Hey guys. Alex Price from 505 Games here. Just wanted to let you know what’s landed on the PlayStation Network: The single player demo for upcoming flight combat title IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds Of Prey, which flies into shops for PSP and PS3 on 4th September.
Here’s a sneak peak video boasting huge scale aerial combat, accurate environments created by satellite technology and epic airborne battle:
I’ll be around for a bit to answer your questions in the comments box below. Also, you can get all the latest news on the game at www.il2game.com or follow the Twitter feed.
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59 CommentsAdd Yours
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 9:07 am by Nostromo74
Hi,
I would love to download this game but unfortunately everytime I access playstation store I get the error that it is not available for my country (MALTA).
Whats the news regarding this? When will I able to download game demos and purchase online?
A reply would be appreciated.
Thanks.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 9:12 am by TheTaxMan
Great new all demo,s are welcome , keep them coming .
Nice 1.x
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 9:13 am by Vir2ozo
Same here,
Cant download this great Demo to because the store is not available in Malta !!!
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 9:15 am by kenchir666
Yeah, what about the Playstation Store for Malta?
I’m a fan of flight sims and want this!
Any updates on the Maltese PSN store?
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 9:27 am by TheTaxMan
Cant the Malta people just make an EU account ?
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 9:28 am by Nostromo74
@kenchir666
I am also a big fan of flight sims – I would just love to buy this game but obviously, I want to try it first, seeing there is this great opportunity thanks to 505games. Unfortunately there is no Playstation Store for Malta (and not just Malta!), so I will have to skip getting Sturmovik.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 9:31 am by kenchir666
@Nostromo74
Yes, Sony has to do something about this.
Even for the new PSP Go, what’s gonna happen? No UMDs now!
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 9:33 am by Nostromo74
@kenchir666
Well I went to pre-order a PSPGo and the store told me they are not going to get PSPGo, as there is no Playstation Store for Malta, so it would make no sense, as it would not be possible to purchase games for it. Needless to say, I was very disappointed, I will hold on the money for a while, if nothing is announced any soon, I will buy a Nintendo DSi instead.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 9:39 am by Vir2ozo
Totally agree with Nostromo74 on this, got really excited about the release of the new PSP then realized that its not possible to purchase games for it !! they should have thought about this before releasing the PSP go with no UMD support !! because it quite useless in countries which cant access the play station store,
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 9:39 am by loxapac
It’s a demo for PS3 AND PSP ?
I go to the PSN with my PSP and there isn’t demo now…
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 9:41 am by Nostromo74
@Vir2ozo – I am hoping that until the PSPGo is released in the EU, there would be a Playstation Store for Malta!!! Come on SCEE, you can do it
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 9:51 am by MisterZlu
@Nostromo74; @Vir2ozo; @kenchir666 : Have you tried what TheTaxMan suggests and created a UK account for instance? Normally, PS Stores aren’t geographically IP-blocked (like Vidzone) so it shouldnt’be a problem. Since it is “officially” not permitted, there is no chance that an “official” from this blog will suggest you to do that but at least you can have a try. Let us know if it works for you guys!!!
Btw, nice country you have (it’s a shame Sony doesn’t think the same way)!
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 9:53 am by Nostromo74
MisterZlu, thanks for the suggestion, but a friend told me that a credit card won’t work anyway. And I would like to access the store the proper way
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 10:13 am by Zimon
Well now that Europe’s getting PSN cards maybe you can import some of those? It’s not the ultimate solution but it’s something.
Am I the only one here that thinks this post is a little late? This demo has been in the store since last Thursday. Not that I’m complaining, a post is a post and a demo is always good.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 10:19 am by Nostromo74
When are the PSN cards coming out?
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 10:47 am by MightyCrow
Hey Alex, what do you have in terms of multiplayer and are the planes based off real planes?
Also, anything to persuade me to get it instead of any other flight simulator?!
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 10:49 am by MightyCrow
GUYS! This guy isn’t head of scee or the PSN store! Ask him questions on the game! Thats what hes here for.
Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 11:02 am by Alex Price
Thanks MightyCrow
The Malta questions really need to be directed towards someone from Sony…however, we are here today to answer any questions you have about the IL2 release so keep them coming and we’ll get some responses for you today.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 10:56 am by FlexmanUK
This demo has been out a few days already, so it’s given me a chance to put it through its paces.
It’s a real blast to play, easy to pick up. Any realism setting above
“Arcade” is going to need a good flight-stick to benefit. I’d recommend the Saitek Aviator, other flight-sticks are available but not as good IMO.
I’d love to see a few tweaks to the controls, or at least some control options. Looking around requires depressing the right-stick and then moving it in the direction you want to look, but as this stick is also used for throttle and rudder you can’t rub your tummy and pat your head at the same time. An option to have toggle view-mode on R3 would help, maybe in an update?
How this is going to translate to the PSP I’m most curious. I’ve not seen any video or screenshots from the PSP which needs a few more flight games.
Any chance of having FlightTo GO on PSP here in the EU/UK?
Anyway, IL2 gets my thumbs up.
Posted on 27 August, 2009 at 5:17 pm by Alex Price
We spent a lot of time experimenting with different control methods for the flight sticks to give the player the optimum controls for the Saitek Aviator. With this in mind we do in fact have two configurations for the Thrustmaster sticks.
At this stage it is unlikely though we can make any additional changes to the controls.
Obviously flight sticks are not available for the PSP so we are not able to cater for these. However again, we have spent a lot of time balancing the flight controls on the PSP version of the game, taking into account comments made during QA and focus testing to make sure that we have the most intuitive controls available to the player using the PSP controls.
You also have two control mappings available to you on the PSP version of the game.
Flight To is a separate product and not from 505
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 11:05 am by elliotclem1
I also downloaded the demo last week and I had been waiting for it for many weeks before.
I have to say placing in arcade mode with the dualshock was great fun and I loved all the voice acting and cut scenes.
After reading on the offical playstation fourms it seemed that the thrustmaster hotas x was the joystick to have for this game.
I have now purchased the joystick for £25 and have to say its a great stick. I thought however that it would be easier to control the plane in realistic or simulation mode, but found it just as tricky as the plane seems to move around a lot and you have to take the corner super slow to prevent stalling. But its great fun in arcade mode loved it!!!
Just a quick pointer when plugging in my joystick it shows me the different controller layouts. I scrolled through them but on the first (defult) option had a diagram. Perhaps you could patch the demo??
Overall a great game but i thought that the realistic and simulator mode was to challenging for me.
Thanks for the demo and such a great price for the actual game. I might consider getting it.
Elliotclem1
Posted on 27 August, 2009 at 5:17 pm by Alex Price
I am not entirely sure what the question is asking, but when you get the full game, the manual gives you a complete breakdown for each of the control mappings for both the Saitek Aviator and Thrustmaster sticks, detailing exactly where each set of controls are applied to the sticks.
Hope that helps.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 11:07 am by Paulus-NL
great demo. played it already allot
i agree with FlexmanUK about the button to look around. also a weird thing with the tiger mission. sometimes when i turn the plain to the left/right i drops down to the ground. result: crash :p why is this? when this happens i can’t get the plane leveled.
but besides this. great game and it looks so cool
Posted on 27 August, 2009 at 5:20 pm by Alex Price
It is difficult to tell without more details but it sounds like you are playing the game in either Realistic/Simulator mode. When playing the game in Arcade you do not have to worry about amount of thrust, you have, flap positioning, etc. All the elements of keeping a plane in the air need to be born in mind. You can just turn left and right and the game takes care of the rest for you.
However in the other modes of the game the player has increasingly more complex controls and it is no longer a case of just turning left. If you do this when on low throttle for example while raising altitude the plane is very likely to stall and then it will indeed drop out of the sky as mentioned.
It is highly recommended that when you feel ready to progress on from playing the game in Arcade mode that you take the advanced tutorials available in the game. They help to make the player aware of all the other control issues and complexities of playing the game in these modes and how to deal with/ master them.
Once these tutorials are carried out then playing the game in these modes should become a lot easier.
