official website for new il2 .?
 

hello

was just wondering, since we "seem" to get closer and closer to the release of the new il2, i think it is about time to make a new official website and a dedicated forum, no? :confused:

was just a though...

Apparently an SOW website is being worked on, but they don't seem to be in any kind of hurry to get it done. That said, who really needs one at this point. We are already getting all the info here that would be provided by a dedicated website.

Are you referring to the current 1C:Maddox project, known (for now at least) as 'Storm of War:Battle of Britain' - SoW:BoB, or to the next patch (4.10) for the IL-2 series?

I'd say that this is the forum for the patch, and SoW:BoB will probably get a dedicated site as soon as further release details are forthcoming - Oleg Maddox hinted that a site was being worked on, but not by his team.

im referring to the new upcoming title "Storm Of War" or "Battle Of Britain" whatever it is...


and yes, since it all seems to get close to the "release" ? :rolleyes:

it is definitely time to get a dedicated site and forum running up for it..

A dedicated website doesn't seem to be high on the developers priority list. Nor should it be. Their priority seems to be just getting the game done. Even if a third party is building the site they would have allocate needed resources to supply info for the site. The publisher will handle advertising when they know the time is right, not when we want it. That's their business.

People have been clamoring for websites and advertising for the past seven years. It would have been a colossal waste of money had they done what we wanted. ;)

I would imagine that we should start to see something 6 months to a year before the release date that seems to be the norm for most games/sims to start the marketing process.

They could use the publicity generated by the 70th BOB anniversary to advertise the sim if they have a homepage ready soon. SOW:BOB will probably be released within one year and there're enough beautiful screenshots to show + some general info about BOB, planes and a rough feature list, it's not too early to start making it known to a greater public now.

This forum is a rather hidden place and I doubt many people outside the hardcore Il-2/combat flight sim community know it. They shoudn't only rely on mouth to mouth propaganda if BOB should be a great success from day one.

A month before release is plenty of time for a website and advertising. I can only remember ever seeing one magazine article with an add for EAX, CFS1, and one other combat flight sim and even then they were in the same article. I've also seen one TV add for CFS3. There were a couple other magazine articles that were posted in the forums. These were for SOW.

Don't get me wrong, advertising is a good thing, but I wonder if there is enough interest in the genre to make excessive advertising worth the cost.

Personally I think most the clamor for websites and advertising are from people who are more interested in getting more info on SOW, than interest in seeing the company sell more of its product.

ROF had a website up a running long before a release, currently only a handful of people (in real terms) know anything about SOW and unless you know where to look its hard to find much, Oleg stated in 2008 that there will be a dedicated website so he knows himself the importance of one, but i agree at this point in time there is no urgency because we are still a long way off completion, also as of yet we have not seen any high res promotional screenshots with full AA and AF in directx 11, so a website at this time would indeed be pointless because there is little to show.

A website will show people that SOW is not longer vaporware but released "soon". Even if we are still a year away from release it would be good to have a dedicated
homepage now. Without an expensive advertising campaign the news that development
actually comes to an end will spread slowly. A combat flight sim is a niche product,
it won't get much coverage in media. None hardcore fans may overlook it.

Any homepage for a sim in development won't need many screenhots. The Shogun 2:TW
homepage (release sometime around summer 2011) has currently just 3. The old Il-2
page did show the same screens from Oleg's development updates in it's screenshot section.

Also, there are many screenshoots that look good enough for advertising. Like the
various planes before blue sky or water, the spitfire in the wheat field or the
landscape from various altitudes.

Yes, and it didn't help them one bit.

Meh, we will get the website in due time.

It didn't help them one bit???? are you insane? It generated loads of interest and future sales, there was loads of talk and excitement about ROF well before its release.

Like I said. With all the hype they managed to release an unfinished beta, with dodgy DMs and FMs, that scores of simmers have walked away from.

Let the fan boys begin their flamethrower routine.

The point is not how good the game was or is, the point is that the website generated lots of interest well before release.:grin:

True enough.

They got me to waste my $.

Thats exactly what this site is doing for SOW in the combat flight sim community.

Others that don't know about SOW would never find this site or a dedicated site on their own without word of mouth, magazines, television, or other computer advertisement.

A month before release is plenty of time for advertising and dedicated website. Sooner might be better, but that expensive, its their money and their business, so they are probably in the best position to decide what time frame suits their financial situation and product development schedule.

The only way we can help is thru word of mouth, and buying extra copies for friends and family.

I have to disagree with you mate, a month before release is simply just far to late imho.

