CoolSky/McPhat Studios Shows Off Some DC-9 Tails

Elsewhere, CoolSky and McPhat Studios have recently been teasing us with some screenshots of several repaints (tails only) from their upcoming DC-9.  This is usually a very good sign...generally, the fact that they are doing repaints now means that most of the other major items are out of the way.  We could see a release of this one very soonish.

More Original 737 Models for Flight Simulator

I have already touched on Captain Sim's 737 Captain at great length.  In addition, there are a couple of other Original 737 products either out, or due, that look interesting:

• JustFlight is offering the 737 Professional for US $45.95.  This is apparently the first product produced by BlackBox Simulation, which is the successor to PSS.  Unfortunately, initial reports on this one from the AVSIM Forums have been underwhelming - in particular, the sounds and textures are way below par.
• A Canadian outfit known as Military Visualizations (MilViz), which is primarily known for producing military aircraft for Flight Simulator, appears to be branching out with development on a 737-200 Adv of their very own.  Screenshots and videos posted so far look very impressive.  No known timeframe exists for a release yet, but it looks like they are coming right along.

The Original 737 is definitely long overdue for a proper treatment in FS, but it looks like it is definitely getting a lot of love this year.

Captain Sim Updates 737 Captain to Version 0.6

Captain Sim has updated their 737 Captain product to version 0.6.  This will supposedly be the last version in the "Stage 2" experimental/paid beta mode, before the product revision is bumped to 1.0, and presumably on to "Stage 3" release status.  Here is the list of fixes in version 0.6.

There are lots of 737-200 products out or due soon...more on this in a separate post.

Captain Sim Releases 737 Captain Under New Release Paradigm

I've debated whether I should mention this, but since there isn't much else going on right now, I may as well.

Captain Sim announced a new three stage release paradigm about a week ago:

Stage 1 - Exterior - Call this an early alpha stage of the release, with only the exterior model available.  Interior systems are typically aliased to one of the default FSX aircraft for now.

Stage 2 - Experimental - Work-in-progress version of the product, essentially an early beta.  Product is flyable, but may CTD, and some items are not yet implemented.

Stage 3 - Release - Product is in a state worthy of release.

In essence, if you buy the product at Stage 1, they will charge you around €10.  If you buy the product at Stage 2, the price goes up to around €30.  If you wait until Stage 3, the price goes up to around €40.  They charge you to upgrade at each stage, although the purchase price of the previous stage is applied toward the cost of the upgrade.  So, if you paid €20 for Stage 2, it will only cost you an additional €10 to upgrade to Stage 3.  The 737 Captain is the first product that introduces this tiered release model, and it currently sits at the Experimental stage.

The tiered model seems reasonably fair, I guess.  You can decide to pay to help test what is essentially a beta stage of the product, and then have that amount applied toward the final purchase price of the release version of the product.  I'm not in that big of a hurry to get hold of the 737 Captain yet, so I will just wait a while until the release version is here - or at the very least, something close to that.

This  is also why I am holding off on doing any sort of mini-review of the 737 Captain for the time being - as a general rule, I do not review works-in-progress here, although I am happy to talk about them.

Captain Sim Updates Progress on 737 Captain

Captain Sim appears to be nearing the finish line toward a release of the full version of the 737 Captain (737-100/200 series) product!  They announced a major update today, including some screenshots of the interior and flight deck.  Good stuff.

Included in the announcement were a few other interesting items:

• 737-200 will now be the base model.  This is a great call, because the -200 was immensely more popular than the -100 model.  Outside of Lufthansa, very few airlines ordered the -100.
• A 737-200 Adv has now been confirmed as an expansion model.  Unclear if this will simply be the range-enhanced exterior model, or if it will also include the updated cockpit (more 737-300/400/500 like) of the later 737-200 Adv series planes.
• Price for the base model is confirmed as €39.99, or about US $52 at today's exchange rate.

If you're looking to try out the exterior model, there is now a free demo of the 737-100 available, too.

Looks to be a fun year to fly some classics, between this one and the upcoming Coolsky DC-9!

Microsoft Flight! Released

Microsoft released Flight! on February 29.  The basic game is available as a free download from the Microsoft web site.  Microsoft plans to make money on Flight! by selling add-ons, in a manner reminiscent of MMORPGs.  I downloaded it and tried it out, and my basic reaction is, "meh."  It really seems to be more of a game than a sim.  In essence, you are given little mini-quests to complete, which have the purpose of teaching you how to fly.  I think the graphics do look a little slicker than FSX on some elements, but it lacks a number of features from FSX.  I haven't totally given up on Flight! - it's still on my hard drive for now - but I think I will be sticking with FSX for the time being.

PMDG Releases NGX SP1c

This weekend, PMDG released the SP1c update to the 737 NGX.  Info and links to the files are available here.

The highlights of this update include:

• Numerous tweaks and fixes (see the link above for details)
• PMDG NGX SDK - for developers working on products that will interact with the NGX
• Tutorial #2 - this one teaches a few new tricks with the NGX, via a cool approach.  Capt. Randazzo highly recommends all pilots try this one out.

In addition, Capt. Randazzo notes that progress on SP2 and further expansions has slowed a bit, due to a "lack of data issue on a few key pieces."  Sounds like work is ongoing, but we should not expect to see anything right away.