Posted on 27 August, 2009 at 5:21 pm by Alex Price
However, please bear in mind these modes are meant to be more complex than Arcade, and in Simulator Mode we are looking to make the game as realistic as possible. So it is a lot harder to play the game and indeed master the controls of the planes themselves.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 11:17 am by thereapersson
Hi!
I was wondering how easy it was to develop this title in comparison to the XBOX 360 version? I hope to recieve the best possible visual experience on my PS3 console without having to deal with hardware shortcomings!
Posted on 27 August, 2009 at 5:22 pm by Alex Price
Each version of the game had its own issues in development which had to be overcome.
We have worked very hard on the PS3 version to make sure we give the player the best possible experience, both visually and from a game play point of view and have worked hard to make sure there are NO issues in the game caused by hardware and your game play experience will be as smooth and exhilarating as you would expect.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 11:32 am by Raine7
I was really looking forward for this game, but I’m not sure now… Arcade difficult seems pretty easy, somewhat boring. But Realistic difficult seems very hard to play. My Spitifre keeps falling down again and again every time I try to turn, no matter how quick I’m flying.
Any tips welcome
Posted on 27 August, 2009 at 5:24 pm by Alex Price
The best thing to do is go back to the tutorial. We have created advanced tutorials for the player who finds Arcade easy and wishes to move on to something a little meatier. In the tutorial you will find guides on how to handle the plane in these modes and give the player a better understanding of what is needed to fly the plane successfully and play the game in these modes.
Also, make sure you visit the encyclopedia in the game. This gives a you a wealth of information on flying tips and how to perform maneuvers in the game which will help you in combat and when flying your plane. These modes do take longer to master the controls BUT, once you do, the flying experience is much more fulfilling and the gameplay much more challenging.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 12:07 pm by Bonyman
Hi, i played the demo too and although flight-sims aren’t my cup of tea, i was impressed by it overall. However i would also agree that the ‘look-around’ feature should be made more user friendly . As it’s so close to the full release now, maybe a patch can be added later.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 12:13 pm by V00D00CHARL1E
I’ve not downloaded it yet, purely because of the size of the demo itself. Is there any chance of a cut down demo?
Posted on 27 August, 2009 at 5:24 pm by Alex Price
We have shrunk the size of demo down as small as we can I am afraid. The size is due to the amount of data needed for the demo of the levels we have provided.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 12:16 pm by sentry-23
Just a question on stick sensitivity.
When flying in realistic or sim mode, it is very easy to stall the plane, just because you have such a small zone to move a joypad leftstick around in the first place.
I’ve played around a bit with sensitivity, but it still is very easy to stall when you push the stick around a bit.
Did I miss some options, or is it just a question of being very careful (or getting a flight-stick) ?
For the rest, the game looks great. just the occasional screen tearing at times. Did this improve in the final version ?
Posted on 27 August, 2009 at 5:25 pm by Alex Price
Well again, make sure you have played the tutorials for these modes and use the encyclopedia for further tips. BUT it is true to say that the stick on a standard controller can appear a little more sensitive than, say, a PC flight stick.
With this in mind we have made the game compatible with the Saitek Aviator and also the Thrustmaster sticks for PS3.
When playing the game with you will find the gameplay experience (as you would expect) is much more realistic and the sensitivity of the sticks are again more subtle.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 12:24 pm by Nostromo74
Ok I eventually downloaded the demo… looks nice, but what’s with the tearing? It took me 2 seconds to notice. Will the final version be the same?
Posted on 27 August, 2009 at 5:26 pm by Alex Price
The game has been optimized fully for final release and the game should not feature any tearing or other issues when playing.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 12:46 pm by mmatzat
Will there be Story besides the Flying? Sort of like WIng Comander 3-4. Or at least Interaction with your Squat?
Posted on 27 August, 2009 at 5:27 pm by Alex Price
The main aim of IL2 was to bring to the player the REAL historic battles of World War 2 so there is not so much emphasis on story as there would be in Wing Commander. However as the game plays out the game plays movies describing how the campaigns you are about to become involved in came about and a historic progression of WW2.
