Elite: Dangerous reaches final alpha phase, adding impossibly cool hyperspace jumps

Okay, look, I’ve got a confession to make. We will get to all the newsy stuff about how Elite: Dangerous is entering a new alpha phase, thus bridging another of the many gaps between its inception and public release. But that’s not really why I’m writing this. I’m writing this because of an excellent video that’s surfaced showing the game’s new hyperspace jumps. Let’s ditch this paragraph of boring text, and get to the exciting space stuff…

(The exciting space stuff starts around 40 seconds in.)

!!!

When I eventually get my hands on both this game and the consumer model of the Oculus Rift, I will never be seen again.

Anyway, the news. Alpha 4 is set across a 200 cubic light-year volume containing five star systems, all centred around the Boötes constellation.

“They include spectacular sights such as an unusual quaternary star system and ringed gas giants, and are part of contested space between the Federation and Independent systems,” explains a press release sent out by Frontier. “Additionally IP 98-132 is an anarchy which is rife with pirate activity.” I’m not one hundred percent sure, but I think some of this might be fictional.

In addition to hyperspace jumps, ships can now also super-cruse for accelerated travel within systems. Having not played the game, I cannot confirm whether or not you activate super-cruising by leaning one arm out of your ship’s window.

This is now Elite: Dangerous’s last alpha phase. As of May 30th, the game will move into beta.

TL;DR: Space! Fuck, yeah!

(Thanks to Reddit for the video)

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