So I have been away for a LONG time and see that the new game is here - where do I purchase the game and also what type of system is recommended? Does it rate as good or better that the original?

THANKS!
-Reno

In North America it has yet to be released, though you can buy it from www.justflight.com. Select UK as your country (you will have to pay in GBP, which makes it cost $55-60). They'll provide you with a CD key, which you then enter into Steam and download from there.

My system is on the higher end, (2600K @4.8Ghz, Nvidia 580GTX, 4gigs RAM) and it runs just fine. I rather doubt there is any existing hardware yet that will run it flawlessly under all circumstances at max settings though.

edit: You probably want to search this section for the justflight.com info, I know someone else made a more detailed post about the procedure (not that it's that difficult, but better safe than sorry).

Thanks Aero! Any dates for the North American release?

July 19th is the current date that Steam gives, though it has been pushed back a number of times. It wouldn't surprise me if they pushed it back a bit more to at least get the multiplayer sound engine fixed. I originally intended to wait for the NA release, but I was getting fed up with the delays. It's still far from done, but what I have now is good enough to enjoy. I'm pretty impressed with it myself, but most of the more experienced simmers are not at all impressed because of the bugs. As I understand the most damaging bug at the moment is the sound effects cutting out entirely after a few minutes, but only in multiplayer (which I don't do), and some people have CTDs (I only had one, a few weeks ago with a beta patch that has since been made final). Also, most of the wingman commands don't work at all, which can be a problem. Personally, what I find the most annoying currently is that there is no delay between radio messages, so you might get five radio messages all playing at once, which doesn't really work out to well.

So, I don't know, I'm glad I bought it early. A wiser, more patient person would just wait for the North American release, or perhaps even longer for them to fix the biggest problems. Depends on your disposition, I suppose.

Bottom line, I'd say its in an acceptable state to play around with, but if you're looking to hardcore devote yourself to a sim like many of us do, it's not there yet and likely won't be for some time.

edit: Oh, and I didn't mention stuttering. Some people have terrible stuttering, and this may not necessarily be related to how powerful their computers are. I only get a little bit when first entering the cockpit and an occasional smaller hitch when new terrain graphics load (one hitch every few minutes, though if it happens to occur when you're trying to line up a shot on an ememy, that can be very frustrating).