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Feature: The 2009 Simulation Year in Review

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August

"Sim" and "oldgrognard" got into pilot training. God help the FAA. Read OG’s pilot training thread here and Sim's pilot training thread here.

Logitech one-upped their ubiquitous G25 Racing Wheel with the new G27 Racing Wheel, adding some build-quality updates, an LED RPM indicator, some extra buttons (and who doesn’t like those?), heel-and-toe shifting, adjustable pedals, but in a curious omission, there was no sequential shifting which baffled reviewer "Chunx".

SimHQ had the exclusive, first "in-game" screenshots of DCS: A-10C Warthog. We are all hoping for a 30mm GAU-8 holiday season in 2010. Expect a well-known personality to shepherd the SimHQ DCS: A-10C Warthog activity. A hint. He answers to the name "Colonel".

"PanzerMeyer", our resident movie buff, picked The Best Aviation Movies, then reprised his starring role in the sequel, The Best Military Comedy Movies.

A truly tragic event occurred near the end of August, one that still rings with sadness. It is with fond memories and truly heavy hearts that we recall the passing of our dear friend, Kevin "PositiveG" Speichts. To say this was a sudden shock was something of an understatement, and it’s one that we are still coming to grips with. Kevin was one of the most helpful, most sincere, and nicest contributors at SimHQ. He felt a special compassion to help those who were new to the site with whatever their questions or problems were.

The emotions that poured out in his memorial thread stand as a testament to this site’s feeling of community and we take some solace in the knowledge that his family was touched by our gesture. We still mourn Kevin’s passing and we wish his family healing and comfort.

Our friends in the Virtual Thunderbirds offered their own unique tribute to Kevin.

As a memorial to Kevin, SimHQ is announcing the annual PositiveG Recognition Award. The award will recognize a SimHQ community member for having gone above and beyond helping others with problems on their sims. The award will be $250 USD and a recognition plaque. SimHQ will be accepting nominees from members beginning in December 2010.

September

Everyone was asking, "where did Frugalsworld go?" Mark "Frugal" Bush later posted plans to be back during early 2010. We look forward to your return Mark! You can read the discussion thread here.

"BeachAV8R" reviewed the Logitech Flight System G940.

eSim does it again taking Steel Beasts Professional PE to version 2.483. Expect them to come up with a really weird coded name for the next update. Easy Nils... we're just kidding!

Battle of Britain II was updated to version 2.10. It warms our hearts that these games are still being supported (at all!) let alone updates the quality and extent of 2.10. A big thanks to the team still working on mods and patches for the sim.

Battle of Britain II v2.10

"Aeyes" (of Falcon 4.0 fame) released his cockpit of the AH-64D mod for Enemy Engaged: Comanche/Hokum. Someone get a good email address for this guy and see if we can nail down ANYTHING on what Lead Pursuit is doing these days. Lead Pursuit... damnit, we know you're out there laughing while you craft that new sim...

We learned more about celebrity Megan Fox than we really wanted to know. Thank (blame?) "letterboy1" for one of 2009s now-immortalized catch-phrases...

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October

This was another big month in 2009.

"Freycinet" went to Lithuania and took us all along for the ride. No idea if the brunette that went with him to Mexico was there, but he took enough shots of local beauties to keep us all transfixed… and looking for Eastern European mail-order bride web sites.

The Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog was announced. As of this writing, Thrustmaster has not shown the product except as a series of close-up "teaser" Flash introductions for their web site. Saitek announced the Pro Flight X65F in October. All of a sudden, flight simmers were wondering why they were being honored with four different HOTAS systems — CH Products; Logitech; Saitek and Thrustmaster.

Strike Fighters 2: Israel was reviewed. Reviewer "PFunk" pointed out how much better the "2" Third Wire series looks with DX10 over the original Third Wire releases.

With iRacing announcing added features for lower prices as they snuggle-up to NASCAR and IMS, it looks better-and-better. Add to the fact that Simbin is milking their race engine for the umpteenth iteration, rFactor 2 seems to be distant, and RSC is gone as a resource, iRacing looks to be the most progressive show in town for sim racing.

iRacing

Erik "EinsteinEP" Pierce taught us the complicated side of DCS: Black Shark in simple ways. Erik also seems to have a fascination for the A-10C Warthog. hmmmm....

The PC and Xbox 360 versions of Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising were reviewed by "Magnum".

Go flying over the mountains of scenic Norway with "semmern".

"BeachAV8R" showed us the latest version of Laminar Research's X-Plane 9.

"Dart" started an epic After Action Report entitled "Martin, the unlikely pilot (RoF Campaign AAR)". Rock-on Kitty!

Hello Kitty!

November

Speaking of hype, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was released by Infinity Ward, promptly pissing-off every PC multiplayer user by killing options for dedicated servers and effectively, mods. However, the circus of hype did give us one of the funniest developer-to-public exchanges, one that occurred in a Best Buy live chat interview event:

Audience participant "Moriarte" asked, "Ignoring IW.net, is the PC version a direct port of the console version?"
Infinity Ward's "Mackey" replied, "No, PC has custom stuff like mouse control, text chat in game, and graphics settings."

