"Can you imagine what we will see with SOW based on what the IL2 engine has provided for the last 9 years? Oleg, with the IL2 series, has set a very high bar for his team to clear with SOW."

Well at least one good thing about the waiting, we know we won't just get a hastily thrown together sequel to IL2 1946.

Yep, hastily and SOW are poles apart.

Regarding how long it takes to make a game:

Take, for example, Dragon Age (a medieval setting RPG). Its an AAA title that will probably vie for "game of the year". I've been a regular Dragon Age (DA) official-forum participant since June 2004 (it had already been in development a year or so). Its being released in November 2009, they say (but it keeps slipping a matter of weeks at a time).

That's roughly 6 years to develop. And, DA has a much bigger development team and budget than SoW (funded by Bioware and EA). DA is probably NOT harder to develop than SoW. Hence, SoW development time may be in the ballpark for an AAA title developed by a small team.

but how long did it take to start seeing screenshots and other info...ie...web site...system req...forum...and other PR stuff?

Dragon Age developers were hassled regularly. Some said DA was a fraud (sound familiar). About around November 2006, a couple dozen screens were released. The fans $h.t all over them. No more were released.

The significant flow of screen shots and in-game videos started in July 2008 -- nominally for a Spring 2009 release date. Since then the release has been postponed a couple times (now November 2009).

So, the deluge of screens and videos made their true beginning about 9 months before the originally scheduled release (but the release has slipped roughly 6 months).

The public was apprised of DA years before it was released and a DA forum was started in 2004. The developers say that was an experiment that they will not repeat.

Nowadays, the new think is to hold back information until about 6 to 9 months before release. In some cases, one will not even know the game is in development until then. Apparently, letting the fans know too much too soon leads to bad public relations, they say.

Actually, hastily and SOW do not exist on the same plane. (no pun intended)

The main problem with SOW is that the title has been anticipated for so long and we all thought it was being worked on way back when and, apparently it was not.

So, glacial startup and techno-creep = we wait....two more weeks, be sure!

two more years, be surer

Yes, I meant both. Weapons aside, there's no difference right?
Oleg seems to like aviation in any form and we will get the SU-26 with SoW:BoB.
There's really no point in differentiating between the two after all (though separate sales generates more money of course), and he has made it clear that he is open for third party developers, e.g the Korea war that is all ready confirmed.
So I don't think he would mind if some of the Flight Sim add-on makers would create some modern content even if he'll probably concentrate on WWII himself.
Well, I hope so anyway, he's shown his expertise in that area for close to a decade now.

It would be nice if Oleg/crew just finished their original concept of SOW first, before trying to cater for everyone.

What do you think will be in the initial release?

Battle of Britain means a short time of intense action to most of us but....