Star Citizen at Gameplanet NZ

Star Citizen's single player game delayed out of 2016

Tue, 11 Oct 2016 11:34:00 +1300

Star Citizen's single-player component Squadron 42 has been pushed back out of 2016.

"As much as we wanted to have Squadron 42 for this year, it's not going to be this year," said director Chris Roberts at the fourth annual CitizenCon 2016 yesterday.

Currently, the game's 28 chapters are all at least roughly blocked out, but none are at shipping quality as of yet.

Massive futuristic cityscape discovered inside Star Citizen

Thu, 15 Sep 2016 10:31:00 +1200

Star Citizen's environments may be currently limited to featureless planets and space stations, but thanks to datamining, we can check out one likely future destination.

Hidden amongst the game files until now, the immense city of Terra Prime has been unearthed, revealing a four-island metropolis with towering skyscrapers and complex roading systems.

You can even check out a compressed 3D model of the city's basic geometry here (though be warned, your browser will eat up 2GB of memory just loading the thing):

Star Citizen developer gives player $2500 to go away

Mon, 18 Jul 2016 15:33:00 +1200

Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) has paid out an impressive US$2500 refund to a single player after a case was taken to the California Attorney General.

The player in question, known as 'Streetroller', described Star Citizen as a "scam", and has provided copies of his correspondence between CIG, the Californa Attorney General, and other parties as proof.

Streetroller's request for a full refund came after the Star Citizen developer changed its Terms of Service on June 10, changing the amount of time a backer has to wait before being eligible for a refund.

Star Citizen's campaign and MMO becoming separate games

Tue, 16 Feb 2016 13:50:00 +1300

Star Citizen's various gameplay modules are being spun off into their own products for separate sale, starting with the single player campaign.

Entitled Squadron 42, the campaign (featuring the likes of Mark Hamill and Gary Oldman) will now be purchasable separately from the main, MMO-style persistent online game.

The base price for either will be US$45, while owners of one module can add another for $15.

Star Citizen – Pupil to Planet demo

Fri, 18 Dec 2015 10:46:00 +1300

A brief introduction to our upcoming procedurally generated planet system. Learn more at robertsspaceindustries.com

Star Citizen does procedurally generated planets, too

Fri, 18 Dec 2015 10:44:00 +1300

Star Citizen's Alpha 2.0 release just launched, but the feature creep continues.

Roberts Space Industries showed off a coming-soon feature this week: procedurally-generated planets.

The announcement videos show a seamless, in-engine camera move from character closeup to planetary orbit.

Star Citizen hits $100m in funding; launches alpha 2.0

Tue, 15 Dec 2015 12:32:00 +1300

Star Citizen's unprecedented crowdfunding total has reached US$100 million.

Coincidentally (or not), the game's "Alpha 2.0" release also landed this week, which supposedly gives players the first vertical slice of the "living, breathing world's" eventual full release.

Alpha 2.0 brings capital and multi-crew ships, world maps, and first-person combat into the space sim.

Star Citizen – Alpha 2.0 gameplay trailer

Mon, 07 Dec 2015 09:37:00 +1300

As seen on The Game Awards 2015! A brief look at some of the MANY gameplay opportunities available to players NOW in Star Citizen Alpha 2.0.

This dude has spent "about US$30,000" on Star Citizen

Mon, 09 Nov 2015 15:14:00 +1300

A chap named Chris who works in the computing operations industry for “a very large tech company” has spent “about US$30,000” on not-yet-released space sim Star Citizen.

“I don’t have any of my fun money come from my main income,” he told PC Gamer.

“I do some work for my father, and I help a few other people that I knew before my current employment. Just enough to feed my dream.

Star Citizen outfunded all video game Kickstarters combined in 2014

Wed, 21 Oct 2015 11:23:00 +1300

Anticipated space epic Star Citizen made more in crowdfunding than all other video game Kickstarters combined in 2014, according to analysis by Thomas Bidaux of ICO Partners.

