IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey
Re-creating the landscaps of war-torn Europe with a lot of research.
Milton Keynes, 16th July 2009 – 505 Games in collaboration with 1C Company, the publishers of upcoming WWII flight combat title IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds Of Prey have today shed some light on the processes by which the game’s impressive visuals are produced, which include the use of satellite photography. STRM database pictures, renowned for their uttermost precision, have been used to recreate the landscapes of war-torn Europe in remarkable detail.
Building accurate 1940’s environments using the latest in cutting edge satellite technology comes with a set of immediate problems, most obviously the 50 year time gap in buildings, foliage and other features, many of which did not exist at the time of the game’s setting and others which are now long gone from the real word and need to be added. To combat this, the development team have collated and pored over hundreds of wartime photos, documents and maps, painstakingly removing unwanted additions and recreating missing landscape features.
Whenever possible, locations have been remodelled according to genuine, historically accurate photos from archives around the world. These were laboriously compared with modern images to ensure all significant features were included or removed as appropriate. Where documented evidence was unavailable, the team took the time to create unique buildings in keeping with the style of the era, often imitating structures from other cites of the era and transposing them into the created landscapes. In total, over two million buildings and around 35 million trees were put in place using these processes to produce a level of realism hitherto unseen on current generation consoles.
“Collecting all the necessary data, both old and new, to create IL-2 had been a long battle all of its own,” commented Alex Price, Senior Global Brand Manager for 505 Games. “The game is now looking as good we had always anticipated it would and in light of that, the scouring of archives and satellite databases has all been worth it!”
Developed by Gaijin Entertainment for Xbox 360 and PS3, DiP Interactive for Nintendo DS and SME Dynamic Systems Limited for PSP, IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey features the greatest aerial battles of all time, during the Second World War, and boasts the most realistic landscapes and aircraft seen in any flight sim.
IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey will be published by 505 Games in collaboration with 1C Company.
Visit the official website at www.il2game.com for all the latest information
-ENDS-
For more information please contact:
Mark Allen
505 Games Ltd.
mallen@505games.co.uk
+44 (0)1908 607772
About 505 Games
505 Games, headquartered in Milton Keynes is dedicated to the publishing and international distribution of full price, mid-range and budget computer and videogames in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) markets and Australia. The current portfolio includes the best selling games Cooking Mama, ArmA: Armed Assault, Bust-a-Move and Armored Core and covers all gaming platforms, including next generation consoles like Sony PlayStation® 3, Nintendo Wii™ and Microsoft Xbox 360™. For More information on 505 Games and its products please visit www.505games.co.uk
About 1C Company
1C Company specializes in distribution, publishing and development of mass-market software. Founded in 1991, 1C has become the leading publisher and distributor of computer games in Eastern and Central Europe. 1C Company is widely acknowledged as a game developer and has several internal studios. Internal developments of 1C include IL-2 Sturmovik, IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles, Aces Expansion Pack, Pacific Fighters and Theatre of War. 1C Company works as a publisher and producer with over 30 independent development studios and has produced over 100 projects for PC and consoles.
For more information, please visit www.1cpublishing.com
About Gaijin Entertainment
Gaijin Entertainment specializes in creation of games for various platforms (PC/PS3/Xbox 360) and also gives much attention to technology-related research work which provides attraction and applicability to the company's solutions in changeable IT market conditions. At the moment Gaijin team is represented by six departments and over sixty highly qualified employees. The company's projects have received a range of mass media and game industry awards including a few Russian Game developers conference «Best simulator», «Best game for next-gen consoles» (IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey / PS3, X-box 360), «Best technologies» for Dagor Engine™ , «Best sound» and many more.