What are flight sim special events? Who can take part in them? Why play special events? We answer those questions in this article by HiTech Creations, the makers of Aces High, leading the way in flight simulation games for twenty-four years. When you want the very best in combat simulator gaming, Aces High is the name to remember.
What are flight sim special events?
Flight sim special events which a game’s developers orchestrate periodically during a gaming year. Speaking only for ourselves at Aces High, our special events calendar consists of the following activities each month:
Scenarios are large-scale battles that run a few times a year. Sometimes they are based on actual WWII battles, such as the Battle of Britain. Sometimes they are based on hypothetical battles that might have been. A scenario typically involves two sides. Each side has particular aircraft, mission objectives, squadron assignments, bases, and resources. A scenario typically runs over the course of a month, with one battle per week, each battle lasting 3-4 hours. If you ever wanted to be a real WWII pilot, this is about as close as you can get.
King of the Hill is the airplane equivalent of a cage match. A group of players, all in the same planes, all in the same area, fight it out until only one is left. The winner picks the next plane, and all is repeated until someone wins three rounds. It is the mother of all furballs, where no one is your friend. Of course, no one is anyone else's friend, either, so there is balance. It is a wild, frenetic event that will get your pulse pounding and put a grin on your face -- unless you are the first one shot down, then it's grudge time! Did you ever play king of the hill as a kid on a mound of snow, wrestling around to see who could be the last one on top? This is the same thing -- in airplanes.
Friday Squad Operations (FSO) are like Scenarios but run more frequently. They appeal to the same group of players: those who like more realism. These events have realistic aircraft matchups, mission objectives, and command structures. FSO is for registered Aces High squads and involves the Commanding Officer of each side coming up with mission orders and flight assignments prior to each mission. FSO runs a battle for three weeks, once per week, takes a week off, and then starts on the next battle.
Do all flight simulator games offer them?
We can’t answer this question. We suspect some do, some don’t, and the reason some don’t is because it is time-consuming to organize events like the ones listed above.
Why take part in them?
The first reason why we believe special events are worthwhile is because they are challenging, and all gamers we know love a good challenge.
The second reason is because special events further foster a sense of community, an aspect of MMO gaming many articles do not mention. Community is a very real reason why many gamers take part in online games, to meet people, to hang out with people, and to feel a part of something bigger than themselves.
A final word about Aces High.
Aces High has been a leader in this gaming genre for over two decades. We invite you to try our free two-week download of Aces High, no credit card required. Find out, at no cost, whether Aces High is what you are looking for in a game. If the answer is no, move on at no cost to you.
Despite the fact there are countless online articles which claim to know the best PC for gaming, in this article we will tell you why that is, at best, misleading.
We are HiTech Creations, makers of Aces High combat simulator. We’ve been leading the way in flight sim games for twenty-four years, so we have some “game” when it comes to recommendations about PCs. Here, then, are our thoughts on this topic.
The best flight sim game for what budget?
Here is the first problem with articles about “the best PC” . . . they do not take into account the audience they are writing to. If one had an unlimited budget, and could afford the best PC with the most memory and the greatest processor known to man, well, they would be in a very small minority.
Of the 3.3 billion gaming players in the world, the average age is thirty-four, the average adult player owns a home, and the average adult player has children. Extrapolating a bit on those statistics, we can assume the average player is in the lower 80% of society with regards to age, and since the average household debt is $38,000, we can also make an assumption that the average player cannot afford to pay $15,000 for the best PC featuring all of the bells and whistles.
Thus, right out of the chute, any article talking about the best PC for gaming is talking about a PC the vast majority of players cannot afford.
Budget will dictate the amount of RAM you can expect.
Budget is the determining factor in owning a PC, always has been, always will be, and thus, the best way to approach this question is to approach it from different cost levels i.e. the best PC for between $2000-$5000, the best PC between $5000-$7000, and so forth.
Our recommendation.
We realize that this article may seem like so much buzz-kill. We don’t want it to be that way, but we do think a dose of reality is needed.
