Oleg leaving game development (CoD)?
 

Is it possible to get a word or two from Oleg himselfe on this?


To stop rumers and such blowing out of proportion if nothing else


http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.ph...ml#Post3241260

Well if this is true...it doesnt surprise me with some of the comments and arguments ive read on these forums!:(

I really hope its not true:confused:

:( Sad if it is BUT he has been doing this now for a long time,everyone needs a change.
I wouldn't worry too much ,as long as the developers and programmers are still involved once the basics are down and working correctly developments will still appear.
Where there's a will there's a way ,look how il2 has been improved and given a new lease of life.
Good luck to Oleg if he does finish,maybe in time he will come back and have a renewed vigour.
Don't forget this is the beginning of the next step.

I don't blame him with all the whining on here.

The green needs to be a different shade.
The windscreen has the wrong coating.
The wheels are too big/small

etc

The game looks great, I hope at least he makes enough to retire.

Heh,its reminds my a story when Michael Jordan left NBA and start to play baseball.And we know very well how the story ended.:rolleyes:

From what i understood, Oleg is angry with the publisher...

@Bowtome, don't jump on conclusions that are not written in the message Oleg wrote, he is not blaming the users

I think the man just needs a vacation. Last video I saw him in, he looked a little run down. Oleg, if you read this, take my advice. Go on vacation after CoD comes out. Maybe 2-3 months. Then come back and enjoy your masterpiece with us all online. We all want to shoot you down. :-P I'm sure you also want to shoot many of use down too! :grin:

I agree Oleg, its easier to be a salesman...buy and sell with a stupid smile....when you actually DO something with love, perfection and devotion like you do, almost everybody will spit and sh*t on your work (or on part of your work) and have a need to say something very smart. I experienced something similar. Please, for the sake of us who are not in that wagon - stay with us. You can still do photography hehe....at least now when the sim will go out..

something for you my friend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUx3MU9iM6c

you have my support

What an odd thing to say just before a major release. I can understand where he's coming from but I question the timing.

People are going to worry that the game's a flop or that it won't be supported after release.

Hopefully it was a knee jerk late night post, it would be a huge loss if he left the industry.

I doubt it has anything to do with the quality of the game itself its been in development for 6 years so no one will be fooled by buying this be sure, however post launch support might change a bit depending on who takes over the project.

I think this thread should be locked, people here are writing so many absurdity

I'm surprised that he has stayed so long on this project, publishers messing him around, constant whineing from forum members who are too narrow minded and self centred to realise that this is potentially the last highly detailed ww2 flight simulator that is for the gamer rather than for money.

@Oleg
Sorry to hear you are leaving, I hope it isn't true but you and your team deserve a break after 6 years of back breaking work in a dwindling genre... I hope il2:clod is a hit so even if you don't come back at least you can retire from game development knowing you have proven hard work is rewarded.

I think we should all hang fire and wait for some clarification before relying on a notoriously poor translation software interpretation of what may have been an off the cuff reaction.

Have to say though that Oleg has looked ill in just about all the photos I've seen of him recently. Looked like someone under immense stress.

Presumably though, Luthier will take the helm in the event that Oleg decides to focus on other things...?

just go independant and release on steam like everyone else

its better for everyone that way and you dont have to listen to the clowns at ubisoft

What is he going to do run a Mcdonalds, if he did say that he probably was just pissed off. While Im sure developing a sim is frustrating, working for yourself if you can make a decent living is still better than workin for the man.

:) Don't forget he did do an interview a while ago saying he was going to do something else ,if the game is completed he has got to move on to make a living.
It is now in the hands of the publishers and advertising teams,the development side SHOULD really be done for the time being.

Seems that my joke last year about 'yak-farming in the Crimea' may not have been that wide of the mark. ;)

We know what did happen to Lock-On some years ago.

I think what he said was that he would do other thing at the same time as CoD. Judging from this post (hope its just bade translation) hes more than ticked of at UBI.

Either way, Oleg leaving game development entirely would be a loss of epic proportions.

