Aero News - TV

For anyone with an intense interest in aviation, real world or simulation, the new Aero News TV site should be added to your daily surfing itinery.

http://www.aero-tv.net/index.cfm

Recent videos include titles such as 'That Others May Live...' Aero-TV Flies With The 920th Rescue Wing and Do You Feel The Need... For Mooney Speed?

The archives are worth a look too. Old aircraft appeal to me and here's an interesting video on the restoration of a a Lockheed 12

http://www.aero-tv.net/index.cfm?do=app.bestView&videoid=353b852b-0119-43e7-9bf4-73c7c52b05d7

cheers

Rob

Business Week article on Microsoft ESP

Business Week have published an interesting article on Microsoft ESP - "Microsoft's Games Get Serious", highlighting the fact that it is the first time a major software company has entered the serious games arena. Serious games are games that are published for non entertainment purposes such as training and presentation.

It is an interesting and informative article and certainly serves to open one's eyes to the potential of the serious games. I must confess that prior to reading this article I was largely unaware of the serious games industry. The article points out that the serious games market has tripled since 2005 and is currently valued at $150M. The article also mentions the potential of the larger simulation and 3D modeling market which overlaps with serious games. Microsoft estimates this market to be worth $9 billion.

Northrop Grumman's involvement in the beta testing of ESP is also discussed in the article. One team used ESP to create a prototype of an aviation training simulation game in 3 days, that would otherwise have taken 18 months from scratch.

Anyway the article is certainly worth reading

I would venture the opinion that all this bodes well for the future of Microsoft Simulation products, including FS entertainment products. It will (hopefully) also benefit the 3rd party flight sim developer community over time, and open many possibilities.

The article states that ESP will be launched on January 1 2008. Microsoft will present the final version of ESP at the Serious Games Summit at GDC, February 2008.

Relevant links:
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/dec2007/id20071220_808794.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serious_game
http://www.gdconf.com/conference/seriousgamessummit.htm

Also ESP team member 'Beatle' http://beatlesblog.spaces.live.com/default.aspx

Back on Deck.... well.... sort of ;)

It's been quite a while since I posted here, this being my first post since leaving hospital following surgery. I can now sit at a computer a little bit more now. I still have to get up and walk around every half hour or so and have to make sure I don't spend too much time sitting during the day. Walking is good for me.

I hope to commence more frequent posts both to this blog and also my other blogs. I am also slowly getting onto 3D modeling again. It is hard to get into after such a long lay-off. Six weeks is a long time ;)

A few interesting developments occurred when I was out of the loop - the release of Microsoft ESP , and more recently FSX SP2, along with more controversy in various flight sim forums.

I hope to blog my own thoughts on the future of MS simulations in future blog articles.

Enough for now.

Cheers

Rob

D Day tomorrow

Surgery tomorrow and a big op it is too. As Robin would say .... 'holy trepidation Batman'.... ;)

Hopefully I'll be back up & running in a few months.


cheers

Rob

Some Sopwith Snipe WIP pics

I am scheduled to have surgery on Tuesday afternoon and will be out of the loop for a while. Before going here are some WIP shots of the exterior model of my Sopwith Snipe for FSX (and later for CFS3).






Hopefully I will have time to complete the cockpit by the end of the year if I have a speedy recovery.

cheers

Rob

American Top Gun

Do you think you have what it takes to be a 'top gun'? If you do you might like to check out this article on the FSinsider site.

http://www.fsinsider.com/partnerships/atg/Pages/default.aspx

Here's the lead text from the article

"Seeking to build the first multi-entertainment platform experience of its kind, Microsoft and ATG have created a unique collaboration. Virtual pilots from around the world will have the opportunity to compete (using Flight Simulator X) to win a spot on a TV reality show code-named “American Topgun Challenge.”"

It's certainly an interesting concept to say the least, and if successful will hopefully attract a new audience to the genre of flight simulation.

If you think it concept worth pursuing, you can let Microsoft know via their tell_fs email addy.

Cheers

Rob

Draw Calls & optimisation.

I am 20 days into cancer treatment presently, and have not had as much time for hobbies & sim pursuits. However I do pursue these activities when I can. I am still modeling aircraft, albeit slowly and also working on terrain/scenery for CSF3. (Due to the lack of a CFS4).

I have just posted a brief article on my experiences with FSX SDK1A and draw call optimisation in my modeling blog. http://biff-diaries.blogspot.com/2007/09/optimising-painting-snipe.html

Rob

Postscript - since I wrote that item I have found the benefits of applying these optimisations very beneficial. More on that soon.