Hellshade

If the Devs were willing and able to incorporate any kind of "head bob" into the game - and I personally think they have their hands full already - they should do it like Need for Speed : Shift 2 does it. There's no TrackIR support in NFS:S2, but they have what is called a "Helmet Cam" Mode that makes you feel like you are in the helmet as opposed to just statically in the seat. Check out a quick racing video of NFS:S2 I made and see for yourself how the slight changing of views as you slide around corners really makes it feel like you are turning your head the way you would if you were actually driving. It's subtle, but definately there. Need for Speed: Shift 2 - daytime race Fun racing sim too, I might add. Hellshade

Someone in another forum posted the question "When did you buy Rise of Flight?" I almost answered 'Two years before it was ready'. hehe. RoF has indeed come a long way since it was first introduced and I consider it to be a fine experience in many ways. OFF too has evolved over time. Though the next iteration of OFF P4 seems poised to be more of a revolution than simply the evolution of the series. I too enjoy both, finally. It will be interesting to watch them both advance as time moves on. Ultimately, we virtual pilots always win as each sim seeks to curry our favor with improvements and new features. Hellshade

Rise of Flight does do some things very well. The flight model is amazing at giving the feeling of being in the air. The bounce of the plane as wind buffets hit it makes it harder to aim and keep a target lined up. The damage model is, frankly, second to none in my opinion. Watching planes fall apart in so many different ways is impressive. I remember having the support strut of my left wing shot away. The top left wing slowly bending upward under the pressure from the air until it couldn't take it anymore and snapped away. Classic, really. The pilots using hand signals and looking around in the cockpits also adds a lot of life to the immediate dogfighting experience. It adds to the realism of the moment. The rivers, lakes and general water effects are stunning to see. The tracer effects are fabulous. The rain effects when in the cockpit are fantastic and again, do a lot to add to the immediate experience of feeling like you are flying in poor weather. RoF recently went Free to Play - so you download the sim for free and just buy the planes you wish to fly. So starts off less expensive than OFF now but adds up fast if you want to have any choice in the planes you fly They also have heavy bombers for both the Allies and the Germans. Quite cool, to be honest. (I know they are coming for P4 and I can't wait!) I also like their bomber / recon missions where you can actually change the artillary fire at your direction from within a two seater. Gotta admit it's a new feature I haven't seen anywhere else. But OFF has a brilliance and draw all of it's own. The OFF Dynamic Campaign crushes the RoF beta Career Mode. Real flights on real missions, weather you fly in their direction or not, definately trumps spawned aircraft who's only purpose is to show up on queue for you. Granted, the Career Mode is beta, but it's not going to catch up to OFF. OFFs number of historically accurate squadrons is staggering. Just going through the list of possible squadrons to choose to fly for in OFF gives you an idea of the massive scope of the sim. RoF choices from squadrons in Career Mode are substantially fewer. The number of planes that OFF can put into the sky at one time also makes you feel like you are fighting in a real war. In RoF Career Mode, I always feel like I'm stuck on some quiet part of the front with only the occassional enemy aircraft showing up. In OFF it's not that uncommon to come across enemy Aces. In RoF, though they just put that feature in, I suspect they have a far smaller list of Aces to draw from because I have yet to meet any. Coming across an Ace is always extremely exciting and gets your blood up. OFF has a complete dynamic weather system OFF has HUGE number of variables in the Workshop to change around to your liking. OFF requires a less demanding machine to run on OFF has the option to submit a claim form just like they did in the real war. In RoF you are automatically given credit for it. No tension as to if you will get credit or not over the next few days or weeks. I have to say the customer relations between OBD and it's customers are second to none. That's a real biggie. In the end, it's all about personal preference and what you want out of a sim. My tastes change on a regular basis, so which sim I fly depends on what kind of experience that I want. OFF really brings me the War. RoF brings me the dogfight. From what information the Devs have leaked about P4 and the screenshots, they obviously are determined to make OFF the most complete WWI air war experience available anywhere. I have no doubts they are skilled and dedicated enough to do just that. My credit card is ready for pre-ordering OFF Phase 4 the moment it becomes possible to do so. I have to say that OBD is one of the few companies in the world that I will buy a product from, sight unseen, simply on the reputation of the developers. I have no fears of that ever changing. Hellshade

The music is horrible but the realism is breath-taking. Part of the ways into the video they showcase some air combat and the pilot close up is incredible. http://www.ign.com/videos/2011/09/26/battlefield-3-full-length-gameplay-tv-ad?objectid=14209865 Hellshade

YES!!! The order you provide them in is up to you. Any other questions you'd like answered, sir?

