Kerbal Space Program has touched down on Xbox One

By Brendan Hesse July 18, 2016

kerbal space program xbox one launch kerbalspaceprogram — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Xbox One port of the highly popular space flight sim, Kerbal Space Program, finally made its debut on Microsoft’s current console July 15.

Kerbal Space Program puts players in control of the entire space flight program of the planet Kerbin — an Earth-like planet, orbited by a moon also much like our own, and populated by tiny adorable humanoid creatures, the Kerbals. Every aspect of the space program — from designing and building your rockets and flight craft, to taking the controls at mission command, to carrying out the missions themselves — is up to the player.

Like the PlayStaion 4 version of the game, the Xbox One port maintains the distinctive difficulty and meticulous strategy of the PC version. Being a simulation game that aims to accurately impart the challenges inherent in the required physics and engineering of spaceflight, playing Kerbal Space Program requires micromanagement and finesse, as well as a willingness to learn from the (often hilarious) mishaps that occur as a result from failed experimentation or botched missions.

You’ll need to learn the particulars of escape velocity, atmospheric drag, heating, launch cycles, and more. Thankfully, the game’s friendly aesthetic and cheerful characters make diving into these concepts inviting and a lot less intimidating than it may sound.

Surprisingly, Kerbal Space Program‘s deep controls have been fully mapped to the Xbox One controller — an impressive feat, considering the necessity of playing with keyboard and mouse on PC. Though, we’re willing to bet the new control scheme opens up even more opportunity for happy accidents… and frustrating failures.

Kerbal Space Program is available for download from the Xbox Store on Xbox One, and is also available on PC and PS4.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Brendan has written about a wide swath of topics, including music, fitness and nutrition, and pop culture, but tech was…

Gaming

Xbox’s Phil Spencer responds to blockbuster leak: ‘So much has changed’

Xbox Series X on a table.

Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has finally commented on the massive Xbox leak that happened earlier today. In his public statement, he explained that "so much has changed" since many of the documents were created and asked fans to be excited about Xbox's future.
On Tuesday morning, unredacted versions of a lot of documents pertaining to the Xbox vs. FTC trial appeared. These emails and documents, most of which were created or written sometime between 2020 and 2022, revealed a lot of unannounced information. That included things like a mid-gen refresh for the Xbox Series X and S, some unannounced Bethesda games, and even Microsoft's early goals for its next-generation console. Hours later, Spencer commented on the leak.
"We've seen the conversation around old emails and documents," Spencer explained on X (formerly known as Twitter). "It is hard to see our team's work shared in this way because so much has changed and there's so much to be excited about right now, and in the future. We will share the real plans when we are ready."
https://twitter.com/XboxP3/status/1704233222752571842
At first, people didn't know where the leak came from, with the FTC quickly denying that it leaked these things. Ultimately, United States District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley revealed that Microsoft had done it to itself while trying to provide the court with a secure cloud link to relevant exhibits for the trial. The Verge went on to report that Phil Spencer also sent out a memo internally about the leaks today, echoing the statements in his tweet.
"Today, several documents submitted in the court proceedings related to our proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard were unintentionally disclosed. I know this is disappointing, even if many of the documents are well over a year old and our plans have evolved," Spencer's memo reads. "I also know we all take the confidentiality of our plans and our partners’ information very seriously. This leak obviously is not us living up to that expectation. We will learn from what happened and be better going forward. We all put incredible amounts of passion and energy into our work, and this is never how we want that hard work to be shared with the community. That said, there’s so much more to be excited about, and when we’re ready, we’ll share the real plans with our players. In closing, I appreciate all of the work that you pour into Team Xbox to surprise and delight our players."
The fact that Microsoft did this to itself is an embarrassing accident, especially when some of the information contained within the documents and emails is no longer accurate. For now, all we can do is wait and see if Microsoft will actually release new versions of its Xbox Series X and S consoles next year and if games like Doom Year Zero, a sequel to Ghostwire: Tokyo, and Dishonored 3 get announced.

Gaming

Xbox has no plans to make its own handheld system, per leaked documents

The Logitech G Cloud Gaming Handheld sits on a stack of comics.

As part of the massive Xbox leak that came as part of its FTC trial, we got a look at Microsoft's road map for Xbox through 2030. One slide of this presentation outlines the kinds of hardware possible for Microsoft to make (and not make) itself. Most notably, Microsoft states in this document that making a dedicated Xbox handheld is "not in scope for first party."

Microsoft has been an avid supporter of devices like the Logitech G Cloud Gaming Handheld and ROG Ally with Xbox Cloud Gaming, but it was still quite surprising that the company never aimed to release a handheld that competed with those and Nintendo Switch itself. Now, we know that as far back as this May 2022 roadmap, Microsoft did not believe it currently has the resources and scope to make a Handheld.

Gaming

Is Starfield on Xbox One?

Key art for Starfield

Starfield is one of the biggest games of the year and space exploration has never looked so good (especially on a new PC with the correct settings tweaked). Released natively for PC and Xbox Series X, a lot of gamers are going to be left out of Bethesda's latest RPG — it'll never be released on PlayStation 5 or Nintendo Switch. But there's good news if you're still playing on a last-gen Xbox One. While Starfield isn't being released on the older console directly, there's still a way to play on Xbox One.

There are also a few other ways to play Startfield without an Xbox at all.
How to play Satrfield on Xbox One