Stop Already, I Need To Get Off! Coping With The Technology Spiral

New at the VR Reading Room .

Tired of the technology spiral? Don't give up. There's plenty of affordable, modest-spec train sim software out there and it's not going away any time soon.

Cheers,

-- Al

MSTS 2 Update

No, there isn't any announced release date, moreover there's still precious little information, BUT, there is an active website for MSTS 2 and clear evidence of progress. There's a video you can watch and there's new a quarterly newsletter in PDF format you can subscribe to and/or download from the website. The first issue was Fall 2008.

The most impressive thing I saw was the new animated people with detail and realism you wouldn't believe. There's also an article explaining how they do this without breaking the performance bank in terms of system resources. Very interesting.

What we DON'T know yet is when the game will be released or anything at all about the ease or lack thereof of building layouts a la Trainz. We DO know the game will include four routes (like the original) and will support 3rd party creation and will be built on Flight Simulator X technology. Beyond that it's just more waiting.

Cheers,
Al

World of Subways

World of Subways appears to be a terrific, if high powered, subway simulator from Germany. It costs 29.95 Euros to DL or for the boxed version (plus shipping). My Christmas stocking is already filled with Trainz 2009, so I'll have to wait on World of Subways, but I'm definitely interested.

Does anyone out there have any experience with this sim?

Cheers,
-- Al