Oz Flight Sim Expo 2009
It has been two years since I blogged about the last Oz Flight Sim Expo. It was on again this weekend, this time in Brisbane, running over two days at Kelvin Grove. The venue was really easy to find and we parked in free carparking out the front. Entry was only $10 with my son getting in free.
The expo this year was a lot smaller than the last one at the Gold Coast. Maybe a fifth of the size. There were around five stands and the simming groups in their pits. It was pretty busy with the PC Aviator and Flight Sim Store stands selling flight sim software, books and controllers seemingly doing very well with large crowds around them and plenty of people spending money. It was actually pretty difficult to get to the Flight Sim Shop stand due to the crowd and it's immediate proximity to the entrance. Lots of people seemed to be buying the DVD version of the Orbx Australian scenery. It's great and Aussie made so that is really good to see. There also seemed to be lots of people snapping up Track IRs and the Saitek Pro Flight Switchboard. One bloke I bumped into when leaving had an unboxed CH Products Yoke he said he'd picked up in a very good deal. With my son in tow and big crowds around everything, I just didn't have much of an opportunity to talk to anyone unfortunately, something I really enjoyed at the last expo.
There were two multi-screen setups, one with the Saitek X52 PRO, the other with the new Logitech G-940. I had two objectives going to the expo - to have a play with a G-940 and to pick up a replacement TrackClip.
I did get to have a play with the G-940, it seemed pretty good but not as good as I was expecting. I really noticed the plastic feel and the lack of resistance including the buttons and hats compared to my Cougar. The dual throttle was pretty cool though. I couldn't get a Trackclip by itself unfortunately.
The highlight of the expo for me was the guys in their home made Akers Barnes pits - the VAAF running Black Shark and the 62nd Fighting Falcons running Falcon 4. There were projectors throwing up the gameplay all around the walls that was really eye catching and kept everyone's attention. My dodgey video:
Ruprecht from the VAAF had his very impressive pit with a lot of enhancements since the last expo including a triplehead setup and a monitor dedicated to running the ABRIS moving map for Black Shark. Something that worked really well was Mike Goldman from Channel Ten hosting the expo. When I was there he interviewed Ruprecht about his pit and that was great to listen to. Having something interesting over the PA was really excellent.
Here is Ruprecht's pit, sorry for the elbow, I'm the world's worst photographer:
There were the RAAF Virtual guys out the back flying F-18 in FSX, CKAS had some info but no working demo of their motion platform and Holdsworth Airline Collectables had diecast plane models for sale. Airborn computers had PC components for sale and there were some guys in pilots uniforms that must have been with Fly-a-Jet selling time in a airline Boeing 737 simulator.
While the expo was a lot smaller than last time, I'm really thankful to Ross Farquharson to have it on at all. I hope it comes back next year bigger and better. I'd really like to see Simworx, Iris Simulations. Orbx and Melbourne Flight Simulators come back into the expo with some stands. What would really rock is if all simulations were included and we saw people like Bohemia Interactive Australia get involved and some racing sims too.
The expo this year was a lot smaller than the last one at the Gold Coast. Maybe a fifth of the size. There were around five stands and the simming groups in their pits. It was pretty busy with the PC Aviator and Flight Sim Store stands selling flight sim software, books and controllers seemingly doing very well with large crowds around them and plenty of people spending money. It was actually pretty difficult to get to the Flight Sim Shop stand due to the crowd and it's immediate proximity to the entrance. Lots of people seemed to be buying the DVD version of the Orbx Australian scenery. It's great and Aussie made so that is really good to see. There also seemed to be lots of people snapping up Track IRs and the Saitek Pro Flight Switchboard. One bloke I bumped into when leaving had an unboxed CH Products Yoke he said he'd picked up in a very good deal. With my son in tow and big crowds around everything, I just didn't have much of an opportunity to talk to anyone unfortunately, something I really enjoyed at the last expo.
There were two multi-screen setups, one with the Saitek X52 PRO, the other with the new Logitech G-940. I had two objectives going to the expo - to have a play with a G-940 and to pick up a replacement TrackClip.
I did get to have a play with the G-940, it seemed pretty good but not as good as I was expecting. I really noticed the plastic feel and the lack of resistance including the buttons and hats compared to my Cougar. The dual throttle was pretty cool though. I couldn't get a Trackclip by itself unfortunately.
The highlight of the expo for me was the guys in their home made Akers Barnes pits - the VAAF running Black Shark and the 62nd Fighting Falcons running Falcon 4. There were projectors throwing up the gameplay all around the walls that was really eye catching and kept everyone's attention. My dodgey video:
Ruprecht from the VAAF had his very impressive pit with a lot of enhancements since the last expo including a triplehead setup and a monitor dedicated to running the ABRIS moving map for Black Shark. Something that worked really well was Mike Goldman from Channel Ten hosting the expo. When I was there he interviewed Ruprecht about his pit and that was great to listen to. Having something interesting over the PA was really excellent.
Here is Ruprecht's pit, sorry for the elbow, I'm the world's worst photographer:
There were the RAAF Virtual guys out the back flying F-18 in FSX, CKAS had some info but no working demo of their motion platform and Holdsworth Airline Collectables had diecast plane models for sale. Airborn computers had PC components for sale and there were some guys in pilots uniforms that must have been with Fly-a-Jet selling time in a airline Boeing 737 simulator.
While the expo was a lot smaller than last time, I'm really thankful to Ross Farquharson to have it on at all. I hope it comes back next year bigger and better. I'd really like to see Simworx, Iris Simulations. Orbx and Melbourne Flight Simulators come back into the expo with some stands. What would really rock is if all simulations were included and we saw people like Bohemia Interactive Australia get involved and some racing sims too.
Labels: Flight Sim, VAAF
posted by Thommo at
6:55 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home