Star Citizen opens Hornet sales with real-time graphics commercial

Star Citizen continues to tease us with what the future of gaming looks like. Spoiler-alert: it will be pretty.

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Star Citizen continues to tease us with what the future of gaming looks like. Spoiler-alert: it will be pretty. A new commercial for the game's Hornet crafts is rendered in real-time (in 4K, no less), running on super-computers that will make your current rig cry.

Of course, this is a commercial after all, and the commercial's real purpose isn't simply to make your mouth drop. No, it's to get you to buy things. The game's store has been updated with Hornets, and they're quite pricey. The "Weekend Warrior" package, for example, goes for $185.

No wonder the game has been so successful with its crowdfunding, with the game well on its way to making $25 million. Perhaps this video will make you consider joining the Shackfleet as well.

Don't forget you can also download the high-res version from us too.


Shacknews' crowdfunding policy requires games to have a prototype for front-page coverage.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    October 23, 2013 12:45 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Star Citizen opens Hornet sales with real-time graphics commercial.

    Star Citizen continues to tease us with what the future of gaming looks like. Spoiler-alert: it will be pretty.

    • reply
      October 23, 2013 1:09 PM

      My wallet and I are crying in the corner :/
      + in 18 months i will need a new PC...
      now the new recommended for games is 8 core cpu and 12 GB ram :(

      Finally they higher quality games since the new gen of consoles ...

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      October 23, 2013 2:02 PM

      Yeah, they basically priced this out of reach for normal gamers, sadly. I've lost a lot of interest due to the ridiculously stupid pricing models. :(

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        October 23, 2013 2:10 PM

        But it does continue to look and sound like it'll be awesome. Shame normal gamers can't afford it to find that out themselves. Sigh.

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          October 23, 2013 2:42 PM

          how is it priced out? just buy the normal game once its released. you don't need ot spend all this early stuff.

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          October 23, 2013 3:07 PM

          I totally agree. When did they raise the price of new games to $30? I bet it's inflation/consoles/Obama.

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        October 23, 2013 2:28 PM

        you can get all the ships in the game with out spending any money, all this is just for funding.....there are a few limited ships but you don't HAVE to buy them.

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        October 23, 2013 2:35 PM

        Yeah, $40 is really expensive for a AAA game. I think I'll save some money and buy Battlefield 4.

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          October 23, 2013 3:07 PM

          $40 is for alpha + beta access. You can get the game for $30 even!

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        October 23, 2013 3:01 PM

        What stupid pricing models? You can pay the base amount of like $40 and have access to the final retail product.

        All the current sales are just provided around incentives for funding the game - the ships are just bonuses and are completely optional purchases right now, as everything will be available for in-game money in the final product anyways. You're misinformed.

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        October 23, 2013 3:04 PM

        no they didn't, at all. but way to not pay attention to any of the other threads on this forum and countless others than explain exactly why that isn't the case.

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        October 23, 2013 3:06 PM

        This isn't a normal product. You're funding the development of the game and getting cool perks in return, not buying a finished product.

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        October 23, 2013 3:10 PM

        You can get it for $30, half the price of a new AAA title - https://robertsspaceindustries.com/store/68-digital-scout

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          October 23, 2013 3:12 PM

          And there's no need to buy every ship. Only if you want to. Personally, I decided to spend $65 for the Digital Bounty Hunter package since its what a new, quality game normally costs.

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        October 23, 2013 3:23 PM

        How is it outside normal gamer prices? The intro package, which includes the game, a ship, and alpha/beta package is $40... done. What's the problem?

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        October 23, 2013 4:53 PM

        Hmm...from the Kickstarter site and info pages it seemed like there was no inexpensive option to purchase. So what are all these pricey as crap options then? Glad to be wrong if so...

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          October 23, 2013 5:56 PM

          [deleted]

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            October 23, 2013 10:28 PM

            Must. Read. Less. Quickly. Next. Time.

            D'oh! :(

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          October 23, 2013 6:33 PM

          "So what are all these pricey as crap options then?"

          It's been stated in the other posts, but these are just to provide backers other ways of throwing money at the game and getting some extra advance benefits on the side (which can all be obtained in the game anyways). Nothing more - there's no other incentive or requirement beyond paying the bare minimum entry fee to get into the game.

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            October 23, 2013 6:44 PM

            Yeah. You won't even be limited to your purchased ships in the dogfighting alpha.

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        October 24, 2013 6:23 AM

        I really think part of their strategy on pricing is to make it so that everyone doesn't have every ship right off the bat. It's also a way to limit the number of certain ships at the start.

        So if you look at the specs of the ships, who wouldn't have just skipped the Aurora and gone straight to a Hornet if it was $5-10 more? Same with any of the other ships. They want most people to start off in an Aurora and work their way up.

        They've just provided a way for some people who don't want to invest the time needed to acquire said ships to just spend the money instead. Plus it's contributing to the development of the game.

        It's not like the ships people are buying are the best out there either. With all the upgrade systems and parts they're planning, the ships people are getting right now are pretty low on the tech tiers. One of the devs said something about there being around 10 tech levels. The ships available now are probably at tech level 1 or 2.

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        October 24, 2013 6:43 AM

        The prices you pay now are for funding development of the game, not buying something in game. You'll be able to get most of these ships once it releases without paying a dime, it will just take some time.

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      October 23, 2013 3:25 PM

      So cool, I love this whole thing they're doing.

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      October 23, 2013 3:53 PM

      [deleted]

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      October 23, 2013 4:08 PM

      I am getting too old--how did I not know about this game until now... Last time I talked to Chris Roberts he was working late at Origin, pre-Wing Commander days. He talked my ear off about how cool Wing Commander was going to be--and it was. Wife is going to be pissed when she sees the bank statement...

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      October 23, 2013 4:19 PM

      My brain is having a hard time believing that's actual gameplay.

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        October 23, 2013 5:40 PM

        That's because it's not - it's all scripted for the sake of the commercial.

        It IS however rendered using the game engine and existing graphical assets - this is not pre-rendered.

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          October 23, 2013 6:16 PM

          in engine is not in game, as gets pointed out from time to time

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            October 23, 2013 6:29 PM

            Touche, but this is all wrapped around Cryengine anyways which may as well be the same as in-game graphics given the way it's cutscene handling works.

            Plus they've also provided a touch of clarity on this in the commercial announcement:

            "We’re pushing the limits with Star Citizen, and this commercial is our best example yet. It’s rendered 100% in-engine in real time at 4k resolution. We scale everything for the super high resolutions that will be the basis of tomorrow’s gaming experience; our assets are designed with high polycounts instead of having details baked into their textures. That’s a big part of why NVIDIA and AMD have been demoing Star Citizen at 4k! The next generation of CPUs and GPUs will make this kind of experience possible in gameplay, and we are building Star Citizen to be ready. With the Hornet commercial, we wanted to give our backers an early look."

            Of course I agree that right now all we ultimately have is marketing fluff; there's no tangible gameplay footage that really shows how the graphics ACTUALLY look when the game is played, how well it runs on average, etc... at worst, this footage just represents a very tightly controlled "best-case scenario" kind of thing. The upcoming dogfighting module is where we'll start to see some of the game's true colors.

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