Star Citizen alpha 3.3 will use your webcam to map facial expressions onto your character

I've heard of VoIP, but now meet FoIP: Face and voice over IP (which should really be FaVoIP, if you ask me). It not only lets you voice your character through your mic, but supposedly also tracks your face via your webcam and projects your facial expressions onto your character's face. FoIP is part of Star Citizen alpha 3.3, which is releasing today to coincide with CitzenCon, the fan convention being held in Austin, Texas.

According to the press release, FoIP was co-developed with Faceware Technologies and "allows players to connect their webcams and control their in-game character’s facial expressions with their own, creating a new level of immersion never before seen in video games. Face and Voice over IP are available to all players in the Star Citizen Persistent Universe."

We'll have to see just how well that works, and if it leads as promised to a new level of immersion or just results in players trying to make goofy faces at each other. Alpha 3.3 also includes, naturally, a bunch of new ships, detailed below and followed by some pictures:

  • One ‘straight to flyable’ ship – the Anvil Valkyrie, a dropship that allows players to easily deploy ground troops or vehicles across large distances. This ship marks one of the first times Star Citizen players can obtain and fly a ship immediately upon announcement.
  • The Aegis Hammerhead, a capital support ship with numerous manned turrets for extra firepower when you want to pack a punch with a party.
  • A complete rework of all four variants of the Consolidated Outland Mustang, giving one of Star Citizen’s iconic ‘starter ships’ distinct versions for light freighting, recon, racing and dogfighting.
  • The RSI Constellation Phoenix, a luxury touring variant of the popular exploration vehicle, outfitted with such creature comforts as a hot tub and player piano.
  • Four variants of the Tumbril Cyclone that expand this ground vehicle’s use to anti-aircraft, reconnaissance, racing, and military.
  • One new gun, the Kastak Arms Karna, a powerful assault rifle with charged shot capabilities for extra firepower.
  • Two new ship weapons from Hurston Dynamics that give players even more dogfighting firepower. 

The Mustang variants

Mustang, Omega variant

Mustang, Beta variant

Mustang, Alpha variant

The Cyclone

The Cyclone
Christopher Livingston
Senior Editor

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.

Latest in Sim
An ancient, angry stone mech from No Man's Sky's new Relics update
No Man’s Sky lets you unearth ancient, angry mechs in the astro-archaeology filled Relics update
Dwarf Fortress adventure mode art
After 23 years of making Dwarf Fortress, even its creator is still 'terrified' of drowning all his dwarves with aquifers: 'Part of the problem is we are just not good at videogames'
Tarn Adams, who cofounded Bay 12 Games with his brother Zach, talks about their single-player simulation game "Dwarf Fortress" during an interview at their home office in Poulsbo, Washington, west of Seattle, on December 9, 2022. - A cult favorite among indie game fans, "Dwarf Fortress" has been available for purchase on the Steam online store since December 6, a first for this title that has been distributed for free since its debut in 2006. The real-time management game, set in a medieval-fantasy world and involving overseeing a group of dwarves seeking to build a mighty fortress, has climbed to the fourth best-selling weekly title on Steam. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP) (Photo by JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images)
Dwarf Fortress' creator is so tired of hearing about AI: 'Press a button and it writes a really sh*tty, wrong essay about something—and they still take your job'
Decorations in TCG Card Shop Simulator
TCG Card Shop Simulator finally adds the ability to decorate our stores, and suddenly all my profits are being spent on adorable Pigni posters
A person on a snowmobile riding a track in the forest in game Sledders.
Powder enthusiasts seem pretty pleased with new physics-based realistic snowmobile sim Sledders
Dean Hall at GDC 2025.
Outer space inspired DayZ's Dean Hall to become a modder and game developer, and now he's making a Kerbal successor called Kitten Space Agency
Latest in News
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'
Otter AI Meeting Agent
As if your work meetings weren't already fun enough, now Otter has a new all-hearing AI agent that remembers everything anyone has said and can join in the discussion
Monster Hunter Wilds' stockpile master studying a manifest
As layoffs and studio closures continue to deathroll the western AAA industry, analyst points out 5 of 8 major Japanese companies hit all-time share prices this year
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Ogryn
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide adds a psychic horde murderzone mode and makes Ogryns even smashier
A woman wearing a VR headset with dramatic, colourful lighting across the background
'World’s smallest LEDs' could lead to accurately lit screens with 127,000 pixels per inch and much more immersive VR