column5

Oooh, theres a Putin as well...

I'm definitely ordering the Obama one. It warms my cold cold heart. Possibly the Papa Smurf one as well.

Wow beautiful shot. If we were still voting that would be my pick for December.

Today is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission reaching the moon, which was the first time man left Earth completely behind. http://arstechnica.com/journals/science.ar...ide-of-the-moon

KB busted for it and it was Dave all along...

That's a good ending for this. :)

And all for free. You pay $30 for a flight sim and get seemingly unlimited free patches as well as direct access to the developer on his forum. Its unheard of.

You--and everyone else--already know that the expansion for WOI is the next "all-new" release coming from TK. You also know that he has tentatively set Spring 2009 as the release time frame for it. You also already know that he is planning to update the previous games along the same lines as SF2. I believe it has also been stated publicly that another First Eagles expansion will be made. So what is the source of this angst that seems to be bubbling up? Please enlighten me as to the loss of faith in a company that has done nothing but serve you all up one great sim after another for the past six years.

The best game in the series from the standpoint of completeness is WOI, in my opinion, but you won't go wrong with WOV or WOE either, and with the NATO Fighters packs, WOE becomes a lot more complete (new version of NF in January, I hope). Strike Fighters is best used as a sandbox IMO if you want to install a lot of mods, but since you say that you prefer mud-moving, I'd go with one of the other games as SF is a bit thin on the ground.

And best of all, people who buy it now for the first time don't have to live through those first two years on the SimHQ forums with all of the pissing and moaning and patchwhining!

Hey its cool, I just didn't want anyone who might come along and casually read the thread to get the idea that there was something bogus about this release in terms of the honesty of the developer. The next couple of releases from TK are going to be the same way, though. WOV will be getting an upgrade/enhancement and presumably WOE will follow. The next "new" release is the Suez pack for WOI.

Actually there is no real reason to buy it for Vista compatibility either because all of the games have been 100% functional in Vista since the October patches. Here is what you get with SF2: 1. The SFP1 game, minus the F-104 and C-130. 2. Upgraded cockpits for the F-4s and A-4s. (Not the F-100) 3. Several new AI planes (MiG-23s, Hunters among others) 4. A small avionics update, mostly related to the RWR 5. A couple of new weapons. 6. Higher resolution textures for aircraft and weapons. 7. Several new sub-versions of existing aircraft. The target for this release is clearly the person who came "late" to the series, starting with WOV, WOE or WOI and who never bought SFP1. The original SFP1 has been OOP for quite some time now, although SF Gold has been available from TK's online shop. For those people, its a very good deal for $20. Everyone else will have to decide if the upgrades are enough to justify the price. That said, I'm strongly opposed to your calling this a con job, because that implies deception. The contents of this release have been clearly stated by TK.

I've read this and it is quite good. Its a mixed bag though--the parts where they describe acquiring, maintaining and flying the MiGs are excellent, but there is also a lot of discussion of the administrative side of the squadron (who was there, doing what, and when) and that stuff is really boring.

The version comparison chart has been updated as well: http://www.column5.us/sfchart.htm

I don't know about the brilliant part but I will install a copy here at work so I can answer those questions.

Yeah it is really incredibly frustrating because these planes were bought and paid for by the American people, and the names were assigned by the Pentagon--if anyone owns the copyright on their names, its us, not the aircraft companies.

Those who have the original SFP1 can apply the current patch, which updates the F-104 flight model to current standards, and then transplant to SF2. Should be pretty easy.

This isn't a bash Vista thread. Let's keep on the topic at hand.

Did you not read the posts in this thread? This is more than a Vista patch. Its up to you whether the enhancements are worth $20, but for those who never bought SFP1 its a nice deal.

At $19.99 it will hardly be a cash cow. Its simply the SFP1 game brought up to date with some new features, textures, updated cockpits, etc. Its also designed to be compatible with Vista's new file paths. Also note that TK tossed in the Hunter and Mirage V as AI planes.

On the one hand, its a computer game, but on the other hand if I were Jewish I might find it morally repugnant to fight for the Nazis even in a sim.

Don't forget: "Which way to the nuclear wessels?"

http://defamer.com/5107081/touch-dongs-body

My brain is still rebooting after the BSOD that the video induced. I have no words.

Jojo sat at home in Tucsan Arizona smoking California grass (my rewrite)