Which do you prefer?

After a cursory examination...I can't tell the difference.

To my best recollection, PC Pilot always seemed to have a higher quality of writing.

You can't tell the difference? You're kidding, right? Computer Pilot is about 70% ads, and 20% instrument flying, which I don't care for. PC Pilot has a much better balance. They have a lot less ads and a lot more articles. They balance information/articles related to visual flying and instrument flying. PC Pilot's reviews of the top flight sims tend to be more detailed and interesting, although neither mag publishes negative reviews. Finally, PC Pilot has no peer when it comes to publishing "How To" guides, especially instrucional guides on flying different types of aircraft (helicopters, commercial airliners, general aviation, etc.) in FSX.

I used to read Computer Pilot, but grew tired of sifting through 70% advertisements to get to the good stuff. PC Pilot contains half as many advertisements as Computer Pilot, which means twice as much of what I'm looking for--articles that have nothing to do with instrument flying, VOR and all that stuff.

well i only compared one issue to another issue so my opinion was not indepth in any way...

but tks for the info, very interesting

I think one of the mod's writes for pcpilot

I do write for them - so I'm biased..

But if you'd like to check out a free issue of PC Pilot I think you can still get a PDF version here: http://www.pcpilot.net/freeissue/

I'm enjoying writing a new series for them called "Challenging Airports"...



The thing I do like about PC Pilot is that we do include a fair bit of non-FSX/FS9 stuff as well. I've reviewed several planes for X-Plane, and enjoyed writing articles on Flaming Cliffs, a whole series of tutorials on Black Shark, DCS A-10 previews and reviews, etc.. Having grown to know the staff over the past couple years I can say they have a great handle on a wide range of topics with lots of GA, airline, and military experience on the staff. The cover CD they send with each issue is nice too since it includes a lot of quality freeware stuff like aircraft, scenery, and utilities.

Anyway, check out the free issue and see if it is to your liking. I'd also recommend checking out Computer Pilot and seeing which suits you best.

And if any of you have any suggestions for content for PC Pilot..or things you'd like to see us cover more or better, I can certainly pass along suggestions to our editor..




Chris "BeachAV8R" Frishmuth

Don't read any of them.

I read all of your tutorials, Chris. Your tutorials and PC Pilot Magazine overall are top notch. However, I didn't like the 80/100 score on COD, a ridiculous score that is the result of an editorial policy (guessing here) never to publish a negative review. The rationalizations by the author for his so-called "score" were absurd. Wasn't it convenient that anything and everything clearly awful about COD were features coincidentally he personally didn't care about so he didn't consider them in his grading? That's like admitting there were clearly awful things about Adolph Hitler; however, because we personally don't care about those things we'll disregard them in our evaluation of the man. He wasn't so bad.


Anyway, you can't have it both ways. That "review" is the only recent black mark on PC Pilot that I can think of. It's far superior to Computer Pilot.

Can't comment on the COD review since I don't have COD and probably won't get it because it isn't my ear/cup o' tea. (edit - but I guess I do anyway..lol..) Regarding review scores - they are certainly subjective depending on what the author is looking for. I've given reviews with scores of down to 70/100 even though the product was part of a lineup that was a heavy advertiser. We get no direction or pressure for our review scores (subtle or otherwise) and I can honestly say I've never once been challenged or influenced on review scores by editors or anyone else. Speaking for myself, developers know when I speak the truth. For instance - I'm a stickler for documentation and if a great product has poor docs (cough - Carenado Saratoga) it suffers in the overall score. I've seen reviews with scores down in the 50s, but I've not come across any add-ons that warrant that (thank goodness) but only because I haven't been assigned piece-of-crap software to review (yet).

In a way I'd be interested to give COD a shot and give my assessment, but I fear I wouldn't be knowledgeable enough to give an accurate review. See, I skipped the entire IL-2 series. I bought them, and have them on CDs and DVDs (and Steam) laying about, but I've never played them. So for me, if I fired up COD..I would probably be wowed by the visuals and explosions and cockpit details...probably far more so than someone who has a long history with the IL2 franchise. So there are so many variables to reviews that you have to read them, add them to the collective opinions spread across the web and user communities, and then make a purchasing decision.