You could be right Tree, but I've never seen a combat flight sim ever have more than a few magazine articles, which SOW has had. Sure other sims have had dedicated websites but they have provided no more info than what we've seen with the IC site. Infact I've seen far more info coming from the SOW developers than many of the other sims in development that I've followed.

well i agree with you on that Chivas, the problem is that if you google search for SOW then the only website that you can find is the www.stormofwar.com which takes you to Ubisoft with no mention of SOW, this has to do more harm than good because obviously there is no mention of SOW. A dedicated website has to be the way to go if we are with 6 months of release but I still think Oleg is waiting for Ubisofts ownership of stormofwar.com to run out in December.

Nobody outside of the community knows what SOW is, so there is no need for them to google it. I don't remember if the magazines with articles regarding SOW gave a website such as the IC forums for futher info.

It would be interesting to find out what effect the SOW.com name has on the release of SOW. I doubt it has that much effect considering Oleg hopes to have SOW released before the end of the year.

But like you I haven't seen enough evidence from the developers to conclude that the sim will be released this year. Although all you can really show in screenshots are aircraft, cockpits, DM's and terrain. Who knows the game engine, FM's, DM's, Cockpits, Weather are complete and they are just finalizing the terrain, developing missions, squashing bugs, and optimizing code. He must be fairly close if he hopes to have the sim completed by the fall. We simply can't make an educated guess, because we don't have the required info.

From my point of view even if we don't see a dedicated website until October/November doesn't mean we won't see SOW this year.

That said we all know how complicated this sim is and cr*p does happen on a consistant bases. The good news is even if cr*p does indeed happen we may actually see SOW within months instead of years.

That's the problem and very bad for a sim close to release. Especially if it should become something like the MSFS of combat flight sims. I doubt that even most of the hundred thousands of people who once bought Il-2 don't know anything about SOW. There is actually a lot of information available but you have to read all simhq interviews and development update threads of the last two years to find it.

Close to release? are about 6 or 7 years that they say so... ;)

Name one other game that have had a dedicated website with regular updates a full year before release. Feel free to show its the norm not the exeption.

And a dedicated website would get the word out to people not allredy in this community exactly how? They still need to find the website, no?

Maby people overestimate the importance of a dedi. website, or maby they just need another thing to whine and complain about, no?

First complain about 3D models with a bluescreen background, then the wrong color and lenght of grass, then the effects, then the trees, then the fact its not beeing released soon anough, and if all that gets old, how about making up conclusions based on the lack of a dedicated website.....wonder when it will end?

My guess is never.

I swear to god, when its released the usuall suspects wont even play the game but sift throught it looking for "errors/misstakes", just for the hell of it.


How about LOOKING at the updates and reading between the lines. Hint: a year ago we had nothing more than 3D models on a bluescreen background and STILL people dont see how far it has evolved and how close it really is.


A dedicated website does NOT make or break the realeasedate.

Well said Baron.

It doesn't matter if it's the norm or the exception, just look at the games that did. Rise of Flight, all Total war games with Shogun 2: Total War as latest incarnation, Diablo III, Starcraft 2, Star Wars: The old Republic etc. All games from companies that know how to built up some hype before release and get good sale numbers as reward. It just isn't enough to have a good product if people don't know about it.

At least they can find a website and get some infos abou SOW without searching the forum and reading through all development updates of the last few years. That is the absolute minimum you need today if you want to sell any software to more people than just the few hardcore fans.


Exactly because of this little fact I wonder why no signs of any kind of marketing campaign show up, with a dedicated website as a very basic first step. Especially since Oleg said years ago that one is in development.

But it can greatly increase sales numbers and without sucess there won't be any bright future for WW2 combat flightsims.

Announced sequal is not the same as "dedicated website with regular updates" and RoF wasnt RoF a full year before release, it was knights of the sky on the way down the craper.


But thats ok, im sure u all find something else to "wonder" about once the website gets here.

The layout is proppably something we can start a threadh about. ;)

Layout will be horrible, be sure.

Chill out dude, its all going to be alright.

LMAO !!! Doctor , heal thyself.


The only thing the early Rise of Flight website did was reveal what a disaster that project was for so long.......

So explain to me in detail Eries in what way did the ROF website reveal that the whole project was going to be a disaster? Or are you just doing your normal anti Tree_UK posts again and again and again etc...

Reading your question , it's apparent that you dont fully understand english in its written form. Review the material once more and when you've got it right then you may re-apply for a response.

But the irony in your request for others to chill out , now that's one for the books....

Im taking a guess here but I imagine that you were between the 10-20 age group in the recent poll obviously leaning much more towards the 10 than the 20, if not then no offence obviously.