I have to say I had mixed feelings about facing this year's E3. This show's really about main stream games, of course, and particularly those sold with consoles (though PC-based games were very much in evidence here as well). According to Douglas Lowenstein, President of event sponsor Interactive Digital Software Association, "Leading analysts forecast that the new consoles will achieve 70 percent household penetration in the U.S. by 2005, with video and computer game software sales projected to surpass $10 billion." And as everyone anywhere near the gaming industry knows, the big news is Microsoft's Xbox and Nintendo's Game Cube (to be released Nov. 8 and Nov. 5 in the U.S., respectively). Among the cacophony of noise (er, "sound"), seemingly endless scenes of mayhem displayed on ubiquitous giant screens, and dazzling light shows—while struggling through huge mobs of people—there were a few special things to see for flight simmers. Of course Xbox demos overwhelmed Microsoft's display space, but in a corner were two gems—FS2002 and Train Simulator. And I got a preview of Wilco's Airport 2000 Volume 3 (to be released in another week), and on the combat simulator side I saw Maddox/Ubi Soft's long anticipated IL2 Sturmovik. I met and talked with a number of team members; all were very accommodating as I examined and flew (or drove) these new products.

FS2002 Impressions

One of the FS2002 team members shows how it's done

Though AVSIM Online's Tom Allensworth reported impressions of FS2002 (currently in beta test) from his visit to Fanstock 2001 in Redmond a month or so ago, I had to see for myself—and pass along my impressions to you as well.

To summarize, everything he reported about FS2002 is true <Grin>. Among the things I noticed immediately were the highly convincing scenery, the new "virtual cockpit," very smooth images, and the new ATC feature. I'll make a few comments about each.

Impressions of the scenery

"Natural looking and highly detailed" is the must succinct description I can offer. The mountain areas look like postcard images (albeit moving at some 25 frames per second). The terrain comes up at you convincingly, the lakes look right, and the trees look natural. Coastlines look natural too. Though not as yet implemented, I'm told there will be beaches in the right places as well. And the "auto-gen" buildings have to be seen to be believed. In fact I asked whether there's a parameter to selectively tone down the building density (there is); I didn't see any significant impact on frame rates either when approaching high density city areas. You won't be disappointed with night lighting effects, either. Now lights in populated areas take on their natural shape when flying over a city at night.

New Virtual Cockpit

Chances are this will become the most popular mode of flight. Using the joystick's hat switch I panned the view outside the cockpit smoothly and easily, just as you would turn your head to observe traffic in a real plane. This really adds to your enjoyment, especially during approaches and landing. The view changes are seamless—switching from the conventional panel view looking straight ahead to the virtual mode seemed instantaneous. I didn't see any pauses or stutters either.

Smooth images

Well, this has to be most simmer's main concern, and from what I saw it's certainly the FS teams' main concern. Judging from this beta version running on an AMD 800 with an nVidia GeForce 2 card, theyll have few worries here. And they're still tuning, so I expect we'll be rejoicing come October!

The ATC feature

FS2002's Air Traffic Control implementation is very nice indeed. All 20 U.S. Centers are present (by Center name) as well as the usual Ground, Tower, Departure and Approach stations. There's both text and voice; the text area interface is a semi-transparent, you respond to options by entering the appropriate number. It's not as fully-featured as is ProPilot or Radar Contact, but it does add a lot of ambiance to flying. I should note that the Flight Planner and its integration with the GPS is pretty much the same as before. Experienced IFR pilots will probably want to use a 3rd-party planner and auto pilot interface.

IL2 Sturmovik

Head of Games Development Oleg Maddox is obviously proud of his achievement!

I very much enjoyed meeting Oleg Maddox and watching him put IL2 Sturmovik through its paces (he's from Moscow, so with all the noise around us conversation was difficult at best). What I found most impressive is its amazing damage effects. Oleg smiled with glee as an Airacobra's ("lend lease" you may recall) cannon ripped into a FW-190, not only blowing off a wing, but the plane spiraled down convincingly—with more parts falling off and the pilot bailing out—until it crashes and meanwhile the pilot lands safely. In another example a Luftwaffe plane is attacked by a YAK, sustains amazing damage, spirals inverted—and both crew members manage to bail out! For World War II combat enthusiasts I definitely can say this one's worth waiting for.

Other thoughts... I certainly didn't miss the chance to see the nVidia GeForce 3 demonstrations. While it's true there's not much reason to upgrade to the G3 now if you already have a G2 (especially the G2 Ultra), this is the card for the future. Although it doesn't really help FS2000 much (or even FS2002, which I'm told is DX7-based)—except for its refined anti-aliasing features and raw speed if you need it—it produces amazing results in games that exploit DX8's features. And that's a trend that hopefully will find its way into flight simulators down the road.

Well, I trust this brief report serves to whet your appetite for things to come. We'll be bringing you in-depth reviews of all these new products once released (Craig Wyzik will have his Airport 2000 Volume 3 review ready shortly). And the advances continue to come...