NASA Reveals Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond Online Game

The MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) market is a pretty big one, which, despite the fact that World of Warcraft dominates it with a massive 11,5 million monthly subscribers, always sees new titles appear almost every month.

Space-themed MMOs are quite popular these days, with titles such as EVE Online creating a fun experience, while giving players the chance to explore space and establish contact with alien civilizations. We also have Star Wars Galaxies or the future Star Trek Online titles, but it looks like there will be a new online game release by none other than NASA, the biggest real-life space agency out there.

That's right, following the model that the United States Army has created, with the America's Army video game series, NASA has tasked three studios to developed an online space simulator entitled Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond, in order to get young people interested in a career in space exploration. Among the studios that will be working on the game will be: Project Whitecard, Information in Place and Virtual Heroes, with the last one having contributed to the success that America's Army experienced.

“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. “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.”

While this does sound alluring, the fact that you will actually have to do the real work that space astronauts do isn't a likely premise. Space-themed MMOs are popular because they emphasize exploration over technical details and, most importantly, feature aliens that attract a lot of players. Look forward to exploring the NASA-approved title next year.