Why no news on SOW:BOB, Evgeny?
 

Hello Evgeny

Could you answer the question why there has been no news on Storm of War: Battle of Britain for at least 6 weeks?

Just wondering..

Regards Henrik

You should be aware, that there are at least 2 other simulations in the WW2-FlightSim-Genre, that are planned to be released at the end of 2008. For Oleg and his team, any information given is a chance for them to orientate themselves against SoW:BoB.

Beyond that, UBI-Soft is the publisher of this game and they have put a hold on any information given about this engine and the sims being created with them. That's true for SoW:BoB and Project Galba AFAIK.

So, despite the respect I have for you, not *demanding* anything, I got to say, that this is about more than just giving a few pictures to a community. This is a marketing project going on, with several competitors on the radar and people should understand that.

I know it's a stretch, but... What are those other (at least) two flightsims?

Well, that is basically the problem. While Oleg allready has shown quite some screenshots and modells, there is absolutely no information on the competitors.

Rumours say there will be a new CFS based on FSX and DX10.

Shockwave (WoV:BOB II) had started a huge recruitment wave early last year to support a project for a WW2-based sim. Their community-manager actively recruited people from the IL2-forums at SimHQ.

Competition is a good thing.

At least if you are at the receiving end. :grin:

It seems a bit silly to think if three WW2 flight sims come out this year, that I (the customer) would only buy one. I have BoB2 and IL2 now and play them both now. If 3 sims come out this year, and get good reviews, I will buy all three. I would think for most who are into these type of game the same would be true. With IL2 being what it is, I don't think Oleg has much to worry about. He has more to with his fate than the competition.

You call this idea silly? How many people do you think will buy 3 flightsims for the full price at the same time? I have many flightsims in my collection, so I agree on that, but I got several of them from ebay and that is surely no good news for a producer.

Feuerfalke I have heard the statements you make before in other posts, but I have not been able to confirm them. Are you a part of the development team on SOW:BOB? If not, where does your info come from? I would like to hear the reason for the blackout from the horses mouth..

So Evgeny do you have any input?

Same here I can afford to buy more then one sim...plenty of room for everyone. If anything...I would think that it was the "other two" sims that should be worried...IL2 has a stellar reputation and its up to the "other" sims to try and prove themselfs to this community (and the flight/fight sim community in general)...

If people are trying to "goat" Oleg into posting some more info they are going to have to do better then this...:)

I will probably buy a CFS4 or Shockwave Merlin based sim but we've seen absolutely nothing from them in reference to their new combat sims. Although Shockwave did post a pic of a P40 for use in FSX, that may be the bases for an aircraft in their cancelled/delayed FT project. I believe they are working on another undisclosed project.

At the moment KOTS screenshots indicate a promising combat sim that could well be the quality of BOB SOW. We have no idea on the quality of the other sims.

Shockwave are doing the Flying Tigers right?

S!

Is their a "Phoney War" of promotion going on between "BoB SoW" and the two unseen rivals to the crown?

LOL! It is true that in the (imagined) "war" of promotion that exists between "BoB SoW" and whatever "other" new sims (that might be) coming out that we have had a huge amount of information on the new IL2, and NOTHING about the other new sims...so it would seem that "BoB SoW" is ahead of the pack (not behind)...

Maybe Oleg should be making a "Bore War" add-on...LOL!

There are actually three games being made on the same engine as the next generation IL-2 game (BoB). They are SoW: BoB (obviously), Project Galba (Korean War), and Knights of The Sky (WW1). I'm assuming SoW will probably have its own Addons as well, in the future, to include everything from the all encompassing WW2 Flight Sim we already have. IMO, there is no better Flight Sim than the one we have and the ones we will be getting.

KotS is no longer based on that engine. It was first planned to be based on a largely upgraded IL2-engine, but then it was clear they had to overcome some limitations. According to their forum they dropped the IL2-engine and came up with something else. So I doubt it's the BoB-engine.

@ HenFre
No, I'm not part of 1C, nor am I otherwise involved in the project other than providing some resources. But I'm with the flight-sim-genre in general for long enough to know where to look for that sort of information. ;-)

@ VMF-214_HaVoK
I read in a forum that a FlyingTigers-Simulation was being worked on and I concluded from the context that it was the sim Shockwave is working on. When they were recruiting I was invited to write an application, too, and the little information they gave me as a bait would fit the Flying Tigers setting.

Seeing as GT released their Fokker DR1 in FSX as a free promotional gift, I think it is clear that Gennadich Team and Microsoft have some agreement going. You just don't advertise your wares using a competitors product and get away with it. Something definitely cooking there.