As well as this you play the part of pilots within the RAF, USAAF and Russian air forces while playing the game. Profiles of each of the pilots are available in the game and as you play through the campaign at the end of each mission the pilot reflects (pilot diaries) on the mission and how what he has achieved will affect not only the war itself but him and his family/friends personally to try and give the player both the historical significance of the battles themselves but also what it meant to the pilots themselves.
As for interaction with your squad, yes you are able to issue orders to your wingmen in the game and some missions will not be possible without calling for assistance from your squadron, it will be just too difficult otherwise.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 12:49 pm by LiquidGotenks
Nostromo74, you credit card will work on the Italian Store which is the same as the UK Store. And the language will still be in English. Some friends confirmed me this.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 1:04 pm by ghosthunter68
Played this on the PC years ago and when I fire up the demo my jaw dropped. The visuals are fantastic. Theres a bit of tearing happens once and a while on the landscape but nothing to concerning. Anyway this has been added to my buy list.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 1:13 pm by vicheous
This game is really looking good! I’ve pre-ordered!
What flight sticks will be supported on PS3?
Will there be a option to create private rooms?
Is there a option to play campaign in coop?
Any trophy list to give us?
Again thanks for bringing this game to us console heads!!
Posted on 27 August, 2009 at 5:29 pm by Alex Price
In answer to your questions…
Saitek Aviator, Thrustmaster T.Flight Hotas X and Thrustmaster T.Flight Stick X.
You are able to create multi player games where only invited players are able to participate in as well as games where anyone online can join.
I am afraid not. In the multi player game when playing capture airfireld and Team Battle the players have to work together to achieve the best results, so you do get the chance to work with other players there.
Also as mentioned above in campign you do have to call for assistance from your wingmen in some missions, getting them to help you in battles to be able to achieve the missions
There are 50 trophies available in total in the game. We do not want to give the game away here but examples of some of the trophies you can achieve are becoming adept at the various elements of the game such as air combat, bombing, destroying ground targets with Rockets.
Then performing all flight maneuvers, not only in Arcade but in Realistic and Simulator too!
Finally there are also trophies for playing the game successfully in multi player as well.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 1:16 pm by Danlisa
Hi Alex
I’m a huge fan of the IL2 series on the PC so I was naturally interested in the PS3 version. Having downloaded and played the demo, I am awestruck. I didn’t think IL2 would port to the consoles very well. I am happy with the controls (take some getting used to), the graphic quality and (more importantly) the accuracy of the planes used.
I have one small gripe. Playing in Sim mode produces horrible and very noticeable screen tearing in the cockpit, it’s constant and very distracting. Has this been reported and verified already? Will there be a fix for it. I can live with the small amount of screen tear near the ground, after all it’s a flight sim right?
If you can ensure a correction to this issue, it’s a day one purchase. Kudos to 505 & 1C.
Regards.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 1:24 pm by Ishar
I’ve tried this demo last week and it was a very good surprise !
This kind of games are rare on PS3.
The environnments created by satellite are very beautiful ! Good job
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 1:29 pm by GTR34mh
I would have downloaded the demo, but my rather small cap of data allowance that is available for Australians means I can’t use it all on a demo nearing 2gb. Only 20gb to download before I get dial up speeds
. Maybe one day we’ll get the great internet plans that the Americans get, but oh well.
Game looks interesting too, but I’ve never been a flight gamer, and I don’t have the money to buy every game coming in the next few months.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 1:37 pm by tojeka
@GTR34mh
You can download only 20GB a month in Australia? Thats ridicules! I feel really sorry for you Australians. Your government really sucks!
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 1:45 pm by wbrinkman
.. says the German with a violent game ban.
)
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 1:50 pm by Alex Price
Thank you for all the questions and comments.
We are working with our dev team to get all the questions answered for you as soon as possible so watch thsi space…
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 2:42 pm by Ravenblade86
IL2 really caught my eye last month in the Eurogamer preview, and I was thinking that I would maybe buy it, but I wasn’t sure as I’ve never really managed to get into a flight sim before. After trying the demo though (the file size was almost off putting considering my internet connection) I’m totally sold on the game and have it pre-ordered now.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 3:13 pm by Molin
Great demo! I was really looking forward to this game and the demo was a great surprise!
