"The gMax visual models are absolutely beyond reproach and deserve an award. Once you have gotten over admiring the weathering on the camouflaged model, the glass effect on the canopy is exceptionally well done, and there is a host of minor detail, right down to the interiors of the gear bays; wheel bolts; handling and ordinance markings; and even pilot names, which are worth a read if you want to see what the developers are called. The animation is up to much the same standard; with all the stuff you would expect like moving control surfaces. The cockpit opens and the wheels roll, but the best bit is the braking chute, which should be assigned to a joystick key for maximum enjoyment on landings. Being a gMax model, you get full night lighting, right down to the cockpit interior and landing lights which shine on the pavement. Connoisseurs will appreciate the instructors cockpit periscope, moving engine nozzle, landing gear shock struts and blow-in doors."
SimHQ have posted an announcement that that Ubisoft are releasing Flanker 2.5 for the princely sum of $9.99 "in the hopes of attracting new blood to the flight sim genre".
Thrustworld Have opened their IL2 Sturmovik ladder competition for all you would be aces. If you think that you have what it takes to become king of the virtual skies then sign up for the ladder. It's not all about pride, they have some cool prizes lined up too. The top 3 pilots win free LIFETIME membership of ThrustWorld and ThrustWorld T-Shirts. As an added bonus the first 20 people that join this ladder will get free ThrustWorld accounts for a year.
If you don't already have an account at Thrustworld you can still sign up for a free beta account HERE The beta is closing any day now though so get on the ladder quick to get one of those 20 free accounts.
To sign up for the ladder and to read the rules click
HERE
Monkey Review have posted a review of Medal of Honor. Here's a snip:
During the last few years we have seen the bar be moved up and down, this game follows suit with the rest and the gameplay should last you about 10-12 hours on the normal difficulty settings, during these 10 hours though the game gets packed full of content and you never have the feeling of having to finish the level, this is mainly because of the great amount of extras that get played into the game, many unexpected turns and surprises, the developers have shown how much detail they have put into this game to have each level as unique as possible from the previous.
ascully.com have posted a review of Comanche 4. Here's a snippet:
The graphics are nothing short of spectacular. The water effects being the most memorable. When your in third person view and your swooping over the many watery surfaces, the water behaves exactly as it would in real life. Its a stunning sight and adds a lot of realism to the game. The explosions are also worthy of note. When you call in an air strike on a strip of oil tanks you can sit back and watch the fireworks. The level of detail in the explosions equals that of a Hollywood special effect. This level of graphical detail does come at a price though. To run the game the way it's supposed to be run requires a fast processor and a Geforce 3 TI500, not the cheapest of hardware. But for those on a tighter budget, thankfully the game does scale to meet the minimum specifications which are a 450 MHz Cpu and a 32 meg graphics card.
Aurora, Colorado - February 16, 2002 - G2 Interactive, Inc., a Colorado-based Interactive Entertainment publishing company, has brought on board as technical advisor Pete Bonanni, current F-16C fighter pilot. Bonanni is best known for his involvement with previous Falcon flight simulation products, and also for producing the Art of the Kill, a book/video combination that taught the skills of basic fighter maneuvers (BFM).
G2 Interactive recognizes Pete Bonanni as having a unique perspective on fighter combat, and he will be assisting the G2 Interactive team by offering his insights and analysis for the upcoming flight simulation product of the Falcon line entitled Falcon V.
About Pete Bonanni
Pete Bonanni is a fighter pilot who has worked on the Falcon series since 1989. His experience in simulation spans not only games, but also military defense simulation projects as well including several fighter part task trainers and combined arms simulators. He started flying the early models of the F-16A in the 1980s, and currently flies one of the most advanced versions of the F-16C. He has over 3000 fighter hours in the F-4, A-7 and F-16, which has provided him a keen understanding of modern air combat from the tactical to strategic levels.
During the Falcon 4.0 development effort, Pete Bonanni was involved in all areas of the simulation project from simulation design to writing the Falcon 4.0 manual. His comprehensive fighter knowledge and fighter training background served as the framework for creating the Falcon 4.0 world. He now brings this wealth of fighter simulation knowledge and more than a decade of Falcon experience to the new G2 Interactive Falcon V team.
