By Adam Smith on June 25th, 2012 at 7:00 pm.
Even if you don’t like flight simulations, you should probably watch this. Some trailers give me a migraine, some tickle my curiosity box and many have very little impact on me at all. I press play, I sit back, I watch and then I wonder why it was quite so noisy or why it adds nothing to, or seemingly contradicts, what I already knew about the game it purports to advertise. Since I probably couldn’t even manage to turn the ignition key and check the mirrors in DCS: P-51D Mustang’s intricately simulated WW2 fighter, I’m pleased I can at least enjoy looking at the game. This is one of the most beautiful promotional videos I’ve seen for a long time.
I just watched it again, in between writing ‘a long time’ and writing this.
I just watched it again then as well, after writing ‘writing this’ and I’ll probably watch it again after writing this.
I did! Problem is, no matter how many times I watch it I don’t know what to tell you about the actual game except that it’s apparently going to be the most dramatic and gorgeous warplanefighter ever. Maybe I’ll just copy and paste some information here and then direct you to the website to learn more?
The Mustang was among the best and most well-known fighters used by the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. Possessing excellent range and maneuverability, the P-51 operated primarily as a long-range escort fighter and also as a ground attack fighter-bomber with bombs, rockets, and machine guns. The Mustang served in nearly every combat zone during WWII and proved to be what many consider the most successful fighter in history.
The DCS: P-51D Mustang offers both highly-detailed simulation and easy-to-play “game” mode options for both hardcore and casual gamers. When in simulation mode, this is the most authentic simulation of the P-51D Mustang that has ever been done for the PC. Enjoy both the thrill of flying this warbird and operating its various weapons against a variety of ground and airborne targets.
It’s compatible with the previous DCS sims, meaning you can throw a Mustang at a Warthog, watch them fly out of their warbirdballs, and see which one triumphs.
I just watched it again.
25/06/2012 at 19:05 Moni says:
I think the trailer misses the point of DCS games, that the best part is just flipping all the switches and toggles.
25/06/2012 at 19:32 heledir says:
Too right. The A-10C lost a good deal of motivation after I knew how everything worked. It’s more the quiet satisfaction of being able to do a ramp-start that puts the DCS modules on my hard drive.
25/06/2012 at 19:07 Brun says:
Waiting for a DCS Jet Fighter game.
25/06/2012 at 20:35 andrewi31 says:
Their LockOn expansion is still pretty aces to me but it’s a survey sim though.
25/06/2012 at 19:08 Unaco says:
Hold on, I’m just going to watch this again before I come up with a decent comment.
25/06/2012 at 19:16 Unaco says:
As with all the DCS games, it looks so pretty. Might be the game to get me to dust off my joystick… I’d expect with it being of the old propeller and machine gun variety of flightsim, that it won’t have too many buttons to press, or a 20 minute cold start to takeoff procedure. Just enough would be my guess.
25/06/2012 at 19:21 vatara says:
Well it’s certainly easier than the A-10…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSq2JVPNWsA
25/06/2012 at 19:26 Didero says:
I tried dusting off my joystick a few weeks back. I was too late though, I think some dust had gotten under the stick itself or something. The z-axis was messed up, and the thing kept thinking I was twisting it.
Too bad, it was a pretty good joystick, and nowadays I don’t use one often enough to warrant buying a new one.
25/06/2012 at 19:29 Dozer says:
Twisty sticks aren’t very good though. Just don’t assign the twist to anything, let the sim do its autorudder thing, and fly with just pitch and roll. And buy rudder pedals if you get hooked.
25/06/2012 at 22:22 SlimPickins says:
apply rubbing alcohol to it using a q tip, and work it back and forth. it should break the dirt up and move it along… works on most gamepads anyway, so its worth a shot. also dont be too afraid to open up the case to clean it.
though I just retired my sidewinder force feedback 2 for a logitech freedom wireless stick, pretty happy with it.
25/06/2012 at 22:54 iucounu says:
This is a great thread if you imagine it’s a Carry On movie.
25/06/2012 at 19:11 Faldrath says:
Sigh, I do wish I still had the patience to learn these flight sims again. But now I’m old :(
25/06/2012 at 22:27 HolyLiaison says:
I dunno, I’ve seemed to gain patience with age.
The game looks cool overall, but I think I’d get bored pretty quickly once I’ve gotten the controls down.
If you’re looking for a flexible sim/arcade dog-fighting game I highly recommend Wings of Prey. I’m still playing that game and it came out in 2009. It has a pretty decent sized selection of aircraft too. And a great Wings of Luftwaffe addon. They have it on Steam right now for $20 (USD) and $15 for the Luftwaffe DLC.
25/06/2012 at 19:12 roryok says:
looks very pretty. I notice a couple of things.
