SimHQ.com - 2008: Double Aught and Almost Naught

The 2008 SimHQ Simulation Product of the Year is DCS: Black Shark. While the selection might at first evoke a "well, duh!" or "of course!" response, the SimHQ award crosses over all genres in hardware and software. That includes some very significant competition and was not the automatic selection it might seem since DCS: Black Shark was the only study flight sim for 2008.

First came the early announcements and positioning of the new flight sim and the new group.

Then came the Russian version of the sim, which people bought and downloaded, even though they didn't know a speck of Russian. They enjoyed it for the graphics, the sounds, the terrain, the weapons, the systems. They enjoyed it for that certain something that all great simulations have that is intangible to define in any way but "charisma" and "immersion". The struggle that is the essence of helicopter flight. The depth of the modeled systems, the "clickology" and "buttonology". A hardcore, study combat helicopter sim was here again for the first time in a decade.

The good folks at DCS started an on-going comprehensive FAQ which helped a lot of us through the language barrier.

Then came the English versions of the Flight Manual and the GUI Manual. Such in-depth, detailed information that you felt you should brush-up on your speed-reading and comprehension skills!

SimHQ got into the swing-of-things with a series of review articles by Ken "531 Ghost" King and an exclusive interview with DCS: Black Shark Producer Matt Wagner.

Then came the earlier-than-expected English download version.

The 2008 SimHQ Simulation Product of the Year is DCS: Black Shark

Although a DVD version is scheduled for release in 2009, many people just couldn't wait for the chance to sit in the cockpit with Producer Matt Wagner instructing about the systems and how things work. It reminded many of the famed training sessions in Longbow 2, and It was dynamite. Do the tutorials, fly it on your own. Go do some free flight. Read those manuals and the excellent "how to" posts in the DCS Black Shark Forum. Practice, practice, practice.

And while the upper-echelon of detail and complexity expected in any study-sim title was included, DCS: Black Shark surprised us with it's scalable settings. You can take it down to arcade level if you just want to fly around and blast stuff. But on the upper end, it will take every ounce of your concentration and willpower to fly and fight effectively.

Yes, it's been a long-time since a new simulation like this. Not being content with the initial success of DCS: Black Shark, we then learned that the A-10c was planned for late 2009. Could we anticipate an unexpected resurgence of the long-gone study flight sim?

What it comes down to is people are excited, having fun and forgetting their usual daily drudgery, and that's what it's all about.

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