Its not so far of thinking that he cant "leave" UBI. They simply own the publishing rights in the west so seeing a "new" Oleg and team independent from UBI is highly unlikely.

If there is any truth to this, Oleg hang in there, dont jump off so close to the finish line. U know there are thousands of fans that will do a much better job in advertising this game than UBI ever could.

Tell us what to do and we`l do a better job than any publishing company.

OMG, you just don't get it.
Oleg is going to be that rich with this game, that he has no more need to spend his precious time working.
We're talking about millions and these can give you a fantastic life in Russia ;)

Mountains and seas get ready for "Oleg the Tourist"!!!

PS. After a few years, when desperate suckers like many of our community start building temples in the name of Oleg and new religion, Olegiusm, spreads around, he will come back, drawn by prophets' word and will offer us his next sacred game: "Over Germany" and new religion will get to new heights in numbers of believers. Maybe even people from outter space will convert to it: "Phone Oleg" :D

Oleg!, Please disregard this thread and place all contributors to it on your ignore list!

Ooops!

Funniest nonsense discussion ever!

Congrats! Please Oleg, after you retire, can you answer me if FreeTrack will work in CoD?

LOL!

really? Oleg posted this on youtube...its authentic....and some of us can read russian well...

Well, some cant bother with reading links provided u know.

To much work rather than posting on the go.

Please, translate Oleg's post to english...

...

yep; I think hes just tired after hard work and all the fights behind the scenes (we know with whom)..then there are some good points he made...about ppl who are actually working on the sim which is the most demanding type of gaming software...in all aspects

If this is indeed true we're so fu*ked.

Left with an unfinished game and the boss gone. :(

Wow. Thanks, Ubisoft. :evil:

I think he would not leave...now....not his style...

Who said the game is unfinished.. ? ffs.

With all the features missing, would you call it finished?
No.
Those were also Luthiers' own words

The more i read that sentence the more it sounds like its NOT about the publisher. Sounds almost like the lack of appreciation (and the extra "slave" work it creates) from people buying the game for dinner money, the "boss", according to them selves. Words to that effect was used by the poster Oleg ended up debating with on You Tube when he dropped this bomb.

I think we're in danger of acting prematurely on this 'rumour' - a POORLY translated rumour. We're in a frenzy awaiting IL2:CoD and ready to chomp the bit at any information that comes our way.

Take a breath - a deep one. Time will tell, but right now we're just swatting at ghosts.

The game comes out in a few days. Let's look forward to those and then to our own release in various countries.

"By the way, I am leaving game development. It does not look promising anymore. It is hard slave work. I am tired of being almost a god, as you named it. It is way easier to do "buy-sell" stuff and let the fools to develop and create, what these "buy-sell" [people] and alike will sell you cheaply while playing the most important ones. However, very soon they won't have anything to sell anymore because of such approach... there is very serous crisis in game industry... there was such crisis before consoles appeared... but now it has returned..."

Well, he has been doing this for a long time, and in a genre where, frankly we're all raving lunatics. Sometimes it is good to do something else.

This is about the pc gaming market, hardcore simulations and publisher-developer relations.

It's NOT about a couple of guys on an internet forum not liking the tracer colours or the terrain textures.

I translate ALL the discussion that leads to this "statement". If people do that, will see what's that all about...

Somedays I don't want to go work too. If Oleg dislikes so much today games development, maybe he can work in some combat jet and sell it to NATO.

Maybe he need to rethink some points of the process... Invest more in the engine and let the modders do the "slave work" will be really good...

In some point BEFORE the "console crap", things work like charm this way...

Read all discussion... It's have A LOT with "a couple of guys on an internet forum not liking the tracer colours or the terrain textures" too...

But if you let this people work in mods, all will be happy. Oleg lacks this approach: fully moddable engine, free mod tools, let the "slave work" to the whinners... LOL!

Perhaps it is to do with piracy, if that is a good translation, it certainly has lead to the death of some great games that are now only available on consoles i.e. Red Dead Redemption.

The variety of home pc specs was trouble enough before piracy worsened the situation!!!

Remember this ?
 

