A couple of days ago, Wags posted a small update about the progress of Black Shark:



A new month, a new update. Since my last update, I’m afraid that there is not a whole lot of interesting news to pass along. However, things are progressing well and we’re still on track for a release later this year (sorry, I cannot be more specific than that). Here’s a run down of what’s currently going on:

- Much of the team is devoted to creating and debugging the DCS interface screens. In fact, some of the art team usually assigned to object creation is now focused on this task.
- DirectX 9 debugging is nearing completion. As mentioned earlier, the purpose of this switch was to solve problems with full shadows using current drivers.
- Mission and campaign creation, this is a big one. The mission editor and campaign editor tools are complete enough now that we have begun mission content iteration now.
- Translation of the flight manual to German and Spanish. These teams are also testing the manual against the software to make sure everything is matching up. At this point, I doubt we’ll be shipping a French version.
- External modders are primarily working on skin textures and modifying/improving airbases.
- Work continues on debugging the Ka-50 avionics systems.
- Testers are primarily focused on mission editor, campaign, AI and network testing.

We hope to be testing the next beta sometime in mid-February and after that I should be able to create the next producer’s note video.

Today Lead Pursuit released patch 1.13 for Falcon 4 Allied Force. The patch fixes following issues:

Graphics:
Fixed a display problem encountered by some customers when using Windows Vista.

Dogfight:
Matchplay mode hanging at the Round Over message resolved.

Stability:
Fixed a CTD that sometimes occured when using the Request Help radio call.
A number of memory leak fixes and stability improvements.

As history dictates a LowLand Tiger Meet should be held every fall of the year. We have done so the last 8 years. But 2007 change some of these traditions. We went from a winter event to a spring event. Again 2008 the event will be held in the spring time. April 3, 4, 5 and 6 at Tobit software in Ahaus Germany. In HAL 23 of Virtual Aero we willl make camp.
This will be the tenth LLTM, a unique achievement for a military flight simulation event.
A LAN in the spirit of the Tigermeet and open to public (visitors), under restricted conditions. A challange for the major military flightsims Lock-On Flaming Cliffs, Il-2  and Falcon 4 Allied Force with official European championships for Falcon4 Allied Force and Lock-On Flaming Cliffs.

Virtual pilots will show their skills and share their experience with fellow pilots and the public.

More information can be found HERE

I received the following press release from Matt at Flight1

We are proud to announce that the highly acclaimed Flight1 ATR 72-500 is back and flying better than ever, this aircraft works and flies beautifully in both Flight Simulator 2004 and FSX. Grab your flight bag and get ready to go – you are cleared for departure.

Developed in co-operation with the aircraft manufacturer, this award-winning expansion is an updated Flight Simulator X and Vista edition of one of the world’s most popular short-haul turboprop airliners.

This eagerly awaited release is sure to please with unprecedented levels of realism attainable only through the close co-operation of the real world manufacturer and the excellence of the flight1 team behind this product.

For more details head over to their site by clicking HERE

Red Dog released an update of his excellent navigation charts:

Hi gents,

I cleaned a little the different version of the navigation volumes both for OF and AF

We now have:
- Korean navigation volume version 0706 - corrected a minor mistake of rwy orientation.
- Balkan navigation volume version 0706 - completely new volume. Beware, that one will only reflect changes in future GlobalFalcon 4.5
(RV team, if you want a nav list, you guys will need to get in touch with me with the data of your stations.dat file)

I also created a new Mission datacard (double page) that one will allow you to write specific information during briefings so you can input them correctly in the UFC at rampstart - needless to say, it's mainly used in MP
Radio freqs, stoplines, lines and steerpoint, flightplan, wpn settings, WDP 1.3 data (OA, VRP, PUP, ....)

Everything can be found HERE

A new patch for Falcon 4 Allied Force got released today:

We are pleased to announce release of our 11th patch for Falcon 4.0 Allied Force. Enjoy!

The changes in 1.0.12 are:

Avionics / Weapons:
Fixed GM radar mode to show moving as well as static targets. GMT mode still only shows moving targets. GM radar mode now shows all objects but only vehicles/objects stationary are lockable. If a vehicle moves faster than km/hr , it will break lock. GMT radar mode shows vehicles moving faster than few KM/hr speed threshold. They can be locked as long as they remain moving. Improved Sea mode target detection ( 0+ speed threshold ). Fixed Air-to-Ground radar freeze mode so that the cursor can be moved to lock contacts after freezing.

