2007 could be a banner year for train simmers if all the things in the works come through. Then again, we could drum ourselves to sleep waiting and hoping. Here's what's in the works (and bear in mind I don't have a crystal ball or inside information).
Auran has announced the imminent release of Trainz Routes, collections of routes from the Trainz Download Station on CD-ROM. Two disks have been announced with five routes apiece. Also in the works are the first Classic Trainz - Metro North's Harlem Line - which is expected to be a prototypical route and rolling stock. Perhaps the biggest anticipated Auran release is a Mac version of Trainz. This was announced as ready for beta testing last spring, if memory serves, and should certainly be ready sometime this year, say spring?
Kuju/EA have been working on their new Rail Simulator for what seems an eternity, though it hasn't been anywhere near that long. They've demonstrated it at game shows as early as last fall. Can we expect a release sometime this year? The big question then will be whether an American version is forthcoming or whether enterprising third-party developers will create enough content to effectively make it an "American" sim. Or will it remain a sim focused on the British and European markets. Kuju, for those who don't recall,. was the actual developer of the original Microsoft Train Simulator, released back in the spring of 2001. EA, of course, is a major player in the game industry. Both have said the new simulator will be new from the ground up.
Microsoft has announced in a rather small way that they are indeed working on an all-new train simulator, MicrosoftTrain Simulator 2. This is being developed on the new Flight Simulator X platform. Very little is known at this time, but you can expect MS will find a way to put their new simulator on an X-box as well as a PC. Come to think of it, they've already suggested that. My guess is this is a couple of years away from release.
PI Engineering has halted work on their Train Master Train Simulator because of mounting pressure on resources for their burgeoning professional simulation work. They are too busy with paying customers like Union Pacific to work on the new TMTS. Before they stopped work last summer they had already demonstrated the ability to convert MSTS rolling stock to TMTS. That's an exciting possibility, but will it be too little too late by the time they're ready to release? That all depends on who gets what done when. Meanwhile ... tap, tap, tap.
Al
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