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However, I do play a lit of simulators. Mainly flight simulators, but also more "down to earth" simulators like Operation Flashpoint. These games need to have great AI, because they would be completely unplayable if not. They also usually have a physics model unparallelled in any other type of game. Take a look at IL2 Sturmovik for a good example.

Imagine that... There already exists games without artificial barriers, with great AI, with real physics, no indestructible doors and realistic movement.

I guess the problem is that as soon as you make such a game, it suddenly becomes a "simulator" and therefore not interesting anymore for most game-playing consumers. That's why unrealistic crap like Ace Combat sell way better than the realistic counterparts.

1) javac (Sun's Java compiler) is written in Java. You can even access it programmatically at runtime if you really want to.

2) While it's not an id game, IL2 Sturmovik is a critically-acclaimed fight simulator that was written almost entirely in Java.

IL2 Sturmovik is mostly Java. IIRC, only the rendering itself was done in native code for performance. With the advent of JOGL, even that can probably be done well in Java.

It all depends on what you use your machine for. Flight sims require a major part of the available CPU to deal with the AI, something not really needed for most other types of games.

I'm posting from my PC too - it has the bigger monitor. And until there are Insanely Great flight-sims on the Mac, my fastest machine and videocard will be running Windows. At least it's an AMD CPU. And has Cygwin installed...

I feel kinda bad about it, but I have an addiction to feed.

Seriously, try the IL-2 demo if you have a PC handy.

Hmmm. WINE. A thought...

Enemy Territory: I prefer RtCW. It's pure and fun. Tram rulez. However, ET is *good*, I just happen to think RtCW is great.

Call of Duty: I'll take good scripted over mediocre AI any day. This is a good game (not done yet, the Russian levels might suck :-) a seriously good single-player game. I will be replaying it on harder levels.

IL-2: Forgotten Battles: This is a solid sim covering East, North and Western fronts in WW2. Lots of aircraft to fly, plenty of campaign missions to tackle, good community and developer support, and lots of difficulty settings so everyone can play at their level. And it's a very, very pretty game. Check out a really cool movie [88.8MB].

Realistic ? Mmm hmmm. It's all about the gameplay, but it is rpetty cool.

If you want it real, try IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles. It's a Russian-developed flight-sim, very realistic, absolutely gorgeous, and it covers pretty much the entire Eastern Front.

Ubi gets at least one thing right, their WW2 flight sim Forgotten Battlesgets good support from Ubi, mostly by letting the developers have useful amounts of leeway and in introducing free goodies.

Yeah, right, we don't need you unleashing any more uncommented spaghetti code, written by vodka-addled psychotics, upon the unsuspecting public!

They suck for Flight Simulators as well. Just look at the horrible abomination which is Microsoft Flight Simulator (and Combat Flight Simulator) compared to the the stuff rolling out of russian software development houses: IL-2 Sturmovik and Lock On: Modern Air Combat.

The difference is in the edge-cases and extreme flight regimes. Once you are outside of what the MSFS table data is prepared to handle, MSFS starts to behave just strange. Especially the stall model of table-based sims are pure crap. Add to this the fact that most people that fly flight sims fly on the edge of the flight envelope all the time (because that's where the fun is) you can see the advantage of real-time calulated FM's and the static tables.

X-plane is no doubt the most extreme of the real-time flight sims, but if you like to shoot stuff, you can compare the amazing IL-2 Forgotten Battles which is real-time calculated (although not as advanced as X-plane) to Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 3 (based on the MSFS engine). You don't have to be a pilot to feel which one is more real, and "live".

1. This is a proof of concept that Microsoft's "Managed C++" stuff may be an interesting technology.

   If really Managed C++ isn't too much slower than C given the standard optimizations Managed C++ may become a viable platform for development in the end. We will see what will happen as Microsoft's JIT compiler matures.

2. If it is viable for Quake 2, it might be viable for any future game coming to PC, XBOX or even Phantom. Remember that having .NET (or Java with JNI as well, see this nice soviet Sturmovik simulator which really owns you ;D ...) allows you to access several non time-critical libraries (chat, rankings), or to prototype in an easier way several features that you wish to implement, without introducing slowdowns in the development and security issues (XBox savegame hack anyone?).

   I can remember Sony and other vendors being interested in a Java Gaming Profile for consoles... a very hefty addition to J2ME with JNI libraries for Physics, "Game Lobby" functionalities and mp3 streaming. That JCP anyway seems (in my experience) to be stalled. We will see if adoption of Managed C++/Managed DirectX will occur and will help the adoption of "Virtual Machines" technology in game consoles as well and revitalize the interest. Many titles, like Nihilistic Entertainment (of Zerstorer fame) Vampire The Masquerade use or used Java as a powerful scripting engine.

