Gearfuse

The Japanese are at it again. This time around, the country that brought us underground bike storage will be going to outer space for some wacky feats. Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata is set to perform 16 different zero-gravity tasks that were chosen by the people of Japan aboard the International Space Station’s Kibo module later this month. Koichi will attempt to ride a carpet in zero-gravity, giving a new meaning to the term “Magic Carpet Ride.”

Among other things, he’ll also try putting in eyedrops in zero-G. I don’t see how that’s going to work out but hey, more power to you if you can do it. I can’t wait to see the video.

Link

While World of Warcraft still reigns supreme as king of the MMOs, Blizzard has an unusual competitor entering the market: NASA. The government space agency is developing an MMO that takes place around 2035 and focuses on “being in a habitat on a planetary surface and doing things like mining Helium-3 for fuel, operating a hydroponics facility to grow plants and create oxygen and operating robots and vehicles.” Sounds pretty entertaining if you’re interested in outer space.

The working title for the MMO is called Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond and it’s being developed using the Unreal 3 engine. The prospect of being able to walk around on Mars and level up through real-world applications (as opposed to casting Fire III) should excite dorks of all walks of life. Judging by the screenshots, NASA’s MMO is looking to be a lot of fun for any gamer.

Link