The Star Citizen campaign has been doing quite well. So well, in fact, that they can just drop development at any point and buy a bunch of islands around Nova Scotia (if they're willing to live in Canada, that is). Although, that type of shiftiness is something I'd really only expect from Uwe Boll -- assuming anyone would fund anything he works on with more than Taco Bell wrappers and Post-It notes about his weird face. It's not, however, something I believe Chris Roberts would do. I mean, the guy made Times of Lore.

Like Keanu Reeves who was awarded the "can do no wrong" pass after Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Chris Roberts is safe until he makes his own version of "The Watcher" and has his pass stripped away. But after some careful investigation (by which I mean several quick Google searches), I did find some interesting information that leads me to believe that Mr. Roberts has a few tricks up the sleeves of his lunar orbital spacesuit.

For starters, a trip to space is only $250,000 with Virgin Galactic. Star Citizen is a space game. Coincidence? I think not. The Roberts Space Industries site has also managed to raise over $35 million, and with stretch goals aplenty, it's likely that there's more to come. I'll cut to the chase: the guys at Cloud Imperium Games Corporation are planning to send dozens of employees into space for research. And if they aren't, they damn well should be. Alternatively, they could just use that money to develop as good a game as possible, but where's the fun in that?

Honestly, what better place to conduct research for a space trading and combat simulation game than in space?

Don't worry, I see the problem with my suggestion. How could you possibly simulate combat on a Virgin Galactic flight? Easy. Directed energy weapons have been in development for years (I assume), and I'm sure that with enough bribe-money it's entirely possible to get your hands on an advanced explosive-driven ferroelectric generator. After that, it's really just a matter of booking multiple simultaneous flights and slipping some Lunesta into the Astronauts' Tang. Unfortunately, we don't quite know what all the stretch goals for Star Citizen are, but don't be surprised if you see things like "electromagnetic radiation" and "particle-beam" peppered throughout.