December 2008

SimCraft have launched their APEX SC830 Motion Platform. Can I have one of these for Christmas, please?!

The SC830 offers three degrees of freedom (roll 40° / pitch 25° / yaw 40°) in addition to the following features:

• Hardware Motion Control Interface – Custom USB “Plug-and-Play” hardware interface communicates with onboard motion control systems
• Motion Actuators and Knuckles – High-fidelity motion actuators and “knuckles” allow for unsurpassed, quick response, and smooth motion curves
• Smart Cockpit Design – Easy to enter and exit cockpit, adjustable mounting surfaces, perfect proportional comfort for long sessions
• Tubular Chromoly Steel Chassis – Super-strong, lightweight tubular chromoly steel framework in a small form-factor package
• All-Axis Motion – Never before has a simulator with full pitch, roll, and yaw capabilities come in such an efficient and small package
• Craftcon and Craftware – SimCraft software provides real-time, physics-based, ultra-realistic motion integrations to your favorite SimRacing and FlightSim titles

Just Trains has made available the Newcastle To York route for Rail Simulator as a download.

The Newcastle to York route is included in the European release of Rail Simulator but not in the USA and some other territories, so we’re releasing it separately over at Just Trains for those who don’t have this route in the version of Rail Simulator they bought.

Newcastle to York is available to buy now as a 180Mb download for £9.77 / €12.95 / $14.99.

Running down the east coast of England for around 80 miles, this route links Newcastle with the famous rail hub of York. The route features accurate period scenery and three authentic trains – the Class 55 ‘Deltic’ and Class 47 Diesel locomotives, as well as the famous HST 125 (High Speed Train) in its original livery scheme.

Also included is a full rake of authentic Mk2 coaches, the HAA merry-go-round coal hopper and PCA Presflo Powder Hopper. All the locos and rolling stock are modelled in accurate detail along with authentic custom sounds and realistic cabs for the locos.

To allow you to explore and enjoy the route to the full, four typical period scenarios are also included.

Game Tunnel have announced their top 5 Sim Games of the Year for 2008.

First place goes to Democracy 2, the “the ultimate political strategy / simulation game”.

Based on a complex Neural network, the game simulates the motivations, loyalties and desires of everyone in the country. As president or prime minister, it’s your job to balance the need for income from taxes against the demands of the voters. Do you want your country to be an eco-friendly green paradise? or a socialist utopia? Will you pander to the patriots, the liberals or the religious pressure groups? Can you keep crime under control without destroying the civil liberties of your citizens?

Check out the Game Tunnel web site for the complete list of winners.

The University of Nevada has carried out an earthquake simulation bridge test. Visit their site for some excellent broadcast quality video of the event.

RENO, Nev. – At 11:04 a.m. today a rumbling was heard at the northeast end of the University of Nevada, Reno as an “earthquake” shook a four-span 110-foot concrete bridge with motions comparable to an 8.0 earthquake. The bridge was in the University’s world famous earthquake simulation laboratory.

The bridge, constructed over many months atop three enormous shake tables, is a test bed for cutting-edge construction technologies of the future. Many of the new materials–including nickel-titanium bars, elastomeric materials, and polyvinyl fiber concrete–are being tested in a bridge system for the first time.

The bridge columns swayed and cracked, with small chunks of concrete falling off the structure. The 400 sensors relayed gigabytes of data through 400 channels as the 10-second quake stressed the quarter-scale model bridge with its 60 cubic yards of concrete and 16,000 pounds of steel.

“These were all new designs, and we’ve learned they performed better than conventional construction,” Professor M. Saaid Saiidi, principle researcher said. “Of the three new designs we tested, two of them had very little damage, we are quite pleased with the results so far.”

This test is the largest of its kind in the United States. The test was part of a series of three tests of materials and design to make bridges safer. The first test in Feb. 2007 used a standard design bridge of the same size and the third bridge test will continue the look at new innovative designs and materials.

“There is no other facility in the country as big and with the equipment we have to conduct these types of tests,” Saiidi said.

Three 50-ton capacity shake tables acted in unison to shake the 200 tons of concrete and steel that swayed, buckled and cracked as twice the acceleration intensity of the 1994 Northridge, Calif. earthquake tore at the structure. The bridge model was shaken with bidirectional forces to realistically simulate an earthquake.

The UNR research team is taking advantage of unique features of materials such as nickel/titanium alloys, polyvinyl fibers mixed with cement, and rubber materials to potentially revolutionize seismic design of future bridges to help protect lives, prevent damage and avoid bridge closure even when there’s a strong earthquake.

“To save lives bridges are made so they do not collapse, even though they are no longer usable,” Saiidi, said. “The question is, what is the impact of having to close numerous damaged bridges in a city like New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco at a time when these bridges are needed the most for fire trucks, ambulances, and other emergency vehicles?”

The experiment is part of a larger multi-university project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the George E. Brown Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) research program. Other UNR faculty involved in the $2.4 million project are Dr. I. Buckle and Dr. G. Pekcan. Researchers from U.C. Berkeley, U.C. San Diego, Florida International University, Georgia Tech, Stanford University, Kansas University and University of Illinois, Chicago, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and the University of Ljubljana have been involved in other aspects of the project.

Trainz Simulator 2009, which launched on the 27th November, 2008 and is the first version available as a digital download, received 2,000 registrations within the first week. Not a bad weeks work for the developer.

Here’s a summary of what’s new in TS2009:

• The largest ever collection of quality routes, locos, rolling stock and scenery.
• Twice the detail – trains, terrain and textures in higher resolution.
• Optimizations allow twice the scenery detail as well.
• New ground clutter and decals add gritty realism to your world.
• More tools in Surveyor to allow easier terrain deformation and track laying.
• Improved physics and easier re-configuration of locos and rolling stock.
• New user interface and Help system putting Trainz power into the hands of everyone.
• Improvements to Content Manager Plus to make organizing your content even easier.
• Embedded web browser allows more interaction, more information, more immersion.
• Trainz Exchange Community Portal for online chat, blogs, wikis and “scrapbooks”.
• Screenshot and video capture functions to help capture and share your experience.
• Enormous content update to ensure maximum compatibility between versions