I’ve just learned that Ilan Papini, the chap behind thoroughly likeable sims such as Virtual Sailor and Vehicle Simulator, died in February from injuries sustained in a plane crash. The ICP Savannah piloted by the 60-year-old developer, suffered a bird strike over Israel’s Jezreel Valley, and Ilan pranged while attempting an emergency landing.
Me and Roman spent a small portion of last weekend in a thorny corner of Wessex, chucking plastic platters at chain-draped metal baskets. We’d decided to give disc golf a try after enjoying the demo for FLEX Disc Golf. Has time with a simulation ever inspired you to try The Real Thing? If you can trace a hobby or even a career, back to a PC sim, I’d love to hear about it.
Turn 3’s most exciting incident? Probably, Team GB’s Corporal Baldrick almost putting his hand on a Deathstalker scorpion while vaulting the villa wall at M32.
Using the following clues (the map above is purely decorative) in combination with Street View, work out my location.
The Close Combat-esque Firefight has matured splendidly during the past twelve months. Dipping into its cache of seventy-two South-East Asian/Pacific Theatre engagements this week, I’ve been struck by the way sage improvements such as new order types and infantry formation options have enriched the game’s tense top-down tactical tussles without compromising one of PC wargaming’s most elegant command systems. If developer Sean O’Connor could fix the occasional crashes and furnish some minor play tweaks, I’d have no problem describing his creation as the finest WW2 Burma wargame money could buy.
Every Friday, Tally-Ho Corner’s cleverest clogs come together to solve a ‘foxer’ handcrafted by my sadistic chum and colleague, Roman. A complete ‘defoxing’ sometimes takes several days and usually involves the little grey cells of many readers. All are welcome to participate.
Isla, THC’s accountant, can’t grumble about my game expenditure this week. Assuming I don’t purchase anything tomorrow, I’ll have spent a piffling £1.79 on interactive entertainment over the past seven days. Although I already own Bus Driver Simulator – one of the few bus sims that can hold a candle to the venerable OMSI – buying the on-sale GOG version was a no-brainer as it comes with four vehicular add-ons no longer available through Steam.
Battlefront, the studio that gave the world plausible 3D WeGo WW2 combat, is no more. After licking its lips with a darting bifurcated tongue, and letting out a thunderous belch, the massive Surrey reptile that consumed BFC yesterday, said this: “We are thrilled to welcome the Battlefront team into the Slitherine family. Their expertise and passion for wargaming are unparalleled, and together, we will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in this genre. Our goal is to not only preserve the legacy of Combat Mission but to elevate it to new heights.”