Steel Beasts Pro

[Hub]

I got this from eSim today:

Steel Beasts Professional Personal Edition
Coming this autumn, from eSim Games

Sunnyvale, Calif. Sept. 28, 2004 Software developer eSim Games, LLC, today announced that Steel Beasts® Professional Personal Edition, a PC-based simulation of small-unit armored and mechanized combat for individual users, will be available in late Autumn 2004, and sold exclusively through its online store.

"We're happy to announce this news to our customers", said eSim Games' president and programmer, Alexander H. Delaney. "Many fans have been waiting for this since the release of Steel Beasts Gold, our last consumer game version. We have spent the last years on a number of dramatic improvements to the product, largely influenced by the requirements of serious training.

"Thanks to the support of the Danish Army and others, we can now offer a number of playable vehicles that have never before been modeled by any simulation game that we know of. The M2/M3 Bradley fighting vehicles are a world premiere, as are the Leopard 2A5 and 1A5 versions, and a playable artillery forward observer vehicle. They come in addition to the M1A1 Abrams and the Leopard 2A4 that have been the centerpieces of the original Steel Beasts simulation game. Overall, Steel Beasts now offers by far more than ever before."

In addition to these major fighting vehicles, two other vehicles can be commanded as well from a 1st person perspective - the Humvee and M113 with cal .50 heavy MG - and more than 26 additional combat and combat support vehicles from the external observer's position.

"It's not just the vehicles", Technical Director Nils Hinrichsen added. "We have now five different types of minefields, both visible and invisible, various point obstacles to block roads or simulate checkpoints, dug-in emplacements to increase the cover for vehicles and infantry, as well as instruments to breach most of these obstacles."

"Experienced SB players and students of combined arms combat tactics will love the added depth to tactical versatility and the many new elements. It's a whole new experience that retains the strengths of the classic simulation game of the year 2000, while addressing many requests from our customers back then."

Most noticeably, Steel Beasts Professional is based on a brand new, custom-built graphics engine, compatible with DirectX 9 to take advantage of today's powerful consumer graphics cards. The new graphics engine can render fine details up close, with visibility distances of about 5 kilometers. Good frame rates can be maintained with only moderate hardware requirements.

Steel Beasts Professional will require DirectX 9 installed, and GeForce 3 / Radeon 8500 or faster graphics cards. eSim Games recommends 1.5 GHz or faster processors, 256 MByte RAM, and about 800 MByte of free hard disk space.

Steel Beasts gave its debut as a tank simulation game of modern tanks in summer 2000. Development on Steel Beasts Professional started after the release of Steel Beasts Gold in April 2002. Over the past two years, the new engine was prepared, and the focus shifted from a purely armor centric point of view to a simulation of company level combined arms combat tactics.

Steel Beasts is from independent developer eSim Games, LLC, with its headquarters located in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit http://www.eSimGames.com, or contact Nils Hinrichsen: Ssnake@eSimGames.com

 

[Priest]

This sounds like it's gonna be great, can't wait.

 

[Hub]

This sounds like it's gonna be great, can't wait.

Yes, I'm looking forwards to it. My only complaint about the original SB was the handling of dismounts. I doubt they will be any better than before, but here's hoping...

 

[Gary Owen]

Ssnake (Nils Hinrichsen) spent several hours on Team Speak last Friday answering questions posed by a large group of the Steel Beasts multi-player community. The impression that I got from the Q & A was that better handling of dismounts is something that will, at some point, make it into the game. IIRC, there was discussion about being able to order the dismounts into different formations, e.g., wedge, 'ranger' file, etc., and possibly being able to order dismount squads to engage with different weapons, e.g., engage that vehicle with AT-4's, engage that squad with LMG.

Esim presently seems to be developing three different versions of their new sim; one custom made for various militaries to be licensed for use in classrooms (SB Pro), a scaled-down version of the military sim to be used by students for 'homework'(SB Pro Personal Edition), and a version for gamers (SB 2). SB Pro PE will be available for general purchase this fall and should include updates as work progresses on the other versions.

Even if the hoped-for vastly improved handling of dismounts doesn't make it into the initial release of SB Pro PE, given the information at the eSim website -- screen shots of mineplows, MICLICs, etc, depth of gameplay will still be leaps and bounds ahead of what we have with SB 1.

BTW Hub, this is the homepage for the SB Canadian virtual unit:

http://www.trackpads.net/games/steelbeastscanada/index.htm

I believe that some of its members are familiar with the development of SB 2.

