Is this the "June announcement" that never was?

[zapatista]

Originally Posted by arthursmedley

Check this out!

http://bobgamehub.blogspot.co.uk/201...talingrad.html

good find

to create this battle of stalingrad or the MMO, it isnt as big of a leap as some might think. all they need to add is drivable vehicles (tanks in partic), no statements so far have indicated in any way that it would also be a 1e person shooter (which would be a giant leap)

so in summary we have right now
1) CoD having very minor work done, only really what is needed to get BoM working reasonably at release and not have another debacle
2) BoM: adds some new buildings, a new but relatively easy flat rolling landscape, and a fixed CoD gfx engine
3) BoStalingrad MMO, add drivable vehicles like tanks to the BoM scenery and objects, (vehicles and tanks were already working a few yrs ago, and was going to be included in CoD anyway), they improve a few ground details so it doesnt look to empty. one problem is that stalingrad was really an infantry slog-fest in building rubble, and didnt majorly involve vehicles in major ground battles in the city itself (until the german side of stalingrad collapsed and their supply lines were cut off). but with the names not being finalized, this project could easily be diluted to a "greater stalingrad" battle involving tank battles on the outskirts of the city, and fighting over supply lines etc.. presumably a significant part of the flightsim element would be the german supply missions trying to get into the city.

all 3 of those projects will require their net code to be fixed

the only problem i see is from adding the MMO concept is the potential loss of focus ( which has been an issue from the start with BoB)
- BoB was already ambitious for current hardware and had some major hurdles that delayed it (loss of staff, complete rebuilt of game engine, loss of oleg etc)
- CoD was a disaster on release, and took 18 months to get running in a most basic way where new players can get some enjoyment from it. and 2/3 of the time that should have been spent on fixing it was directed at the next project instead
- BoM is needed for new revenue, but i suspect 50% of its resources have now been directed at the new MMO project, so BoM is not getting the fixes CoD desperately needs
- BoS MMO can again become an over ambitious project that gets major delays as they overshoot their mark and end up loosing yrs of time while still producing an incomplete product.

one big hope is that if the newly acquired company, which has a reputation for good management and bringing out projects on time, can transfer some management staff/skill to the MG-SoW projects to manage it more effectively (both in bug fixing approaches and setting priorities for gameplay issues). we dont want to loose luthier or oleg, since both of those can be trusted on our part to have a great vision of the ultimate realistic ww2 flightsim, but some better project management is needed. alternatively the SoW MMO project might actually be given a significant boost in staff to make the project accelerate, that is another option and imho would be the best solution.