Cliffs of Dover: Moscow Launch Report

The crowd at the Launch

At the 24th of March, 2011 three big Russian cities, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Krasnodar launched early sales of a new episode in a series of flight simulators, famous throughout the world and known as IL-2 Sturmovik. In the game Cliffs of Dover pilots of the Royal Air Force in 1940s will fly sorties to protect the British sky and to force back the aggression by the «Luftwaffe» planes and their Italian allies. Actually, the intrigue of waiting the game for years ended a few days ago, when the title went on sale in Russia.

Last Thursday evening Russian shoppers, who attended local stores taking part in early launch, were given the possibility to purchase a copy of the game, as well as to take part in the corresponding entertainment show, which we will cover in details below. All the major events during the Russian launch were unfolding inside of one of the biggest Moscow trade centers.

It was still about half an hour before the official beginning of the show, but the floor of the local multimedia shop started to get filled with the fans of IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover. Some were even mistakenly supposed to be developers by the public, probably for their looks resembling pilots or for their flight sims passion sparkling in the eyes. The store’s management was kind enough to allow any press activities at the event, so we’d like to thank them for that, making it possible for us to make enough photographs and even shoot a video report for our readers.

Soon the banner columns featuring some game’s art were constructed in the center of the main hall. There were even holders for DVD-boxes, and some were at present, but happened to be dummy promotional copies, since the sale couldn’t launch earlier than it was planned. Initially, it was assumed by the event managers that a table for autographs could be located between those columns, but there were too many fans attending. That’s why the table was brought higher to take a place at a local cafeteria terrace. This allowed audience to get some more freedom in their movements.

The event was attended by representatives of the biggest Russian aviation communities like Sukhoi or 72ag, who we greet with our friendly «Hello!», since their members in the last weeks were visiting our media to read new articles featuring Cliffs of Dover. Additionally, at the premiere we found some flight instructors, who were ready to take all the series fans to the real skies. Pilots explained to us that in Russia on the basis of the gaming experience with the IL-2 Sturmovik line-up, certain groups of people decided to develop their flight passion further and went to flight schools.

The show started nearly on time with the short introductory speech by the local host. Soon enough the first questions were asked by him. They concerned the history of the Russian flight simulation seroes, the amount of aircrafts available in its episodes, release dates and so on. Correct answers from the audience helped to create two competing teams, containing 5 people each. Moreover, the age structure of the participating people was varying a lot: you could find a small child with a father or older gamers in their 30-40s. It shows that there is much diversity among the fans of the series.

Without any exception, all of the visitors were looking forward to the appearance of the main guest of the evening – Oleg Maddox, the creator of the series IL-2 Sturmovik and the head of «1C: Maddox Games», the development team behind IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover. Many were incidentally discussing where, how and for whom they would get an autograph of their idol. We interviewed a few people on the field, finding out that some signed stuff would later on travel to the US and CIS countries. Meanwhile, the opposition on the stage was ready to show the battle of experts, and the competition there was really heating up.

The fans took part in various actions at the premiere

The quiz participants were struggling for prizes at the premiere. No wrong answers were given here, but the questions themselves were tricky enough. They related to aviation matters, and at times some contestants didn’t leave the host a chance to finish the question, since they knew the flight theory and therminology so well. In the end, the friendship prevailed, and both teams were awarded various gifts from the Russian publisher of the game – «1C-SoftClub».

By this time, at the backdrop of an imaginary scene Oleg Maddox emerged spontaneously, seizing a moment to make some pictures of what was going on at the stage. At the beginning of his speech, delivered a few minutes later, he faced some minor problems with microphone, but still managed to shout out his greetings to the audience. The event managers of IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover Moscow Launch, welcomed everyone to line up a queue for autographs. Though you had to buy a game’s copy to use this enticing promotional offer, which was no less for the fans than a great to chance to chat a few seconds with their hero.

