The Simulation market has been around for a long time. It’s still here and bigger than most people think. We know about Flight Simulators with their hardcore followers, but what else is out there?

Well surprisingly, after doing a little bit of digging around, there are a LOT of simulation games. Straight away, I’m going to discount things like SimCity, just because those sorts of games are more of a management game, rather than a hands-on simulation of something from every-day life.

Microsoft Flight Simulator X

As mentioned, this is probably the most well-known simulator, and is so well supported that you can buy hardware add-ons for the game, including proper yokes, rudder pedals and throttle controls. And that doesn’t even count the huge number of software add-ons, with new scenery, airports, aircraft – you name it.

For the truly enthusiastic, the game comes complete with a very good Air Traffic Control system, ILS systems at airports, with all the correct approaches you would expect. And the detail inside the cockpit has to be seen to be believed – the aircraft feel & look as per their real-life counterparts. Of course, this is not a lot of fun for the casual gamer as there is no “achievement” other than completing a journey. There are no timetables, or anything to stick to, it’s completely left open to the gamer to work out what they want to accomplish. There are, however, lots of missions which are also available and can be completed, to give the casual gamer a reason to play the game. The various tutorials, from learning the basic controls, to flying IFR, are there to help too.

There are other civilian-based flight simulator games like FlightGear (open-source), but most are of the military type, focusing on dog-fighting and missions. IL-2, and the classic F-16 are two that spring to mind in this genre.

Flight Simulator is the best system for the home, accurately simulating the physics and flight characteristics of the aircraft. Born in 1982, as version 1, Flight Simulator X, released in 2006, is the 12th version of the game – and hopefully not the last. ACES studios, owned by Microsoft, were closed in January 2009, so the future of this long-running game series is unknown.

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While Mirror’s Edge was out on console last Friday (14th), the PC gaming community still have to wait untill January 2009. This is good news as it means there is more of a chance it will not be just a port of the console version and that DICE are spending some time on it. Today some more good news for any one who own an Nvidia 8 series or higher GFX card: The game is being developed to use Nvidia’s PhysX technology to try and bring the world of Mirrors edge to life.

Owen O’Brien, Senior Producer at DICE:

I look forward to seeing the benefits of this tech in a game. And if you can’t wait, help pass the time with this 2D flash based game.

Today sees the realise of the Mirror’s Edge demo on the PSN, with a 360 demo tomorrow and a PC version to follow at a later date.

DICE, who I hold as one of the best developers out there at the moment, are going all guns blazing over the next few days. As well as the demos, Battlefield: Bad Company has also received updates today (PSN) and tomorrow (360) with 4 new maps – 2 of which won a community vote. This last week I’ve been huffing and puffing because I could not make my mind up what to play on the 360, and with Fallout 3 out tomorrow as well, it’s going to be a very enjoyable weekend.

The makers of World of Warcraft (WoW) have won a settlement today from a company who created a bot to “level-up” players of the popular online MMORPG.

The software, called MMOGlider, gives players of WoW the opportunity to automate tedious tasks to increase their abilities and ultimately have a more powerful avatar. Players that signed up to WoW agreed under the T’s & C’s to not use utilities or methods other than the normal gameplay to level-up their players. The creators of MMOGlider, MDY have to pay damages of $6 Million to Blizzard after an estimated 100,000 copies of the WoW bot have already been sold – which works out at $60 a copy (MDY sold the software for $30). The BBC have the full story here.

News has emerged that Valve will be releasing a demo of its 4 player co-op zombie shooter Left 4 Dead. The demo, which should be out shortly before release, will more than likely be the first two maps of the game. The two missions start outside in the streets and later lead you into a subway station.

Left 4 Dead will be out on Xbox360 and PC with rumours of a PS3 version later to follow (not confirmed by Valve). The game will be available Nov 18th on Steam and the 21st in the shops.

A quick one for some gaming updates. Crytek’s sequel Crysis Warhead has now gone gold, the game follows on from the first Crysis taking control of the Brit Sergeant Michael ‘Psycho’ Sykes from the point you part in the first game. The game is all on track for a Sept 12th release in Europe and Sept 16th in North America.

Left4Dead has been delayed from its Nov 4th release and is now expected on Nov 20th, so not too long to wait. Valve wanted the Game to come out on the 4th to go with the Left “4″ Dead title but the game will now be out on the 10th anniversary of Half-Life Valves first game and the most important game of PCs time. Cant wait for this one with 4 player co-op.

