Remember Lunar Lander, the legendary Atari game from 1979, which used vector graphics to portray a (very simple, but fun at the time) lunar landing?
Well, 33 years later NASA has teamed up with Microsoft to create the Mars Rover Landing game for Xbox, giving gamers the chance to experience the "seven minutes of terror," a popular description of the landing of Mars rover Curiosity.
Of course, NASA's Mars Rover Landing game is far more complex than the ancient Lunar Lander; in fact, it's quite close to the real thing, as it simulates three stages of Curiosity's landing with a fair amount of details.
"We've tried to simulate that heart-pounding, sweat-dripping seven minutes using Kinect and using users' control of their bodies to get the landing right," said Dave McCarthy, manager of Microsoft's Game Studios.