1. it looks like it has a “ww2 archive footage” camera. Cool.
2. Planes are pretty.
25/06/2012 at 19:27 Dozer says:
I suspect that this is a postproduction effect, not necessarily built into the sim itself.
25/06/2012 at 19:31 Monkeh says:
It most likely is, since they even state that they’ve added visual effects to the trailer.
26/06/2012 at 13:54 jackflash says:
I think it may actually be in-engine, given the frame-rate drop when it’s on.
25/06/2012 at 19:27 Fumarole says:
I’ll have to keep this one on my radar.
25/06/2012 at 19:29 Unaco says:
Aww man… props for that pun there.
25/06/2012 at 19:35 Danny252 says:
I thought that joke was a bit plane, personally.
25/06/2012 at 19:45 Highstorm says:
This pun thread will never take off.
25/06/2012 at 20:04 deadly.by.design says:
Not with that kind of altitude, it won’t.
25/06/2012 at 20:55 goettel says:
Most of these yokes are pretty stall.
25/06/2012 at 19:55 sonofsanta says:
These puns are old, I heard them back in the days of yaw
25/06/2012 at 19:56 Brun says:
*Rolls eyes.*
25/06/2012 at 19:58 Janek says:
We certainly need someone to separate the wheat from the chaff.
25/06/2012 at 20:58 JoeFX69 says:
Most of you rookies are just winging it
25/06/2012 at 22:21 lionheart says:
I mustang around here too much, I’ve started joining in on the pun threads!
25/06/2012 at 23:22 Thiefsie says:
You guys are a barrel roll of laughs
25/06/2012 at 23:39 DHP says:
well, if you mustang around, might as well just fly with the puns….this game looks nice enough to nose-dive straight into….when is it landing on a desktop near me?
25/06/2012 at 23:44 Muzman says:
If you fuse a large enough set of old puns together it’s endless chockularity!
26/06/2012 at 07:50 caesarbear says:
I wouldn’t bank on it.
26/06/2012 at 05:39 Mattressi says:
I knew he’d cop some flak for his pun.
26/06/2012 at 01:26 The Infamous Woodchuck says:
im Göring to buy this this game on day one! the plane simplicity of this game made it for me.
(umm.. a Puncastic comment?)
25/06/2012 at 19:30 Monkeh says:
Colour me whatever colour defines excited!
25/06/2012 at 19:45 Dozer says:
Slightly yellow?
25/06/2012 at 19:34 Danny252 says:
Of course, I had to notice that the electric locomotive at 1:41 is somehow propelling itself without any overhead wires…
Somewhat more on topic, I hope that those sounds were representative of what’s in the game, because they were pretty awesometastic.
25/06/2012 at 19:35 Mr-Link says:
This trailer was made by Glowing Amraam, who has been active in the eagle dynamics community ever since the Lock On days. He is well known for great videos and an unhealthy obsession with HDR.
I still think his black shark trailer is the best.
26/06/2012 at 01:24 Davie says:
He certainly appears to be a fan of Red Tails.
25/06/2012 at 19:41 Felix says:
I’ve been waiting for a great simulation for my favorite prop plane. Anyone recommend a flight stick?
25/06/2012 at 21:04 Zenicetus says:
If you’re looking for something that will last (i.e. not buying something just for this one sim), then I can recommend two good ones:
The CH Fighterstick is around $90 USD, and is very well made for a “gaming” joystick. I used one for years and it always just kept on working. You can spend a lot less on a joystick, but the long-term reliability is not as good as the CH hardware, in my experience. If you’re on a budget, then any of the lower-priced Saitek sticks will work. I just haven’t had much luck with Saitek hardware over the years. Something always seems to break on me. YMMV.
If you have money to burn, and really plan on spending a lot of time in flight sims, then I think the ultimate stick/throttle (“HOTAS”) setup right now is the Thrustmaster Warthog set, which runs about $500 USD. The joystick is amazing… solid metal construction, heavy duty switches, with Hall sensors that don’t feel anything like the other gaming sticks on the market. I finally bit the bullet and got one a few months ago, since I’ve been spending more time in Rise of Flight and X-Plane than most other games.
If you go all the way with rudder pedals, I think the best ones out right now (without spending a lot more money) are the Saitek Combat Pro pedals. They’re more expensive than the CH pedals, but they have better spacing and a smoother feel.
25/06/2012 at 19:42 Demiath says:
Apart from the manly, sentimental music there really wasn’t anything special about this trailer.
25/06/2012 at 21:10 Squirrelfanatic says:
Did you miss the *wwwwroooommm* and the *pewpew* *wssssshhhh* *bjuuchiiii* and all?
25/06/2012 at 19:44 Nikelspank says:
A nice trailer doesn’t make up for the company’s lack of forward movement with their franchise.
