Some videos of the Star Citizen Alpha 2.0 PTU (public test universe) PU (Persistent Universe). Some exploration of the PU in a Constellation (basically the game's Millenium Falcon). [yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC17567Zg8Y[/yt] Just some nice ship shots [yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=893NklBPJN4[/yt] By the way, that "thwip" sound effect you hear are people entering quantum travel. FPS gameplay [yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_qAtqm4XUI[/yt]
Just checked their main page to see if i can download the beta modules because i now have a PC that could handle this game and you need to buy a ship package to try out the beta modules! Cheapest one was somewhere around 25 Euros for a single ship up to nearly 5.000 Euro for the complete package (all ships and additional material). Jesus Christ.. who pays to be able to see a game in a beta stage? I admit that the ships do look sleek and game looks gorgeous but i'm not paying money to be a beta tester.
I'd just wait for the next time they're handing out free access. Happens every few months. Anyways, some more new footage:- [yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA6zAOlMBGY[/yt]
I'll admit it takes balls to say "Hey.. we have an unfinished game so if you want to play it pay up!" I haven't encountered such a thing in the past from other companies so it took me by surprise.
I think you underestimate how both hungry and gullible (and saddled with excessive disposable income) game enthusiasts can be. And the kinds of people who buy into something like SC are top-tier whales: people who will spend thousands of dollars making up a room to look like a spaceship cockpit, so they can play their $5000 spaceship game.
Oh i have no illusions about gamers, especially those with huge disposable incomes. I just was a bit shocked by the audacity of Roberts to demand money for something that isn't even finished yet (and has been delayed again and again).
Thing is, he hasn't had to "demand" anything. He just puts this stuff out there and people buy it. He never says, "We need more people to buy into SC or we're going to fold." He doesn't have to. People are throwing money at him.
There are literally people who have dropped more than $50,000 (not $5,000, fifty thousand dollars) on this Ponzi scheme.
When I see that someone has spent an insane amount to get all the ships I just shake my head. Not because of the money, I couldn't care less what some random spends on his hobbies (apart from the jealousy that they have that amount to throw around like that), but I just don't get the appeal of getting all the ships immediately. For me that would ruin any point of playing the sandbox game. I need something to strive for, a reason to do the grind, and in these games it is that next ship I want to get. If I didn't have that I don't think I'd see the point of playing.
I hate grinding and from that point i could understand people paying for ships instead of earning them through grinding. What i can't understand is to pay already for a game that is not even finished yet and it's developed by a guy with a proven track record of being a terrible project manager. I could stomach losing 25 Euro for the base ship but i'd bite my ass to spend hundreds or in rare cases thousands and then one day having to read a message that the company has folded because they pissed away all the money and have little to show for it except some shiny tech demos and rudimentary gameplay. It's one thing to pay for a finished game that is here to stay for a while, another to spend on a project still in development (and who have cashed in a huge amount of money via Kickstarter already).
Yeah, remember Crackdown on the Xbox 360? Pretty much everybody who bought it got it to play the Halo 3 beta. At least you did get a good(complete) game to go along with your beta though.
So, for those who haven't been following along at home: - Star Marine, the FPS module that has been advertised and used as a selling point for about a year and a half, has been effectively canceled; Chris Roberts is now claiming that was the plan all along. - Jason Hutchins, the last remaining senior producer at the Santa Monica office, has resigned. - There are currently 71 vacancies at Cloud Imperium Games; the vast majority of these positions have been open since November of last year. - Squadron 42, the single-player portion of the game, is now being broken up into five stand-alone episodes. - Starting February 14, pledges are being split between Star Citizen (the MMO) and Squadron 42; a single $30 pledge will no longer give you access to both.
I know some people who got in on some of those expensive ship designs--you know, the ones that cost $75 on up to several hundreds (thousands?). Lately, having seen the writing on the wall, they've been trying to cash out. No one's biting. There was a time when you could sell your SC stuff at a profit, or at least what you paid for it. That window looks to be closing damn fast, if it hasn't already.
The grey market is effectively dead. The cancellation of Star Marine (combined with Roberts' statements that he was "annoyed" by backers asking about its status) seems to have turned the tide for a lot of people.
Annoyed at the backers? Seriously? I mean, yeah, I get it, they give him their money and now they have questions?! The nerve!
I still want to see Star Citizen made because it truly looks gorgeous. Elite Dangerous as the nearest comparison is a fantastic game and it also looks great but it has nothing on Star Citizen visually (maybe because Braben put his effort into finishing the game and delivering style over substance). Ever since the delays became regular, the feature creep, Roberts' actual behaviour and the plain facts i let hope go that this game will amount to anything. I'm convinced that by summer they will cancel the whole project and will have to admit they've run out of ressources and not enough are coming in to continue to employ capable people. The only people remaining will be Roberts himself and those die hard fans who refuse to face up to reality.