3. Anyway, remember that if you find Managed code to be too slow for your projects, you can always bridge your code with COM+, as Direct-X up to version 8 do succesfully :D... then using a COM+ component is easy as hell with .NET (let's hope that Mono makes this easy for Bonobo components too soon).

+ + + +
And now imagine embedding Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 with Excel.NET... oh WAIT!

Yes, that's right.
For instance, the incredible flight sim IL-2 Sturmovik (which is 90% written in Java) only PRETENDS to run at 60+ fps on my Coppermine system. Go back and hide under your bridge, troll.

Ubi has one bright spot. Their support for IL-2 Sturmovik has been aoutstanding. A lot of that is due to the developer, but Ubi producers have been very active on their flight sim boards.

The consensus from the review sites is: if you're interested in combat flight sims, buy this game.

Two links to the forthcoming patch for Forgotten Battles. They're putting in both the Mistel AND the TB-3 with parasite I-16s.

Mistel model in 3dStudio

TB-3 with parasites

Il-2/Forgotten Battles is a great sim. Give it a shot. Both of these oddballs will be flyable aircraft by early May.

Two links to the forthcoming patch for Forgotten Battles. They're putting in both the Mistel AND the TB-3 with parasite I-16s.

Mistel model in 3dStudio

TB-3 with parasites

Il-2/Forgotten Battles is a great sim. Give it a shot. Both of these oddballs will be flyable aircraft by early May.

Two links to the forthcoming patch for Forgotten Battles. They're putting in both the Mistel AND the TB-3 with parasite I-16s.

Mistel model in 3dStudio

TB-3 with parasites

Il-2/Forgotten Battles is a great sim. Give it a shot. Both of these oddballs will be flyable aircraft by early May.

How about IL-2 Sturmovik and Forgotten Battles ?

Rabid fan base ? Check. I'm posting this after all.
Global fan base ? Check, I routinely see Spanish, Russian, English and Hungarian in online chat - often in the same game.
User base in the 100,000s ? Check. The developers are Russian and have sold massively in Russia. Odds are, most IL-2 players don't speak English at home.
Better than the Microsoft alternative ? - probably, haven't played CFS3 to know for sure.
Obscure topics ? - Triple check, Russia, Finland and Hungary in WW2.

The demo available now is for Il-2 and is 2 major patches out of date. It's still hella cool. Forgotten Battles upgraded things substantially in both flight modelling and graphics. No due date on the demo for FB. Just play the IL2 demo with the knowledge that the current retail product is (amazingly) a heckuva lot better.

Check it out.

How about IL-2 Sturmovik and Forgotten Battles ?

Rabid fan base ? Check. I'm posting this after all.
Global fan base ? Check, I routinely see Spanish, Russian, English and Hungarian in online chat - often in the same game.
User base in the 100,000s ? Check. The developers are Russian and have sold massively in Russia. Odds are, most IL-2 players don't speak English at home.
Better than the Microsoft alternative ? - probably, haven't played CFS3 to know for sure.
Obscure topics ? - Triple check, Russia, Finland and Hungary in WW2.

The demo available now is for Il-2 and is 2 major patches out of date. It's still hella cool. Forgotten Battles upgraded things substantially in both flight modelling and graphics. No due date on the demo for FB. Just play the IL2 demo with the knowledge that the current retail product is (amazingly) a heckuva lot better.

Check it out.

Games are a strong incentive to use Windows. Personally, I use Win2k for recreational purposes and Linux for everything work-related. But give me some good games for Linux (I'm talking full ports here, not "but you can't use the editor" crap), like UT2003 and IL2 Sturmovik plus a program that has similar capabilities to VirtualDub for grabbing and editing video and Windows will get off the disk.

It's not just a game, it's a simulation. We're here to learn what it might have been like to fly a WWII russian plane (Il-2 Sturmovik), or drive an F-1 race car, or fight squad combat. It lets us be a hero without worrying about getting ourselves killed. Pardon me for not wanting to cater to your inability to cope.

You want a game? Fine, go pick up Serious Sam or Crimson Skies or the latest Mario Brothers racing game. Leave the simulations to those of us that like mastering something that's difficult enough in real life, let alone inside a computer.

And just stop whining about it.

I wonder what relation this Mad Doc Software company has to the 1C:Maddox Games, the producer of the famous IL2Sturmovik that beats now all the ratings in on-line simulation charts.

I've seen AI pilots in Sturmovik run away from combat. This sucks when its your wingman, but is fun when its the last fighter covering the bombers you're after.