Remember when we reported that NASA was planning on releasing an educational Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG)? More details regarding this have come out in the recently conducted NASA MMORPG Workshop at the BWI Marriot.

NASA has revealed that it is looking for a company which will enter into a licensing agreement with it and will handle the development tasks and maintenance of the game. However, it will not be providing any money for the development of the game.

NASA announced that the US$ 3 million budget was not going to be used to directly fund the development of the game but for other things such as access to media assets, data, archives, and NASA “subject matter experts" who will contribute to the game.

The licensing agreement also noted that NASA will be providing compensation in the form of negotiating brand placement, limited exclusivity, and other opportunities. However, this doesn't mean that the developers can't make money off their product as Robert Rice (Nicodemus) on the Kill Ten Rats blog put it:

This isn’t any different than making a game based on a Hollywood license, except the developer will get better terms, more creative control, and probably some sweet technology out of the deal.