Space Elevator Computer Games and Bungee jumping…

I’ve posted before about how Space Elevators are occasionally components in video games.  In addition to being in the new version of Halo they were also in Ex Machina (though a commenter said that this wasn’t a video game – I don’t really know) and Civilization IV.  I’ve also posted about how people have speculated / joked about Bungee jumping / skydiving from a Space Elevator (here, here and here).

I’ve now discovered that these two have been combined but, unfortunately, not in a readily-available manner.  On the Nuon platform, a game called Freefall 3050 A.D. was released some years ago.  One of the Amazon reviews summed it up thusly:

“Freefall by Total Arkade Software is one of the most unique titles to be released on any platform in recent memory, indeed, titles this far off the mainstream usually are frowned upon. That being said, TAKS has crafted what can best be described as a 360 degree free-falling joyride. As a member of the jump police of 3050 A.D., it’s your job to keep the skies clear of joyriders and trouble-makers, problem is that there are a lot of lunatics out there. Freefalling at top-speed, you must rotate in 360 degrees while blasting and manuevering, taking out targets to complete missions and ‘persuading’ criminals to see things your way. Dynamic control scheme, ground-breaking gameplay & techno soundtrack all contribute to a game that breaks the action shooter mold in every conceivable way.”

This sounds way-cool.  And, now I find a story about a concept created for another XBOX game, called Freefall/Gemini, with a similar theme.  Unfortunately it never made it off the ground.  If it had, my son and I would be battling for time on his XBOX…

The story links to a short video (here) of this proposed game.  The video, especially the music, ranks very high on my cool-o-meter…

(The picture thumbnails are snapshots of the video – click on them or visit the video for a larger version)

4 thoughts on “Space Elevator Computer Games and Bungee jumping…

  1. Michael Laine

    We were approached 3 years ago, by a seattle games company – about a sim-city-like space station construction game. The SE would provide the Goods (station modules, food/water, people). It was filled with disaster scenarios, (heat punp fails, solar flares, stuck lifter-cars) character building (engineers, business tycoons, hotel/entertainment, asteroid miners) that would add to gameplay. the goal was to build a city in space… population, pollution, commerce – and of course pirates from competing beanstalks.

    The game would have been technically complex, but straightforward to code, with lots of expandability for new station modules, disasters and characters that could be developed. ENDLESS GAMEPLAY! however, the project was killed, because there didn’t seem to be enough of an audience. When the day comes where we have a legion of fans, i suspect the idea will be dusted off, and reconsidered.

    I was very disappointed that it was put on hold. We have explored this in a lot of detail… and had a killer story line. Maybe someday…

    Take care. mjl

  2. Michael Laine

    PS.

    We were also approached for a First Person Shooter – but i thought it was too “dark”. terrorists vrs military square off, for control of the SE. Too James-Bond for my tastes, and whomever “won”, the SE was a force for control of the planet, and not a “good thing”. I didn’t want to cooperate with that kind of thinking, and pulled out. as far as i know, this concept died before it got very far… but who knows, they might be working on it right now. This idea was proposed 3 years ago, and again, from a different group, about 9 months ago.

    Take care. mjl

  3. jumping stilt

    It is really good computer gamts. A space elevator is a proposed structure designed to transport material from a celestial body’s surface into space. Many variants have been proposed, all of which involve traveling along a fixed structure instead of using rocket powered space launch.

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