Awesome Space

A must for any retro arcade fan, Neil Gregory’s A Simple Plan t-shirt shows that all space invasions start off easily enough; just be sure you can survive the inevitable hail of pixels.

This trailer for Jumpgate: Evolution reminds us of EVE: Online, but that’s not a bad thing: more space-based MMOGs are always welcome, and this one should be out in June.

Carl Sagan’s prescient prose really resonates in this amazing short by Michael Marantz; it’s titled The Pale Blue Dot, after Sagan’s 1994 book and Voyager 1 photo of the same name.

The ESA will be giving 1m euros to UK-based Reaction Engines for the Skylon; the jet- and rocket-engine spaceplane is designed to take off and land on conventional runways.

The humans are the bad guys in Battle for Terra, an animated flick due out May 1st that pits us against some uber cutesy aliens; the plot is a mashup of Titan A.E., Wall-E and A Bug’s Life.

A haunting soundtrack, epic spaceship-filled vistas and the occasional Star Wars-style screen wipe: this intro does a good job selling EVE Online’s Apocrypha expansion, due out 3/10.

Wii owners with a hankering for polymorphic alien infestations won’t have to wait much longer: Dead Space:Extraction is a FPS prequel of the original and will be on shelves Fall 2009.

The Space Game is a simpler, space-going version of Harvest, both of which are a variant of Tower Defense style games that rely on energy relays and resource extraction.

Journalists have been abuzz over Tuesday’s Iridium and Russian satellite collision; Analytical Graphics (AGI) has released a video showing the impact and subsequent debris clouds.

So-named because of the high-energy lasso you use to fling objects around, Asteroid Cowboys is a crazy mix of Bionic Commando and Asteroids; it’s due out this year on PSN and XBLA.

Neil Armstrong wore a Speedmaster watch during the first moon landing, so it’s fitting Omega will be releasing a 40th anniversary edition with Hesalite crystal and Apollo 11 patch.

Created by Harvard’s Samuel Arbesman, this Milky Way Transit Authority map was inspired by a reading of Carl Sagan’s Contact and applies subway mapping on a galactic scale.

Generic name notwithstanding, Space War Commander is a slightly more involved version of StarBaron; it’s basically an RTS with overtones of Master of Orion. Demo here.

Spacecraft meets papercraft with this Space Origami set, which includes 120 sheets of folding paper and a 32 page book with instructions for rockets, shuttles and astronauts.

Vectoroid may be nothing more than a bunch of lines and points, but this homage to Asteroids is a literal blast with upgrades, enemies, hit points and a gun that never stops firing.

Taking the twelve days of Christmas to new heights, Alan Taylor of Boston.com has selected 25 days worth of stunning Hubble photographs; watch him reveal the last few here.

Anyone who uses a cellphone owes something to late author Arthur C. Clarke; we think this student film for his epic Rama series is a fitting ode to an all-around amazing gentleman.

It’s no secret the folks at the International Space Station have the best scenic views on (and off) the planet; check out this spectacular aurora borealis footage shot by Donald R. Pettit.

That’s no moon: Romain Jerome is at it again with his Moon Dust-DNA series of watches, which use real moon dust as well as rocket and spacesuit parts from NASA’s Apollo 11 mission.

Those of us still waiting for a true Master of Orion successor should check out StarBaron; it’s a space-themed RTS that isn’t too complex, making it ideal for a lunch break romp.

This Eve Online trailer for the Quantum Rise expansion lays it on thick, with “breaking news” of a surprise invasion. The real star of the show: enhanced stability and gameplay tweaks.

Physics Invader may not look like much at first, but it’s actually been coded to simulate physical laws, complete with falling debris that can block your shots (and act as impromptu shields).

It’s been two years since the X3 series has seen an update; X3: Terran Conflict is available at Steam as a standalone expansion, and judging from the sweet trailer above it’s a winner.