[Rockin Robbins]

This sim has ten years of productive life ahead of it if they play their cards right. When computers go to the next level (probably five years would do the trick) they could publish a new realease of SH4 with dynamic reality, containing individual ballast tank control, proper diving behavior with dive plane control, direct input to TDC or radar as well as sonar, emulation of all four sonar types with realistic characteristics depending on hull speed with natural noises in the ocean (fish, whales, surf, wave noise), an in-game whiz wheel which was used by one of the tracking team officers to keep a check on the TDC, realistic AI (where the escort wouldn't automatically ping you just because you have too much aspect at a certain range and depth, they would actually have to look for you). a thermostatically controlled oven...

Add-ons for the next three years could be Dutch Subs, British Subs, Atlantic Futility Add-on (with GWX realism for hardcore simmers), Destroyer Command for both Atlantic and Pacific.

Dare I suggest more mission-oriented (but longer term than most present missions) and more game as opposed to sim versions--get the Ratchet and Clank afficianados a bridge into the sim world.

Then after the souped up version in 5 years, rereleases of all the above add-ons to reflect the new capabilities.

Result: continuous sales, not only of add-ons, but of the original software as more and more people respond to the committment Ubi has for the product. Just like a lot of TV shows needed to be canceled in the first half of their first season but the network said, "We can afford to wait," so they kept it up there and tweaked it until the public responded to the network's committment. It is possible to make a hit game just by insisting that it be so and developing a battle plan for the next ten years to make it happen. It becomes more than a hit game. It becomes a franchise. It becomes a dependable income stream.

It's like running a corporation. Loyalty flows from the top down before it can ever start growing from the bottom up. People have too many options to notice even a tremendous game on release. Only persistence and a viable commercial plan over a number of years makes for success in this oversaturated market, especially in the neglected PC segment.

Maybe it's time to try Linux versions of all of the above in cooperation with Ubuntu and maybe a few other release packages. Even if sales didn't justify the action, think of the free publicity for the game!

SUBSIM is popular, not just because it is so much better than any other naval simulation website (I know SUBSIM actually expands outside the naval realm now), but because Neal Stevens showed the sustained committment over 10 years to make it the go to place all of us can go to with faith that it will be here tomorrow, bigger and better than it is today. Excellence is the product of sustained committment and loyalty. Success is no sprint, it's a marathon.