Actually, the real controversy that was stirred up was the level of shock value entertainment featured in the infamous "airport level" in which you play an undercover agent assisting a terrorist organization you’ve infiltrated by the cold-blooded gunning-down innocent people in a civilian airport until security forces arrive to try to stop you. Sounds a little sick, and you wonder what kind of Achievement Points might be attached to something that perverse, but Infinity Ward gives you the option to opt out of it. Still, you're forced to take out the LEOs at the backside of the terminal. Read "Magnum's" insightful review here.

guod reported on how much suffering their is in a non-stop 24-hour sim racing event.

Kirill Yudintsev, Creative Director of Gaijin Entertainment was interviewed about Wings of Prey.

The Lock On: Flaming Cliffs 2.0 upgrade was announced. Anticipate a first quarter 2010 release.

Lock On: Flaming Cliffs 2.0

Third Wire's "TK" carried out his threat to add DX10 effects and shaders to his series of sims with the release of Strike Fighters 2: Israel. Exactly two weeks later, someone on his forums asked him when he was going to add DX11 effects [sigh]. Then "TK" upped the ante again by offering all four of his "2" sims as one special, limited-time install (something fans have been begging for since we had all four first generation titles) for a rock-bottom price of only $49.99 USD. That's a steal for the amount of content you get.

A question still nags: What happens to all that old stuff for the first-generation Strike Fighters titles?

"Cat" developed a hopeless crush on Dr. Igor Tishin (the creator of the Flanker series of sims) during a visit to the 2009 Interservice / Industrial Training, Simulation, and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) in Orlando, Florida. While there, Cat got to play with CH Products new military controller for the A-10C Warthog before anyone else. Coupled with The Battle Simulator, she had us green with envy flying it around.

"Cat" also gave us a new Sacha story called, "A Crane's Thanksgiving Pardon" that was one of the very best of the Sacha Chronicles.

Old friend "Sauron" returned for a few hilarious visits, then left again. Where you at buddy?

"Freycinet" had more time on his hands, so this time his travelogue took us to Malta. Yeah, there were girls on this trip, too. We were shocked, weren’t you?

Magnum says, "Best use of a Xbox 360 Avatar... DiRT2 for having it hanging from your rearview mirror."

In a thread which begins as a poll about cranberry sauce at the Thanksgiving table, "Deceptis" launches into a crusade against fruitcake and coins a new sig for himself. Fruitcake? There it sits. So harmless and tame looking, ready to strike out at any moment to the unsuspecting.

December

December closed-out 2009 with lots of activity.

The "Grand Lady" of WWII flight sims, European Air War continues to amaze with new campaigns, tons of planes and skins and many other continual updates that are developed by a faithful team of modders and visionaries. In December the v1.28 1024 exe was released further strengthening the EAW world. Sandbagger's EAW-Tally Ho moved its hosting to SimHQ in 2009.

The folks at Exciting Simulations were interviewed about the latest in Space Shuttle Mission 2007. In the interview it was announced a 2010 version is planned.

Space Shuttle Mission 2007

"Magnum" reviewed Forza Motorsport 3 and found it to be as juicy as it first-looked at the E3Expo.

On December 10th, Frank "Crimson" Morrisette, founder of SimHQ, returned to the old stomping grounds with a "hi guys!" post in the Community Hall. Frank admitted to owning a Macintosh laptop for business and a Xbox 360 to do his gaming. Could we ask you all to remove your hats for a moment of silence? But seriously, it was good to see Frank back again. A reunion of old friends and new friends happened in the multipage, 5-star thread.

Battlefront released the much-awaited western world release of PT Boats: Knights of the Seas.

OBD Software's Hat In The Ring expansion for Over Flanders Fields was reviewed and found to be a must have.

Hat In The Ring

Wings of Prey, the PC cousin of Gaijin's successful Xbox 360 title, Birds of Prey was released. Question. Why are the visuals in Wings of Prey so much nicer than just about any other flight sim on the market, but it plays butter-smooth on mid-level PCs?

Because PT Boats: Knights of the Seas, Hat In The Ring and Wings of Prey were released after our 2009 poll was launched, the three titles and the amazing Crysis mod Mechwarrior: Living Legends will be eligible for 2010 contention as Best of the Year. Nominations will start the first part of December 2010.

SimHQ received new DCS: A-10C Warthog screenshots on Christmas eve, and the detail in this grouping had people really in amazement.

Yikes! guod is still creeped out by the email asking him why he hadn’t been playing RoF as much. neoqb, please don't do that again.

Well, that just about covers it. Not bad for a niche market in the computer games industry, eh?

Oh, wait! We haven’t really covered any bad titles yet for 2009. "Bad" as in I’m-deleting-it-from-my-hard-drive-and-not-finishing-it bad. Bethesda Softworks’ Rogue Warrior has win, place, and show for SimHQs Worst of the Year Award. And we’re being charitable. See "Magnum's" review here and the discussion thread here. We're still asking, how can such a good publisher release such a stinker?

There, that’s it.

Well uhh, unless you’re not keeping up with the circus of insanity that is "semmern’s" Last Word Thread, Part III, you’re up-to-date. Right, Ollie?

 


Related: The SimHQ 2009 Best of the Year Awards.

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