DCS: Christen Eagle II on Pre-Order and Hawk News

To my great surprise Magnitude 3 has set up their Christen Eagle II for pre-order already. Personally, I'm not going to buy it. I'm more interested in fighter and attack planes. But there are a lot of aerobatic enthusiasts out there and if you're one, then by all means go pick it up. It looks like an interesting plane; just not one I'd be interested in. Quite honestly I didn't expect a new plane to be put on pre-order until Heatblur released their F-14. But Some surprises are pleasant. And this is one of them.

ED just noted in their update today that VEAO has rejected an offer by ED to take over the Hawk module leaving everyone with a plane they cannot use unless you keep an outdate version of DCS on your computer. You would have to have DCS 2.5.3 or earlier in order to run the Hawk. To be quite frank, the Hawk was never that good in the first place and certainly is not good enough to dedicate one full install of an obsolete version of DCS to run that one plane. Why VEAO refused to allow ED to take over updating the Hawk is beyond me. But it certainly does not look good for them or their sister company, Bluesky FS.

Now, ED did state that a full refund is available only for those who bought the Hawk on or after October 1st 2018. Of course that leaves that vast majority of players out (myself included) but at least they are making an effort.

Looking at the bright side (if it can be called that), at least VEAO only took money for 2 products and offered a refund early on for one. It would have been a lot worse if they had developed 4 or 5 modules and then suddenly dropped out of their agreement.

ED has stated that in order to ensure that no 3rd party can dissolve and leave their products unsupported again, a clause has been added to all 3rd party agreements stating that all files regarding the modules are to be handed over to ED for continued support. At least we know this situation will never come up again.

Well, that's all I have for you today. Take a look at the CE2 at the e-store. It's an interesting plane.

Happy flying everyone.

DCS: Pre-Order Your F-14 Now!!!

This is it! As of 2:15am Beijing/Manila time the F-14 is open for pre-ordering. I just ordered mine and I'm very excited for it to be released. The cost for pre-order is $69.99 USD. The full price is $79.99 USD so I'd get on to the ED Store or Heatblur's store right now and get that $10 off.

If you go to Heatblur's store you'll have 3 options. You can get one copy of the F-14 for the same $69.99 discount they have at the ED Store, You can get a 2 pack bundle so you can share it with a friend or family member for $129.99 USD right now (full price is $159.98 USD), or you can pick up the single copy of the module along with a special T-shirt for $89.99 USD (full price is $109.98 USD).

With this module you don't just get 1 aircraft with features missing. You'll receive the F-14B fully completed right on release. After that you'll get the F-14A after it's developed enough to be considered Early Access acceptable. You'll also receive a soundtrack with the module downloaded right into the F-14 file in your DCS folder. Personally, I don't care about the soundtrack. I more interested in the aircraft itself.

It's a good day today. And the day of release will be even better. I'd expect a long wait while downloading though. There's going to be a lot of people trying to download it right when it's available and it will likely eat up the bandwidth available.

For those who missed the reveal, here's the video:

I hope this makes all of your days bright.
See you in the skies.

DCS: Persian Gulf Map Open for Pre-Purchase

Eagle Dynamics has just released the Persian Gulf map for pre-orders here. I have already pre-ordered mine in anticipation for Heatblurs F-14 module. There's going to be nothing like flying an F-14A with Iranian markings over this map. Or flying the soon-to-be-released F/A-18C over the Persian Gulf taking on those F-14A's. This map is going to be a lot of fun. Especially for those who enjoy Carrier Operations.

The map covers the Strait of Hormuz, Iran, The UAE, and Oman. Much of the map will be water but, as Matt Wagner of Eagle Dynamics had said in a recent video for DCS "The map is not that much smaller" than the other maps like Nevada Test and Training Range, Normandy, or the free Caucus map that comes with DCS.

Take a look at the map on DCS and check out some of Matt Wagner's videos about the Persian Gulf map on his YouTube channel.  And while you're there check out his videos on the F/A-18C and maybe take a peak at Heatblur's channel to view that F-14 they are developing.

Just a word of caution though: the F-14's HUD (that display with the green lines on it in front of the pilot) is a bit jumpy. This is intentional since the real F-14's HUD had a pretty slow refresh rate. So, if you're prone to eye problems (like I am) you might have trouble viewing it. Still, take a look and see for yourself. It's not as bad as it sounds. Heatblur as already stated in their forum that they might include an option for a smoother HUD if people have a problem with it. So, if you want the F-14 go ahead and buy it and if you don't like the HUD send Heatblur a message on the forums, Facebook, or heatblur.com and let them know. They are very responsive to their customers and I'm certain they will implement the smoother HUD option if people let them know the original HUD is a problem.

Have fun Flying your planes.