Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 7:04 pmHi again,
Hope you all are enjoying the lovely summer weather we’re currently experiencing. While many of us have been outside soaking up the sun, others have been busy on their computers designing and developing away for our simulator hobby.
First on the agenda is Robin’s announcement of the re-release of his Te Anau scenery for FSX- those of you who owned the original Godzone photoreal CD’s for FS2002 may remember the area well, which covers 3500 sq kms, and incorporates Te Anau and Manapouri airports. Some stunning preview shots can be found in this thread here, whilst the finished freeware product is expected to be released at flightsim.com in a few weeks time.
Our own Tim ‘Timmo’ Barnes has also released some preview shots of his payware landclass and waterclass FSX Environment Upgrade for New Zealand which looks magnificent- a much needed fix for the poorly depicted default scenery that came in the box from Microsoft. Take a look at the comparisons between Tim’s work and the original landscapes in this thread here, and bookmark it for future reference.
In other news, after countless threads querying the resurrection of the original Virtual Air New Zealand, Ian White, CEO of VANZ has recently announced that they are indeed back in business as of 1st Febuary 2008, with a new look website and the entire current ANZ fleet ready for new members to fly. Check them out and sign up today at www.virtualairnz.com
Speaking of new websites, resident ‘air2air’ photographer Gavin Conroy also has his own fresh looking piece of cyberspace showcasing his work. If you haven’t seen it already, have a browse at http://capphotography.ifp3.com/. The collection of shots from the recent Wings over Wairarapa (ground based for once) are well worth a look!
And the more sombre piece of news that I thought I’d leave until last- even though most of you will have already seen Christian’s post, or read about it on other FS websites: Rumors are that due to the current economic resection, the Microsoft ACES team who are in charge of the Flight Simulator brand development have all lost their jobs, meaning no more future iterations of the much loved product- disastrous news to all fans of the game and those who make a living from producing 3rd party addons. You can follow the saga here.
On a happier note- don’t forgot to vote for January’s beach themed screenshot competition here, and also enter February's new competition, sponsored by Orbx, where you can win any one of their amazing FTX Australian scenery addons!
Finally, best wishes to Lawrie, aka Snowman – the man who’s bought us all many regional NZ airport sceneries and the famous Retro AI package, who’s currently in hospital. We hope you make a speedy recovery mate!
Cheers for now,
Andrew and the NZFF Admin Team
Hope you all are enjoying the lovely summer weather we’re currently experiencing. While many of us have been outside soaking up the sun, others have been busy on their computers designing and developing away for our simulator hobby.
First on the agenda is Robin’s announcement of the re-release of his Te Anau scenery for FSX- those of you who owned the original Godzone photoreal CD’s for FS2002 may remember the area well, which covers 3500 sq kms, and incorporates Te Anau and Manapouri airports. Some stunning preview shots can be found in this thread here, whilst the finished freeware product is expected to be released at flightsim.com in a few weeks time.
Our own Tim ‘Timmo’ Barnes has also released some preview shots of his payware landclass and waterclass FSX Environment Upgrade for New Zealand which looks magnificent- a much needed fix for the poorly depicted default scenery that came in the box from Microsoft. Take a look at the comparisons between Tim’s work and the original landscapes in this thread here, and bookmark it for future reference.
In other news, after countless threads querying the resurrection of the original Virtual Air New Zealand, Ian White, CEO of VANZ has recently announced that they are indeed back in business as of 1st Febuary 2008, with a new look website and the entire current ANZ fleet ready for new members to fly. Check them out and sign up today at www.virtualairnz.com
Speaking of new websites, resident ‘air2air’ photographer Gavin Conroy also has his own fresh looking piece of cyberspace showcasing his work. If you haven’t seen it already, have a browse at http://capphotography.ifp3.com/. The collection of shots from the recent Wings over Wairarapa (ground based for once) are well worth a look!
And the more sombre piece of news that I thought I’d leave until last- even though most of you will have already seen Christian’s post, or read about it on other FS websites: Rumors are that due to the current economic resection, the Microsoft ACES team who are in charge of the Flight Simulator brand development have all lost their jobs, meaning no more future iterations of the much loved product- disastrous news to all fans of the game and those who make a living from producing 3rd party addons. You can follow the saga here.
On a happier note- don’t forgot to vote for January’s beach themed screenshot competition here, and also enter February's new competition, sponsored by Orbx, where you can win any one of their amazing FTX Australian scenery addons!
Finally, best wishes to Lawrie, aka Snowman – the man who’s bought us all many regional NZ airport sceneries and the famous Retro AI package, who’s currently in hospital. We hope you make a speedy recovery mate!
Cheers for now,
Andrew and the NZFF Admin Team