Chris Roberts' crowdfunding sensation brought in US$32.9 million over the period, while all completed video game Kickstarters combined to a total of US$20.1 million.

Star Citizen had already earned US$31 million prior to the start of 2014, making the figure all the more impressive.

All Star Citizen backers can now play all of Star Citizen's modules

Fri, 16 Oct 2015 10:16:00 +1300

Roberts Space Industries is abandoning its Module Pass and Alpha Access systems, opening up the entirety of Star Citizen to all backers.

The change came as a response to the game reaching one million backers - an unprecedented total.

"Anyone who has pledged for a Star Citizen Package can now play today without worrying they won’t have access to some portion of the ‘Verse in the future. No Star Marine pass, no Alpha 2.0 pass… no additional payment needed," said RSI chief Chris Roberts.

Star Citizen: Squadron 42's cast is full of stars

Mon, 12 Oct 2015 10:14:00 +1300

The voice and motion capture cast for Star Citizen's single-player component is comparable to that of a Hollywood film.

Roberts Space Industries announced the character-actor-laden cast for Squadron 42 today, including:

Gillian Anderson (The X-Files, Hannibal)
Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones, Dog Soldiers)
Mark Hamill (Star Wars, Batman: Arkham Asylum)
Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire)
Ben Mendelsohn (Bloodline, Star Wars: Rogue One)
Rhona Mitra (Boston Legal, Doomsday)
Gary Oldman (The Dark Knight, The Fifth Element)
John Rhys Davies (Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings)
Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes)
Mark Strong (Kingsman: The Secret Service, RocknRolla)
Gemma Whelan (Game of Thrones)

Star Citizen's Star Marine FPS is now only a month away

Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:07:00 +1200

Star Citizen's Star Marine FPS module should be out in roughly a month, says Cloud Imperium Games founder Chris Roberts.

Fewer than three weeks ago, Roberts had stated that he didn’t know when the module would be ready, and painted a grim picture of its future.

“The tl;dr is that we feel the current build doesn’t feel like it lives up to the standards we’ve want to achieve with Star Citizen,” said Roberts at the time.

Star Citizen likely to top 100GB, patches will be several GB

Thu, 12 Mar 2015 18:41:00 +1300

Star Citizen is likely to be larger than 100GB once complete, says developer Cloud Imperium Games.

In a post on the game’s forums, game operations director Jeremy Masker said despite compression, the game’s client is likely to be extremely large.

“The size and number of assets that are left to deliver means that our client size is much more likely to be 100 GB,” he wrote.

Star Citizen – New Damage Model trailer

Tue, 10 Mar 2015 11:51:00 +1300

Check out the new ways you will be destroying your starship in Star Citizen!

Star Citizen crosses US$73m crowdfunding milestone

Mon, 23 Feb 2015 16:43:00 +1300

PC space sim Star Citizen has now accumulated US$73.4 million in crowdfunding from 760,000 backers.

The game is already the highest funded crowdfunding project in any category. In second place is Ethereum, a decentralised publishing platform that accumulated US$18.4 million.

Star Citizen is a sci-fi trading and combat simulator set in a persistent universe. It is in development at Cloud Imperium Games, and is the brainchild of Chris Roberts, an auteur developer known for his previous work on titles such as Wing Commander and Freelancer.

Star Citizen – Imagine trailer

Wed, 24 Dec 2014 11:02:00 +1300

Roberts Space Industries is a spacecraft manufacturer within the persistent-world game "Star Citizen" and its companion single-player spaceflight sim, "Squadron 42." RSI is also your portal for information, updates, and purchases of your very own spacecraft with which to trade, plunder, and protect the citizens of Star Citizen.

Star Citizen – Persistent Universe dev diary

Wed, 15 Oct 2014 11:02:00 +1300

An early look at what Chris Roberts has envisioned for the player experience in the persistent universe of Star Citizen, including landing planetside.

Star Citizen extended gameplay video shows dogfights, crashes and more

Mon, 14 Apr 2014 12:36:00 +1200

An extended sequence of gameplay footage of space MMO Star Citizen has made its way on to the net.