Data:
AGM-88 HARM set so that only one vehicle gets destroyed. Frigates (Jangwei, Ulsan) will now show up on RWR with ship option enabled. Both now have some AAA/AD weapons. Adjust RWR priority sensitivity on some aircraft (e.g. MiG-29 and Su-27-37 family)

Today, Acog posted a review of Armed Assault at our forums, here's a small snippet:

Things that go bang. OpFlash always pissed me off in the way the recoil was porked on weapons, the way urban fighting was handled (it didnt exist in opflash) and that it didnt have proper ballistics. Arma, has all that and loads more. Having owned or fired (or both haha) quite a few of the weapons in arma, I have a good idea on how they should act. The M249 is controlable in 10-15 round bursts, groups as it should too. Sadly it is missing the RL Acog (no not me) that sits atop it, but a mod/addon could fix that easy. The 240B, is a lethal mean bitch, as it should be. Controlable, and very usable.

The services rifles have gotten much needed love. The M16 (and all its varients, M4, M4A3, M4A1, etc etc) now acts as it should. Recoil in my opinion is still a bit much compared to real world, but its livable. It's accurate, and lacks the knock down umph of its larger brethren, ie; 30 cals. The Aimpoint Comp (or Aimpoint Extreme as its also known as) is as it should be. The ACOG (Advanced Combat Optical Gunsite) is the TAO1NSN model (yes, thats its real model) and has the correct wires in it. Overall, weapons feel much better then in opflash, handle better, and are just better. Sighting is just wonderful now! =) You get the zoomed white aiming things, and then you get weapon sight, and a new zoomed in weapon sight, which is tied to your breathing. It's like when you bear down to hold your breathe to take a shot, the longer you hold the more things start to wiggle. It does that. Wonderful touch!

The full review can be found HERE

EUROPE ( April 2007 ) –  G2 Games have today released new details about Enemy Engaged 2 - sequel to the best selling chopper classic -  Enemy Engaged: RAH-66 Comanche Versus Ka-52 Hokum.

The publisher has today confirmed that the finished game will feature Voice Control elements that use a microphone attached to the PC. Enemy Engaged 2 players will be able to issue vocal commands to their AI wingmen during combat missions. The commands will include setting up defensive or offensive flight formations, attacking or defending targets, heading to waypoints and many more. Using voice control in the missions will add a whole new dimension to the experience of Enemy Engaged 2 and a level of interactivity second to none for a flight simulation.

Today a video contest was announced by Barney Fife at our forums:

Ladies & Gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to announce the inaugural Afterburner Film Festival, sponsored by: Ron "red1" Nair, HiTilesAF, Aeyes' Cocpits, Stopworks Cockpits and Frugalsworld. 

The film festival is a video contest open to all flavors of Falcon. Our goal is to unite the Falcon Community & have a little fun at the same time.

Rules:
1) Contestants can use any version of Falcon4.0.
2) Each contestant can submit only 1 video.
3) Video must be the original work of the contestant &must not have been previously released to the public
4) Videos can be no longer than 3:30 minutes and not less than 30 seconds.
5) Video must have an opening title sequence which states the title &creator of the video. Title sequence must also state the following: Produced for the Afterburner Film Festival at frugalsworld.com
6) Videos must be hosted on Youtube in order to ensure equal resolutions for all.
7) Entries must be submitted no later than 22:00 hrs (ZULU) on May 7, 2007
8) Any non-Falcon footage, (i.e., live action shots) must be limited to 30 seconds or less.
9) There must be minimum of 5 entries or the contest is canceled.
10) Videos will be judged solely on entertainment value
11) Judges decisions are final.

BBall has updated his column with an article entitled "We Band of Brothers" here's a sample:

It's early evening, and I don't remember a more beautiful January day. I was fortunate to spend the better part of ten years growing up here in North Texas, but it seems like this day is especially nice. The sun is shining, the air is warm, and the gentle breeze takes me back to my early days of aviation. In the year 1973 I was a pimply faced 17 year old training for my Private Pilot’s License in Cessna 150s at a school named Ft. Worth School of Aviation