We’re sitting in the flight sim twilight zone right now – this is the weird space in between and the proverbial calm before the storm. I’m excited and anxious all at the same time and I can’t wait to try some of the new stuff coming down the pipeline.
We’re waiting on some big things
If you’re a fan of the IL-2 series or the DCS series – you’re probably aware that big things are coming. Coming soon!
DCS World is about to finally release the long promised and long awaited merged DCS World 2.5. This release will usher in a new era for the series that has long been split between versions 1.5 and 2.0. They have been split between the Caucasus map and the Nevada map, between different rendering engines, and between promised new features and hold-outs for the old. Soon they will be merged together and with them many promises for the future will begin to take-hold. Many more promises will be finally realized.
For IL-2, we’re waiting for version 3.001 and the official release of IL-2: Battle of Kuban. This release is one of the biggest in the series history.
A large cluster of new content and perhaps more importantly, new features that have been long awaited will finally arrive. Players have called from the start for a Co-op mode and for a Career mode. These two features are just weeks away now after years of hoping and waiting. Five aircraft have also been held up in the pipeline along with dozens of smaller features, tweaks and fixes for the series. When 3.001 release it will be a big update not just for the Kuban content release but for the entire series.
This is the Twilight Zone
In between imagination and reality we’re currently in that zone of being stuck “in between”. The new releases will dramatically alter how we play both titles and will introduce all kinds of new features and content all at the same time. That is what makes this January such an odd time for the community as we wait for these to finally be realized.
In a way, these new features that are just around the corner make playing the current iterations, themselves already feature packed and highly evolved, just a little more challenging. You don’t want to invest too much time into something like say a campaign – when you’re waiting on some big things to change and be much improved. It’s fine when they are things that are distant on the horizon but in this case we’re only weeks away.
I wouldn’t say its curtailed my flying too much but it has a little. I don’t want to invest too deeply into anything until the latest content has come out.
Excitement building
The excitement for both series has definitely reached a fevered pitch in the community.
People are excited, anxious, cranky, and ready for the latest changes all at the same time. Users post what they are most excited about, tempers flare, and everyone talks about what if this and what if that. It’s not a bad place to be in – it means that new things are promising and hope for the future of these titles is at an all time high.
It’s a weird time for the flight sim communities that I belong to and interact with. We’re waiting for big and exciting things that are just around the corner I know I just can’t wait to try out a whole bunch of new things – things that are the culmination of months or years of effort that have all lead to this.
What about you? Has your excitement about future items put a damper on your current flying or are you just a gung-ho as ever? Let me know in the comments!
Stormbirds 
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