Kotaku: nasa

NASA Goes Massively Multiplayer With Astronaut

Mike Fahey — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:30:00 MST

NASA wanted a massively multiplayer online game, and now they're getting one, signing three separate development studios to work on Astronaut: Moon, Mars, and Beyond.

While video game players have long dreamed of traveling into the stars and meeting exotic alien species, real outer space is relatively boring. Now NASA seeks to change all of that with the development of a massively multiplayer online exploration game called Astronaut: Moon, Mars, and Beyond. NASA has selected three development studios to work on the project - Project Whitecard, Information in Place, and Virtual Heroes - the last of which did work on America's Army.

Astronaut will have players team up in order to complete various missions involving the past, present, and near future of space exploration. How exciting is that?

"Players will pick a profession like a roboticist, space geologist, astrobiologist or mechanical engineer and work together as a team as they explore space and complete missions, establishing bases and outposts and traveling to the farthest reaches of the solar system," explained Jerry Heneghan, founder and CEO of Virtual Heroes, which has previously worked on the U.S. Department of Defense's "America's Army" videogame. "The game will offer both individual challenges and team-based objectives to encourage players to use real-life applications of science, math and engineering to unlock new in-game vehicles, spacesuits, robotics and mining apparatus that will propel them further into space."

Wow. Not that exciting at all. I mean, the robototicist and astrobiologist classes sound like a hoot, but space geologist? That's just geologist with the word space in front of it. That's lazy.

Astronaut: Moon, Mars, and Beyond is being groomed for release sometime next year. Let's hope that between now and then they come up with a name that doesn't make me want to buy bath towels.

NASA Unveils New Online Game [Yahoo! Games - Thanks Jeremy!]

NASA Wants Second Life On The Moon

Mark Wilson — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:40:00 MDT

A sense of community is important to NASA. That's why they opened a NASA mansion for parties and just hanging out, hacking software and making Uranus jokes. But the NASA mansion was only good during the night. NASA's Andrew Hoppin explains how Second Life allowed connections during the day.

...we got employees from all around NASA - the 10 geographies around the country - showing up at these Tuesday afternoon meetings. We formed a community of NASA and non-NASA, started coworking in Second Life. Cultural change started to take place at the agency...

But Hoppin would like to see this cultural change happen far, far outside the agency:

We are all learning how to use virtual environments so when we go back to the moon, we can collaborate better. We can go for the ride in a participatory collaborative kind of way.

I can see it now. "We've lost thrusters, we're going down!!"

*NASA employee walks in with 10-foot clown penis*

"Am I late?"

NASA: How CoWorking Opened Us Up [psfk][image]

NASA Wants MMO

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 07:20:19 MST

NASA doesn't just explore space, it also exploring video gaming! NASA is shifting though proposals from companies keen on creating a MMO that will let students create phony experiments and test out different NASA careers. Says NASA:

NASA is in a position to develop an online game that functions as a persistent, synthetic environment supporting education as a laboratory, a massive visualisation tool, and collaborative workspace while simultaneously drawing users into a challenging, gameplay experience.

Wow, NASA not only talks in the third person, but sounds really boring. This ploy seems like Space Camp for kids whose parents aren't willing to cough up the insane camp fees. Note about Space Camp: I attended as a child and wasn't "selected" as an astronaut. I was a Mission Control flunky instead. We had to read from a binder notebook and flip switches, just like that girl in the above picture. Trust me, she's thinking, "worst camp ever"! And yes, I'm still bitter.
Space MMO [Game Industry] [Pic]

Carmack On NASA's Proposed MMO

Brian Ashcraft — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 05:00:13 MDT

As far as geek gods go, John Carmack is right up there. Not only has he programmed games like DOOM and Quake, but he's also into engineering rockets. Real rockets. So when NASA announced that it will be developing a 3 million dollar MMO for the youth, game site GigaGamez sent Carmack an email. His response?

..the end result will probably be a turkey (a MMOG focusing on formal education... sounds thrilling!)
[I] do support efforts to enhance math/science/engineering education, and I could imagine something interesting coming out of it if they were willing to focus on game-like scenario and actions, rather than trying to be some sort of generic Second Life sort of environment.

Yes, no furries doing it in zero-G. 'Kay, thanks. Still, shouldn't NASA be doing other stuff? Like space stuff? Budget cuts might have push the MMO back, thankfully. Brian Ashcraft

Carmack Gives NASA Advice [GigaGamez via Alice]

Call of Duty 3 Packed With NASA Goodness

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 04:22:51 MDT

What's the difference between Call of Duty 2 and its sequel? NASA, that's what. Game site 360 MONSTER got a sneak peak at the eagerly awaited FPS and reports that not only can you kill Nazis taking a leak (awesome!), but the game was made with NASA technology. Meaning uniforms were donned by real people and then scanned by the same scanner which looks for flaws in the foam on the bottom of the space shuttle. What does that mean? No clue! But it sure sounds neat. Brian Ashcraft

If It's Good Enough For NASA [360 Monster, Thanks Lee!]

Using Video Games To Treat ADHD

Michael McWhertor — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 18:40:22 MST

Man, when is that pizza going to get here? Gotta finish washing those dishes. Sorry, what was I talking about? Oh, right — ADHD. I know that was a horrible "joke". Do I get a pass if I think I might have ADHD myself? If I do have the disorder, it appears that I'll be able to treat myself with videogames — one of the very things I've suspected aided in my ADHD development.

Psychologists in Florida have developed technology to help those afflicted with ADHD maintain focus and concentration using the PlayStation and PlayStation 2. With techniques borne of NASA research, the S.M.A.R.T. System helps patients self-regulate brain wave activity. Pretty cool!

ADHD patients play video games as part of treatment [USA Today]
S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames Official Site

Video Games Treating ADD?

lsmith — Tue, 08 Nov 2005 15:40:54 MST

OK, ignore that the ZDNet piece on video games and ADD calls Sony's Ratchet & Clank, Hatchet & Clank. Let's not get too sidetracked. Focus. The piece is on some tech that NASA created called Smart BrainGames, which monitors the brain waves of kids while they game. But, folks, like the Price is Right, that's not all. There's a box that hooks up to the PS2 from the kid's brain that measures how much he's focusing, the more he focuses, say the faster his car in Burnout goes. Brains controlling video games. The future is nigh!

Attention Deficit Disorder? Try Video Games [ZDNet]