flight-sim
Latest
iGaming news: LineRider and X-Plane
A couple of new games from the wider world have hit the App Store, and fans of both should be excited: LineRider brings an online sensation to the touchable side, and X-Plane brings flight simulation street cred to iPhone and iPod touch users.LineRider (store link) started out as a simple, no-frills sledding Flash game from a Czech Slovenian student and has exploded into an online phenom -- the current version runs in MS Silverlight, and it has spawned over 11,000 videos of courses (including a couple of McDonald's advertisments) and forthcoming versions for the Wii and PC. The iPhone version features the same basic gameplay as the online flavor (build a track, release the sled, crash and burn) along with a course-sharing option to let your friends download your creations. LineRider is $2.99US.At the other end of the gaming spectrum, Laminar Research's X-Plane flight sim has long been acclaimed for its accuracy and flexibility. Now the experience of X-Plane 9 (store link)has been squeezed into your pants with the iPhone version. The portable X-Plane lets you fly four different aircraft around the game's demo area (the skies above Innsbruck, Austria) using the device accelerometer to control your flight, or onscreen touch controls if you prefer. The quote from Laminar on the iTunes store page is illuminating:We here at Laminar Research are still a bit shell-shocked at how powerful this little device is, and how much power in flight simulation can be stuffed into it...That bodes well for future sim development. X-Plane is $9.99US.Thanks to everyone who sent these in.
See what's crawling in Sky Crawlers' skies
One of the most important aspects of a flight-sim game is, of course, what you're piloting. If we're going to take part in virtual flying, we're going to do it in style. That's why we were pleased to see Famitsu post some screens of the airware in Sky Crawlers, a title that we've been keeping our eyes on.The game is just so pretty that this plane looks equally so, whether you like ones with propellers or not. Granted, though, we're not aircraft experts, so we have nothing but the drool coming out of our mouths to judge it by. What about you, flight simulator aficionados? Do these images (more after the break) bring out feelings of woot, or meh? Gallery: Sky Crawlers
Namco's Ace Combat team bringing 'Sky Crawlers' to Wii
According to Game|Life and Dengeki Online, Namco Bandai is bringing Ghost in the Shell director Mamoru Oshii's latest film, "The Sky Crawlers," to the Wii in the form of a flight combat sim. The genre (not to mention Namco's Ace Combat team) makes for a perfect fit given the movie's focus on a group of fighter pilots, albeit in an alternate setting. Though it won't be measured in Japan until fall, the success of Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces will likely hinge on how well the controls are implemented -- the Wiimote functions as the throttle and the nunchuck acts as the control stick -- and how popular the film ends up being. At least the game will let us skip all the existential chatter, right?
Screens, scans, and details on Sky Crawlers take flight
Some scans and info from Famitsu reveal more about the ever-so-delicious Sky Crawlers, an upcoming flight-sim game for the Wii. The developers (you know, the Ace Combat team) boast about how pretty this title is, and we can't help but believe them. As for the story, it centers around a pilot in an elite fighting unit, as well as young girl named Orishina Maumi who has recently joined the squad. Playing off of that, the subtitle for the game is Innocent Aces.Details about the controls were also revealed, with the Nunchuk being used as a joystick and the Wiimote being used for throttling (and, we gather, shooting). If you're an ace with the controls, you'll also be able to pull off acrobatic maneuvers. The last important aspect in the scans worth mentioning is that Sky Crawlers will involve squad management, which is a nice feature when it comes to flight sims.Oh, Japan, how we envy you. Let's hope this one gets localized -- Namco Bandai isn't one to normally give us Westerners the shaft. In the meantime, hit up our updated gallery below for a handful of new screens.%Gallery-18921%[Via NeoGAF]
Saitek independent LCD interface boxes for flight sims
At E3 earlier this month, Saitek demoed a peripheral sure to spark the interest of many a flight sim enthusiast. Their product, for now with no name, enables flight simulators to display different, customizable information from the "game" on three separate LCDs. Effectively, the displays emulate a real cockpit, where each bit of information comes from a separate module that is integrated into the dash. The device is scheduled for a fall launch, will cost only $99.99, and will be supported in several flight sims beyond the obvious Flight Simulator X -- we're crossing our fingers for X-Plane support.
X-Plane 8.5 Beta now available
Laminar Research has released a new Beta for X-Plane 8.5, developer Austin Meyer's comprehensive flight simulator and personal labor of love. Beta 11 is available for Mac, PC, and Linux, and features dozens of modifications such as new environmental effects and joystick button controls. There are also some tweaks to the instrument panels, which may be the most welcome update given the game's challenging learning curve.Read Joystiq's review of X-Plane 8.21.
Fly into landmarks with Google Maps flight sim
Since Google released its Google Maps API to the public, budding game designers have used it to place everything from golf to Carmen Sandiego style terrorist foiling over satellite images of the world. Now we can add a Flash-based flight simulator to that list. Goggles lets you fly a crude, 3D plane over a selection of major cities from around the world (and the solar system -- you can also fly over sections of the moon and Mars).There's no explicit goal, but you can fire cartoony circular bullets at the ground to leave temporary black pockmarks on the landscape. You can also crash your plane into famous landmarks, a feature sure to draw the ire of conservatives who will say the game is training a new generation of terrorists to destroy our very way of life. Our only real complaint is that the plane can't go very fast or zoom out very high, which limits how quickly you can find your favorite landmark to destroy. Here's hoping for a version 2.[Via Jay is Games]
Blazing Angels demo drops into XBLM
A demo for World War II dogfighter Blazing Angels is now available in the Xbox Live Marketplace for the Xbox 360. The marketing hype promises an environment "so real you'll feel like you're the pilot in a famous WWII movie." Wait a minute! Let's do some close reading on that bit o' marketing mummery. When did we suddenly become one more level removed from the actual experience? Today's game audiences can't know what it was like to be a pilot in an actual WWII dogfight and can only know what it's like to be an actor in a movie based on what some director imagined WWII to be. Sixty years from now, when few living gamers will have seen a WWII movie, marketers will be promising games that are "so real you'll feel like you're controlling a famous game based on a famous WWII movie based on a famous historical novel of a famous WWII battle." We tingle with excitement in anticipation of that glorious day. [Via Xbox360Fanboy.com]
