Do we really want to ruin this forum with constant DRM and SH5 trashing?

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by Placoderm

>>"Where's Falcon 5?"

It's called "Lock-on: Modern Air Combat", "Flaming Cliffs", and now "DCS: Black Shark".

>>"Where's Harpoon 4?

"Dangerous Waters" likely filled that position, although the games genre is even more limited than that for Silent Hunter. Unfortunately, many who love submarine games just can't seem to get into modern submarine warfare due to it's need for super stealth and dependance on fire-and-forget weapons. It takes a very, very unique kind of sub-simmer to enjoy a game where there are no deck guns and if you wish to survive for any length of time you should avoid ever using your periscope. To me, following wire-mesh seafloor contours was fun for a while, as was hearing whales on the hydrophones...but spending my entire war career hiding under multiple thermal layers and staring endlessly at electronic readouts and nothing else was just too tedious. Someday, another publisher may create a new modern-era subsim...but if so it will likely be a very independent team of niche developers who I am sure will do a great job, but for a very limited audience.



Other examples of games that should not exist according to your logic are "T-34 vs Tiger", "Steel Fury", "Jutland" and "Distant Guns", "Theatre of War" (the whole series), "Rise of Flight", "PT Boats: Knights of the Sea", "Storm of War: Battle of Britain" (which, interestingly, has been produced independently of Ubisoft who published the prior IL-2 series), "R-Factor", "Pacific Storm", and even "ARMA II" (developed independently after Codemasters took over control of the now-failed Operation Flashpoint 2).

MOST of the above are great games, written by dedicated teams of enthusiast gamers...NOT mega-publishers. The simple truth is that as long as there is a dedicated fan base that is large enough for which to develop a commercial title...there WILL be developers who will meet that demand. Sometimes those titles will also end up being the best ever developed, as can be evidenced by some of the titles listed above.


Do not sell the independent developer short. Often times, it is they who really drive the art that is our obsession.
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"Rise of Flight" required a constant internet connection, and still does for full content. They also charge for add on aircraft making this sim 2-3 times as expensive as SH5.

What they do right is listen to the users and fix bugs etc.


EDIT: "Jutland" and "Distant Guns" have also been bashed by some and were more expensive.

[Placoderm]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

"Rise of Flight" required a constant internet connection, and still does for full content. They also charge for add on aircraft making this sim 2-3 times as expensive as SH5.

What they do right is listen to the users and fix bugs etc.


EDIT: "Jutland" and "Distant Guns" have also been bashed by some and were more expensive.

I was simply listing examples of quality software produced by small, independent publishers. I bought Rise of Flight the day it was released both to support the developer as well as show support for the genre, but never installed it specifically due to the DRM (which I think has been softened since then, so someday maybe I will give it a go).

As for Distant Guns and Jutland, there will always be some who bash virtually any game, regardless of the developer. I have some issues with Storm Eagle Studios as well ...for things such as their pricing structure, the lack of any hard goods (download only), and their abuse of my e-mail trust ( they are one of my biggest e-mail spammers with their constant "limited time sale!" spams). Nonetheless, I applaud the efforts of their coding and creativity in producing non-mainstream titles. The point remains that they are an independent producer/publisher who is doing well with a niche market.

Rise of Flight is a good example, though, of how patience can pay off. Prior to it's release there had not been a commercially published WWI flight sim for over a decade (the last one that I can think of is Red Baron 3D), but when the market was ready, an independant publisher stepped up and met the need. They also did this while Over Flanders Field was a free mod to CFS, and a darn good sim at that...so they took a double chance, and it appears that they have done well with it.