NASA Releases Unreal Engine MMO Preview Demo

After you finish this, try playing some Doom for space-marine training.

Last year we learned that NASA was working on an Unreal-engine powered MMO game called Astronaut: Mars, Moon, and Beyond. It's partly a recruitment tool to get the younger generation interested in space exploration and research, much like the aims are with America's Army.

The final version of the NASA MMO isn't out yet, but released this week is Moonbase Alpha as a free preview. You've got nothing to lose, so grab it on Steam if you've always wonder what it'd be like to be a space cadet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nis2t9EubBs

Firefox 4 Beta 1 Now Available for Download

Mozilla has announced that Firefox 4 Beta 1 is now ready for download and at the same time revealed some details about the newest iteration of the popular browser.

Windows users will notice a big change in interface design, which, among other things, has tabs located along the top by default. There's also a new Add-Ons Manager, which affords more space to managing add-ons, themes and plugins. Firefox 4 Beta 1 brings support for HTML5 and WebM, improvements to privacy, crash protection, and a boost in performance when it comes to start-up and page-load times.

Features expected in the future include the ability to sync your settings, passwords, bookmarks, history, open tabs and other customizations across multiple devices; better privacy controls; yet more improvements to performance; and the same themes for OS X and Linux.

Mozilla's Mike Beltzner warns that not everything in this release will make the final cut but, as always, the best way to ensure your favorite features are included is to get in on the Beta and provide feedback to that effect. FF4B1 even includes a Feedback add-on to make it easier to send in your likes and dislikes.

Download Firefox 4 Beta 1 for Linux, Windows or OSX here and let us know what you think are the biggest and most important improvements.