Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Space Engineers for Xbox One

First of all, let me assure you that the development of Space Engineers for Xbox One won't affect the PC version.

In the past months, our team has silently grown. We have people who are dedicated to weekly updates, people who work on long-term features, people who work on our super-secret AI project and people who will work on Xbox One port.

On the other side, I must admit that I personally can’t be 100% focused on Space Engineers as I was when we started it. Now, my attention spans over many more areas.  But I believe we have the right people in the team for things to work. If nothing else; the last 6 months are proof that this already works.

We are not abandoning Steam or PC – this is where we started and we will continue here. The PC ecosystem has many advantages, from its openness, community of workshop creators (almost 40,000 creations!), to a starting modding community. Who would want to abandon this?

Porting to Xbox One was a logical choice, especially when you consider how close is the technology to the actual PC/Windows version.

12 months exclusivity relates to consoles only. PC version and possible other ports (eg. Mac, Linux, mobile, tablets) are unaffected by this.

Will the PC version get more console friendly? No. However at this moment it’s hard to predict what UI changes will be required when porting from PC to Xbox, but I doubt we will need to change the PC version because of console version. Why not customize only what’s needed by a target platform? If we won't find a way how to do modding on Xbox One, why would we remove this feature from the PC version? And the same applies to programmable modules and tons of other things.

If you have additional questions on how the Xbox One port will differ from PC version, what will be added, what will be missing, please wait until we get much closer to the release. At this moment, it’s too early to say anything.

Trust me, everything will be good.

102 comments:

  1. ah... Linux port...

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    1. Linux is getting better every day. Also, this community aspect Keen has, with allowing and even having their own youtube channel? This aspect comes completely from the Linux and Open Source community. Please, invest in this community and make a linux port!

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  2. That's great! I see that all this hate from pc gamers about progress slowdown was not needed.

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    1. Dam its 10am on thursday where is my update

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  3. That said, controller support on PC would be very nice!

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    1. I agree with this!

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    2. That would be really great!!

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    3. That would be a logical step indeed!

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    4. that would be rly cool

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    5. That would be rly cool as i often play pc games on the big screen from my couch. Would be nice to be able to add SE to the list of games to play when i chillout mode :P

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    6. I know this is an old post put I've made xbox controls for SE and posted it to steam SE forums. Just look for Xbox controls and it should be under the name Javey (The controls are a work in progress but most keys are mapped!)

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  4. It's nice to have an answer to all the questions who appeared with this announcement. A lot of people was afraid for the future of a game after the yesterday's new, me include. We trust Keen software and you, so just continue your work and thank for Space Engineers.

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  5. I think this would be very cool, but i have one question. Is the PC version going to have controller support or partial support?

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    1. I think so, maybe todays update. ;D

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  6. We need a Linux version. Open software FTW.

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    1. Linux version != open source version.

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    2. I think he meant he'd rather be using an open source OS, which is fine.

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    3. Ahhh right yeah. Linux FTW :)

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  7. off course the pc version will suffer, basic differences between consoles and pc alone will ensure this and they do want to keep their product the same on all platforms.

    not everything will be good !

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    1. Um... this is patently false. The only substantive difference between an Xbone and a PC is control scheme. Years of console ports disagree that this necessitates limiting the PC version.

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    2. just one word, Hardware....

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    3. @Anonymous(2): Well, no, years of console ports have proven that most companies that design for consoles will necessarily limit their PC version according ot the interface.

      However, you're correct in this circumstance that it won't apply. This is more like a Minecraft scenario than a Skyrim scenario -- the game started on PC and was ported to consoles, rather than being increasingly targetted to the consoles and the PC version being released as an afterthought. =)

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    4. That makes more sense because of the similarity to the game of being a more open game without a storyline so it wont come out as a cd.?

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  8. super secret AI project. hehehehehehe. Love you guys.

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  9. well that cleared things up :) thanks Marek!

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  10. I understand the pc gaming community's feeling that a port could impact the development of the pc version. My feeling is after reading this post that the devs heart is in the right place and we will not notice a change for the worse with the port. The trouble is it is hard to guess the future the situation can change forcing a shift of focus for the devs but I think they will work hard to keep the pc version going strong

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  11. i dont have any problems with xbox port

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  12. ok then, i'll trust you :)

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  13. His future titles success depend on he keeping his word ... the only sinking ship will be his own if he doesnt live up to what we expect of him, so i will wait and see if he delivers, i know if he breaks his word and doesnt deliver a proper game in the end, i wont suport him anymore...

    build a name for himself or ruin it completly, the ball is on his hands now.

