I was not writing off bad points as things that would not bother someone, I was referring to the fact that you would need to know the aircraft as well as a flight engineer in order to spot some features which are not simulated exactly as per the real thing. So please do not attempt to put words in my mouth by placing your own quotation marks around your own out of context pseudo-paraphrasing, in an attempt to make it look like I wrote something which I did not.

 

And if you think there was no negativity in my post, then I'll give you some genuine quotes which did actually appear in it, and see if you would call these praise:

 

'I would be lying if I said that I don't think they ought to look at how they model the JT8 in a bit more detail so that EPR is more believable'

 

'if one is prepared to do a bit of DIY maintenance on them'

 

'they are no A2A when it comes to obsessive fidelity'

 

'I couldn't care less about their continued obsession with rather pointless eye candy'

 

Al

 

I kind of read through your post quickly and I thought you were trying to brush over some of the weaknesses. Now that I read it again I see your point. Either way I like your reviews, I do find them very informative, and I read all of them. With that said there has been a few times I felt you were trying hard to find the positives in a mediocre release, but then again your on staff so your reviews have to be professional.

 

Hey Mike. I think Jay was referring to my post as badmouthing not Al's post. I too believe CS COULD be a great company BUT for now they are a "take your money and run" type company. They either leave bugs untouched or they charge way too much for what they really offer. Yes, I know, no need to bring up their 9.99 deals. But seriously there are companies out there like RA that do a better job and charge less.

 

Yeah he was, but what I was trying to point out is that not all reviews have to be positive. It is ok so say you do not like a product. As far as CS goes they are focused a bit too much on making things look pretty. When the systems work properly in their planes then I might take another look at them.

You are quite astute in noticing that, because it is true that I will normally try to find the good in things that I review. I think that is only fair when one considers the work that is put into even fairly simple FS add-ons, and such things are not always done for the wrong reasons either. But if something is genuinely sloppy or unusably bad, or could be improved in some way, then I will certainly point it out; I just think that doing that can be done in a positive way rather than simply saying 'this bit sucks'.

 

I also happen to believe that one sometimes has to question the motives of those who rip into this or that product when it is fairly apparent from most surveys on Avsim which have touched on the matter, that there are more of what I would call mid-range as opposed to hard core simmers out there.

 

Take as an example, the Aerosoft Consolidated PBY Catalina for FSX. I think most people who have that one would agree that it is amongst the better FSX aeroplanes you can get, and fairly hard core in its necessity to manage the engine parameters, but is it an accurate simulation of a real Catalina? Well, no it isn't, many of the switches on the control column bar and the rear bulkhead, and their associated gauges would in fact be found at the flight engineer's station which is located in the pylon which supports the main wing. But to do that would take away from the fun of flying it, and unless you'd been a crew member on a Catalina, or had some detailed pictures and manuals for the Catalina, you wouldn't know these things were 'wrong', and that therefore does not impact on its enjoyability, but rather it adds to its utility for most simmers. If therefore, I were to review that, I would point out that it was not totally faithful, but I would also not mark it down much for being that way, since its purpose is to capture the feeling of operating such a craft rather than training you to become a flight engineer for the real thing.

 

Al

And CS has posted another vid.

Now from the Electronic Check Lists

 

[media=]

[/media]

Gerard, Tom has posted the video link already. :Peace:

 

But, maybe same as you, I'm surprised in a very positive way about the progress and the detail on the CS 777. Not long ago, people where asking if there is any progress to report, so those new vids surely help to show that the project wasn't abandoned or something.

 

I also happen to believe that one sometimes has to question the motives of those who rip into this or that product when it is fairly apparent from most surveys on Avsim which have touched on the matter, that there are more of what I would call mid-range as opposed to hard core simmers out there.

Listen to the gentlemen, folks. Very true words, also receiving a backup from e.g. the reader's choice awards right here at Avsim. The 'most vocal' (hardcore) group in forums does not necessarily represent the largest amount of people in our small hobby.

 

So there surely is enough room for the fans of slightly less detailed systems but, for instance, coming with additions like a weather radar and some EFB interpretation. Hey, I like this stuff.

 

As Alan mentioned the Catalina. Great bird! And I didn't even notice some 'realism downsides' to be honest.

Perhaps I'm cynical, but CS has a reputation for focusing on this stuff, and letting important things like flight directors that won't kill you go wanting...

They've released the first part of the manual for the plane. http://www.captainsi...?num=1338824992 So for the folks wondering about the feature set and things, perhaps catch a glimpse.

 

Can't be too far away now, huh?

Perhaps I'm cynical, but CS has a reputation for focusing on this stuff, and letting important things like flight directors that won't kill you go wanting...

True, true. Anyway as it will take some time to PMDG one come I am still looking forward to this.

They're finishing it up, i guess it was in development at the same time as the 737, seems to be in a very advanced state.