B17 II The Mighty Eighth E3 Update
	While at E3 everyone from COMBATSIM.COM wanted a hands on look at B17 II. The simulation is unique enough in design conception and beautiful enough in execution that it had captured our imaginations: a sign of good things to come! Without further ado, here is a summary of the E3 experience, complete with new screens in two formats: one set is at 1024x768, and the second is at 1600x1200! Me 109. Notice the shell casing. The visuals are very impressive, at least equal to Ka52 Team Alligator. We watched the aircraft rise and fall slightly on the thermals, an amazing effect when combined with conn trails or smoke. View from the Fortress. Click for 1024x768. A few other effects caught my eye: watching the gun turrets swivel from the outside view, with both guns firing, was impressive. As most of you will know, the graphics engine in EAW did not allow for this type of detail. Fortress gunners are busy. Atmosphere will likely rival or surpass WWII Fighters, and indeed the design goals of this simulation are mid to high core, while remaining accessible to novices via difficulty sliders. Fog, clouds, different types of smoke and flame, reflections and dynamic lighting.. all these things will combine to make this a physically beautiful sim. Me 109 firing guns. Me 109 vs P51D. The tracers are amazing. I've never seen them modeled realistically until now. Every fifth shell is lit up, and they don't all follow a nice neat track through the sky but tend to wobble about just as the real phosphorous shells really did. Click to continue . . .		Waist Gunner view of Me 109. I confess to being a bit blown away by the continued evolution of graphics engines. When I first saw Janes' WWII Fighters on a PII 450 dual V2 configuration with detail and clouds maxed out, I thought.. "That is the best I will see in the next twelve months." I was almost right, but the evolution continues... Watching the men move inside the cockpit of the Flying Fortress is like watching "Rainbow Six," but in "the Fighting Eighth." Impressive and atmospheric, almost like you have entered an interactive WWII movie. You WILL care about your crew. P51 Little Friends. P51. Click for 1600x1200. The various gun stations are modeled in careful detail, and of course, each can be manned by yourself or via an AI crewman. Watching these guys move around as you give orders is pretty scary. Motion capture has been used for each position, and naturally each has his own brains courtesy of Intel and Wayward Design. Waist Gunner position. Bombardier and Navigator. Right, a bit breathless now, are we? If you still have any life left in your bones check out the next page, with the first online shots of the Norden bomb sight. Go to Page Two
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