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A room full of rowdy people getting hype for Star Citizen’s in-game footage

Star Citizen is quickly becoming something of a big deal. Sure, the $41 million raised is impressive, for a crowdfunding campaign. But what finally convinced me that this spiritual salute to Wing Commander has escaped the echo chamber of the Internet into broader culture was when a random stranger I met at a pizzeria asked me, “Do you know about this Star Citizen game?” Her boyfriend was obsessed, she said.  Apparently there were plenty of people like her boyfriend at PAX East this morning, hooting and chanting and yelling “woo” as the developer demoed the game in action for the…

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Square Enix’s confusing crowd-screening platform explained

The Square Enix Collective, the Final Fantasy maker’s, uh, crowd-something platform—launched yesterday, but it’s actually just a screening process for games that will appear on Square’s official Indiegogo page. Confusing, I know, but I can explain. The way it works is that if a game garners enough interest, gauged through page hits and (yes) votes, then it might get the chance to appear in a crowdfunding project blessed by Square. You’re competing to compete. So it’s kind of a crowdsourcing filter for crowdfunding projects that will be endorsed by a big publisher, which seems like three degrees of pointless. The…