Oleg Maddox

Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,029
Attention, about me.
Relating this post:

http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=17735

I didn't leave 1C.

I haven't been doing only simulators all this time. I'm also doing a lot with photography. For example famous manufactorers, Nikon, Canon, Samsung, etc, give me their latest hardware to test before they hit the stores to look for bugs etc.
What you've read now about me is another sphere of interest for me.

All these things help create new top products.

3DreamTeam company deals with virtual world using advanced game engines (3 at the moment). Can't describe everything but I will say that I am currently managing one of the most promising new advancements in 3D practically for all platforms including most common from PCs to smart phones.

Also read on the site of vizerra.com about aerospace simulation....


maybe that was the first hint we got....


Salute !

Guys we knew about this months ago when Oleg started his new job, i posted it here myself, obviously it was met with the usual barrage from the fanboys. CLOD as been a very difficult project for Oleg, it will be good no doubt but he missed the mark on most of the things he wanted to achieve, whether that was through financial restraints or publisher pressure Im sure we will never know, all the same I wish him well. Where this leaves us for future patches and development is anyones guess but it doesn't look good. :(

DLC sold through Steam...Just like Railworks, or ROF.

There, I said it lol...Perhaps Oleg will still play some part, who knows, but its better to send him the best wishes with whatever path he chooses.

And yes I am still looking forward to COD, hope it doesn't end up like SHV though...

Change is good.
 

I can only guess ofthe level of dedication and commitment needed to complete such an epic task as he has done since the original game. Good to hear that now you may not have to be stuck in an office putting out fires, having to wear six different caps at once. People probably have no clue what type of stress that typeof job has upon his health and even his home life. I am grateful that we have had the oportunity to meet such a man. In most of my post I have often called him Mr. Maddox for a reason.

Here is a poem for you by the English poet Rudyard Kipling

IF
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Good luck in your future position. May it be less taxing on you and your family. It may seam a little selfish of me, but make sure the guys follow your lead and be sure you'll get my $ and cents for some time to come.
S! C.O. on Deck.

My two cents is that this is in fact about publishers (Ubi in particular in this case.) A telling fact was the name change to "IL-2 Sturmovik..." in the west. Likely they never intended to use Ubi in the first place but Ubi probably had sequel rights to the original IL-2, and forced him to market this as some kind of sequel so that they could lay claim to it.

Of course this is total guesswork, but if I was robbed like that it would sure make me want to leave the industry.

Anyway I wouldn't worry too much, there has been lots of talk about expansions despite the fact that Oleg (I assume) has been planning this for a while. There's no reason the rest of the devs would want to abandon their jobs.

There is always something going around.

Why would Oleg quit? If he couldn't turn this to his advantage now into a even better situation I'd be amazed.
The gaming industry is as big or bigger than the movie industry. Oleg has a niche market and he is the best in it.
What kind of thinking would it take to leave all that, after all the hard work and solid accomplishments.

Oleg could work cooperative agreements with hardware manufacturers. Logitech, CHProducts, TrackIR and others would all be cooperative to have a more favorable situation and get locked in with the application. The hardware guys are the ones making all the money, because you cannot pirate a joystick that cost $300 USD. If you don't like a hardware purchase you can take it back, but there is no way you can use it if you don't own it. Oleg, could make cooperative agreements with manufacturers to accomodate their hardware.

Oleg could require reinitialize registration on every patch,etc. He could charge for every patch. I bought a Sony Vegas Pro 8.0, a very expensive movie editing program. Two months Sony release Vegas 9.0, and six months later Vegas 10.0. Each upgrade was several hundred dollars. Free patches could be strictly fixes and tweaks, with not additional objects or improvements in the application. All additional objects, aircraft, improvements would be in paid for add ons. All addons would be downloads only.

Don't think Oleg can't create alliances with hardware manufacturers and make it stick. Consider the Apple iPHone. AT&T had it exclusive for several years and now Verizon has slipped in, at great expense. Oleg has the iPhone of WW2 air combat flight simulation games. Think about all the console games and how they are hardware dependent. The software and hardware are required exclusive to each other. The hardware is improved and released...then everyone has to buy new games.
I appreciate the hardware independence, but I could sure understand if Oleg or other popular PC game developers made cooperative arrangements with hardware mfgrs. Agreements with hardware manufacturers could also require participating and promoting Oleg's products as well.

