Star Citizen

Forbes has published an explosive new investigatory piece about Chris Roberts, Star Citizen, and about questions that continue to fly about where the $300M raised has gone over the course of the game's development. The article delves into Roberts' past as a game developer and explores the fanbase that supports him in his work with Star Citizen. "This is not fraud -- Roberts really is working on a game -- but it is incompetence and mismanagement on a galactic scale," the piece declares.

From May 1st through May 8th, players are invited to the latest Free Fly event. Anyone can try out Star Citizen for free throughout the week and can explore Alpha 3.5 that includes the new ArcCorp planet, the new female characters and the new character customization tool. Lastly, players can experience the "new flight model that adds gravity to planets to achieve deeper and more realistic atmospheric flight".

Star Citizen has announced that it has launched Alpha 3.5 that comes complete with a brand new planet, ArcCorp, to explore. This planet is a bustling hub that is nearly completely covered by man-made structures. "Travel the bustling plazas and neon-hued alleys of Area18, uncover local urban culture, meet colorful locals, and find new ways to make a credit or two."

Cloud Imperium, the studio behind Star Citizen and Squadron 42, has obtained another $46M in funding from the Cloud Imperium Group private investment organization. According to Gamasutra, the funds will be used for promotion and development of Squadron 42, though some may be "funneled into Star Citizen and various business development initiatives".

If you've been wondering about Star Citizen but aren't a backer, you'll be able to try out the game for free from November 23rd through November 30th. This week coincides with the launch of the game's first planet calle Hurston with its main enclave, Lorville. This Fly Free week is bigger and better than ever with all ships "flyable" during the event. Each ship will have a 24-hour free fly period on a rotating basis.

Star Citizen backers will finally be able to get their hands on Alpha 3.3 now that the game's annual CitizenCon event has started. 3.3 brings a number of new features to Star Citizen including facial recognition so that a player's avatar mimics facial expressions and lips; the addition of AI enemies throughout the "ever-expanding Stanton System" and in missions; Object Container Streaming to increase framerates; and, lastly "numerous new ships and weapons".

Over the past week, fans of Star Citizen have been in a kerfuffle with Roberts Space Industries over the $20 fee required to view the CitizenCon keynote address. As a result, RSI has opted to remove the fee to make the speech / presentation viewable for free. According to the post, the fee was introduced to offset the larger-than-expected CitizenCon.

From today through August 27th, interested fans can try out Star Citizen for free. Players can download the game and check out the full details about the promotional weekend on the official site.

Star Citizen's Chris Roberts has taken to the official forums in defense of the removal of the in-game currency cap. After the United Earth Credits cap was lifted (previously players could accumulate 150k UEC), players began to raise concerns that "if the amount of money a player could amass before launch equals (number of days until launch x 25k daily total, there are players who..[may] be able to outright control the economy", according to one Reddit user.

From now through April 16th, you can check out Star Citizen in its current alpha state for free. Using the code GetIntoTheVerse gives you entry into the game to try out several ships including the Mustang, Aurora MR, Cutlass Black or zoom around on the Cyclone while planetside. You'll also be able to try your hand at Arena Commander and Star Marine.

Roberts Space Industries has released the overhauled site for Star Citizen with better navigation to find RSI / community interactive pages, Squadron 42 information and for Star Citizen itself. Visitors can now more easily find video tutorials, many of them new, as well as other media. The goal is for "stronger branding for all three pillars of the game's development".

You may remember that in December 2017, Crytek filed a lawsuit against Roberts Space Industries and Cloud Imperium Gaming citing copyright infringement. In new documents filed in California, CIG has fired back and is seeking to have the case dismissed due to selective citations from the licensing agreement. In fact, the GLA says that the CryEngine can be used for "the game currently entitled Star Citizen & ... Squadron 42".

Star Citizen's crowd funding juggernaut continued throughout 2017 with RSI raising nearly $35M in additional development funds. The total since the initiative began is now $175M. In fact, the Star Citizen crowdfunding effort has exceeded the sum total of every other KickStarter program throughout 2017.

Roberts Space Industry has an early Christmas gift for all backers with the ability to test 3.0 Alpha now enabled. The good news came via the official forums (thanks, anonymous tipster!) with links to the installer, instructions on how to install the PTU and how to get a temporary password sent out. Backers will also find an FAQ, patch notes and the default control scheme. Lastly, you can take part in the PTU test chat on Spectrum.

UPDATE: We have received a brief statement from Cloud Imperium Games. See it after the jump. ORIGINAL: In a new twist in the always entertaining Star Citizen drama, Crytek has filed paperwork in California's Central District Court alleging that Cloud Imperium Games and Roberts Space Industries have infringed on its copyright by using CryEngine to create non-Star Citizen assets for use in Squadron 42.