The P-51 was a side project one of the Eagle Dynamics staff was working on, it got noticed and they decided to sell it as a flagship product.
This is the company famed for producing the most accurately detailed modern combat simulations (asides from the fan-made Benchmark Sims mod for Falcon 4). For them to make an advanced Russian attack helicopter, then the workhorse of the USAF that is the A-10C and follow it with hyping up that the next module is what everyone’s been waiting for – a US teenie fighter – which means finally proper air-to-air combat, supersonic flight and of course radar. And as soon as people are getting ready for further news on it, ED announce earlier this year they still aren’t even sure which plane they’re going to make over a year after A-10C was released.
And now this, the insanity of releasing a World War II propellor plane. Don’t be fooled into thinking there is some Messerschmit’s to juke it out against, or some Panzers to strafe – they’ve put this directly into the modern DCS theatre: full of Mach-2 MiG-29s and SU-27s, ZSU-23-4 Shilka’s and more advanced SAM systems than most 1st world countries. Any idea of realism or immersion is straight out of the window.
Meanwhile the fanbase that was waiting patiently for an F-15/16/18 is looking on in bewildement as this and DCS “World” is released (because a basic arcade tank sim is just what a combat flight sim needs…) at what is likely to turn into another World War II Online. The development team will see less and less income as a result of not heading in the previously announced direction, and after a few years people will see through the facade. I’m still not entirely convinced there’s that many staff on the dev team as we speak, I mean how long could it possibly take to develop ONE plane? That, of course, is assuming they’ve even started development on it at all.
25/06/2012 at 19:47 Brun says:
This. WTB DCS: F-15.
25/06/2012 at 20:27 Mr-Link says:
I agree that there seems to be a strange indecisiveness of where exactly do they want take this series. I also share the feeling that the last few projects seemingly came out of nowhere, and not at all what people where expecting. I still think we can afford to give ED the benefit of the doubt. Its not all doom and gloom yet. They still get alot of good faith from me based on Black shark and A-10C alone.
In the mean time perhaps there is refuge with the increasing catalogue of 3rd party developers. I say perhaps, because I am not sure to what level of realism do those 3rd party developers want to take their products. I heard there are some people who are working on bringing the F-18E super hornet to DCS. Which probably wont be as faithful to the real thing as say the A-10C was, simply because it is a very modern jet and a lot of its systems are probably still classified.
TBH I am not sure how I feel about this. On one hand I obviously want the same level of realism that I came to expect with black shark, on the other hand I would be jumping like a teenage girl if someone told me that they are working on bringing modern iterations of the Soviet planes that we have in the game right now. Someone is better be working on something like the MIG-29 SMT or the Su-27SM….if not, then start now …damit!!
25/06/2012 at 20:31 Brun says:
There was enough information out there for Falcon 4 to make a very good simulation of the F-16 five years ago.
25/06/2012 at 21:15 Mr-Link says:
Surely you mean 13 years ago for the original Falcon 4 ;)
Even then, the F-16 was flying for more than 20 years by that time and it took the BMS team until recently to bring it to the same level of the A-10C. That is not to say that level of realism in the original Falcon 4 is inadequate. I would be more than happy if we get stuff on the same level (I still cant even figure out how to use the HMS to lunch Aim-9 in BMS …grrr)
I was just being skeptical as to how willing/able would the 3rd party developers be to bring their products to a decent realism levels…thats all.
25/06/2012 at 21:43 sinelnic says:
@Nickelspank
English is not my native tongue, but I am pissed off enough to give it a go.
If you have the slightest love for flight simming, and you have enjoyed ED’s products in the past, you would be much welcome to discuss this things in the ED forums instead of a general gaming site where you’re gratuitously hurting a fantastic simmming company, of which there are very few, just because you have not the smallest hint of comprehension of how their development cycle and their business model works.
For a supersonic combat jet the DCS way, ED needs to develop:
1- A very advanced, not-currently-existing Airborne Military Radar Simulation, from the ground up. That alone can take years to accomplish.
2- A very advanced, not currently existing Supersonic Flight Model for the plane. That alone can take more than a year to accomplish.
3- A very advanced, not currently existing Supersonic Flight Model for AA missiles. That alone… etc
4- Not to mention the work already being done in bringing their graphics engine to DX11 and including, for the first time in Flanker history, a new Theater of Operations, Neveda
So if they had to wait until all this things plus the proper plane were ready, they would have to spend a good couple of years without any new source of income. Since they are maintaining some of the best and brightest Flight Simulation developers in the world, it would seem reasonable for them to try and find new sources of income to avoid disappearence in the middle of an economic world crisis and probable slow down in their military development contracts.
Again, you expectations are valid as a customer to ED, but flaming them here is an act of supidity and self-hurting-ness.
I hope you can think about this. And learn to fly the Mustang which is a fabulous piece of airplane simulation.