Our combat flight simulator can be played on a very basic computer with minimum bells and whistles. It was originally designed in 1999, fully functional on the PCs at the time, so if it can be played on 1999 PCs, it can certainly be played on PCs manufactured in 2024.
Will you have been reaction time playing a flight simulator on a PC with maximum RAM? Yes! Will the graphics be better on a gaming PC with great memory and outstanding processor? Of course! But most people cannot afford the best of the best, so our recommendation is to find the greatest amount of memory and the largest processor within the budget you set.
You can always upgrade when you become rich and famous. In the meantime, Aces High will still provide outstanding flight sim gaming adventures, no matter what PC you own.
A final word about Aces High.
We invite you to try our free two-week download of Aces High, no credit card required. Simply click on “download” and you can begin playing without paying a penny. At the end of two weeks, you will have a choice whether to pay $14.95, or move on with your life.
Three questions in the title of this article . . . why choose a combat simulator, why an MMO combat simulator, and why Aces High? Let’s tackle all three and see if we can’t bring some clarity to it all.
Why choose a combat simulator?
You would probably get a variety of answers for this question if you polled ten different flight sim players. Based on our experience, a combat flight simulator not only pits you against other players in battle, but it also calls on you to strategize and work as a team member within your squadron. This combination of reasons make a combat simulator game unique in the gaming world. It is not all about action. It is not all about strategy. It is not all about working with a team. It is a unique combination of those three which sets them apart from other action games.
Who choose an MMO combat simulator?
MMO stands for Massively multiplayer online game, and it means simply that many players can be online at the same time, on the same server, playing the same game in real time. Rather than play against the computer or wait in a delayed time sequence for someone else to make a move so you can make a move, this is nonstop action the minute you log on and choose an arena. Hundreds of players will be waiting for you, and you are immediately thrust into the action.
Yes, many games have the capability of multi-players taking part during a session, but not to the massive extent of an MMO game.
Why Aces High?
This is the easiest question of the three. Aces High burst onto the gaming scene in the year 2000. For twenty-four years it has been a leader in this gaming genre, and in the gaming world, twenty-four years is a very long time. It is, in fact, an entire generation, so that today, in 2024, Aces High is being played by the children of our original gamers, and that is simply remarkable in a very competitive field of outstanding games.
What do we attribute that longevity to? Our single-mindedness in developing Aces High! When we first started out, our mission statement called for making one game and one game only, and making that game the absolute best flight simulator game on the market. Single-mindedness means total concentration of knowledge, skill, and resources into one single purpose . . . to be the best! Very few gaming companies can make that claim. Almost all that we know manufacture multiple games, thus dividing their attention on multiple fronts. That is not the case with Aces High. Never was, never will be.
A final word about HiTech Creations.
So far, in this article, we have basically asked you to take our word for everything we have written. Now it’s time for the rubber to meet the road. Try our free two-week download of Aces High and see for yourself just how much fun an outstanding MMO combat simulator can be. No credit card is required. Simply click on “free download” and play at no cost for a full two weeks. We are betting that once you do that, and once you experience the thrill that is Aces High, you will become a subscriber. Hey, we’ve won that bet for twenty-four years, so there is no sense in thinking we won’t win it again.
If you are fairly new to the gaming world, perhaps the term “flight sim” has you a bit confused. And, to add to the confusion, a flight sim game goes by various names, all of which basically mean the same thing.
Shall we investigate? We are HiTech Creations, makers of Aces High, the flight sim game enjoyed by tens of thousands of gamers since 2000. Try our free two-week download of Aces High and find out for yourself why our popularity has remained so consistent for so long.
What is a flight sim?
Before we tell you what a flight sim game is, allow us to tell you what it isn’t, because it is often confused with a flight simulator, a machine which actually recreates actual flying conditions so that pilots can be trained.
No, in the context we are using it, a flight sim is a game where you pilot a gaming aircraft, usually in a battle situation, although there are some flight sim games which simply allow you to fly an aircraft to different locations around the world, and handle the aircraft in a variety of flying conditions.