About G2 Interactive / Force 12 Studios
G2 Interactive, Inc. and its wholly owed development group Force 12 Studios offer a wide range of interactive entertainment products. G2 Interactive will produce and market a diverse mix of titles including games for the IBM PC, Macintosh, and console-based platforms. Force 12 Studios will concentrate on developing both high fidelity and easily accessible simulations; the first being a continuation of the world-renowned Falcon line of products, known as Falcon V.
For the latest information about G2I's products and career opportunities, visit G2 Interactive's website at www.g2interactive.com
Because it is valentines day and I'm feeling all loved up I have teamed up with Cougar World and Thrustmaster to give away a Thrustmaster Hotas Cougar. Yes you read that right .... we are GIVING AWAY a Cougar!!!!! You'll have to provide your own bucket to catch the drool though :-).
So what's the catch? Well the catch is that we want this prize to go to someone that is going to really enjoy it so the winner is going to have to earn it. All you have to do is answer 10 questions about Thrustmaster and their Hotas products. The answers can all be found on the Cougar World Site or the Thrustmaster Site a little additional research on some TM fan sites will also help.
In the first of a series at sim-news, Nick Rockbrune recounts his first PPL training flight. Here's a snippet:
"As a Falcon 4.0 and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 enthusiast, I was being a little bit macho about everything. I was saying to myself, "I can start her up, I can taxi, I can takeoff," and so on. Within seconds, I was proven wrong! Pilots are trained to go by the book. First thing to remember, follow the checklist! Didn’t do that, but I didn’t have to in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2002 I thought! But, the engine was, in the end, started up—safely of course—and I was ready to go. My instructor was nice enough to let me do the radio communications, but here we go, another mistake! I was told to call upon the airports UNICOM for a radio check. So I bravely clicked the microphone button on the yoke."
The Official F4UT Site have posted Sylvains explanation of the Stutter in SP2. Here's a snippet:
There are two types of stutters, referred to as micro-stutters (less than 0.5 seconds) and macro-stutters (over 0.5 seconds). The macro-stutters are caused by that bug that I fixed so they shouldn't be there anymore and neither should be the increase in time when you end missions. The micro-stutters are caused by objective deaggregating or reaggregating under you as you fly. On my Duron750 in debug mode (hence not optimized code in a window), a feature took about 6 msec to aggregate/deaggregate and any objective taking more than 100 msec to aggregate/deaggregate created a visible stutter. That's why be the way that well over water (not close any coast), you don't feel the stutter, because nothing deaggregate/reaggregate
Head 2 Head Gaming have posted a review of Medal of Honor. Here's a snippet:
The realism is demonstrated by the excellent scripting of action when it's called for - spontaneous is the word i think i'm looking for. Even if you play a level over again your gonna end up in the same scenario, but the game does a great job of making you feel like you don`t know what`s going to happen next. Also the way other soldiers are reacting around gives another sense of "being there". Seeing soldiers explode to the left of you, or a group huddled behind cover while a medic tends to them. Visuals and sounds also play an extremely salient part of enmeshing you into the game...not to mention your imagination. The sounds of the whizzing bullets hitting different materials like water or dirt was just awesome especially on the Omaha beach level where you hear it incessantly all around you. When you're moving from room to room in a house, a rifle shot is the last thing you want to hear...it really gets your heart pumping.
Visually the game is quite nice, although some of the environmental texturing is simply awful. At high altitudes the terrain looks fine, but come down to ground level and even mountain ranges begin to look like pixellated swamps. The Comanche itself looks very nice, as do the majority of the targets such as enemy soldiers and tanks. Explosions also look the business, but the water is undeniably the most impressive visual element, and looks stunning by all accounts when the chopper’s blades create massive ripples.
Cougar World is a new site dedicated to the Hotas Cougar and run by many members of the actual Cougar Team. Here's how they describe the site.
You're going to find everything you need to get the most from your Cougars. A constantly evolving site, initiated by the developers and beta testers, Cougar World is designed to foster the Thrustmaster flight simming community that made Thrustmaster what it is today. So initially, we've designed it to:
Provide information about the Cougar. Specifications, features, photographs, reviews, awards ... if we don't have the information here, no-one will.