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    1. Depressed cynic talk: If the sweet Microsoft cash is rolling in, does it really matter if you turn your back on your devoted followers. They'll likely be replaced by new Xbox fans anyway.

      I'm not saying Marek is the kind of person that would, just that there's been enough shit like it in the past to make the jaded part of me worry =|

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  14. Good luck with the XBONE. Just dont let your most loyal player base in the dust.

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  15. When will it be released for xbox?

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  16. The fact that Xone wants this game shows just how good of a job they have done so far making the game. As a business it is important to grow and expand and this just shows that they are doing that. The people that are against this are the same people that don't want their favorite indie band to get successful at all and go "mainstream".

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  17. Best decision ever

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  18. This is good idea to port SE for Xbox chuan. Game and studio will grow on popularity and size. I have no problem with this and i believe to Marek and what he said.
    And by the way...AI? Really? Finally? Frikin' didly doo yess!!!

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    1. I agree entirely! but just one thing... what does the phrase "port" stand for/mean in this case, like, is that short for something? I bet it's completely obvious and i'm just blind :P

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    2. port- make a version for a different platform with different features to optimise the experience (such as different UI due to different control scheme)

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  19. As a dev who has done Console work before, THANK YOU for not killing the PC version just to make a console port.

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  20. Why not just let these amazing people just do their job. They are spending theirs days and nights making this game for all of us the enjoy and I'm sure it sucks to get on here and see people doubting or downing their product.

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  21. Macs are the number one selling computer out there port to mac fast!

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    1. That is absolutely a false statement, mac is only a mere 8% vs 85% windows, rest is lunix based or some low-level chinese OS. So even linux would be more logical, makes sense also. And BTW, macs aren't meant for gaming purposes.

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    2. Hahahahahahahahaha - gasp gasp - hahahahahahahahahahaha

      Dude, what planet do you live on?

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    3. It must be from an alternate dimension! Shh, I think it's trying to communicate...

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    4. Man guys you guys are getting told lies! Mac is around 60% of all computers out there, windows is 20% thats a know fact don't go running to microsoft for help on whats true or not we all know macs are faster better stronger, and there are way more of them out there Microsoft even has stolen technology from apple lol. Apple is beating windows 90% to 10%.

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    5. Oh btw macs are meant for gaming purposes, compare the power of a mac to windows, lets see almost 90% of windows users have had a virus on there windows, almost 2% of mac users have had a virus on there mac, and another thing is the mac can have graphics better then the ps4 on it and windows can't live up to that without crashing.

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    6. 1) windows hardware is upgradable without breaking the OS 2) windows are huge in the business and the civilian market 3) i can buy an off the shelf $300 junky pc and build it into a super computer for less than the cost of an entry level make.

      if macs are meant for gaming, why are there so few titles available for it?
      if you wish to use a mac be my guest, as for me. ill use Windows or linux.
      oh and the reason there are virus's for windows and not mac, is simply the user base. mac has such a small one they arent often targeted.

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    7. Viruses are more prominent on windows because theres more of them. Its not worth it to make viruses for macs cause there are far fewer of them. And as far as computing power, you pay far more per gig of ram for mac than pc. Not to mention that to produce a game for mac they make you pay out the nose. Its just not worth it.

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    8. Actually the only reason why viruses art on macs is because there to anti virus for virus's to work, unlike windows how there so cheap and crapy there easy to plug virus's in, no matter how much you like to tell yourself what you just said, you know thats a white lie.

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    9. @Joshua Kac: Epic troll is epic.

      We kinda moved away from, ah, let's call it "creatively selecting", our numbers in the late 90's. We have this vast fact-checking repository at our disposal now, which is called "the internet".

      I have nothing against supporting Mac as a platform, aside from the fact that it's a closed hardware-locked operating system that requires hacking to install it on any non-Mac hardware, but come *on*. Those numbers are so wildly incorrect that you *must* be trying to screw with us. ;-)

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    10. Please stop spamming you apple Mac ads. This has nothing to do with this announcement.

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  22. I want to say that you guys are selling out to Xbox One (You said you are excited to provide gamers all around the world with the Space Engineers experience, yet you are holding back a possible Playstation version for 12 months?), but then I remember I don't care about consoles, and only wish that the PC version continues to be as awesome as you guys have made it.