Before Oleg, shuts it down it would be well worth the efforts to explore the future differently.

Oleg could work with a console manufacturer, the console would have to have multiple ports and only specific hardware components would interface with it. He might have to work with a Sony or MSFT, if he didn't want to mess with the console. However, he might cut a deal with someone like nVidia to build a console for him... Why would they do that you ask? Because I would imagine if Oleg and other PC gamer developers are feeling the pain from console competition. You can bet someone nVidia, Amd or others VC manufacturers will probably have to become console manufacturers soon. Console computers (that's all they are) is a mature industry. The PC applications like Oleg's will have to move that way, because piracy is taking the heart and soul out of the computer software business.

Don't be surprised when you see large companies like Adobe, MSFT and other with a specific hardware interface. They'll have to do it, and it will be soon, because 1,000s of dollars for a software is too much money, and basically too expensive for most purchasers. As it is the higher prices for software have to compensate for all the piracy of their products, in order to continue to develop newer products.

Hardware dependence could also mean alot more revenues from sale of products especially in countries where they are selling software on DVD in back alleys for $1 each. Locks and hooks could be provided that had specific link protocols built into firmware of the hardware that interfaces with the software link protocols. Piracy would be non-existent with those products.

I see a future for software linked to specific hardware items. I expect to see it with DVD players and many other hardware devices in the not to distant future.
If you insert a movie into a DVD player, the player can have a defined protocol built into firmware that directly contacts the movie distributor for authorization to play or some other weird stuff.

There are already arrangements with Camcorders and such, where you can't do some things that allow copying of copyrighted materials. So, yeah there is definitely a future for products like Oleg's COD. He'll just have to bite the bullet and take on some new priorities for his company.

This:
And THIS:

Alas, drowned out by childish bickering.

PS. Book of the Day. Трудно быть богом. Highly recommended ;)

I call it a finished product, never saw anything else actually promised. Features get cut from game development all the time, be glad you got it at all instead? 6+ years of dev time and a brand new engine plus a brand new game.
Show some appreciation instead.

Oleg is here...and is currently reading this thread...

Hello Oleg !

Exceptionnal work ! Thanks for everything...

Salute !

OMG, OMG, OMG somebody take a picture of me and this thread quick. Where are the paps when you need them. People, I think I'm about to faint .... We're not worthy, we're not worthy. :D :D

Hi Oleg!

Whatever is your choice, I must say you

****A-----B I G----T H A N K----Y O U *****

For the countless hours of fun, excitement, challenge, learning, friends-making that you gave me personally, in exchange of a miserable amount of money.

Sincerely,
6S.Insuber

it won't be the same with out Oleg at the helm he will be missed

Nothing but thanks from me too for all the hard work and free stuff over the years! hope its not true but if so good luck with your future projects whatever they are!

True story
 

The true is that I'm still involved in a game industry. Still with sims.

However I'm thinking what to do next. One way I found. Another in research. All ways based on advanced gaming technologies.
I see real feature of gaming idustry, where also Mac take some part together with PC and concoles will be on a separate side or on the same if only they may have some still uniquie features of PC....

But where I don't see any great interests at the moment in the tablets and mobiles.

Some say that all should go for iOS... its a mistake. Some say that PC is died - its more greater mistake. Some say that only consoles may bring profit... that is also mistake (its not a mistake if the speech is about non so complex products that are going for the one time release without long life on the market).

For the stand alone products that are done only for PC, that have no analogs, that are the best, that are even in its only own small niche - there is the way to get income that to go forward.

Hope someone undertands my thoughs.

yes i understand. And agree with you. glad your still around! :P

Oleg, thanks for these explanations!

