10 lies video games tell us about outer space

Don't worry, we only mention space toilets once

Words: Andrew Groen on October 25, 2012

Back to Article

75 comments

View as:
Newest first
Oldest first

mayday991 - October 25, 2012 4:09 p.m.

I was enjoying the article up until number 10. Saying all life on earth is more interesting then alien life is pants on head retarded. Aliens are overrated? Go fuck yourself.
- Reply
- Report
BladedFalcon - October 25, 2012 4:19 p.m.

Because you've totally met an alien in real life, and can say that for a fact *rolls eyes* Also, FYI, if there are Aliens? they are most definitely not gonna be like any single of the species any human has described. Why? everything humans have used is stuff in their imagination, and their imagination is limited on what humans know already, every single alien described is science fiction has it's roots from something we already know. Bottom line, you have absolutely no idea what alien life looks like, and thus you can't really affirm if it'd be cooler or more interesting than what we already know.
- Reply
- Report
Daruniah - October 25, 2012 4:20 p.m.

Wasn't this an article Brett wanted to do?
- Reply
- Report
alipsker - October 25, 2012 4:38 p.m.

You wan to know about space. Check out the upcoming space game Cargo Commander. http://www.facebook.com/cargocommander.
- Reply
- Report
JinHalloway - October 25, 2012 4:47 p.m.

I have to disagree with number 8. Unless we figure out a way to make our plasma beams or missiles travel faster than the speed of light, ships would have to get close to one another in order to battle and have a reasonable chance of actually doing any damage to the other ship. Given how difficult it is for us to even figure out how to travel faster than light, let alone actually perform it, being able to do the same with missiles and plasma beams, which are too small/made of plasma to attach an engine capable of traveling faster than light, is fairly unlikely.
- Reply
- Report
Scuffles - October 25, 2012 4:53 p.m.

Eventuality, assuming we don't blow ourselves up I really don't think traveling vast distances between stars or by proxy communications between solar systems/galaxies will be a huge issue. Possibly at first if we go the whole generational ship rout. Science has proven in the past to poses the potential for near exponential advancement oft in the form of radical science shattering epiphanies. Humans are habitual tool users, we can't help it.... again assuming we don't blow ourselves up. Sadly we are at that slow and cludgy point in space travel where we are essentially banging rocks together, haven't even gotten to fire yet.
- Reply
- Report
Scuffles - October 25, 2012 5:05 p.m.

If there are Aliens? I for one would be terrified if there aren't.
- Reply
- Report
Scuffles - October 25, 2012 5:14 p.m.

If I was a betting man I would say that our ships won't travel faster than light* so normal speed weapons will probably be adequate :P Anyhow if we do somehow manage normal travel at the speed of light I would think battling would be the least of our worries. Most of our worry would be slamming into the myriad of space junk floating around the cosmos at aforementioned light speed. *I'm leaning towards more of the warping/folding technologies that mean traveling faster than light without actually traveling faster than light.
- Reply
- Report
fattoler - October 25, 2012 5:20 p.m.

I'd be rather chuffed if there weren't, think about it, every political and social group would get a planet of their own ergo no more bickering, seeing as we would all be isolated from each other with all the resourced we'd conceivably need. ...Or we would all just build death stars...
- Reply
- Report
sagar-bhatnagar - October 25, 2012 5:42 p.m.

Alright, this article's amazing except for one thing....large ships are actually entirely conceivable in space. Weight has no concept in the void, and large ships would just be more cumbersome, weight would have almost no factor in a universe that contains such massive celestial bodies
- Reply
- Report
BladedFalcon - October 25, 2012 5:47 p.m.

Well, neither you or I can know for sure, can we? I mean, I AM inclined to believe there must be, since I am not arrogant enough to think this whole massive universe only houses a tiny little planet with life. Still, until we actually MEET alien life, we can't really claim one way or another.
- Reply
- Report
lilspooky - October 25, 2012 5:49 p.m.