    Also, super-secret AI project, eh? Well, it's not so secret now, is it? XD

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  23. You guys have been so good at updating the game and keeping in touch with the community. Thank you for addressing the concerns we all had, but I think you've proven yourselves enough for us to trust you.

    Keep up the good work and good luck!

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  24. Will space engineers be available on the Xbox 360 as well as the one

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    1. No, propally not, the Hardware is just to old

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  25. I love this game. I am pleased that about the Xbox one having the game as well.

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  26. "Trust me, everything will be good."
    Everything is awesoooommmeeeee!

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  27. what about LINUX, STEAM OS, PS3, PS4, XBOX360, my question is this why just the XBOX ONE why not the others?

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    1. "Porting to Xbox One was a logical choice, especially when you consider how close is the technology to the actual PC/Windows version."

      They use their own engine based on DirectX. And they use .NET Framework. Thats all Microsoft technology that XBox is based on too. So they don't need to change a lot to display this game on XBox. It's really simple.

      PS4 or STEAM OS or linux is a completely different story/technology. And Xbox360 is obviously too slow..

      That is the reason for XBox One.

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    2. The reason its just for xbox one and pc is because they are so close in comparison so to also have it on PS4 would mean a stupendous amount work. But for the 360 and PS3 they are simply to old and less superior to the XBONE and the gaming PC.

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  28. But the real question... Do we get an update today?

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    1. Now is probably a good time for me to start making jokes like "Because of xbox, today is not update guys!"

      Muhahaha :)

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    2. I love the Czech sense of humor.

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    3. That would be evil. Just pure evil. :)

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    4. Phew. There was an update... You had me worried for a bit there...

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  29. You guys are great as always, you are my favourite dev team of all time and others should take examples from you guys :)

    Keep up the good work!

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  30. I hope to see that Space Engineers can become cross-platform, where dedicated servers will include players from both PC and xbox. This has already been done a few times so I am sure that the space engineers dev team will have no problem with this.

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  31. After using Windows for 20 years, Khidr Suleman tells us what life is like after making the jump to Mac.

    OPINION: The break-up has been less painful than I imagined. Indeed, it feels like trading in a Ford Mondeo for a Ferrari Enzo. (Find out if I think the same nine months on).

    After 20 years of using a Windows PC as my main machine, I never thought it would end like this, but the Metro interface was the last straw.

    Before you skip to the comments to accuse me of Apple bias, I’d like to point out a couple of things. I’ve owned two Apple products to-date - an iPad (3rd generation) and iPod mini, which was a gift. I've been a dedicated Windows man for the majority of my life and Microsoft and its OEMs have gobbled up more pounds from the Suleman family than any other tech company.

    Over the last two decades our home has welcomed most iterations of Microsoft's flagship software, starting with Windows 3.1. I experienced the highs of Windows 95, which introduced the Start button, the vibrant colour and stability of XP, mediocrity of Vista and return to form with Windows 7.

    Microsoft and its OEMs have gobbled up more pounds from the Suleman family than any other tech company.
    My biggest misfortune was owning a Windows ME desktop during my teenage years. This bug-riddled pile of junk would taunt me with the blue screen of death at the worst possible times - mostly rebooting whilst working on a school project, but never when playing Hitman 2.

    Even during the testing times, I believed Windows had the edge over Mac. Sure, the coloured case of the iMac looked cool, but my friend who owned one couldn’t play games and it had one mouse button. I pitied him. Aside from those in the desktop publishing industries, there was, I felt, no real need for anyone else to own an Apple computer during the nineties and early noughties. Microsoft had everything you needed from Internet Explorer to Office.

    But, in 2014, things have changed...



    Read more: http://www.itpro.co.uk/desktop-software/21624/os-x-vs-windows-8-reasons-to-switch-to-mac#ixzz3AOFZHnxp

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    1. OMGJEZZUS MAC IS TEH BEST AYAYA YOU STUPID AIONZONQSZW LOSEZ!S!!#S!S!

      -sarcasm-
      (Uses Linux)

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  32. Great news, happy everything is going well for this game and company.

    Unfortunately SE has been unplayable for me due to the "update lag" problem. I'm told the devs are aware of this problem but are unable to reproduce it. Suffice it to say that as map size grows (more so in multiplayer than sp) so does my (and many others') update lag. On the 12MB server that I (used to) play on, update lag sits around 550 and I move (measured by jetpack acceleration) about 1/3 the speed of someone with low update lag. This seems related correlated to map size, not ping.