Other names for a flight sim game.
Flight sim games are also known as flight simulator games, combat simulators, combat flight simulators, and then variations like a World War 2 flight simulator, or a World War 1 flight simulator. The main feature of 99% of these games is competition against other players. Games like Aces High are known as MMO games, or massively multiplayer online games, meaning it is quite possible for hundreds of players, from around the world, to be taking part in a aerial battle at the same time.
There are others, still, which simply pit the player against the computer, or two or three players, using the same computer, playing the game simultaneously.
Variations, of course.
Battle is generally the key feature in these games, but there are several which simply pit players in competitions, like a obstacle course flight competition or speed tests.
When the game takes place in a particular time period, like World War 2, then all the aircraft are replicas of WW2 aircraft. Some games also include land vehicles and ships so that the player I actually controlling the battle on land, on the sea, and in the air at the same time.
Difficult level? Usually, to become good enough to compete and feel good about yourself, a week or two. How long to take on the best flight sim players? Everyone learns at a different rate, but we have seen players climb the rankings within a couple months. That is why when a game like Aces High offers a free two-week download, they are basically giving you the training period for no charge, and that is a deal which is hard to say no to.
A final word about Aces High.
We really only have one argument to present to you, an argument which we believe says it all. In a very competitive industry, with new games being introduced seemingly weekly, in an industry where “new and advanced” is the catch phrase, Aces High has remained the leader in flight sim games for twenty-four years and counting.
That pretty much says it all, don’t you think?
There are probably hundreds of these articles, listing the best video games for 2024. What is different about this one?
We won’t blow smoke and we will tell you the truth about the video game market.
We are HiTech Creations, producers of the exciting combat simulator, Aces High. We invite you to try our free two-week download of Aces High. Decide for yourself, at no cost, whether Aces High belongs on any of these “best of” lists.
First thing you will notice about “best of” lists.
They are all different. They all have different games on their “best” list which, if you think about it, seems impossible. If a game, say a flight sim game, is the best of the best, wouldn’t it be so obvious that it would appear on every one of these lists? And yet see for yourself. Check out some of the lists. Read through, say, the best flight simulator games for 2024, and you will instantly notice the great variations.
Why is that?
“Best of” is purely subjective.
The answer is pretty simple: lists are subjective, no matter what the subject matter may be. The best state parks in America? Good luck finding consensus with that topic. The best new toys? The best SUVs? The best fast food hamburger joints? There could be some fist fights over that topic.
The problem with subjectivity is that it changes from person to person. What is challenging for one person may not be challenging to another. What is interesting historically to someone may just be boring to another. It is absolutely impossible, and you can quote us on this, to make everyone happy with any product, and that applies equally from automobiles to music to art to video games.
Take the hottest games on the market right now, the ones getting rave reviews from players, and we can show you an equal number of negative reviews, also from players. When we are talking about hundreds of millions playing video games, it is not difficult to find negative reviews. And does a negative review mean the game is horrible? Of course not; it simply means the person who wrote the review found something about that game that they did not like.
The only time we in the gaming industry worry about negative reviews is when they become overwhelmingly common, when the fast majority of reviews are negative. At that point it would be fairly obvious that we needed to make adjustments to our game.
Criteria for you, the consumer, to use in judging the best.
Still, everyone wants to know how good a game is, and we do believe there are a couple ways for you, the player, to determine if a game is for you.
Are the graphics good BY YOUR STANDARDS? Is the response time fast, BY YOUR STANDARDS? Does it feel realistic, BY YOUR STANDARDS?
How long has a game been on the market? In the case of Aces High, we have been rocking the combat flight simulator market for twenty-four years. That is an eternity in the gaming industry, and we believe that kind of longevity in a highly competitive market speaks volumes about the quality of our game.
A final word about Aces High.
We invite you to try our free trial period. Won’t cost you a penny. In fact, we don’t even ask for a credit card. We are convinced you will enjoy our game but, if you don’t, we don’t want you paying money to take it for a test-flight. And that is called confidence!