This video shows how the player will explore space in X-Rebirth from developers EgoSoft which is due to be released on the 15th of November. The use of the ship's on board scanner looks like something that will keep us hunting around the great void for hours on end, while the ability to upgrade and customise your ship and its components looks truly addictive.

The scanner involves you sending a pulse out into space by holding down a button. The longer you hold the button the stronger the pulse is, but you can hold it too long and break your scan. These scans will reveal artifacts floating in space, and the better your scanner, the more likely you are to find high value items that someone has accidentally dropped out their air-lock, or flushed down their space toilet. These items can then be traded with different vendors for cash. Let's hope they've included an Aliens easter-egg floating in the cosmos somewhere.