 

[pzgndr]

I am looking forward to this. Let me dust off my headspace and timing gauge so I can putz around Hohenfels in my M113 again. Hooah!

 

[Aries]

Wow, talk about your opposite end of the spectrum.

At one end we have PEA Panzer Elite Action, entirely gamey, but fun.

And then we have SB Pro clocking in at a 125 dollar price tag.

I've looked at the screenshots, and I have to tell you, I am unsure ANY sim can produce 125 bucks worth of entertainment.

http://www.steelbeasts.com/index.php?POSTNUKESID=f84ce2c625af7e70e28500397acce28b

Are these guys trying to be the new "most expensive PC game out there" winners?

Then again, when you look at the comparison chart page, it becomes apparent, this was never intended to be considered a private user commercial amusement.

But how how many of you guys have any need to train tread heads? And shouldn't your government be paying for that

 

[blackdeath]

Thats a lot of money, I dont care how good it is, it cant be worth 125 or so...can it? Looks good though.

I noticed non f the screens hots I saw had anything other than pics of tanks..waht about infantry, AI, etc..i bet it looks great but play crappy....

 

[Redwolf]

There will be another variant at normal game prices.

 

[Aries]

As I understood the site, there's 3 variants as far as product goes.

What I find odd, is I can't actually think of many games where there is multiple variants. Games get upgraded, and some are versions made for professional contract, but I don't see many examples where the commercial version is so significantly less expensive than the professional variant.

Just has me scratching my head. The Pro version leaves me scratching my head wondering, who do they expect to pay 125 bucks for it?

This from the page mentioning comparisons

Intended Use

SB2: Entertainment for consumers.

SB Pro PE: Training of soldiers on their personal PCs using exercises that don't require an operator / controller.

SB Professional: Training of soldiers in a (networked) simulation lab under the direction of an operator / controller.

All this strikes me as an odd way to market a trainer to governments.
Who here needs SB Pro PE? Got any tankers you want to train?
SB Professional who here has a networked simulation lab handy?

The key question will be, is the commercial version dummied down?

 

[Redwolf]

Intended Use

SB2: Entertainment for consumers.

SB Pro PE: Training of soldiers on their personal PCs using exercises that don't require an operator / controller.

SB Professional: Training of soldiers in a (networked) simulation lab under the direction of an operator / controller.

[...]
The key question will be, is the commercial version dummied down?

Same ballistics, vehicles, game mechanics, but obscure stuff removed mostly useful for actual training.

In a word: you will be able to run around and shoot things in your tank in the same realistic or unrealistic manner as in the other versions.

 

[Malm]

How many from SZO playing this great sim?

Hi,

Just wonder how many from SZO playing this great sim?

Maybe we could go coop some day


-

 

[Patrocles]

As I understood the site, there's 3 variants as far as product goes.

What I find odd, is I can't actually think of many games where there is multiple variants. Games get upgraded, and some are versions made for professional contract, but I don't see many examples where the commercial version is so significantly less expensive than the professional variant.

Just has me scratching my head. The Pro version leaves me scratching my head wondering, who do they expect to pay 125 bucks for it?

This from the page mentioning comparisons

Intended Use

SB2: Entertainment for consumers.

SB Pro PE: Training of soldiers on their personal PCs using exercises that don't require an operator / controller.

SB Professional: Training of soldiers in a (networked) simulation lab under the direction of an operator / controller.

All this strikes me as an odd way to market a trainer to governments.
Who here needs SB Pro PE? Got any tankers you want to train?
SB Professional who here has a networked simulation lab handy?

The key question will be, is the commercial version dummied down?

here is the esim page showing the comparisons between the three versions of SB:
http://www.esimgames.com/comparison.htm


Yes, I agree with your last statement about releasing SBPP before SB2 as being odd. I guess it is either a marketing ploy, or esim had the SBPP and SBP ready for sale before SB2 as part of the govt contract?

 

[Cougar_DK]

Yes, I agree with your last statement about releasing SBPP before SB2 as being odd. I guess it is either a marketing ploy, or esim had the SBPP and SBP ready for sale before SB2 as part of the govt contract?

Hmmmm, I think I understand it though.... SB Pro and SB Pro PE has the same code base, i.e. they have removed some parts of the program mostly needed for the real millitary. SB Pro PE is a hardcore sim and not a game. SB2 will be a real game building on SB Pro/SB Pro PE.

What you get by paying those $125 is the simulator real world soldiers use to train in.... take a looke at this thread.

