The largest booths on the exhibition floor belong to the console game companies - Nintendo and Sony. Of course where you find Nintendo and Sony you'll find the dozens of console game software companies showing their new wares. I was curious and stuck my head into the Sony pavillion and saw hundreds of visitors playing the popular arcade style games. The booming sounds were deafening. Of course, the PC has its place in the entertainment industry and this what matters most to Full Throttle readers. The U.K. is a very "games-oriented" country and whether we like it or not, flight simulation has been 'categorized' as part of the games industry. So we find that most of the European-based flight sim companies meet to discuss and/or demonstrate their products at ECTS. I met with many individuals from European companies to talk about their upcoming flight sim products. Here's my report on the first two days of ECTS. |
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Pro Pilot 99 I found the Sierra/Dynamix booth very crowded. I snaked my way past dozens of attendees in order to reach the Pro Pilot 99 demo. When I finally got there, I found Wilco Publishing's Michael Renous (foreground) having a sit down session flying the Beach Baron. Michael's smile tells me that he's enjoying the flight. Two weeks ago at the MicroWings Conference, Pro Pilot Assistant Product Manager Phil Cowles told me that Pro Pilot 99 will ship in October. |
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Combat Flight Simulator
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The Microsoft booth was also very busy. Microsoft is getting ready to release several new entertainment titles, but the one that flight simmers are anxiously awaiting is Combat Flight Simulator. This gentleman spent no less than twenty minutes questioning Microsoft's representative about the scenery areas and aircraft that make up the new release and then taking a hands-on try at piloting the Spitfire. Combat Flight Simulator will arrive on store shelves November 5th. CFS will include about 400 miles of Western European scenery to accompany the European WWII air campaign. |
Data Becker U.K.
| Visiting London is always nice when you get to see old friends. I had dinner with Les and Simi of Data Becker U.K. to help them celebrate the success of one of the most popular flight sim add-ons in Europe - the 747 Jumbo Jet. It has been a best seller in the U.K., Germany, France and the U.S.
They also showed me two new flight sim add-on packages that will be available in the next two weeks:
These three flight sim titles are also published:
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War Birds 3D I stopped by the iMagic booth and found iMagic's C.E.O. Major "Wild Bill" Steeley at it again!. He was giving flying tips to The Associate's Mungo Amyatt-Leir. |
Warbirds has been the most popular online flight sim for two years now. iMagic recently release the new version that now supports 3D video cards and includes new aircraft.
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Terminal Reality's Fly!
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Brett Combs, VP at Terminal Reality took me on a quick Cessna 172 flight over the San Francisco area using the Fly! The 3D rendition was excellent and the controls handled quite smoothly. Fly! is still on schedule for release in January 1999. | 
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MicroProse
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MicroProse is readying two new simulators - one from the past and the other a modern day version. On the left is Falcon 4.0 due out last quarter 1998. On the right is European Air Warrior. | 
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The Associates
| London-based The Associates had a wall-full of their popular flight sim add-ons. The Associates are one of the most prodigious publishers and we found one of the new releases - the Himalayas Scenery from partner Lago. | 
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| Quick Notes Aerosoft - International Manager Richard Donaldson of Padderborn-based (Germany) Aerosoft announced that his company's FS98 Panel Designer should be ready to launch in late September. CH Products - CEO Greg Sterns of San Diego-based (California USA) CH Products showed me his company's new flight yoke. The new model due out in January features a sleek wheel and has 14 inputs including separate throttle, mixture and propeller levers and landing and flap switches. It connects to the PC using the USB port and uses the standard DirectX drivers for trouble-free installation. Pilots - Managing Director Stefan Schaefer of Vienna-based (Austria) Pilots says that final work is being wrapped up for his company's Global Based Scenery. Profisoft - Managing Director Joe Oehlmann of Bremen-based (Germany) Profisoft told me that his company recently started shipping the German-language version of Abacus' Airport & Scenery Designer. (Note: Full Throttle is an operating division of Abacus). Separately, Profisoft is now an independent entity following an August management buyout from parent company Funsoft. Technic Direct - Managing Director Reinhard Loibl of Innsbruck-based (Austria) Technic Direct told me that his company's HQ Aircraft Collection 98 is already shipping and they're finishing work on HQ Aircraft Collection 99. |
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