[David603]

So do you guys think we will see SOW BOB released this year? :?

I'm the LAST person you should ask about that one.... :roll:
After more than 4yrs of false starts, 1 video, and a bunch of supposed screen shots we still have not seen a Beta let alone an Alpha version of the game.
I just don't see how they can meet their deadline by the end of this year. :-?

Two videos, you sceptic :wink:

There was the Spitfire video and the bomber attack video.

Oleg has said he doesn't use the conventional Alpha and Beta stages of development, and I think you have the two stages mixed up anyway, the Alpha build precedes the Beta build.

The reason for the pictures instead of videos is that the team is very small, I think it is less than 20 people, and its a lot more work to make a good video than post a couple of screenshots, as anyone who makes or tries to make movies from Il2 will be able to tell you (I'm very much in the second category).

As far as when the game itself could be released, I don't really know. From what can be seen in the screenshots and what Oleg and Luthier have been saying, the game seems more or less complete as far as aircraft and their functionality goes, and the team is now working on effects, pilot animations and populating the map. The team may or may not still be working on AI and online code, although this would likely just be tweaks now. Anyway, effects, pilot animations and map population are all things that would take place near the end of a games development cycle, which would make me think the game is only a couple of months from completion.

If you were asking for an estimated release date, I would say late this year or early next year.