To clarify what Lieste already wrote - for owners of SB Pro PE this is an upgrade; new copies will be sold at a non-upgrade price, but both manual and CD are the same. The sole difference is that the Uprade will be sold without a CodeMeter stick while the normal version contains one (and a license of course).

cool... will be ordering another full license copy as soon as released, was hoping before X-mas, so I could give my dad my old copy as a X-mas present... but 1st Q 09 is cool with me.

You could simply order a copy for your Dad right now and upgrade your version once that it becomes available. It won't cost you more that way.

Again, apologies for not catching the pay for upgrade. I don't visit this forum as often as I should, not because I dislike the sim, but playing it seems to carry a seasonal flair with me and just check for the occasional update. I agree, that paying for upgrades is a must, just know that there have always been some bugs with regards to AI path solving in what is otherwise a great sim. It was perhaps the AI driving into the ravines that caused me to loose some interest and what brought me back were the new vehicles added (CV90). Admittedly, I would have paid for those alone, but figured 120.00 was a bit pricey for a computer sim, but purchased anyway because of my love for sims, especially armor. Anyway, I will gladly pay for the upgrades, just wish the patch stuff would be offered for free, to further complete an already great sim. I also noticed Magnum is talking about a new dongle, is there any difference between the new and old version that would warrant change? Thanks

Matt

No, that's a misunderstanding.

As far as separating bug fixes from new features; this is often impractical (e.g. if a new feature replaces an old one and, by the way, also fixes a problem with the old function). And even if it was always perfectly possible, the point is, it still is work for any developer. The customer will always pay for it, be it through a higher price initially, or be it because it's a pay for play subscription, or in the form of an upgrade that isn't free. Better marketers than I apparently am will manage to evoke the illusion that bug fixes are free, but they never are.

I'm all for intellectual honesty. In an ideal world, programming errors would never occur. But this is not Plato's universe of divine perfection. There is not a single non-trivial commercial software on this planet that is free of bugs. Programming errors therefore simply are something with which we must learn to live. Still, they are a nuisance at best, and a serious problem in other situations. The question now is whether the customers of a software developer are willing to create an incentive for said developer to keep polishing the code even though the software meets the basic requirements of a "reasonably reliable" product.

Now, I don't know about you, but apparently my tolerance for bugs is lower than what the average game consumer is willing to put up with, judging by the heaps of bugfests that the game industry seems to crank out every year. I wouldn't want SB Pro to end like that. Still, the business logic suggests that the strategy of EA and other game publishers is valid, and successful with consumers. Apparently people will base their bying decisions on factors like shelf space in supermarkets, TV spots, screenshots, banner ads, elegies in game magazines that aren't worth the paper on which they're being printed. Apparently they don't care at all about the quality of customer support (even though it is obvious that "game hint" hotlines at 1.99 a minute are a clear rip-off, especially with kids). There is no evidence (or even a hint) that the history of a developer and the technical quality of past code contributes in any meaningful way to retail sales figures.

With this as a given background the a perspective of strict business logic suggests that the most efficient solution is to reduce the number of bugs just barely below the point where most user most of the time won't feel much pain from the bugs, and leave it there. Any additional minute spent on improvements is waste. If that is the desired end result, I can only encourage people to continue to argue in discussion boards against paying for software upgrades.



I know that YOU don't argue that way, don't get me wrong. Still, the question is what kind on an incentive the manifest buying behavior of consumers creates, and at least as far as retail games are concerned bug fixing is not encouraged very much by the vast majority of game consumers.

No need to change your dongle hardware at all, just update the license information contained on it as you purchase new software - including software from other vendors or updates to existing software.

Magnum was purchasing an additional full version to use as a gift for another 'household'. If you wanted to add additional users to your own local area network you could purchase additional license(s) to store on the same stick as an existing full license, up to a maximum of seven additional users. These require a full license to function but can be bought for much less than the cost of an additional copy of SB ProPE.

Though I'm not sure who actually has a LAN with eight decent machines on it at home...

Well, there may be cases of people who regularly invite friends who'd bring their own laptops. If they are not too enthusiastic about tanks, having secondary licenses on your stick might still get you some play time with your non-armor-centric friends.

There are very few cases - I can remember one or two - who actually bouth the full complement of seven secondary licenses in the past two years.

Meh. Just got my sister her christmas present, a piece of (business) software costing 359€. Not including 20€ shipping. Their "upgrade plan" (upgrades free for the next year) would have been another 50€.

SB is dirt cheap compared to that (especially as you get to blow things up!).

Finally some new screenshots!

Spanish Army Vehicles
Leopardo 2E
Pizarro
Centauro

Netherlands/Denmark(?)
CV 90/35

A new Helicopter
MRH-90

And (finally) Anti-Air:
Tunguska
RBS 70-1

Retro, are these all playable vehicles in the upcoming release? Fantastic shots too, BTW.

Matt