC gaming goodness.
Announcing the title last year, the space scientists spoke about the power of games as educational tools, saying their game functions as a persistent environment, calling it “a massive visualization tools and collaborative workspace while simultaneously drawing users into a challenging, game-play immersion”.
“We know from research that 98 percent of kids, by the time they get to college, report that they played video games at least at some point on a regular basis,” Dr. Daniel Laughlin, manager of NASA’s Learning Technologies Project tells Federal News Radio. “So it was a way to reach a big audience.”
Here’s how NASA describes the title:
“Moonbase Alpha is a game scenario with both single-player and multiplayer options set on a hypothetical lunar outpost in a 3-D immersive setting. Players will step into the role of an exploration crewmember and deal with realistic mission challenges and choices. Timelines in the much anticipated Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond MMO will be set even farther in the exciting future (2035+), but the ability to explore our own near-future moon missions is also planned for in the forthcoming game facilitated by the NASA Learning Technologies and Innovative Partnerships Programs.”