Act as an information service for those of you who own a Cougar (or two!). You'll be able to benefit from a wide range of tutorials and examples explaining how to get the most from your controllers, along with Frequently Asked Questions (and their answers!) to help you out with any problems you may enocunter. It is the Cougar owner's complete resource centre, where you can download updated software, firmware, and of course joystick/macro files for the latest games.
Focus Cougar related questions on one site so that the developers and those involved in beta testing the Cougar, as well as those very knowledgeable about it, can address issues directly. You'll get the answers quicker and directly from source, and everyone will benefit from the shared knowledge here. We also welcome suggestions regarding features you'd like to see implemented or to suggest improvements in the software that shipped with the Cougar
Of interest to any WWIIOL players, unknownplayer.com have posted a transcript of an interview with Mo, Bloo, and Toto of Cornered Rat Studios, discussing current and upcoming plans for the game. Here's an extract:
"{[LUFTII]ZHaun} What future German aircraft are under consideration or in development?
{CRS_MO} Well for BK, not very many more...Ju52, Ju88, and possibly that BV floatplane. Then we are onto 1941 planesets with the 109F, etc. We have to build planes that will last. The Do17 for example, while a good choice historically, didn't last and we'd only use it for 1940. Better to spend efforts on something like the Ju88 that flew until 1945."
gamepc.com seem to be the first site to get their hands on the cards and get a review up. They're quite extensive reviews, looking at the new Ti4600 and MX460. Here's a snipet:
"The GeForce4 Ti4600 is a very impressive card, simply on the merits of two features. First off, FSAA is dramatically speedier now, and is actually a very usable option for every day game playing. If you have a powerful enough system, 1024x768x32 with 4x FSAA in most games is very playable, which is something we can't say for another card in the market."
SimHQ have posted a link to an article at Papa Doc's Pink Flamingo Bar And Grill discussing IL-2 and getting the most out of it with Wicked GL drivers. The article is subtitled "Voodoo 5 vs iL2 or how I learned to love Wicked GL and Fraps." and here's the intro:
"IL-2 is one of the finest simulations released for the PC. The detail, graphics, and overall dedication that went into this game overwhelm a person who is used to average simulations. By and large this sim was released in very good condition except for two small problems. One a stutter that seems to affect different machines and different configurations regardless of the video card religion to which the player is affiliated. The other is a serious disdain for supporting a video card that was popular and one that apparently alot of sim players still use. which leads to slow framerates and many graphical compromises. Well who needs them..hehe. Besides as you will find they have their hands full writing code to make killer simulations and probably don't have the time to optimize 3 year old cards. But me, I have plenty of time and a wifey who says that if taking this time saves me from spending money on another piece of hardware she is all for it. I will show you in this article how to make it go fast and look so good that other video card owners will be scratching their heads wondering how."
SimHQ have posted a link to a British company producing an "image-enhancer". Here's some information about the way it works:
"Normally, when playing computer games, as your eyes are about 18 inches from the screen, you go cross-eyed, making everything look small and flat. Shame really, as the game developers have incorporated all the perspective and motion that would otherwise make it look very real.
The Virtualizor overcomes this problem. It makes the image look much larger and at a much greater distance, such that the brain interprets those perspective and motion cues (rather than stereo vision which it uses only at relatively close distances) to give a sense of life-size 3D. So get into a simulated car or aeroplane, for example, turn the cockpit or dashboard graphics off (or use bumper view etc.), and the virtual world in front of you takes on a new dimension. The sense of immersion is further enhanced by screening off the real world outside."
I have posted a review of eDimensionals wireless 3D glasses submitted by Brian "Nomad" Morris. Here's a snippet:
"Once I got the separation where I wanted it I literally had a new cockpit - one I'd never seen before. It had depth! It's not an earth-shattering difference but it certainly is neat to see the gauges inset and the edge of the cockpit actually having a visually relative point to you. Another plus is that the HUD isn't adversely affected or harder to read in 3D. This leads to the shortfall of these glasses in F4, though: like the HUD, not many things change. The ground is still 2D as are most other aircraft, explosion graphics, etc. Some of the buildings seem a little 3D, however.
