Hrmm...I may give this one a pass until all of the planes are released and they have a all in one package. I'm really starting to not like the nickle and diming that goes on....I really want to support these guys but between this and the downloadable car packs for Forza 2, downloadable stuff for Halo 3, etc....its all nice but they are small little packs and the price feels high for what I'm getting. I can only afford so much...

Maybe I will change my mind. It really does look good!

In a way I agree, but unfortunately they are a small concern and they do not have the cash to fund an entire project.
It looks as if they have opted for the online route so my guess is they are likely to create something similar to ADW. The stand alone game will be cheap and the online following will drive the price of the planes on release.
It's still better than paying a monthly subscription aka Warbirds, Dawn of Aces and Microsofts Aces High.
I guess they have researched the market and felt confident in their product.
Lets face it a good console game is selling for much more now than PC games.
Remember IL2 1946 is made up of a whole host of paid for addons. The orginal Il2 did not even have a flyable Stuka. It came in the first patch. They then release Forgotten Battles followed by Pacific War. I know they had a paid for expansion for the Pe2 so Rise of Flights plan to sell extra planes later is not exactly new, some now are lucky they found Il2 1946, the end-of-the-line Il2 sim, I have coasters of Pacific war, the orginal IL2, Forgotten Battles. The complete Il2 edition I bought it weeks before IL2 1946 came out, could have shot myself :grin:

Looks awesome!

The extra content will be free to download for the ai to use. It will only cost you extra if you want to make it flyable. There are around a 100 planes in IL2, yet I only use around 20 of those. As the extra content arrives for ROF, you have a choice whether you need to have it as a flyable. I have also read that the flyable option will be priced around €4-5. In the uk that's half the cost of a packet of cigarettes!

I don't mind the concept of paid add-ons (for flyables). It also means the core game can be released earlier and the ongoing development of new content assures the game will be supported for a long time (bug fixes, upgrades etc.).
I think BoB:SoW will use a similar concept but Oleg chose to give us more aircraft to fly with in the initial release, probably one of the reasons it takes a little more time to release.

I hope the concept wil work. I remember a similar appraoch was to be used for a racing game called "Racing Legends" by the West brothers some years ago. They were going to release racing cars as seperate addons to the core game; but each release would (could) be published as a seperate DVD with (paper) manual, original photos etc. They even planned for "collector item" or deluxe versions in leather casing etc :) It was a great idea, but unfortenately they never delivered.

Update: I found that the link is still active! http://www.racing-legends.com/expansion_packs.htm

Depending on exchange rates... I got a shock the other day buying a euro-priced object.

5 Euros is $6.70US, 9.80AUD, 7.90CAD or £3.80 at the moment
To put that into a UK perspective 20 Marlboro is £5.50 and Pint of Stella Artois in my local pub is £3.20 or a new flyable in RoF for £3.80.

What they are proposing is hardly going to break the bank

Oh, I'll be buying regardless.

But I bought something the other day thinking that the euro was around 1.2 AUD, instead of 1.8. Always best to check.

Get ready to be corrected... :-P

About two years ago, the kots Gennadich team merged with another group of developers who were working on the purely Eastern front WW1 flight sim (can't remember their name now , but they had a Sikorsky scout as the main aircraft. Anyone?). It was at the same time that KotS decided not to use the Il-2 engine. Anyways, the Eastern sim people were already releasing screenshots and video back then of grass in their sim, along with proper deep water and high-res terrain. It is not meant as an insult to Maddox Games, but credit for such a development must go to the RoF co-operative team, as they were first by about two years.

So, thanks for the correction! ;)