I agree that (if I am understanding you correctly) that the gamin industry in general has become short sighted and only concerns itself with the first few weeks sales for a new IP, and never really consider the profitability of a product over time. I personally can't stand the trend for making a big title and then releasing all these nickel and dime DLCs (a few a month) for the first few months and then all support for the game just drops. They drained the gamer of their money and now they are done.

I can't even recall how many copies I've bought of Il-2 + add-ons over the years, but I never once felt cheated. You kept support for the game up, and always added something new. It is an IP I've spent more on than any other game hands down. Worth every penny every time.

Didn't like my response to your other juvinile-bad-taste-kind-of-a-bad-joke in your other thread HanneG ? ;)

You'll get over it....

Words of encouragement. Poem byWilliam Ernest Henley
 

INVICTUS

out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.



In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.


Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.


It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.


William Ernest Henley


Churchil had this poem given to RAF pilots during the Battle of Britain. A gift for you and your travels. Jaguar.

Also a movie title done about Mandela and South Africa

Hey Oleg, good to see you here! Will you be still involved in the further developement of Il2?

Personally i would send you on holiday for 6 months with the family, a well deserved break :)

Enjoy your sons younger years now, as children grow too fast.

.

Sorry, who are you again? You must be confusing me with someone. Can you point me to what juvinile (sic!) joke you are referring. Thanks.

Oleg, while we are all awaiting Eagle's Day ;) with this sim, I just want to say

THANK YOU - CPACIbA

for the huge amount of work obviously put into it by you and your colleagues at 1C.

Also thank you for your Vision of combat flight simming.

I don't know the whole story, but I can guess that it has been a terribly stressful period lately. And that anybody would be exhausted by now, just as the sim is about to release.

I can understand the tension there will be, now that it is time for the well-deserved earnings from all the years of hard work.

What I don't know so much about is what happens behind the facade. There has been some frustration showing with the publishers I believe... Publishers are like lawyers, they always earn money on the trouble and hard work of others!

But they cannot go home and say to themselves: I really accomplished something. I made something revolutionary. I changed the history of computing.

I know those words don't feed hungry mouthes, but they are worth something! Or rather: everything.

This world is divided between creators and the rest. You have created something very valuable for very many people, and I can assure you that you will be rewarded fittingly. This sim will sell very well and for a long time. And I hope you see a good part of the earnings (Steam should get more into the developers' pockets, shouldn't it?)

I hope that you will keep working with flight simming, because - in that world - you are somebody special.

+1

Oleg

Alliances with hardware manufacturers is a start, but it would require some research and talking directly with many manufacturers to determine what they need and what you need from hardware/software dependence. Hardware dependence has many ideas that can be worked out with manufacturer.

Suggest to talk with nVidia or AMD about future of VC and PC gaming. Nvidia and AMD have capacity to produce computer type interface. You know they are losing business to console for sure, since they are PC cards.

All distribution your software should be through direct download hereon. EB and other retailers for most part are caring only gamer type games. It is nice to have your game on shelf, but only you know how much that is worth to you.

Every update, patch or addon should be direct download. It would be important to develop this delivery method. All of your COD orders would be in now, and be on computers all over the world. You could be working on paid for addon now.

Piracy is terrible. I do not think there is anyway to protect from piracy without creating hardware dependency.

There may be a way to send something like a "physical" plastic card upon purchase, which could be used at logon/download site for your software. The number and logon information on the card could be very cryptic and unique. Download site might have to harvest IP information, mac address or something, but there is plenty of information that is very unique that has possibility for use. Unique requirement for activation of software would have to be tied to some method to create unique characters created from the individual computer and the "physical" plastic card you sent.

If you used a "physical" plastic card you send directly to buyer to initialize download you would be also creating a valuable data base of all purchasers of your product, and you could plan very effective marketing to users with Email and other information. You get some information at registration, but if you aren't marketing direct email you are missing many opportunities. There are many software companies that now sell their products at retailers and rebate all money back, just to harvest buyer information. They then promote all their products regularly with email.

You should NOT think to do everything over internet, as some hacker guru can always defeat software only.

Hardware dependence you should also make sure manufacturer will promote and advertise your products with his, for mutual benefit.

