McPhat Studios Confirms Wilco/feelThere 737 PIC v2

Remember that juicy little tidbit we dropped about McPhat looking for beta testers for one of their partner's products recently?

Well, it turns out that the developer in question is Wilco/feelThere, and they are indeed working on an update to the 737 PIC.  If you want to help beta test it, step on over to McPhat's forums and put the good word in for yourself.

This is really good news.  I liked the 737 PIC, but all the flat textures in the VC were very unrealistic.  While I don't expect something on par with the PMDG 737 NGX in terms of realism, it will be nice to have at least a new refresh of the 737 Classic series.  With airlines like Southwest flying both 737 Classics and 737 NG's, it will be very nice to have flyable versions of both in FSX this year.

Looks like we will have every 737 available to fly the virtual skies before long:

• Captain Sim 737 Captain (737-100/-200) - the original "Baby Boeing" - exterior only right now, but interior in development
• Wilco/feelThere 737 PIC v2 (737-300/-400/-500) - the 737 Classic series (coming soon)
• PMDG 737 NGX (737-600/-700/-800/-900) - -800/-900 available now, -600/-700 and other NG variants coming soon
• iFly 737 NG (737-600/-700/-800/-900) - all four models available now

Exciting times.  Now hopefully soon, we can get some updated Airbuses, too!

Captain Sim Releases 737-200 Exterior

Captain Sim has released the 737-200 exterior model for their 737 Captain project.

Right now, the 737 Captain is an exterior model only, aliased to the default FSX 737.  Work on the VC and interior is ongoing.  As with the 737-100 model, the current cost is €9.99 (about US $14.00).  It appears that you can apply the purchase price of these external models toward the full versions, when they are released.

QualityWings BAe 146/AvroRJ Delayed

QualityWings announced a firmer release plan for the release of the BAe 146/AvroRJ product today.  Also, due to the scope and complexity of the project (both BAe 146 and AvroRJ models for FS9 and FSX), they decided to split up the release a bit.  Right now, they are planning to do as follows:

Release Stage 1:
Avro RJ70, RJ85, and RJ100 for FS9

Release Stage 2:
Avro RJ70, RJ85, and RJ100 for FSX

Release Stage 3:
BAe 146-100, -200, and -300 for FS9 and FSX

Customers will pay for all models up front and get free updates as the subsequent stages are released.  If this is too risky for you, you can always just wait until all the stages are completed.  Unfortunately, they are now saying that Stage 1 will not be due until the end of Q4 2011, which means we won't see anything for FSX on this product until 2012.  Bummer, but understandable.  Hopefully they will use the extra time to make it an even better product.

Captain Sim Releases 737 Captain (Exterior Only)

Captain Sim has released the initial version of the 737 Captain, featuring the 737-100 exterior model and three liveries.  Work on the 737 Captain's interior systems is ongoing, but for now, the interior of the plane is aliased to the default 737 from FSX.  Price is only €9.99 for now, and sure to go up when the full version is out.  I understand early adopters will get a discount on the full version when it is released.

Enjoy!