I do hope there's a Mac version of this game.

According to The Elite:Dangerous FAQ

I suspect that's going to be a game I need to avoid starting in the first place for fear of losing hundreds and hundreds of hours to it.

Waiting for them to get to beta stage then im in. Name all ready reserved as a backer

Like I did with the original, and the Archimedes version....

You can relive your wasted youth by playing Oolite in the meantime.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/45 ... -pound100/

Make of that what you will...

that's the price if you didn't back it on kick starter at the beginning. I received my email giving me the link to download the beta version yesterday. Just have to find the time to download it and play it.
For less money when I gave to kick starter I will receive a digital DRM free copy a physical limited edition box set, T-shirt a reserved commanders name and an NPC named after me plus a few extra goodies.

Well, obviously not going to pay for a beta here I’m sure this will attract some more players to the game. It’s odd, though. My experience with beta testing has generally been “have a free or heavily discounted copy of the full software”. The only time I [paid for a beta upfront was for Impression Publisher (on the Archimedes), because that was 50% of the planned RRP. All I had to do was phone in or post (that is put a stamp on an envelope) bugs if I found them! Every couple of weeks, a floppy disk would arrive in the post with a new version. I have to say that it was a pretty good beta from the off.

premium beta gets you:
access to premium beta
Physical DRM-free collector's premium boxed edition of "Elite: Dangerous". which includes a T shirt with "I backed Elite: Dangerous" on the back, and a paperback copy of the official sequel to "The Dark Wheel".
all expansion packs
Have the option to start in the founder's world with any starter ship and 4,000 CR. Note: any Kickstarter decal-carrier will be able to travel to this secret system in gameplay
Explorer: Have the option to start on the edge of explored space with a long range version of the Cobra Mk III and 3,000 CR (randomised system choice for multiplayer reasons)
Independent Trader: Have the option to start in the Lave system with a basic Cobra Mk III and only 100 CR
Download a digital copy of the “Elite: Dangerous” music.
Your name* forms part of the naming database (so your name will be one of those used randomly for non-player in-game characters),
Federal Trader: Have the option to start in a Federal border system with a basic Cobra Mk III loaded with cargo worth 1,000 CR and 1,000 CR in cash.(randomised system choice for multiplayer reasons)**
Reserve your Commander name in the game (first come, first served, except Jameson)
plus a few other things

This is interesting. The article did leave out the Archimedes port of Elite, which some argue was the best port of the game. But never mind - more Archimedes memories surface from reading that article.

There were a couple of space trading games around. One, which was in a kind of pilot beta when the person writing it died, involved space travel in an astronomical scale. The idea was that if you left the game for a week, then planets will have all moved. So if you had to travel to a distant star system, you had to travel to where that star would be when you arrived. I believe that there was some kind of FTL available, but that included time dilation. Anyway, much excitement in RISC User, and then much dismay when the game’s writer died, leaving only a small rump of a game for those who had bought it.

But it seems that Elite Dangerous could be taking on similar ideas. I do like the idea of planets really orbiting stars, and all the other stuff they have driven in. Apparently, it’s all procedurally generated, which means they’ve got a lot squeezed into a small space.

Wow. I'm late to the party. This looks freaking incredible. I spent countless hours staying after school to play the Archimedes version and I was fortunate to be old enough to never have to use a PC at school.

I'll need either a new laptop or an upgraded GPU minimum for my desktop (which given my current lifestyle might be difficult), but I'm really thinking seriously about it already.

Until Elite Dangerous comes out, I’d suggest having a pottle around with Oolite. http://www.oolite.org

Pottle my ass. I've lost days to this bloody thing now!