I think Winder let it slip that P4 is going to have a lot more options in QC than it does now. Of course, that doesn't help us at the moment, but it is one more thing to look forward too. Hellshade

Stunning work Gentleman, as always. I think I see some extra work has gone into the damage models a bit too perhaps. Looks like another masterpiece on your hands. I hope you know how much we all appreciate the work you do. Hellshade

Might we get P4 by Christmas? Maybe. But I'm guessing we'd be seeing P4 preview videos sometime in the very near future if that was to be the case. I certainly hope it's ready by Christmas, but I'm willing to wait until they feel it's done. I'm sure it will be worth the wait. The scenery, big bombers and improved plane models and skins alone will be worth the wait and price. Throw on top of that whatever improvements they have for the AI and Campaign experience and you can bet it'll be a 5 star release. Hellshade

Can I get a link to the Thrustmaster you are talking about please? I'd like a bit more rudder control if there's any to be had. Hellshade

I haven't tested them in OFF yet, but they seem to produce less "shimmer" in at least one other game I briefly tried. Certainly no extended tests yet, but I'll let you know what I find. This link is for the Windows 7 - 64 bit edition beta drivers for 580 chipset cards. http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7-winvista-64bit-285.27-beta-driver.html Hellshade

If you look closely at the OFF P4 picture, you can see that the gun stand for the aft facing machine gun is actually on an "L" shaped curver that happens to be at the exact spot where the wing behind it makes it blend in and hard to see. To me, it looks like the gun stand drops down from the gun to just below wing level, "L" turns towards the front gunner and then turns straight down again until to intersects with the fuselage just behind the back of the front gunners seat. At least, that is how it appears to be constructed to me. Someone far more knowledgable than I has the precise answer, I am sure. Hellshade

Damn. I was sure it was an F-22 Raptor. Soooo close though. Hellshade

"For King and Country" is nice and all, but I think you'd still have to be drunk out of your mind to stand up, presenting a fully exposed target, in that little flying basket and try to shoot at another plane that is hammer away at you and then hope that your pilot doesn't weave or bob too fast in an attempt to avoid the incoming rounds because you aren't tethered to anything at all. I'd actually have to think a bit if I had to choose between that job and being stuck in the trenches. Hellshade

Amazing details in those cockpits gentleman. Damn fine show. Hellshade

Check out the Kuban Trailer. I gotta say it's looking very nice so far. http://www.worldofplanesgame.com/en/media/video/ Hellshade

Wow. Very nicely done Sandbagger. That skin is really just amazing. And against that incredible scenery...just fabulous. Hellshade

I resent that remark. I'm much closer to a Baboon than a buffoon, I'll have you know. Hellshade

I must say the look of World of Planes (despite the truly horrific name) is getter better all the time. It appears it won't all just be WWII action either. Check out the following latest screenshots from their website. What do you guys think about the latest screenshots?

Any chance we could get a screenshot of what it looks like in game, Olham? Hellshade

I am sure you are all working 'flat out' on P4 and the results will be fantastic. But I've got to be honest. For some reason, this has felt like the longest two weeks of my life. I sometimes wonder if it will ever end. Nice scoop Olham. You're a natural for reporting in the field. Hellshade

Believe it or not it's an upcoming MMO. I haven't seen any evidence that they will be supporting the WWI market, so I'll post the site here hoping it's not in bad form to do so. http://www.worldofplanesgame.com/en

Other than that, it was great. Hellshade

The makers of World of Planes have released a benchmark so that you can see how well it might run on your current rig. It seems to me that it's a slightly stripped down Wings of Prey engine with the green filter removed. It's slightly cartoony but seems to run very well. I was locked at 60FPS during every run of the benchmark (you can select morning day and evening runs). You can the benchmark here http://yuplay.com/story.php?title=World-Planes-DirectX-9-Benchmark-Alpha Here are a few screenies to see what it looks like so far.

Actually maybe not on the free part. There's a World of Planes from Gajin and World of Warplanes from someone else. World of Warplanes will be free, as will World of Battleships (Personally I'm waiting for World of Pitchforks). So I'll correct myself and say I'm not sure what the pricing model for World of Planes will be. Hellshade

NFS Shift 2 Unleashed doesn't support TrackIR (cry), but it does have a fairly useful "helmet cam" view where as you slide into corners, your head turns automatically to look where it should. It does a great job of giving the illusion of speed. Night driving is a blast and crashes are very intense. Not really sure how it stacks up against the other rracing sims out there but I just got it last night, started playing around 9pm and the next time I looked up at the clock it was 2 am!