The Future of Submarine Games

In the last six months, the demise of sims has been pronounced in abundance. Print mags and sim webzines have been telling you sims are being cancelled left and right Jane's A-10: Cancelled. Wolfpack II: Cancelled. Silent Steel II: MIA. M1Tank Platoon 3: Cancelled. Fighting Steel Deluxe: Cancelled. Jane's Attack Squadron: MIA. Thunder Over Europe: MIA. The list goes on.

We all know that this is a down cycle for sims and we believe there is hope that in a couple of years, things will turn around and sims will be hot stuff again. Hey, I remember in 1973 when the EPA and OPEC throttled the life out of the muscle car scene. I had a 1970 Cobra Torino that had 450 hp and ran the quarter in the high 13s. In less than three years every car out of Detroit was a smog controlled, gas economizing slug. They even started making them as ugly as they were slow! It was heartbreaking.

But over time, things change. Now you can get a high performance machine that handles and has luxuries like front/rear AC. My '99 Riviera has a supercharged V-6 that would make my old Torino proud.

So, keep the faith. Things will improve, even if no one knows when. Silent Hunter II and Destroyer Command are showing signs of life. Harpoon 4 is still under development. There are stirrings from the Sonalysts camp.

When a new subsim does hit the shore, try to remember, the developers and game producers are our friends. They make the kind of games we like because they like them too. Why would they labor over armor thickness tables, ship model physics, and torpedo trajectories for a niche market? I know a few developers and they all love the genre.

Try to keep your criticism balanced. Should you blast a sim you had trouble with or didn't enjoy with all the invective and animosity you would normally reserve for someone who stole your car or used your toothbrush? I was told by one producer that high-level executives frequently ask him about hard-core negative postings on newsgroups and forums. The industry sees us as demanding, unappreciative, and impossible to satisfy. It's much easier and more lucrative to crank out Deer Hunter and Barbie games and their users rarely flame the game company to a crisp.

I work with a CPA accountant who likes computer games and is pretty good at them. He can play a mean Age of Empires warrior. I tried to interest him in learning Jane's 688(I) for some multiplay. He took one look at the hefty manual and waved it off. He assumed he would need to learn all the material to play competitive. The blessing and the curse of a good sim is its complexity. You want to command a battle fleet or do TMA on a Los Angeles class submarine? You need to learn skills and study. And this restricts the popularity of the sim. Mass market games generally do not carry the steep learning curve a sim does. So while we hard core sim players are delighting in the minutia of seven different stations and all their controls, casual gamers are passing up the sim at a 20 to 1 ratio. Sims truly are a niche market.

Niche market games have limited budgets. This mean a small number of programmers and artists must concentrate on the basics. Don't expect to see everything you want and imagine in a sim. Oh yeah, I'm with you--I wish a subsim could have full motion crews and other fun stuff. But as one producer told me, "We don't have the money to design and integrate these features into the product. I wish we could, too."

We should be finding out the status of Silent Hunter II soon. Either Mattel Interactive is going to sign someone to complete it or it will be canned. I went through the "we are planning to do this" stage with the fabled Jane's Ice Pack add-on for 688(I), Crusader Studios' Akula: Red Hunter, Silent Steel 2, and the interoperability between Jane's Fleet Command and 688(I). I'm not passing judgment here, just stating that when the momentum dies, so does the objective. For whatever reasons, the product champions behind those sims were unable to secure the financing to start work. To get a better feel for the whole process, read my friend John Sponauer's analysis of the life and death of a sim, M1 Tank Platoon 2, from its early development as an upgrade all the way through its last couple of weeks.

Despite my previous experiences with other sim companies, I am optimistic that Carl Norman and Rick Martinez mean what they say and SSI will continue to raise the banner of the Digital Combat Series while the Jane's, NovaLogics, and Microproses around them fall like unfortunate tin soldiers. This is not to say SH2 is a done deal--that moment will come when you hold the box in your hand. We look to the next rumored subsim as our best hope for advanced underwater warfare. All we can do is stay positive, supportive, and if it's decent, buy four copies when it comes out.

About The Author

Neal Stevens is the editor of Subsim.com and contributing author of the coffee table book United States Submarines.

---

Ingredients For A Great Game

There are millions of computer games out there on the market, how do you make your game best selling? What features have to be included? I have taken a look on previously best... Read More

Rome Total War: Battle Strategy Guide

A. FormationsIt's pretty much common sense to come up with a good formation for your army but the basic idea in most situations is to have your infantry in front, ranged units behind,... Read More

Best Space Themed Games - Part I

Space? How much we can place where? Incredible words, unknown planets, fantastic creatures.But now I want to tell you about some space themed computer shareware games, and want you to play it ?... Read More

Popular Electronic Games - They Are Not Just For Kids Anymore

Superheroes battle monsters and space invaders in fast action games. Players take on the role of these superheroes in epic battles. In other games players race cars, boats, motorcycles, helicopters and planes against... Read More

Full Version Pocket PC Games For Free

Play Games InsteadDo you like your full version pocket pc games free? Most people do. The world of freeware downloads for your pda or pocket pc is wide and varied. No matter what... Read More

The Story Behind OpenSimcity

I've always liked to play SimCity since I was little. I used to play the version for Super Nintendo for hours then and then. That version was really cool. It had 4 seasons... Read More

Virtual Wrapping Paper and E-Gifts- Is There Really An Online Santa?

