Playdate: Kerbal Space Program (09/15/2017)

Oh hey! Fun Kerbal fact I totally did not know until today; The console versions of Kerbal have apparently been taken down and are no longer available for sale.

So that sucks... Yeah.

*Insert pc master race snark and then replies about learning to use a controller*

That's kind of a bummer. Kerbal would be great on console with a bit of work. Hopefully they'll put it back up (Which "seems" to be the case from the very limited info I found) once they resolve whatever their issues are and it's not just gone forever.

@tevor_the_third: really? I remember STRONGLY considering getting the Xbox version and holding off and then hearing that basically all of the console versions were basically busted and then kind of forgetting all about it.

@sethmode: Yup. I didn't look SUPER hard or anything but a cursory investigation showed it being quietly taken down this year. This summer maybe? I did find a single post on reddit suggesting they were going to put it back up someday but... Reddit right. That coulda been anyone.

I don't know about xbox but I did check PSN and Kerbal was totally gone.

Just a quick correction for Abby, we've landed (remotely) on Venus several times, and have taken pictures on the surface.

According to the community manager:

We’re currently working on an updated console version of KSP, and are removing the game from the Xbox and PSN Stores until it is complete. This will be a free update for anyone who already owns the game on Xbox One or PS4.

Seems like the new version (if it's still happening) is by a different company, so I'm guessing they are ditching the old (broken) version and starting over.

@seiru: I had no idea! Awesome, thanks!

I'm out of the loop. What happened to KSP that made them avoid it?

@flackbyte: Kinda really bad treatment of the development team by the company that owns KSP. There's plenty out there if you want to dig.

"There is sort of a vacuous quality to the Kerbals." -@alex Navarro, 15 Sep 2017

And never a truer word was spoken.

It really warms my heart to see Vinny so excited

Hurray! After the solar eclipse the other month I was super into space, so I started a career mode and watched through Project B.E.A.S.T again! So far I'm able to ferry tourists to and from the moon without too much trouble, albeit with a bit of save scumming for the moon landing.

This game is a whole lot of fun! It perfectly combines goofy shenanigans with real science and I love it. They should get kids to play this in school!

Alex's Austin impersonation was spot on!

Really glad to see Alex all smiles and laughs. I'm not that into this game and hope they do other stuff before B.E.A.S.T. but I'll admit it has some beautiful tranquility to it.

Aw, I hope this will lead to Project B.E.A.S.T season 2!

I enjoyed the previous Kerbal content and it made me realize as much as I would love to mess with that game it is more fun to just watch others who are better at it. Guess I'll be watching this instead of what I was doing! I was literally just about to press play on Divinity Original Sin 2 for the 3rd or 4th time that something else distracted me. This is that thing. I still haven't beat the starting area and I'm also a handful of hours into XCOM 2 war of the chosen and same with Mario Rabbids what a crazy month for games.

I've never much heard of Vinny playing many RPGs but I really bet he would love the DOS series.

The sheer scope of games like Kerbal amazes me that this is what video games has become. I am just in awe at the amazing things people have created just for the sole purpose of others to have fun with. Games that require a ton of creativity like this would have been something I would have loved when I was younger but I'm all about loot and numbers and not imagination I guess.

I've missed this!

Entertaining and sincere – this is what I come to Giant Bomb for. Thanks for the fun playdate!

Couldn't agree more. Might have to go rewatch Project Beast now!

Project B.E.A.S.T. season 2, please!

@stordoff: I think Vinny or Alex mention 2K buying Kerbal here, so perhaps this is a good sigh? I'd be more worried about the quiet pull considering past issues with the company but 2K is a real, etablished publisher, for better or worse, so maybe they can be trusted to simply be trying to make a better port so they can sell more copies.

The folks in that thread seem pretty unsatisfied though... But that's humans.

I love watching Abby slowly fall in love with this game.

Vinny: *extends solar panels*

Abby: THAT'S SO COOOOOL

At 1:33:00 ish.... IS THAT A JOJO'S REFERENCE?! :D

I miss austin, even though i also listen to him about four times a week on waypoint and Friends at the Table.

Enough with kerbal already. I thought this was put to bed long ago.