Also - the whole first paragraph of the article titled "A Difficult Beginning" is pretty clear that the COD release was (is) a troubled affair. There is a section later in the review titled "Unresolved Issues" and further critical comment in the "Summary". On the whole - 80% is a pretty poor score for something when you compare it to something like DCS A-10 which received a 95% and a PC Platinum award. When a crappy single plane add-on for FSX by a poor design studio gets a 70% or so score, I think you could argue that people would get more value and fun out of even a flawed COD, so the 80% recognizes that while it is better than an FSX add-on that was a miss, it isn't as good quality-wise as a great FSX add-on or a great stand alone combat sim such as Black Shark or A-10.

One thing I've tried to do in my reviews for both SimHQ and PC Pilot has been to keep a balance within the article of pros and cons that is proportional to the overall product quality. So..in pure mathematical terms, if I have a 1500 word article (and space is tight in print articles..as opposed to the long winded articles I can write for SimHQ..lol..) and I feel that 85% of the product is great and 15% could use work..then I think it is proper to allocate the body of the article in equal proportions. Which means there might only be a paragraph or two total of negative while 85% of the article highlights the good stuff. That isn't totally accurate for every article..but I strive for a balance within that gives a proper valuation of the product. It isn't a science for sure...

Hope that explains a little bit without sounding defensive. Thanks for the input and our editor reads the forums here at SimHQ, so I'm sure he will take note and consider some of the comments (both pro and con) about our magazine.

Regards..!
BeachAV8R

Main reason I got this months magazine was the Challenging airports article as i had been watching a TV programme about the same thing a few days before and was planning to do my own challenging flights in MSFS soon. So its great stuff. Also the Rise of Flight and CoD stuff will get me buying it. Not so interested in the MSFS addon articles but I appreciate that they are a major reason for the magazine. I generally prefer the 'how to' articles more than the reviews but overall its a great magazine and the only computer mag I buy these days now that PC Gamer and its ilk are so lame.

Wow. That's exactly what I was thinking. PC Pilot is all I buy now for the same reason. PC Gamer might as well be renamed Console Gamer. Save the occasional appearance by Andy Mahood reviewing the rare release of an actual PC sim, PC Gamer is worthless.

Beach I didn't realise it was you behind that Challenging Airports feature. I enjoyed it very much and look forward to the next instalment.

It is probably one of my most favorite series of articles I've been lucky enough to get approval for. I've always enjoyed the off beat airstrips and whacky approaches. I think that is why I enjoyed the "Amazon Adventure" mission in FSX so much..

I just wish I were rich enough to afford my own plane so I could try to squeeze into St. Barts someday. Something tells me my company won't be letting me take the King Air or Citation in there..

Thanks guys, we appreciate the input and I'll send those comments higher to let them know what the readers are looking for. I can't remember if we've covered some advanced topics yet like the emerging use of LNAV/VNAV approaches..but those are the type of article where even *I* learn a lot (lol..)

Regards...
BeachAV8R

when i went on to my local smiths to buy pc pilot they had received the usa bar code efdition and had to send them back and wont be getting July/august edition:(

Get it via the website - same price and free postage. Or get a subscription so you don't miss any of those challenging airports articles! I should do it myself as my baby girl has just trashed my copy of the magazine.

I hope in future issues they will include the scenery on the disk the same as they did with the first Challenging Airports article - that was a superb idea. They should do that for the flight adventures where possible as well. Beats having a load of unrelated add-ons on the disk. They should include flight plans on the disk at least for the adventures I think especially the ones with complex approaches.

But what I would really really love to see them provide on the disk is a mission/adventure with added recorded speech like this bloke does:

http://www.vertical-studios.net/products

Really makes the missions ten times better and surely wouldnt be that difficult to do. Would put the magazine in another realm for me and many others I am sure. I don't buy every magazine as I don't usually see something it is that catches my eye (unlike the last and present copies) but this would really make me interested in ordering them. I think this kind of thing on the disk would make it really valuable to all those casual flight simmers who are like me and dont buy many , if any, addons that presently feature heavily in the magazine.

Its that kind of thing I would love to see - adventures with flight plans, quality missions with copilot speech, articles on how to play the game and actually fly the various types of planes, real life articles about how these MSFS planes are actually used in real life, articles on other related sims like Space Shuttle Mission Sim 2007, RoF and CoD, etc, articles on flight related things like aviation art perhaps, articles on aviation history such as the air war of WW1. This is what I like to read, not just stuff on MSFS addons. Its the regular inclusion of just MSFS stuff that prevents me from subscribingas I know in a few weeks I will be playing RoF or CoD over MSFS, to come back to MSFS again later.