Regards,
Santiago
26/06/2012 at 06:14 Jay says:
I wouldn’t have labelled his comments as ‘flaming’ at all. It seemed more like an interested fan worried about the direction the series is taking. His complaints seemed perfectly legitimate to me, to be honest.
All this stuff about ‘hurting the community’ is garbage. Nothing should stop someone from voicing concerns, especially if they’re voiced in a reasonable manner.
26/06/2012 at 18:16 sinelnic says:
@Jay,
I said twice that his complaint was legitimate, and that he could voice it in the ED forums, where many others are already complaining about the same.
Nevertheless, doing it here accomplishes nothing other than damaging the promotional benefits this article could have. And the simulation gaming business needs as many customers as possible, especially in this times.
He is also failing to acknowledge any logic from EDs move, depicting them as arbitrary bastards who take joy in deniying the community of their simulations, which is plain silly and could be better adressed in ED’s forums.
Again. I’m not saying the complaint is not legitimate, I’m saying voicing it HERE is damaging and only damaging to flight simming from a business perspective (and sometimes it all comes down to business, when your business is as fragile as the flight simming one).
25/06/2012 at 19:48 Dozer says:
German-painted P-51s were a bit of a WTF for me. As was the wing of P-51s dropping bombs in level flight.
25/06/2012 at 20:01 Undermind_Mike says:
Ah! I’m glad it wasn’t just me!
I mistook it for an Airacobra on first glance but I still don’t know whether to be proud or ashamed…
25/06/2012 at 20:32 gladius2metal says:
same here, I assume the used a lot of “temporary models”. The airfields etc. appear to modern too. (see my post below)
25/06/2012 at 19:51 Wolfox says:
The trailer for DCS: P-51D is pretty good indeed, but I still think the one Glowing Amraam did for DCS: A-10C is his best yet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUu4SV3GjVw
25/06/2012 at 20:14 Simas says:
The guy who made the music (Binary Orchestra) is really talented.. And not just in the sound department, do check his other videos:
DCS A-10C Anthology:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwqGsxc-_hQ
Cliffs of Dover: Wings of Affliction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OX0B91RaQ0
26/06/2012 at 01:34 The Infamous Woodchuck says:
Yeah, that DCS Anthology video is very well made. one of the best youtube video i’ve seen so far even. (and no, even though my last comment contained sarcasm, this one doesn’t)
25/06/2012 at 19:55 Hunchback says:
Epic trailer is epic
25/06/2012 at 20:30 Hypocee says:
Man! Dat scissor-top shot with the smoke trails, immediately into showing off the shell casings…that’s some pretty code there, all right.
My inverse patriotism does kick in when the blurb throws around “the most successful fighter”; the Spitfire and Hurricane say hi, guys, they sort of prevented the obliteration of a nation.:P
25/06/2012 at 20:31 gladius2metal says:
I don’t know what is so special with this trailer?
In general, it appears “too modern” doesn’t feel like World War 2.
I only found negative some “negative specials”:
The starting airfield building in the background.
The train.
The first dogfight, the German planes looked like P-51 to me.
The German(?) airfield, wtf? This thing is HUGE and all “concrete”. Also no damage at all… as far as I know the Allies bombed the shit out of everything back then, especially such a large military installation.
the sound & visuals are nice, but the trailer felt very “unhistorical” to me.
26/06/2012 at 06:23 Jay says:
It’s not meant to be historical. It’s a simulation of the P-51 in the DCS system. You’ll be able to fly an excellently-modelled version of the plane itself, but in a more modern setting. It’s not your typical WW2 sim, more for people who really like getting to grips with the specifics of the plane, or so I believe.
28/06/2012 at 16:40 gladius2metal says:
well, then they probably should have skipped the German markings on the other planes.
25/06/2012 at 20:37 wodin says:
Fighting other P51′s doesn’t do it for me I’ afraid.
DCS sims are so damn dry aswell.
25/06/2012 at 20:53 abandonhope says:
Indeed. I appreciate devs that tackle realism, but I get more mileage out of variety than fidelity.
25/06/2012 at 20:46 fiendling says:
Astonishing level of detail, is that real-time rendering or pre-rendered?
25/06/2012 at 20:54 LintMan says:
I’m not usually one for flight sims, but I just got hit with a huge burst of Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe nostalgia.
25/06/2012 at 21:30 Jorum says:
Can I have Magic Carpet in an engine like this please.
26/06/2012 at 01:11 pupsikaso says:
This makes me want to buy a joystick to play it.
Can anyone recommend a poor-man’s joystick? Or at least a “best bang for the buck” one?
26/06/2012 at 12:19 MrPants says:
I bet I could videotape myself breaking a toe, and against this musical backdrop it would be fucking epic and moving.