Wait... So in space someone can hear you scream?
- Reply
- Report
Acerlux - October 25, 2012 5:55 p.m.

I think mayday991 is an alien in disguise and you've offended him. Way to blow your cover buddy.
- Reply
- Report
kyle94 - October 25, 2012 5:59 p.m.

Weight wouldn't be a problem. Mass would. Keep in mind the whole "An object in motion will stay in motion until acted on by a force", and the force needed to accelerate an object increases with mass. What does that mean in space? Well, it means that you're going to be burning a lot of fuel if you have a big ship and you want to either speed it up or slow it down. And fuel is limited, and expensive.
- Reply
- Report
xXxsilentassassinxXx - October 25, 2012 6 p.m.

But you guys contradict yourself in point three saying in the headline "Wars would be evenly matched", but then at the end of the paragraph say that "They'd either be vastly behind or vastly ahead." So which is the point you are trying to make.
- Reply
- Report
kyle94 - October 25, 2012 6:06 p.m.

Honestly, I think space combat would involve mostly drones. We already have drones nowadays, so it isn't too difficult to imagine a system of catapulting small drones armed with a few missiles (or are missiles themselves) into space, have them activate boosters, and rocket towards a ship a large distance away while being guided, or having some sort of onboard computer. So, yea, it would be difficult and would take a while, but missiles and drones could work, as long as they're not dumb. (as in, unguided) Though, I'm not really sure what sort of defenses a ship could have. It is possible that railgun technology would be rather easy and miniaturized at that time, which means that they could shoot down missiles and drones when they get close enough. In that case, I'd imagine that ships would have to get closer.
- Reply
- Report
kyle94 - October 25, 2012 6:07 p.m.

The headlines are the lies told by video games. The paragraph debunks it.
- Reply
- Report
kyle94 - October 25, 2012 6:13 p.m.

Honestly, one thing that I always found a bit odd with video games (and really any sort of sci-fi media) is that aliens are always extremely similar and stereotypical. There are exceptions, but they're far from the rule. If a race is able to spread across an entire planet, becoming the dominant lifeform as one would expect from a sentient species, there would be genetic differences such as the ones found in humans. Not necessarily different skin color or hair color or some equivalent, but some sort of visual difference. And, like I said, it always seems like there are more diversity shown in humans than aliens. Hell, the aliens resemble how planets are shown. There's an all ice planet, and there's a race that loves war. There's an all forest planet, and there's a race that are all traders. There's an all desert planet, and there's a race that are all peace-lovers. While the argument could be made that their culture is much more homogenized than human culture, the big question is "why?" How can they be spread over a planet or several planets, and have a single religion, or a single language, or a single culture? ...I've thought too much about this.
- Reply
- Report
Viron - October 25, 2012 6:21 p.m.

Hey in civ 5 I was able to beat a nuclear powered deathbot with nothing but long bowmen. It didn't make any sense but I did it.
- Reply
- Report
BrewerHorse - October 25, 2012 6:26 p.m.

I hate to be 'that guy' but it seems some don't appreciate how fundamantal the speed of light is. Sure, we can always have optimism and it's obviously worth persuing, but serioulsy, we're not gonna be able to travel faster than light. Certainly impossible to travel through spacetime faster. The clue is 'spacetime' it's not just about space, it's about time. Believe it or not we are travelling at the speed of light right now, we are fixed, it is the constant. But as we are not travelling through space (relatively....lol) we are travelling at the speed of light through time. That's what time dilation is about, travel through space, you have less speed to travel through time hence the slowdown (again.....relatively). Yes there are theories of dynamically changing the geometry of space[time] itself, as spacetime can travel as fast as it likes. But the energies (negative energy, I might add, which is no small point) involved are so unimaginable it will never happen. Seriously, it will never happen. Even harnessing the power prospects of antimatter would need amounts of it on a galactic scale. So yeah, dream on, but don't be too quick to presume we would ever acheive FLT......and I haven't even mentioned the time paradoxes, mass/momentum problem etc etc.
- Reply
- Report