The internet has proven to be an amazing delivery conduit for words, information, music, pictures and generally anything that can be turned into little 1s and 0s. As we approach the end of... Read More

Review - Sony PSP

I'm fairly certain there are folks at Nintendo feeling some serious self-loathing right about now. You see, back in the mid-90's Nintendo contracted Sony to develop a CD-ROM drive for the Super Nintendo.... Read More

Malicious Advertising

Advertising is a necessary irritant in the world today. You can't drive down the street without coming across an ad, either a billboard suspended over a road or a large poster plastered down... Read More

Solitaire RULES Half Life DROOLS

It's a popularity contest.Solitaire is hip, cool, and way more popular than Half Life 2. Don't believe me right? Well, the numbers don't lie. According to two of the biggest search tracking tools... Read More

Securing Your Accounts With Well-Crafted Passwords

In the past I've never really paid much attention to security issues when it comes to user names and passwords. Frankly I figured it was all a lot of overblown hype. This led... Read More

Next Generation Games Consoles - Separating Fact from Fiction

Over the next 18 months the 3 giants of the Games Console world will be battling it out in stores and homes across Europe, America and Asia for the title of the world... Read More

Reviving Old Computer Games

Remember the good old days of gaming, when there were only 5 pixels in the protagonist and your imagination could turn them into a heroic figure of Schwarzenegger proportions? When the enemies and... Read More

Great Games Youve Never Played

Do you know what you're missing?Some of the best computer games ever made are likely games you've never heard of. Created by individuals and small companies working in relative obscurity. They don't have... Read More

Xbox vs. PS2 Game Consoles

There has been a great deal of discussion regarding the two most popular gaming consoles currently on the market: Playstation 2 (PS2) and Xbox. PS2 is a Sony product, while Xbox is owned... Read More

Classic Fragfest: Quake III Arena

As graphics technology improves in leaps and bounds for the next pc generation, more and more gamers expect, and more or less demand, new and innovating concepts to blow their mind. However, there... Read More

A Parents Guide to Online Gaming, Part 2

In part 1 we talked about online gaming and your children, including FPS games and exposure to violent content. We wrap up this week by talking about RTS games, MMORPGs and the additional... Read More

7 Simple Steps to Avoid Being a Newbie in Online Games

It doesn't matter if you are new to online roleplaying games. The road to becoming elite isn't easily traveled. Some will never reach the top of the hill, but you don't have to... Read More

Counter Strike, The Beginner of Broad Band PC Gaming

This is the world of 21st century, the century of technologies. Every thing is fast now a days and as far as the Computers and games are concerned, they are at the top... Read More

The Game Tester

It's not easy to be a hardcore gamer. It's hard. Wouldn't it be easier if you had a job in the videogames business? Think about it: working for a software company, being able... Read More

Ten Things You Should Know in Video Games

BloodRayne | It's Zero Hour | Midasplayer | The latest in online gaming | Computer GamesYou are not an hardcore person in playing video Games and if you want to know the facts... Read More

10 Innovative Game Features

Watch yourself struggle, sweat, collapse as you turn your video game console into a personal trainer.Here are ten ways the latest development by Eye-Toy technology is doing away with the couch-potato stigma that's... Read More

Free Games For Your Pocket PC

Admit It-You're Often BoredA pocket pc has about a million uses. But one of the most popular uses of a pocket pc is to play games on it. Nearly everyone plays games on... Read More

XBOX 360 vs. PS3: an in Depth Look

All gamers are awaiting the release of the Xbox 360 and the PS3. This article takes an in depth look at how the two systems compare.Graphics:Everyone has seen an Xbox and a PS2... Read More

A Comparison Of the Next Generation Gaming Consoles (Part 1)

It's been about 5 years since we have seen a new video game console. By spring of next year all three major companies will have released their new systems. At this point, both... Read More

Free Pocket PC Casino Game

Casino Gambling Wherever You LikeAre you absolutely crazy about pocket pc gaming? One of the very best things about pocket pc casino games is that nearly all of them are free games. There... Read More

Increasing Rates of Climb in Fighter Aircraft Like the New Joint force Strike Fighter

We know from studying aircraft like the F-8 Crusader, in which my dad had the fortunate to fly while in the US Navy stationed in Puerto Rico, that when the wind was tilted... Read More

Cloud Laser Art

A new art form in the future will be CLA. Cloud Laser Art. People can go to a place where there are laser units, sit out side in a small shielded area and... Read More

Drawing Hand Held Surface to Air Missile Fire at Night Using UAVs

One of the easiest ways to draw shoulder launched missiles at night is to fly UAVs very close and use the simulated sound of an Apache Attach Helicopter, Howling of a jet fighter... Read More