A quick update on Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC, Rockstar showed off the game behind closed doors at the Leipzig Games convention. While there are no videos of the game, Rockstar are saying it will have better graphics supporting a maximum resolution of 2560 x 1600, also the game will have a reply and editing system that will always be recording so you can get the last 30 seconds of your classic GTA4 moments.

In a quick post, and anyone checking my youtube channel will know, I am eagerly waiting for Spore to hit the shelves – so imagine my happiness when today it was announced that Spore has gone Gold – the American coined term that means the software has been shipped to manufacturers for production. A good sign that means (hopefully) it will be released on schedule (5th September in the UK, 7th September in the US).

Rockstar have finally announced its release date for the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV. Being released on the 18th November in North America and 21st November in Europe, Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar Games said, “We are very excited to be releasing the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV, the whole team is dedicated to bringing an amazing gaming experience to the PC. The game looks and plays beautifully on PC and we can’t wait for people to play it.”

Not much else was said but the PC version will feature some new multiplayer elements. If this is a new mode or something completely new is unknown. We all knew it would be making its way to us but at least now we have a date to book off.

The last 12 months have seen new game engines coming out left right and centre. While most casual gamers wont know they are there, some of these engines look and feel great to use and really change how we play.

Last year it was Call Of Duty with it’s new proprietary engine which featured HDR lighting and depth of field, not forgetting bullet penetration – the engine taking factors such as the type of surface and the thickness into account thoughout each map. This year saw GTA with a new game engine RAGE. Whilst this is impressive, the Euphoria engine devolved by Natural Motion was a leap in a new direction for everyone. It can be worked into any game engine bringing life into the ageing ragdolls formula. Then, ahead of us we have Far Cry 2’s Dunia which looks untouchable in technical terms with things such as real-world weather, dynamic fire propagation and non-scripted enemy A.I.

But the one I want to talk about is one that has been made for one of my favourite games series, Battlefield. It’s called Frostbite (hence the article title, it’s there for a reason!). Currently only being used by the latest Battlefield game, Bad Company, the engine’s main and most visual effects are the real-time destruction – meaning you can blow a hole in just about anything. 90% of the gaming world can be destroyed with frames of buildings and other stuff remaining indestructible, to prevent the landscape from becoming completely flat. Remember, shooting a wall in any of the other BF games creates a big cloud of smoke and rubble but still the wall is intact. Well now the walls can be destroyed in some way – more so if its a more powerful weapon. To go along with this is one of the best sounding systems I’ve heard, with the HDR audio system, making the world feel like a battlefield with louder bangs and real-time sounds for weapons. Where games would use a sounds loop or sample for a firing gun, the Frostbite engine plays each sound as it is so a firing gun has sounds for every bullet. I don’t know the technical stuff behind it but it works a treat. I do know the game can play the more important sounds over the top of not so important sounds in real time, making the battlefield sound great with distant battles sounding like they are just that, distant. The engine also has new lighting to go with the dynamic battlefield with shadows changing with missing trees and walls.

Whilst I love DICE and their Battlefield series including the new Battlefield Bad Company on my Xbox, I am at heart a PC gamer. And to know that at the moment there are 5 BF titles in the wings (one being Heroes and a second for Korean gamers) I am feeling good this engine is making its way over to the PC. My problems with this engine is the fact you can blow a hole in the wall but can’t shoot through it like the CoD4 engine. I believe the features of the Frostbite engine and the CoD4 engine, if combined, would go hand-in-hand to make a great playing experience. Clipping is also a big problem for Frostbite with trees staying in shape for online play and branches resting through the ground. While it’s not a big deal, it’s still noticeable.

All in all I can’t wait to see the engine on future titles, with tweaks worked out and with the better processing power of PC’s should (I hope) see an improvement. Well done DICE you’ve made a great engine and I know you’re going to continue to make some great games.

On my morning stroll though the news pages of the online gaming world I wandered into an old friend, “IL-2″. As it’s been so long since I’ve heard that name, I was drawn into what I was hoping to be some Storm Of War: Battle of Britain news. Unfortunately I was to taken to an Xbox360 news area. What I was to read and what I was to view was enough to make me want to put on my goggles and scarf and fire up the old boy.

The game I’m going to tell you about is IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey. Now it’s only a short piece but it does come along with a video and some screens. The game is the first console game from the makers of the hardcore PC flight sim. With arcade style controls and chase view HUD for the console world, it also has options for hardcore flying. With large scale combat and a new damage and physics engine the game looks impressive, with a large 3D landscape that tops the PC counter-part. Until any more news of Storm of War comes to light and if you own a 360 or PS3 this may just have to do until then!