1999 is a landmark year for obvious reasons. First, it's the final year
before the Millenium. But second, and more important for
COMBATSIM.COM™, it's the year that both Andy Hollis and Paul Grace left
Janes Combat Simulations.
The sooth sayers and prognosticators have been driven mad by
lesser events. With these two stellar simulation producers moving on to
other projects, who will carry the torch into the next Millenium? And
with Gilman Louie no longer the head of Microprose, is hard core
simulation gaming going the way of the Dodo?
Signs of the Times
I'm happy to say that E3 has quelled my fears that the end
of the world was near. Hard core simulation gaming is alive and well,
and I think the situation may actually be IMPROVING rather than
deteriorating. Let me show you the signs of the times.
The best way to do this is to simply list the military
simulation products at E3 that can be classified as hard-core. But just
what IS "hard core" in the simulation universe?
I define "hard core" a simulation that realistically represents the
weapons, platforms and environment of the actual world. "Realistic"
does not entail that every individual system be represented, but that
the challenges a player faces will be at a similar level to the
challenge faced by an actual person in the real world environment.
Naturally, this would entail in MOST cases that the actual
systems are simulated. And it also entails that the reactions of AI are
similar in sophistication to the reactions of their real world
counterparts.
From this perspective you can begin to see why I am so hopeful. How
many simulations prior to 1998 actually modeled weather? In 1999
virtually every new simulation will do so, greatly increasing the level
of challenge, in parallel to the real world of combat operations.
Furthermore, as hardware capabilities increase, we are seeing
more sophisticated AI and more powerful physics engines. Inevitably, it
is becoming easier and easier for simulation developers to model real
world interactions.
The most obvious area of growth involves the graphical environment
per se. The simulation engines I saw at E3 this year are nothing short
of stunning. Some prime examples of this are DI's Super Hornet, SIMIS
Ka52 Team Alligator, Microprose B17 II and Janes F18. A graphics engine
is critical for establishing a real world environment, effective use of
perspective and line of sight parameters, and accuracy and ease of
realistic situational awareness.
Voice Recognition and Voice Comms
Finally, a critical growth area is in voice communications. In the past
six months at least three significant products have been released that
allow real time voice communications while playing online games: Roger Wilco, Battlefield Communicator,
and Thrustmaster's own proprietary software to name a few. Other
companies are now incorporating real time voice into their simulation
engines: Novalogic, iMagic and others.
My own wanderings at E3 placed this into perspective for me when I
ran face to face with Game Commander. This voice recognition kit comes
with a small headset and software that allows you to use voice commands
in ANY WIN95/98 game.
I was pessimistic at first, but after seeing the software in action in Rainbow Six
I became a believer. The ability to issue commands to a team mate, or
swap weapons, or change views all by voice radically changes that game
and will profoundly impact the way you play future releases. As this
software gains an audience it may even impact the way that simulations
are designed. (Watch for a special report soon.)
The "A" List
There are MANY candidates for the hard core crowd currently in development. For military flight simulation fans there is DI Super Hornet, Empire MiG Alley, Eidos Confirmed Kill, Janes F18, Janes A10, Microprose B17 II, Microprose Gunship III and M1TP III, EA Flight Combat, and DiD Typhoon.
It doesn't seem to me that we are in great danger of becoming an
obsolete fan club. Rather, I suspect that hard core gaming will be
alive and well in the 21st century and that our ranks will continue to
grow.