.........
 

Let's not forget Jason from GoGamer fame is about to enter his hat into the flight simming ring. I think he said his would be based on the Merlin engine, but would need to reread the article at Sim HQ to be sure. I don't expect anything serious from him for a few years, but from his pedigree and him being a fan of flight simulation I expect great things from him.

I wish him luck.

Black Shark has to be nearing beta soon. (I haven't kept up with that as much as I like, but it will be here.)

Despite the agonizing wait, we really are on the cusp of a great flight sim era. Lots of great stuff coming to fill our hard drives and Walter Mittyesque dreams. 2008/2009 will be the renaissance of flight sim.

Patience young grasshoppers.

Yes Jason at Gogamer is doing a combat sim based on the Merlin engine. His site is called 777 Studio ...I think, but I doubt we will see anything for sometime.

Shockwaves Flying Tigers has been put on hold as they will do another combat flight sim based on the Merlin engine. I'm guessing a continuation of the Western Front from their existing BOB WOV or something in the Med.

Then the best thing Oleg could do would be to release the Malta/Sicily map by 6S.Maraz
in 4.09 to spike their guns!

phoenix1963

They put Flying Tigers on hold, too? I only read that they cancelled the sequel to TM8th and concentrated on finishing another title to run in competition to Olegs SoW:BoB?

Well, information I got was early WW2. So I guess Med will be it? Sounds interesting and quite reasonable, considering how many people wanted to see the Med in IL2 and never got it.

Shockwave has made several aircraft and add-ons for Cfs3, FS2004 and FSX and they are still making their own sims that have no connection to MS.

Gennadich just converted their Fokker model for use in FSX to show of their work. No big deal IMO.

Well, a lot of speculations as to why there has been no updates from Oleg, but still no hard facts. Care to enlighten us, Evgeny?

Just out of personal interest: Do you post the same on the other sites or do you just want Oleg to to show his cards to his competitors?

I am not sure that a few indicators or updates on the progress of work on SOW-BOB is going to reveal anything of ny value to potential competitors...and even if it did i don't perceive other Flight Sim Developers as direct competitors - given that most people who will buy BOB-SOW are likely to buy other quality Flight Sims released to the market and vis - versa...
But given how undefined and probably how far over the horizon the potential release date appears to be (we are looking at years realistically...not months) and given the seeming lack of interest in SOW-BOB, by their development partner and distributor (UBI) - people have genuine concerns about the status of BOB-SOW development to the point of questioning whether it will ultimately make it to market...
Thats not bashing Oleg & 1C, quite the contrary...people are concerned because they are excited about the product :)

Got a message from Evgeny telling me, that Oleg has been sicks for the past few days. Evgeny also states, that Oleg will post updates soon.

The hardcore-fans of the flightsim genre surely will buy several flightsims, even at the same time and from my personal experience, they will even buy more than just one copy to push the product. That crowd is also the most active on the forums and the most supporting for the community. This portion of the market is the minority, though, and it is even the minority of the minority that is even interested in flightsims compated to the mass market of digital media.

And where did you read that UBI is not interested? Quite the opposite is true. It was on the forums quite a while ago that 1C chose ATARI as publisher for upcoming games, but contracts were allready made that the SOW-Series is published by UBI and knowing from the success of IL2 they wouldn't let that slip away. At the same time it was made public and repeated several times, that there is a massive advertisement-wave ahead, as soon as the release get's close enough. And both always stated what is shown in the "news" is just the tip of the iceberg what is allready going on and working behind the scenes.

So, all I'm asking people is to sit back and try to get the full picture. After all, who do you think is more concerned? The customers and fans or the people that are dependend on their product to be able to feed their children from the success of the game.

I highly doubt that other companies would get any useful info from 1C posting ANY info about SOW. All a competitor would have to do is look through the many posts dealing with ideas for SOW-it's not like source code is going to be posted. This may be a little left over from the USSR days, with all the high security.
Just a little info creates all kinds of buzz about the game and will help in sales etc-just my marketing 101 coming out! Then again if there isn't any new info to share, that's another problem for us.

Really? I can estimate the number of polygons on the wiremesh-modells, the internal modelling. We also saw a picture of the landscape, the layered texturing modells, bump-mapping, objects which are rarely seen on photographs, in-cockpit screenshots, modelling of the 3D-gauges inside the aircraft, moveable parts, grass, heared from ingame weathering of textures, weather and wind simulation,.....
A lot of usefull informations when I needed to build a program that has to compete in all the named areas, if you ask me.