New Screenshots

[EURO_Snoopy]

[EURO_Snoopy]

I'm not liking the colours!

The blue of the sky seems washed out, lack of reds in sunsets, yellow is predominant colour, almost gives me a headache.

On the upside, aircraft look reasonable, as do smoke and explosion effects.

[sinbad]

My credit card is out. When will this be available?

sinbad

[EURO_Snoopy]

Original release date was for April, latest date was for this month but it looks as though this date will be missed. Maybe June?

[IV/JG1_Oesau]

The a/c look good, formations of bombers look too "tidy".

I've been following this sims development for a while now and am looking forward to it's release.

Still interesting to note that they have not shown a cockpit picture for a long, long time. Overall I'm happy to support a new WWII combat sim as BoB from Oleg is going to be some time off.

[dieg777]

spitfires look wrong
was hoping this would add something to the flight community but everything I see puts me off- hope further developments prove me wrong

[Willy]

The props don't cut it for me, and all I see looks too much like the original, although I must admit to being a little sceptical about this one. As I have the original, which was ok...in it's day, but was never as good as the IL2 series in my opinion.

I really think that it is just a quicky business venture, to dress up an old and out of date sim, then sell it to the unwitting customer under the hype attached to the much expected Maddox BoB. To be expected, I think, considering that Rowans code was up for grabs (for some years), MS appear to be out of the combat flight sim market and Maddox is sensibly taking his time to produce another leading edge product. A potential gap in the market may be foreseen...

All in all a potentialy sound plan to make cheep money, but....not any of mine I'll run IL2/PF for quite some time to come (even after the "real" Maddox BoB is released), and save my extra support, for a genuinely new simulator, like the night warfare one in development "Target for Tonight", http://www.womengamers.com/interviews/t4t.php

O.T. has anyone got any recent news on this one, as their website seems to be down at the moment?

[EURO_Snoopy]

Sorry to report Willy that the Target For Tonight project has been cancelled

[CrazySchmidt]

These screen shots look great! I gain more interest each time I look at this stuff and yet I still wonder... Will it be worth spending the dollars?

Looks like it could be.

Cheers, CS.

[Willy]

Sorry to report Willy that the Target For Tonight project has been cancelled

Ahh, that's a real shame. I felt that one had some decent potential

Thanks anyway for the heads-up.

[IV/JG1_Oesau]

Over at the shockwave forums they get a little defensive when you mention IL2 and that is generally followed by some good old IL2 bashing.

They do say however that they are not in competition with Olegs BoB as theirs will be based around single player as opposed to online. This IMHO correctly identifies a short coming in the IL2 series but it’s any ones guess what Olegs BoB will be like in that department.

The funny thing is, that many of the members go on to say that PF has really old code behind it. This may be true (IL2 engine is getting on now) but they seem to loose sight that BoB WOV is using code just as old!

[PVT.Roger]

Hyper sensitivity from the fellows at the Shockwave forum shouldn't be to big of a surprise to anyone. IL-2/FB/PF bashing is the norm for any fan of one of the other WWII flight sims, be in CFS series, or Rowans BoB. Pity really, as anyone with any sense at all would see Oleg Maddox and Co. continue to breath life into a genre that others have walked away from. Where IL-2 fails, it makes up for in areas it triumphs in.

BoB, (both Rowan's original, and the reincarnation by Shockwave) has it's loyal followers that will buy this new game without any reservation. You could almost put the new version in a new box, and they would have at it. Of course some guys will take the opposite tact and not give it any chance at all, no matter what. Then there is the guy who is taking the wait and see approach. Will the new version of this game improve in the areas Rowans version was weak in? Well, we know that multiplayer will not be improved, but the jury is out on some of the other things.

Fanboys of any game will not listen to any criticism directed at their favorite game, or game developer. Cynics will only find fault in the same no matter what the merits are. Gamers who love the genre will hope for the best, but judge based on the facts, not on someones hope of what the game will end up being.

Personally, I'm waiting for a demo, the first version wasn't my cuppa tea.

[JamesB]

Well I think this little argument is quite easily reversed:

"IL-2/FB/PF bashing is the norm for any fan of one of the other WWII flight sims, be in CFS series, or Rowans BoB. Pity really, as anyone with any sense at all would see Oleg Maddox and Co. continue to breath life into a genre that others have walked away from. Where IL-2 fails, it makes up for in areas it triumphs in."

Any adverse comment about IL2 on the forums dedicated to the sim produces flames which the devil himself would be proud of!!! I think if you check out the BoB forum on SimHq for instance, you will find us about as easy going as they get.

Anyway, hello all.

You will NOT have seen any involved with the dev of BoB II WOV bashing IL2

I own all the series except Pacific fighters and I understand why people like them, but they have more than their fair share of "fan boys". However, the series does not recreate the massive battles of the BoB which is what I want to see, and the theatre of Ops is not my bag, thats why I work on BoB and not IL2.

BoB WOV will not simply be a re-box of Rowan's BoB. There has been an incredible amount of work put into it and much code is new, but....... It is BoB II, its not meant to be BoB as we think Oleg might have made it, he is doing his own and we wanted to concentrate on the things that Rowans BoB was good at and enhance them. We have said that we are not attempting to compete with Oleg.

If you liked BoB you will like BoB II, if not then you may still like it as there are many improvements, but if you want a multiplayer game this will not be for you, at least not in the short term.

[IV/JG1_Oesau]

Well I'm always keen to play off line even though I'm a online player.

Shockwave have produced some very good products in the past and I hope that they can do it with this. I am always ready to support a good flight sim, as the market needs the support (and that's why I'm active in the forums at Shockwave).

[PVT.Roger]

James

I said in my post that fan boys of any game will not tolerate attacks on their game or their developer. I never said anyone involved with the development of BoBII attacked IL-2 or any of it's offspring. Heck, they would have to be stupid to do so... on so many levels! For one, the future may yet allow them to add on to the original game once Oleg is completely immersed in his own BoB. He's a bit of a control freak about his baby, but ya never know. Plus, the game is clearly the benchmark that most games wish they could aspire to (offline campaign being the notable the exception). To attack it would only make them look stupid and petty.

I hope every game in this genre has success. My personal taste for Rowans BoB aside, I know that some, hopefully many will support it. I'd likely be among them if not for some of the originals more glaring issues/features.

This new version of BoB will not measure up to Oleg's version in side by side comparison, but why would it? This new version is simply a rework of an old game. Oleg's will be made from the ground up, and won't likely hit stores until late 2006 or 2007. It should be pushing the boundaries at release, and be the NEW benchmark for everyone to aspire to.

Hopefully by that time, the gaming world will have played BoBII to death, and be ready for the new BoB.