I must agree that the R3-”look around” controls are a bit difficult to handle (eg. looking left or right breaks the push-down quickly).
Playing “realistic” and above with the controller is hard, since you tend to stall a lot, I even stalled when I had enough airspeed. Maybe a flightstick will remedy this as some others in here suggested. A list of supported flightsticks would also be welcome.
Congratulations again on the first flightsim experience for the PS3!
Posted on 27 August, 2009 at 5:31 pm by Alex Price
Hi Molin
As previously mentioned; Saitek Aviator, Thrustmaster T.Flight Hotas X and Thrustmaster T.Flight Stick X
Thanks for the great comments
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 3:36 pm by DawidHUN
From demo it seems to be a very good game for the PS3. After You learn how to control the “bird” the gameplay is going to be very fun.
(The control is 10x better than in Lair. There You need only few minute to master it. In Lair the control is worst than chaos.) So it is a very good flight game.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 3:42 pm by Smoutefretter_BE
I played the demo and have to say i’m impressed!
really great controls! and as said above me the “look-around” is a bit weird, but we’ll ignore that
I think it is nice to see the first flightsim being this good (ace combat level!).
I’m going to pre-order it somewhere (just seeing wich retailer gives the coolest “extra” to the game!)
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 4:47 pm by SolidusDave
I like the XMB-screenshot option in the demo, all developers (especially Sony) should allow this (in the full game of course, too).
And it’s done the correct way: freezing the game when open XMB for the screenshot-option (and not like in the CoJ BiB demo, you can only make screenshots of its pause menu lol )
some of mine:
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/1186/il2sturmovikbirdsofprey.p ng
http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/1186/il2sturmovikbirdsofprey.pn g
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 5:05 pm by Nostromo74
I have played the demo a bit more. Seriously, I really hope the final version of this game will have better framerate! Whenever I do sudden movements the screen drags a lot and the framerate drops down a lot.
Can someone tell me if the final version of this game suffers from this problem?
Posted on 27 August, 2009 at 5:31 pm by Alex Price
The game has continued to be optimized since release of the demo and we have done everything we can to avoid any frame rate issues in the final game.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 5:20 pm by Alex Price
Thank you for all of your questions today.
We are pulling together the answers with the production and development teams and should be back tomorrow with all of the responses.
In the meantime, we have made updates to the official game website today including information on 11 new planes, new wallpapers and videos, which you can see here: http://www.il2game.com
Thanks, back with you tomorrow.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 5:22 pm by Nostromo74
That’s great – cheers.
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Posted on 26 August, 2009 at 11:15 pm by btime
well, i have my flightstick and am just waiting for my pre-order to drop through the door
am very happy that this game has made it to the consoles.
shame the Demo doesnt display the controls list for the Thrustmaster, but other than that i have had no problems.
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Posted on 27 August, 2009 at 1:37 am by racedriving
The demo has heavy tearing. What about V-Sync, would that hit fps too much?
.
Beside the performance problem a great game. I still have the first PC title here
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Posted on 27 August, 2009 at 6:53 am by Nostromo74
@racedriving
Thats exactly what I was thinking. What’s weird though is that they were discussing this problem on another forum, and it seems that not everyone is capable of seeing this tearing.
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Posted on 27 August, 2009 at 1:23 pm by Danlisa
Did we scare Alex and his team away?
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Posted on 27 August, 2009 at 1:55 pm by Nostromo74
Hehehehe it seems so. Probably the vysnc issue was not fixed
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Posted on 27 August, 2009 at 3:20 pm by Danlisa
I’m guessing that Alex has been told that there is absolutely no screen tearing on the PS3 demo. Shame he believed it.
Either that or there is a huge problem and they don’t want to admit it.
*did I leave enough bait?*
I hope to hear something soon on this matter. Early acknowledgment of the problem and the willingness to fix it will minimise the complaints from purchasers when they buy the game.
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