 

[Patrocles]

Hmmmm, I think I understand it though.... SB Pro and SB Pro PE has the same code base, i.e. they have removed some parts of the program mostly needed for the real millitary. SB Pro PE is a hardcore sim and not a game. SB2 will be a real game building on SB Pro/SB Pro PE.

What you get by paying those $125 is the simulator real world soldiers use to train in.... take a looke at this thread.

the list of nations buying the game for military training is impressive! I'm looking forward to the release of SB2!

 

[Hellfish6]

How I justify spending $125 on a game:

Battlefield 2: $50.
Time played: 2 weeks.
Cost per day of play: $3.57
Verdict: Hated it, waste of money

Falcon 4AF: $30.
Time played: 4 months now.
Cost per day: $0.25
Verdict: Loved it, worth every penny

Operation Flashpoint: $30
Time played: Almost 5 years
Cost per day: $0.01
Verdict: Still the greatest game ever

Steel Beasts Pro Pe:
Time played: 1 week
Cost per day: $17.85 so far
Verdict: Love it, will probably be playing it for a long time

I don't know how anybody can say you don't know if you're getting your moneys worth out of a $125 game. If you play it for a week its still cheaper than what you pay, each day, for lunch and dinner. Within a month it'll be cheaper per day than a lot of other things you take for granted. Within six months the cost per day is less than a newspaper. If you're still playing it then, you've far and away gotten your money's worth out of it.

If anything, I think the devs are charging a fair price for it now. When you pay $40 for a game you play more than a month, you're making out like a bandit.

 

[Cougar_DK]

Great way to see it Hellfish6.

I can live with the price, because I'm pretty sure this is how the true hard core sims will priced in the future. The market for sims is very small and they have to earn some money.

 

[Cougar_DK]

Just saw Ssnake answering the same question at SimHQ...

There were several aspects to the pricing decision. One of them was that we wanted a deterrent to casual gamers who would expect something like "Battlefield 2", just more vehicle centric. Sure, we'd like to sell many copies, but then again we rather like to have happy customers that got what they expected, than many disappointed people who were expecting something that Steel Beasts Pro doesn't even attempt to be.

It boils down to what your expectations are to decide whether it's worth the price. "Worth the price" literally means that you look at the ratio of value of a product to its price. Value is a highly variable factor that depends a lot on the individual. For some $125.- is a steal because SB Pro PE is all that they were ever hoping for, and more. For someone who just wants to kill some time by blasting stuff - well, there are cheaper solutions that offer a higher fraction of "blasting time".

You should ask yourself why you would be interested in a "vehicle centric combined arms combat simulation at below battalion level". Maybe you're a wargamer, interested in combined arms combat tactics. Or you're interested in the tanks themselves, like "how do they work", "what's it like to be in a battle", "how risky is rifing a tank actually". Maybe you're looking for a mature community as far as multiplayer games are concerned. In short, if you had fun playing the original Steel Beasts for a considerable time, feel that you were confident in handling it, or you were tempted to buy the original but couldn't get by the dated looks of it, then SB Pro PE is probably worth the price.

Analyze the situation. Trust your instincts.

 

[Hellfish6]

I'd much rather give $125 to a developer who is making the games I like and want to play than to give $20, $30, $40, $50 to a developer that makes games than are just "alright" or not as interesting or are "dumbed-down".

 

[Patrocles]

How I justify spending $125 on a game:

Battlefield 2: $50.
Time played: 2 weeks.
Cost per day of play: $3.57
Verdict: Hated it, waste of money

Falcon 4AF: $30.
Time played: 4 months now.
Cost per day: $0.25
Verdict: Loved it, worth every penny

Operation Flashpoint: $30
Time played: Almost 5 years
Cost per day: $0.01
Verdict: Still the greatest game ever

Steel Beasts Pro Pe:
Time played: 1 week
Cost per day: $17.85 so far
Verdict: Love it, will probably be playing it for a long time

I don't know how anybody can say you don't know if you're getting your moneys worth out of a $125 game. If you play it for a week its still cheaper than what you pay, each day, for lunch and dinner. Within a month it'll be cheaper per day than a lot of other things you take for granted. Within six months the cost per day is less than a newspaper. If you're still playing it then, you've far and away gotten your money's worth out of it.

If anything, I think the devs are charging a fair price for it now. When you pay $40 for a game you play more than a month, you're making out like a bandit.

I agree. Yeah, and think of the suckahs who pay monthly to play online games! That's easily >$10 month! That being said I don't have the time to invest in a hardcore sim that will cost me $125 when a cheaper and dumbed down version will be released for entertainment purposes.

 

[Cougar_DK]

Major REVIEW of SBP is online now

Check it out here.