I updated the bookshelf page with four new books suggested by Dante in his interview. Now the first shelf page is full so you have to click the bottom arrows in order to move to the next page and see more books.

Dante De Patta, one of the main guys behind the development of Jet Thunder, was nice enough to give me the opportunity to interview him. He made some very interesting and refreshing points and I would like to thank him again for his availability. Not many developers are so approachable and open about their projects so this is a pretty rare opportunity. Jet Thunder is very promising simulation and we should all support the work of this independent company. Enjoy the interview!

I keep reading in some forums (mostly virtual fighter wings) that some people still think that F.L.A.R.E. will be payware. This is not correct so please update your posts or clarify things with your members.

There isn’t much point having anti-payware discussions when I already said that my work will be released for free and for everyone who wants it. I do this for passion and not to buy me a Ferrari.

Serious simulators are gone because of arcade games like this one and because of the people who are buying them. If you want to support the simulation community don’t buy this. Don’t be the reason why modern studios think that making these kind of games is much more profitable than developing simulations.

So HAWX 2 is going to be an action game. Have ever thought about developing a simulation?

However HAWX 2 is not a simulation, since it was important for us that the game can be played by people that aren’t experts at flight games, but it can also be enjoyed by flight enthusiasts. We focused on the feeling of authenticity and plausibility both in the gameplay and in the story, without turning the experience into a juggernaut of detail.

What they call a “juggernaut of detail” is what makes it realistic and what we like. We are not kids, we don’t want instant gratification. We like to use our brain and study how a system works even if it takes months. Our gratification comes from being able to operate a complex machine in a realistic combat environment and not from shooting everything you see on the screen.

What is the involvement of Tom Clancy in the storylines of the HAWX series?

Tom Clancy is not directly involved at this point in the HAWX series. However, we are creating an experience that is very much Clancy, because we have access to all that past experiences and his long-term vision.

It’s very bad that this game uses Tom Clancy’s name to sell. And it’s a shame that this writer, known for the realism and authenticity of its books, doesn’t get involved except for taking Ubisoft’s money after letting them use its name. Doesn’t he have already a lot of money anyway? If you want more, at least make sure that your “vision” is followed.

That’s just sad.

Tonight I was browsing in the military section of a Chapters bookstore close to home (american folks should read Barnes & Noble) when I bumped into a book that I didn’t know.

It’s called “Phoenix Squadron” and tells the dramatic story of a mission undertaken in 1972 by Britain’s aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal, in a 1,500 mile dash across the Atlantic to defend British Honduras (now Belize) which was being threatened with invasion.

Ark Royal was an aging Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and, when she was decommissioned in 1978, was its last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier. She was the world’s first aircraft carrier to be commissioned with an angled flight deck, preceding the first American carrier with this feature, USS Forrestal, by nine months.

Rowland White (the author) puts you into the cockpits of Buccaneer and Phantom fighter jets during a night landing in bad weather and with the carrier deck pitching violently. This is the stuff I like to read so it’s now officially added in this website’s virtual bookshelf.