Knights Over Europe Shows Off Dawn Of Flight Combat

Thanks to SimHQ.com for their interview with the Knights Over Europe development team, quizzing them about the PC-based World War I flight combat title, helping enliven an underappreciated genre in time for a 2004 release. The title plans a complex and accurate 'Historic Mode', so that "...the focus of campaign play is on you and your career, so your goal will be score kills, win medals, get promotions and transfers to hot squadrons, and gain international fame and glory." Intriguing features such as "the ability to 'hot seat' into crew positions during a flight" are promised for both single and multiplayer gameplay, and the interview also shrewdly points out that "...the outcome of the war is secondary. The most famous ace of WWI was Manfred Von Richthofen, and people don't care that his side lost the war."

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Sad news ... John Ritter dead at 54

[orthogonal]

I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Actor John Ritter was found dead in his Los Angeles home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.

Re:Sad news ... John Ritter dead at 54

[Anonymous Coward]

More Information on John Ritter

John Ritter, whose portrayal of the bumbling but lovable Jack Tripper helped make the madcap comedy series "Three's Company" a smash hit in the 1970s, has died, his publicist and longtime assistant said Friday. He was 54.

Ritter fell ill Thursday on the set of his ABC sitcom "8 Simple Rules ... For Dating My Teenage Daughter," said Susan Wilcox, his assistant of 22 years. The cause of death was a dissection of the aorta, the result of an unrecognized flaw in his heart, said his publicist, Lisa Kasteler.

Ritter died at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center shortly after 10 p.m. Thursday.

Ritter, a Southern California native who lived in Beverly Hills, was the
son of country music legend Tex Ritter, who made his mark in the "singing cowboy" tradition and died in 1974, just before his son hit it big in television.

John Ritter, who had more than a little of his dad in his face and smile, came into his own as an actor in 1977 in his role in "Three's Company" - a sitcom with the then-daring premise of a man sharing an apartment with two women. The show's popularity continues today, in syndication on "Nick at Nite," and Ritter - unlike some actors forever remembered for a certain role - had a sense of humor about always being Jack Tripper to generation after generation of fans.

He even accepted the role of emcee at TVLand's award show earlier this year, with honors serious and humorous for big moments in the world of rerun television.

"Three's Company" was by no means Ritter's only acting credit. He appeared in more than 25 television movies and in a number of large screen films, onstage in New York, and also produced several films. And he was a frequent guest on dozens of TV shows from drama to variety and comedy: everything from "Medical Center," "Mannix," and "Hawaii Five-O" in the late 1960s, to "MASH," "Kojak," "The Bob Newhart Show," and "Mary Tyler Moore" in the 1970s, "The Cosby Show" in the 1980s and "The Larry Sanders Show," "Dave's World," "Touched by an Angel," "Chicago Hope" and "Ally McBeal" in the 1990s.

Ritter, who would have turned 55 on Wednesday, made a successful return to sitcom acting with "8 Simple Rules" last year, and the ABC show was scheduled to begin its second season on Sept. 23.

At the Burbank hospital where he died, Ritter was accompanied by producers and co-workers, his wife, Amy Yasbeck, and 23-year-old son Jason, Wilcox said. He is survived by three other children, Carly, Tyler and Stella.

Re:Sad news ... John Ritter dead at 54

[Anonymous Coward]

Johnny Cash died too.. I guess its a bad day to be named John.. More Information... Johnny Cash, a towering figure in American music spanning country, rock and folk and known worldwide as "The Man in Black," has died, according to hospital officials in Nashville, Tenn. He was 71. Cash was 71. Known as "The Man in Black," Cash was a towering figure in American music. His career spanned country, rock, folk and gospel. "Johnny died due to complications from diabetes, which resulted in respiratory failure," said Cash's manager, Lou Robin, in a press release issued by Baptist Hospital in Nashville. The release said Cash died at the hospital at 1 a.m. EDT. He was released from Baptist on Wednesday where he had spent two weeks being treated for an unspecified stomach ailment. "I hope that friends and fans of Johnny will pray for the Cash family to find comfort during this very difficult time," Robin said. Cash had battled a disease of the nervous system, autonomic neuropathy, and pneumonia in recent years and was once diagnosed with a disease called Shy-Drager's syndrome, a diagnosis that was later deemed to be erroneous. Dozens of hit records like "Folsom Prison Blues," "I Walk the Line," and "Sunday Morning Coming Down" defined Cash's persona: a haunted, dignified, resilient spokesman for the working man and downtrodden. Cash's deeply lined face fit well with his unsteady voice, which was limited in range but used to great effect to sing about prisoners, heartaches, and tales of everyday life. He wrote much of his own material, and was among the first to record the songs of Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson. "One Piece at a Time" was about an assembly line worker who built a car out of parts stolen from his factory. "A Boy Named Sue" was a comical story of a father who gives his son a girl's name to make him tough. "The Ballad of Ira Hayes" told of the drunken death of an American Indian soldier who helped raised the American flag at Iwo Jima during World War II, but returned to harsh racism in America. Cash said in his 1997 autobiography "Cash" that he tried to speak for "voices that were ignored or even suppressed in the entertainment media, not to mention the political and educational establishments." Cash's career spanned generations, with each finding something of value in his simple records, many of which used his trademark "boom-chicka-boom" rhythm. He never stopped working and his video "Hurt" was nominated for seven MTV Video Music awards, winning one at the ceremonies last month. Cash's deep impact on music was evident there as even boy band star Jason Timberlake felt compelled to pay tribute to Cash, who he beat out for one award, saying: "My grandfather raised me on Johnny Cash. I think he deserves this more than any of us in here tonight." Cash wasn't there to hear those accolades - although he'd planned to be - as he was in the hospital with a stomach problem, a stay of only a few days. Cash was a peer of Elvis Presley when rock 'n' roll was born in Memphis in the 1950s, and he scored hits like "Cry! Cry! Cry!" during that era. He had a longtime friendship and recorded with Dylan, who has cited Cash as a major influence. He won 11 Grammys -- most recently in 2003, when "Give My Love To Rose" earned him honors as best male country vocal performance and numerous Country Music Association awards. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. His second wife, June Carter Cash, was a singing legend in her own right, as is daughter Roseanne Cash. June Carter Cash, who co-wrote Cash's hit "Ring of Fire" and partnered with her husband in hits such as "Jackson," died this past May. The late 1960s and '70s were Cash's peak commercial years, and he was host of his own ABC variety show from 1969-71. In later years, he was part of the Highwayman supergroup with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Kristofferson. In the 1990s, he found a new artistic life r