Having said all that its far better than the other PC gaming mags around which are all geared to FPS console games for kids.

I found it by accident at a news kioski on a street in Rome. I was one shocked American.

PC Pilot all the way. ComputerPilot is too much FSX not enough other sims for my taste.

Yes, it is mostly FSX but it doesn't do FSX enough justice. Too much focus on instrument flying and VOR (whatever that is), stuff I have no interest in. I only do visual flight rules flying and GPS. I don't have time to learn IFR, VOR or reading charts and stuff. I play a lot of different sims, so I don't have the time to master any of them, except Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield.

And please cut down on those advertisements, Computer Pilot. 70% of your magazine is nothing but ads! Then 30% of stuff about instrument flying and charts I don't understand or care about.

thanks shall order online:)

rainbox six is going back a bit plainsman,dont you fancy BF3 when it drops oct28th?

I havn't read computer pilot if im honest, i will say this though... I look forward to the next issue of pc pilot falling through my letterbox every 2 months, i love the range of articles, reviews and hints/tips. I only wish it were monthly.

No. I dont' like scripted shooters. BF3, COD2,3 or 4, whatever, Medal of Honor, those are SCRIPTED (you have to follow a certain path) arcade type shooters. They are ACTiON shooters. I prefer tactical shooters with strong A.I. That's why I like Ghost Recon Classic and, yes, all the Clancy Rainbow/Rogue Spear shooters except the terrible Lockdown and the Vegas scripted action shooters. I love the planning in the original R6/Rogue Spear tactical shooters. You could go to your objective from almost any direction and a several different routes. The original Red Storm shooters were thinking mens shooters. BF3 and the other scripted shooters are teenager action shooters. Just follow the pre-determined path and enjoy the cinematics (and unrealistic action).

thanks might try GR again years since ive played but i agree about the scripted stuff, i play bfbc2 for the mp really and i will BF3 also so you rec the oroiginal GR to start?
thanks

I subbed both this year, pc pilot seems to suit my interests better

I rec that you download the original GR Classic with the two expansion packs from Steam. You also get in the same download, GR Advanced Warfighter 1 and gR Advanced Warfighter 2 in the same download for the price of just one game! The whole thing is one bundle. Great deal.

Mind you, I don't hate the SCRIPTED Action shooters, they just aren't as much fun (to me) as the tactial shooters. I've played several of the action shooters, but they're one and done. No replay value in singleplayer, and MP is too much run 'n gun twitch action for my taste.

I used to play Hidden and Dangerous but found my team mates were always getting killed and I couldnt be bothered to take the time to control them properly. This is why I prefer first person shooters over tactical shooters. Although I do still like ARMA2 above anything else and thats quite tactical - I like it because you can arrange your own missions, which can turn out just as suprisingly as if you were playing someone elses.

But it says a lot when the only two games I have ever finished in my life are Doom 2 and Call of Duty.

I havent even finished Half Life 2 and I played that game for ages, it seemed, just to get stuck on the bit where you have to set up two automatic guns in a prison corridor and you get attacked by waves of enemy police and flying things. Tried that bit for ages and couldn't get through it so I gave up in the end, havent been back to it since. Some games are just so difficult they aren't fun.

I recently subscribed to PC Pilot using their iPad app. It looks great on the iPad and is something like half price when compared to the printed version. It's a great read!

Say if I wanted to get PCPilot in germany, would anybody know how to get them? I tried the trainstation Newspaper shops and the airport ones, but they don´t seem to have them. And the ones at train stations and airports are hands down the best stocked ones in germany. I can get Air Forces Monthly in Stuttgart but not PC Pilot. We got the FS Magazin which covers a lot of FS9/X, a bit of X-plane and other Flight sims and Flight (Formerly FlightXpress) which only covers MSFS, which isn´t that interesting to me. I think I´ll make the jump to Xplane this fall with X-plane 10 anyway.

Thanks for the heads up on the PC Pilot iPad version from the people on this thread.

I have been interested in PC Pilot for a while but I no longer seem to read paper books or magazines with my iPad available and so the iPad is the perfect option, I did the 1 year subscription.

Looking forward to more great articles (I also prefer how-tos and other sim knowledge articles as opposed to reviews).

How can you tell when a new edition of PC Pilot hits the bookstores?

PC Pilot for sure

Usually second week of the first month of the bi-monthly. So second week of September for the September-October edition. I've only seen it at Barnes and Noble in the U.S. and street corner stands in Rome.