    Please, please fix this problem if possible. SE (and Rust) is my ideal game and I hate that I can't play it. I have read and posted about this in the bug forums but let me know if I can provide additional details about this.

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  33. Yaay now i can finaly i can play the game

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  34. What I would like to know is that Assuming the Xbox has to pay the same price for the console version as the PC, will there be any form of mod support on there or is there any way to get KSH to port some of the awesome mods the PC community has made into the console version of the game? Maybe bring the mods over for a small micro-transaction and split the profits with the modders.

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  35. What would be the estimate of space engineers coming out for xbox one???

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  36. Just for XBone or XBone and 360?

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  37. A 'logical choice'.............. Last console gen devs could get away with that line because it WAS actually true. smh.. Just keep the PC side of things rolling proper

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  38. yes all well and good all I want to now is WHEN I can paly on Xbone

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  39. If i tried to run this game again it could explode my graphics card, so i want it on xbox one and xbox 360. I want yall to do what minecraft did... permanently going to consoles but still being dedicated to pc version.

    P.S. don't have the xbox one yet, so i REALLY want this on xbox360. Please. i know it can run on 360.

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    1. Please 360 also just so I can play this game

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  40. Is there a timetable for the Mac port?

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    1. cheesus, no, why? just get a real computer

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  41. Nice move! hopefully i can finally play this. It will be a nice change from shooting games. Only if other game devs did this.

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  42. I am extremely pleased to see this game come to console. I don't have a PC, not out of dislike, because I have found them to be more costly in the long run for me and I am not very good at maintaining them. I love the xbox and can't wait to be a part of this awesome community.

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  43. Is it any way possible to make a slightly more simple version for Xbox 360

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  44. When it comes to networking, will the PC version share the same multiplayer universe with the Xbox One version?

    As in, if I bought the Xbox One version when it comes out, will I be very very lonely in a universe populated by very few people, when the PC universe has a million people?

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    1. I was waiting for a good reason to buy the one. Now I have it. this game will be popular on Xbox One. I switched to console 10 years ago because I was tired of updating my pc every 6 months.

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  45. my friend wants to know around when he can start playing SE on his xbone

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  46. Now the "PC FASTER RAGE" or whatever they like to call themselves, maybe they can try and tone it down a bit. All this QQ is just getting boring and old. How about you " PC MASTER FACES" try and show some love and support towards KEEN, all you have done so far is flaming and crying like little princesses. If you wanna be called "PC MASTER RACE" then at least try and act like mature people, cause right now you cry like babies. I know this might be hard to understand, so let me put it simple. GROW A PAIR.... PLZ!
    Regards Xbox gamer.

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    1. The people that say that kind of stuff tend to be pc fanboys and just like console fanboys they are highly annoying.

      Frankly I play games because of the games not because of the platform (chunk of plastic whats main purpose is to play games - especially true with consoles) or the sucking of corporate d**k, sadly fanboys are the loudest of all of the gamimg/platform communities.

      Anyway I think you'll agree that we can say what you just said but replace "PC MASTER RACE" with "WHINY CONSOLE FANBOYS" it's the same thing after all. Blind following of a platform/and or company.

      By the by, I'm not calling you a fanboy, just that what you stated was spot on but that not the majority of pc gamers are like this and that this applies to consoles too, I play regularly on both my gaming rig and ps4+xbone and notice that every now and then on each platform I run into the fanboys for that platform.

      As Mitchell Murry said:
      "Well you shouldn't worrie about what system others like let them have their own choice and preference."

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  47. Well you shouldn't worrie about what system others like let them have their own choice and preference... On the other hand ive been an xbox gamer for a while as well as pc gamer time to time... Unfortunately i cant afford a better system to run space engineers so i patiently wait for xbox one version to come out... I watch hours of videos on the game such as builds lets plays and updates jealous with every bit. Cant wait for a release enjoy you pc gamers and make lots of vidz...

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  48. Cant wait for xbox one version i watch hours of videos jealously waiting have fun pc gamers!!!

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  50. When are they going to release it!!??

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  51. Waiting very patiently impatient. Or something like that.

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  52. would have bought 4 copies of it this charismas

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  53. Any new news on the xbox one port

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  54. 2018 now still no sign of the mythical space engineers for console still a wip for 4 bloody years or have we or have we thrown it out the window already.

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