The footage was shown at shown at PAX East over the weekend, and demonstrates ship take-off, dogfighting, pilot blackout, and more.

Cloud Imperium Games has raised US$41.9 million to spend on the game so far, the majority of which came through its official website.

Star Citizen - PAX East gameplay video

Mon, 14 Apr 2014 11:23:00 +1200

A 12-minute look at the gameplay for one of next year's most anticipated releases.

Star Citizen team now 212 strong

Thu, 06 Mar 2014 19:40:00 +1300

In its first major monthly status report, Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games said that the team now has 212 members, and said the Dogfighting Module would be premiered at a "Citizens-only event" ahead of PAX East.

“If all goes as planned, the Dogfighting Module itself will launch shortly after PAX and you will finally get your hands on your flight sticks,” said designer Chris Roberts. “The team is scurrying to take care of thousands upon thousands of necessary details: variable damage states, HUD detailing, weapons cameras, engine sounds and countless other things that go into creating an immersive space combat experience.

“At this point, we can now regularly dogfight here in the office.”

Star Citizen passes $33 million in crowdfunding

Thu, 28 Nov 2013 11:37:00 +1300

Star Citizen has now raised more than US$33 million (NZ$40.48 million) via crowdfunding.

The game is already the most popular crowdfunded project ever. In July, it raced past the previous crowdfunding record holder, the $10.3 million-funded Pebble Watch.

Star Citizen "will never be dumbed down for a lesser platform" – developer

Tue, 19 Nov 2013 10:43:00 +1300

The project lead on Star Citizen has directly addressed concerns that the PC space combat and trading game might be “dumbed down” for release on console.

Star Citizen currently holds the record for the most money raised by a crowdfunded project. Backers recently expressed concern over a PlayStation 4 development kit spied in the background of a video featuring the project’s chief technical officer Jason Spangler.

In response to those apprehensions, Chris Roberts has since said in a blog post that Star Citizen will “never be dumbed down for a lesser platform.”

At $17 million Star Citizen is the largest crowdfunded project ever

Mon, 02 Sep 2013 13:43:00 +1200

Star Citizen has accumulated more than $17 million in pledges from over 236,668 backers, making it the most successful crowdfunding project of any kind.

Overnight, the team behind the PC space simulator announced that funding had jumped from $15 million to $17 million, and that as a result, all backers would now receive a ship upgrade including an engine modifier and the battlecruiser ship class.

Star Citizen has raced past the previous crowdfunding record holder, the $10.3 million-funded Pebble Watch.

Star Citizen crosses US$14 million crowdfunding mark

Tue, 09 Jul 2013 11:58:00 +1200

Wing Commander designer Chris Roberts’ upcoming space epic Star Citizen has now raised more than US$14 million (NZ$17.96 million) via crowdfunding.

The money has been gathered using a combination of Kickstarter – where it attracted US$2,134,374 in pledges – and Star Citizen’s official website, where money continues to pour in.

“We can hardly believe it – we’ve already hit the $14 million level!” wrote Roberts in an update.

Star Citizen raises over US$6 million

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 10:33:00 +1300

Space epic Star Citizen has finished its two-headed funding drive with over US$6 million raised.

The US$6,226,891 (AU$5,979,252) in funding consists of approximately US$4.1 million from creator Chris Roberts’ Space Industries site, and US$2.1 million from Kickstarter.

The game reached its Kickstarter goal five days into its campaign, and has met every stretch goal erected since, ensuring the inclusion of motion capture, a full orchestral score, a tablet application, and more.

Star Citizen reaches funding goal five days in

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 08:57:00 +1300

Star Citizen, the ambitious new space sim from Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts, has surpassed its US$500,000 (AU$483,721) Kickstarter goal.

At the time of writing, the game has gathered US$548,074 (AU$530,244) in pledges from 12,045 backers, and has 25 more days remaining in its Kickstarter drive.

The game was to be funded on Cloud Imperium Games’ own site, but that repeatedly crashed under the weight of fan interest.