People will complain and whine about anything you do. That is natural. You must look at your business future and you will make best decisions, because you are best qualified person. You care about users, you care about product, and you care about company. You are best qualified person in the world for your company.

Best to you, we appreciate very much your care for making a great sim we will enjoy very much.

Whatever you do Oleg, this community is with you. We do love you! I can't thank you enought the hundrews of hours of great simulation.

Большое спасибо!

Thanks for stopping by, Oleg.

Best wishes, wherever your path is leading you. I'm sure you will continue setting milestones as you did with IL2 and as you will do with CoD.

Salute!

+1 !

What would be the point ? :cool:

:grin:

Oleg, I find your post somewhat confusing.
Will you stay and work on the future of this sim or will you leave.

A simple answer would stop all the rumours which are not really good marketing btw.

Thank to Ubisoft and all the trash console products.......

He says that is quite depressed...... He works for quality in a world that ask only for money.

Not at all.

He says there is money to be done elsewhere than on console.

As long as a "trash" console editor has money to fund development of games like IL2, I wouldn't trash them....

"As long as".....exactly.

That would be COD's description...So can we speculate that Oleg is going on with top notch sim engine/technology developpement that could benefit to COD and its successors ,without beeing chief of staff and programmation maybe ? And not having to deal with publishing and deadlines issues anymore ? :rolleyes:

Lets hope so !

Salute !

Thanks for the post Oleg, I agree with you on your points completely.

Thanks for the answer Oleg. Good work and agree with your points.

I hope that the boat is not sinking...

Didnt he say a while back he planned on working on the next theatre for CoD??

I think (?) that's what he's saying.

Taking a step away from the front-line management (and the stress)

Thanks Kendo...I am still trying to dicepher his message...:rolleyes:
And hope that all is ok for him ans his team...And for the sim fanboys that we are, also hoping for a long and prosper future...!

Salute !

BTW, consoles are dead hardware walking. The last generation is here now. Future gaming of that type will be via web to TV / PC.

NVidia are opening up the CUDA engine with some developer tooling so that will change over the next few years and open up the power of the GPU

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/02...uda_4_toolkit/

Oh god...:rolleyes: I see Tree has dropped his leafs here as well, you should know better guys;)

I usually send PM message, but to be honest I'm sick an tired of it.

It's time some of you got the message to your embarrassment...

Osprey delete you profanity statements about tree, that is worthy of ban.

Personal attacks, laced with profanity call for it.

The rest of you better learn to forget how to spell tree, because I've read the postings and most of the problem is what you conjure up.

There is an orange horizontal bar at the top of the screen on the left most side it says UserCP. Click on UserCP and scroll down the left most column and you will see a column that says "Edit Ignore List". There you can put tree on your ignore list. You will not be able to read any of his postings unless you choose after you put him on the list. He can read you postings and say anything he likes, but you will not read anything he publishes.

The fact is, where sales come the quickest is where the large gaming companies want to focus their support. It's what they consider smart business. So, as long as people are laying down their money for quicker produced consol games, that's where their focus will remain.

Oleg said he's working on the ability to reach a wider market in the computer world, the Mac and consol if the consols are improved to run a high end program like Il2 COD some day. Hopefully Oleg will/has made enough to fund his own future in the computer market so he can produce the quality of product he wants (including us) in the years to come.

Hi Oleg,

thanks for the clarification, and good to hear you are continuing to manage the long term future of BoB/SoW, as long term ww2 simmers we are all depending on you :) you are our only hope for a quality product, just ignore the whiners and focus on the good parts and your grateful supporters

1) have you read this interesting article ? http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/gra...l-to-directx/1
it discusses how future pc gaming can get significantly improved performance by directly programming to access the hardware functions themselves, rather then only work by interfacing with the operating system. this also should mean your new product would work on mac's which in the last years have started using exactly the same hardware as pc's (in cpu, gfx cards, ram etc)