In other words the glasses are certainly usable in F4 but I would not purchase them solely for use in F4. This shouldn't be a concern though, as every title I tested was positively enhanced by the glasses. Not one game was unaffected or adversely affected while using them."
Aurora, Colorado – February 5, 2002 - G2 Interactive, Inc., a Colorado-based Interactive Entertainment publishing company, has brought on board as technical advisor Mr. Keith Rosenkranz, former F-16C fighter pilot and Gulf War veteran. Mr. Rosenkranz is probably best known as the author of Vipers in the Storm, his personal account of 30 combat missions flown during Desert Storm.
G2 Interactive recognizes Mr. Rosenkranz as having a unique perspective on fighter combat, and he will be assisting the G2 Interactive team by offering his insights and analysis for the upcoming flight simulation product entitled Falcon V.
About Keith Rosenkranz
Captain Keith Rosenkranz was a top-rated U.S. Air Force flight instructor and, subsequently, Top Gun in F-16 fighter training. He served in South Korea and then flew 30 combat missions – the bulk of them at night – during the Gulf War. Rosenkranz scored 10 Maverick missile kills on the infamous “Highway of Death”. He was awarded four Air Medals and two Aerial Achievement Medals. Mr. Rosenkranz also serves as a consultant with a major defense contractor in the area of new F-16 weapon systems. He currently is a pilot for Delta Air Lines and lives in Texas.
For more information about Mr. Rosenkranz and his unique and exciting experiences, visit the Vipers in the Storm website at www.vipersinthestorm.com.
About G2 Interactive / Force 12 Studios
G2 Interactive, Inc. and its wholly owed development group Force 12 Studios offer a wide range of interactive entertainment products. G2 Interactive will produce and market a diverse mix of titles including games for the IBM PC, Macintosh, and console-based platforms. Force 12 Studios will concentrate on developing both high fidelity and easily accessible simulations; the first being a continuation of the world-renowned Falcon line of products, known as Falcon V.
For the latest information about G2I’s products and career opportunities, visit G2 Interactive's website at www.g2interactive.com
The following announcement has been made on the WWIIOL site:
"Starting Friday February 1st, gamers will be able to download a full working version of World War II Online that is good for a 14-day free trial period.
The download will be available at Gigex.com and a variety of other popular destinations such as Yahoo!, AOL Canada, PC Gamer, CGW, Stuff, and Men's Health. The download will be available until mid-March.
Each user will be able to play for 14 days before the subscription expires. They can keep playing and save their game name by purchasing a retail copy of the game and entering the CD key included. By converting the account to a premium subscription with the retail CD key, they will be entitled to the 30 day free trial included with every retail copy.
We are hoping this will bring a lot of new players into the game and we need your help.When you see new players on the 'BOOTCAMP' radio channel or see a newbie asking questions or needing help, please do whatever you can to assist and encourage them. Our player community has shown the ability to have a great effect on the perception of new players and press in making the experience the best it can be.
If you have buddies who have never tried the game, THIS IS THEIR CHANCE TO PLAY FOR TWO WEEKS-FOR FREE! Drop an e-mail or post to your favorite forum and let everyone know that they can play World War II Online by simply downloading the game for free."
SimHQ have posted two graphics card reviews, the GeForce 3 PowerPack III Ti450 Golden Sample and the Gainward GeForce3 PowerPack!!! Ti550 XP VIVO. As usual, SimHQ have related each card to performance experienced in a number of sims. Here's the intro of the Ti450 review:
"Many graphics card vendors separate their respective products through software bundles. Some differentiate themselves through excellent tech support or elaborate packaging. Gainward separates their products by building the fastest GF3 Ti200 card you can buy out of the box. The "Golden Sample" label is designed to flash out to consumers as if to say, "If you want the fastest card, look no further". Recently, you might have heard about Ti200 cards with 128MB of memory on-board. If you were wondering who is making one of those very high-end cards, Gainward would be a great place to start guessing."
Read the Ti450 review HERE and the Ti550 review
HERE
