Just wondering..has it been in development for years or something?

I don't think "hoax" is the word, but since people have gotten used to lots of pre-release hype from the industry the lack of it leads to the inevitable "KOE is axed?" speculations.

There are "out of the blue" releases as a choice by the developers and publisher, sure, but KOE does not fit into that because they did put screenshots and interviews into the net way back then. So they kinda chose the "hype" strategy but then dropped the ball by failing to follow the rules of that strategy and so confused many.

In other words they should have:

A. kept the lid on the project for far longer

OR

B. fed the public with develoment bits and pieces more regularly once they revealed the project

But as long as the sim does come out, this is all inconsequential really

PS. They were not in E3, were they? So a 2004 release is IMO very unlikely indeed

Gripen, I'm thinking you're right about release date. We always underestimate the enormity of task and I'd bet they are adding mucho cool stuff and working to provide a near bug free sim out of the box. Wouldn't that be refreshing?

Because they think?

How bout.......the sky is falling, the sky is falling!

(works for me)

when was work started on it..just out of interest..and because im thinking

The hype surrounding everything these days (more so than it used too i think) is out of control.

A lid on the project that only pops open with development updates etc every now and again is a nice approach.

I'm certainly NOT one of those who think that this game is or will be an hoax but there was a thing in JAS Gripen post that made me curious and I wanted to ask to KOE developers (that came here with some regularity) one question:
-> Why wasn't this game shown at E3?

Thanks in advance for replies...

The game was announced in the Spring of '03.

That's why I wouldn't panic yet. It's only been a year give or take a few months. Many other high profile games such as Half Life 2 have been in development for multiple years and have still not been released! Yet there is not doubt amongst Sierra and its legions of fans that this game will indeed be released one day.

So a year isn't much to worry about, in fact with the in game screenshots they have posted, it appears they have come quite a long way in a very short time

Last year they announced that it would be released Q2 2004. That date came and went but an announcement came that they were ready but that they now had a distributor who wanted it to be released Q4 2004. They didn't show for E3. Strange for a sim that was 'ready' in Q2 and was going on sale in Q4. They said that soon they would be updating their website. That hasn't happened. The clouds in their screen shots look painted onto the background. This isn't exactly state of the art. Some screenshots attributed to KOE may not have been.

All this makes one wonder.

Salute Everyone!
Well not all is lost if they don`t finish K.O.E. We can buy Promise Land Patch and play RB3D. Sometimes i think if we are ever going to get a new WW1 Flight Simm we might have to build are own! LOL. Theres got to be some great puter guro`s here at SimHQ.
I e-mailed K.O.E and asked them to put a sound demo of there N17, at there web page hoping i could get some kind of response from them, No Luck!
Pacific Fighters is still on schedule, it looks like a fun WW2 Flight Simm. Plus Silent Hunter 3 looks really cool. Might have to try out a Sub game. I wouldn`t give up yet on K.O.E.!
Of all the sims out there i would of loved to see Wings with Wires get done someday, they have the best graphics i have seen from any sim yet.
Lets Hope K.O.E post some new stuff soon!
Take Care!
US95 Rooster

Helllloooo... anyone out there...

yo developer dudes, you still with us.. ya know, are you going to talk to the masses :p

I'd like to know, if this game will still support Win98 and or ME, or if we are doomed to use XP or Win 2K?

I don't even think that Microsoft will support these OS for very long (if they still do). I cana lmost guarantee you that the game will not be certified (i.e. QA'd) on these opertaing systems.

For now MS does support 98. It was to be dropped some months ago, but they changed their minds. But for how much longer is anyones guess

MS won't stop supporting Win98 because it's their only fall back OS that isn't as prone to being hacked and infected by viruses..

Well, even "new" games like LOMAC and FB:AEP still support LOMAC, so i'd expect KOE to run on Win98SE too. I hope the same for Pacific Fighters, but i guess it's a sure thing, as PF is basicly the same engine.

Btw, where did you hear about MS supporting Win98 again? The official support has been dropped over a year ago and WIn ME is "dead" too.

It was announced back in Jan 04.
Here is one article of many:

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - U.S. software maker Microsoft said on Tuesday it would continue to offer support to customers who still own versions of its Windows 98 (news - web sites) operating system, in a move aimed to sooth developing countries.

Extended Support for Windows 98 and Windows 98 SE had been scheduled to come to an end on Friday, January 16, while Windows Me support had been scheduled to end December 31, 2004.

The company has now decided to lengthen the Extended Support phase for Windows 98, Windows 98 SE and Windows Millennium Edition (news - web sites) (Me) through June 30, 2006.

It bit the bullet after it emerged that many users in developing countries who still rely on Windows 98 were confused about Microsoft's support guidelines. These were shorter for some Windows 98 products than for its more recent batch of Windows operating systems like Windows 2000 (news - web sites) and Windows XP (news - web sites).

Microsoft has come under pressure in recent years, particularly by authorities in developing countries, for its attempts to push customers into buying or subscribing to newer, expensive Windows and Office software versions.

Many countries have started to buy computers that run on the freely available Linux (news - web sites) system, while others hang onto older Windows versions that have been paid for and still do the job.

Microsoft has responded in a variety of ways, such as cutting prices for groups of big customers and opening up some of the source code to address security concerns.

Windows 98, and its predecessor Windows 95, run on roughly 20 percent of all Windows-based PCs. Windows is the dominant PC operating system with over 90 percent global market share.

"(This decision) provides Microsoft more time to communicate its product lifecycle support guidelines in a handful of markets -- particularly smaller and emerging markets," Microsoft said in a statement.

By this decision Microsoft will bring support for Windows 98 SE into compliance with the firm's support lifecycle policy for its current Windows products that are on sale. The company's current lifecycle policy for new products provides for support for seven years instead of the original four for Windows 98 SE.

I really hate using a Win98 PC now so used to XP.
Add hardware or software "please reboot" baah.

Use a decent 3rd party browser like Firefox with XP and many security issues go walkies

Support till 06? Very nice! So i will never have to install XP and go directly to the newer 64bit OS "Longhorn". I just hope that future flight sims are going to support it as well.