I cant get enough kerbal.

i love it when GBE playes this game. it somehow relaxes me

Thats so good haha

I had forgotten how much I liked this. Can I have it back? Or how about "Dangerous Beasts", "How to be the Beast Citizen." I'd like more Space from the East (and flying).

Yes! No Dan

I really hope we get to see another series of Project BEAST.

Also, the Transfer Window Planner mod is an absolute lifesaver when trying to reach the more distant planets.

Oh man, Project BEAST was the thing that really got me into both Giant Bomb and Kerbal in the first place so this made me real happy. It's too bad Austin couldn't be there, that would've made it even better. But it was still a fun time, and weirdly nostalgic despite the fact that it was only a year and a half ago.

I desperately want a Project BEAST season 2 where Abby builds the ships and Vinny flies them now!

"I'm gonna give it a little time-lapse here..."
"Uh oh, Vinny"

Abby knows what's up.

What was that bit about paying people a fair price around the 1:30 mark?

Apparently a number of people who previously worked at Squad have come forward and said they were grossly underpaid and had to work extremely long hours.

Disheartening to hear that you weren't playing this due to political stuff. Adults should be allowed to be adults. If their labor practices stink, those people can go get jobs somewhere else. I'll never understand why we say, we should be allowed to do x (swear on the internet, or tv, nudity, whatever the social thing is) because we're adults and so on and so forth, but we can't let people make their own decisions about where they work under the same logic. If they don't like it, they should quit. Eventually that will force the people in Kerbalville to do the right thing.

When I got started out doing studio work, I was salaried, paid the equivalent of minimum wage, and worked over 100 hours a week. I loved it. I learned so much. Now, 16 years later I make good money, started my own business, and view that time as the most educational and valuable time of my life. The economic reality of the recording studio business is that there isn't much money to be made there. Another valuable lesson learned. It's not so much that they were taking advantage of me, but that they weren't making enough money to pay me more. I'm still in that field, but my business supports it, rather than doing engineering work.

Also Cassini was FAR beyond the planned mission life. It had already had two massive extensions to the mission.

@drakesfortune: Quitting doesn't always result in poor management changing how they do business, especially in a field that's flooded with people looking for work. Also some people can't quit a job, if they're in a financial bind. It's great that you came out of the grind with a good outlook, but some people don't, and being empathetic to their situation isn't a negative reaction.

Sometimes people love what they do, and don't mind putting in the extra work. I did a thirty one day stretch of fourteen to sixteen hour days, and all I learned from it is that I can do it, but it's miserable. I completely understand why it bums Vinny out.

I would hate to be one of your employees. The boss that goes, "Well I like to work 100 hours a week!" and "You don't like it? Then quit!" is a shitty, shitty boss. Get over yourself. Having a job with good "labor practices" shouldn't be a unicorn. If a company is unable to maintain good labor practices, then they need to reevaluate their structure. As a business owner, you should know better. I'm a business owner, and I'd sooner take a pay cut than make my employees lives more difficult and stressful. It's their lives, not just their jobs. I'm asking these people to work their ass off for me, the least I can do is treat them right.

@ljrepoman: I'll let you in on a secret, you don't have to watch it if you don't like it, crazy right?

I guess you wanted them to just keep playing PUBG for the billionth time?

Seriously. Why is abusing employees "political stuff"? How is "swearing on the internet" related to mistreating employees? It's an issue of being a decent person and a decent employer. No one cares that you loved working 100 hours a week if you don't respect your employees. Just because people have the option to quit doesn't mean we should excuse abusive practices. It's a problem in the industry and it shouldn't be written off.

"HE DIDN'T HAVE TO DIE!!!"

@onarum : No f-ing way Pubg is just as bad . Horrible ,but even a decent game to me is boring to someone else. It just feels sometimes they only care about themselves or tiny minority. I mean we pay for this right. I'd like a bit of entertainment for my dollar. I'm sure you would also. I think the genres i came here for are not being represented with the same enthusiasm as they used to. So now it's your turn to tell me to go elsewhere if I don't like it right? Well I just wanted to say my piece give them a chance. I've been with these guys since they started GIant Bomb and way before.

Big fan of what's going on in this thread.

#bringprojectBEASTback

I would be all about seeing the newer GBEAST crew building a Kerbal ship. Dan, Vin, Abby, and Alex putting forth their best for Planet Kerbal.