2) can you please make a comment why BoB/SoW is again distributed by ubi ? is this a new arrangement you choose to do with them now for il2/CoD only, or is there still an old contract from the original il2 series that limits you into using them as long as the il2 series continues ?
Eagle Dynamics (ED) have published black shark themselves, is it maybe possible for you to link up with their distribution network ? they seem to describe similar frustrations as you have with marketing

from a recent interview with ED at simhq:
Q: Why did you publishing Black Shark yourselves??
A: The entertainment PC-based Flight Simulation market is very specialized and very different from the console market that the major publishers focus on. Through our experience of self-publishing Flaming Cliffs, we have developed the knowledge and expertise to sell and market directly to the Flight Simulation market through both on-line and retail channels.

i suspect ubi invested development funds into SoW/BoB in the last few years and that is why they have the distribution rights, hopefully this is only for the first CoD product and later releases can be either direct download online or via a similar company like ED

Well, I don't read him saying that he is still in his old role managing the development of CoD... Over at SimHQ Jason who is in the industry confirmed that the "tired of all whining comment on YouTube" was from Oleg and:

Read it in context here:

http://simhq.com/forum/ubbthreads.ph...developme.html

So the sad fact I can deduct from this is that Oleg has moved on since quite long time, but probably has some "senior advisor" role at MG, especially as it would hurt marketing if it was known that he was left the managing role at MG. Maybe he was burnt out by all the stress trying to finish this title with the high quality standards he is famous for after years with negative feedback from all corners? I am not putting the blame on the community as I think that is the small part - but it sure has not helped reading the BS spread by some members here or over at SimHQ that destroys every constructive thread.

If my speculation above is really true, it is the most sad thing that has happened to the sim community ever... Or at least since Falcon 4 "ate" the team a Spectrum Holobyte that scared the living daylights out of any manager thinking of starting a really complex flight sim project after that... Now It seems CoD has "eaten" Oleg and his team too for flying to close to the sun?

I really hope I'm wrong!

Oleg, how about a total change of pace, get your feet back on the ground and do a historc war game like Rome 2 Total war (proper wargame not gimiky SEGA crap) , where each player is a senator of Rome / Carthage, king of a Greek state and they fight each other in real time. A huge MMO / RPG / RTS / FPS etc I've noticed IC has done some good medieval totalwar-like stuff already.

.. OR ...

Just go on a long holiday, around the world, and come back refreshed and do - IL2 - 2 !!


He 111.

Thank you Oleg for your reply. Although I must say it doesn't really clarify the situation.

This is by far the strangest game release I've ever witnessed. The closer we are to the (shifting) release date, less information we get about the game and its future. News about the release of the game are full of mistakes - advertisements of features that have clearly been dropped, confusion about dates, confusion about the status
of the game - is it a stand alone or just an Il-2 addon...

It looks like captain is leaving the sinking ship, so it would be very nice if someone from the developer's team would clarify the situation a bit...

:(

Subscription based is the way to go . You are the boss , you are a company.

Absolutely agree, why we should buy a "dead" game if its not going to be followed by other games?. You're doing a real damage to yourselves.

rofl

Well, will there be Maddox Games if Oleg 'quits'? I'm not thinking about sequels, there are bugs to crush (evident even on newest videos, although they don't show much), and there are tons of features that are supposedly 'almost finished'. I'm sure we won't get much of that if only the skeleton crew remains, or not even that...

i wonder what olegs statement will mean for cod!

Agree......100% agree.

What i feel now is that CoD is no more no less than Lock-On some years ago: bugged, non completed and released only to recover some money (Ubi) before leaving.

Realese is imminent and we still don't have seen nothing about sounds, wheater, engine managment, clouds, ecc. ecc. ecc.. We still don't have any official info about the flyable aircrafts.

I really hope to be wrong.

We all wonder this i think.

I firmly believe that Oleg is the only one that can deliver us the next generation of flight sims, and Im talking about kicking the Flight Simulator hegemony out of the way for a new milestone with accurate physics and ATC and terrain simulation.

Words taken out of my mouth. If someone ask me year ago for the worst possible scenario of SoW release, I probably couldn't imagine it worse than this. I understand that it's publisher's fault in many aspects, but lead designer, a face behind the series saying that He leaves the project one week before release is suicidal.