Game boxes were disperesed all throughout the store. Many first buyers this day also received a free gift item, which turned out to be a branded calendar, featuring charming women models, who wore costumes and hairstyles to try to represent the somewhat modern look at the historical era of the new game. Two calendar models were also working at the event: they not only signed their respective pages for the attendants, but also accompanied Oleg every time a fan wished to take a photo with the VIP-guest.

Meanwhile, the host went to the crowd giving out some more presents to the fans, who visited the show of IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover. Also the start of the final evening’s competiion was announced, where paper planes had to be constructed and launched determining the longest flying distance. All the willing received paper sheets and some colored decoration to use on their creations.

Oleg Maddox had enough courage and patience to withstand all the attention coming from the fans. He was signing disks, artbooks, calendars, souvenirs and anything else for more than an hour, kindly allowing to make pictures with him and the models. Also it wasn’t just an autograph session. There it was possible to communicate with the inspirer of the IL-2 Sturmovik series himself, to share out some thoughts, ask questions and sound out future wishes.

The gamers were thanking the developer for his achievements in the industry and wished him all the best for any new initiatives, he would like to pursue. It is worth noting that among the guests young girls and women were at present, and the latter ones neither hesitated much nor minded the presence of their boyfriends, when willing to express their gratitude to Oleg in their unique feminine ways. The Collector’s Editions of the game IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover were sold out quickly.

Though Russian launch of the title was an early one comparing with the release dates in other countries, still the first customers would have to wait for a few more hours before being able to play. This information was acknowledged at the event, because all the Steam restrictions apply worldwide for any gamers, even in Russia. Steam service is handling digital distribution of the title, while the Russian retail of the game is handled by «1C-SoftClub». International sales will be managed by Ubisoft, which in 2001 also published abroad the original project - IL-2 Sturmovik.

At the next point, the most creative designers have completed the production and testing routine for their paper models, and started to run them down the air corridors across the store trying to reach the maximum flight range. The winners of this unusual contests took away the main prizes: an audio system, Vivente 2.1, a headset, Medusa NX Stereo, and Dark Tornado joystick from Speedlink, as well as some other video games.

We can add that the joystick will surely come in handy, when playing Cliffs of Dover, since there are so many commands and functions, which could be useful on the battlefield in the skies. A gamer using this kind of a controller in authentic Russian flight sims can significantly improve success chances in air combat both in single or multiplayer modes.

Oleg Maddox posing with Cliffs of Dover models and the guests of the Launch

The whole event lasted about two hours, and there the most guests showed their interest in the world of aviation and aircrafts as well as in the evolution of the famous Russian flight sim series, IL-2 Sturmovik, and its newly-released episode – IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover. The fans were very friendly, polite and excited about the event, so we enjoyed sharing this moment with them during the official opening of the game’s sales in Russia.

This concludes our report about this event in Moscow. Here we’ve provided you with our exclusive photos, and you can also find some video footage below, which was made by our staff during launch activities. So even if you couldn’t attend because of various reasons, you still can see, how this particular long-awaited premiere looked like.

Our exclusive Video Report featuring the Moscow Launch of Cliffs of Dover

IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover

IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover

The latest instalment in the acclaimed IL-2 Sturmovik series from award-winning developer «1C: Maddox Games». The game takes place in 1940 during the pivotal aerial battle for the skies over Britain between the British, the German and the Italian air forces. IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover is also available in a special Collector’s Edition, along-side the standalone version.

Key Features:

• Customizable difficulty. Dozens of realism options allow newcomers to the franchise to reduce the difficulty and focus on the fun, while learning the ropes of being a pilot;

• Massive multiplayer. Customizable modes range from simple deathmatch-style free-for-alls to epic, ongoing 128 player battles that can last hours, days, weeks, or even longer;

• Interactive training. Comprehensive interactive training for new players – fly a real WWII trainer plane with a computer controlled instructor through a series of training missions;

• New 3D engine. Latest-gen graphics engine with DX10 and DX11 API support. Huge variety of photorealistic ground vehicles, buildings and other environmental elements recreate minute details of 1940s Europe;

• Single-Player Campaign. The campaign thrusts the player into the middle of the battle. The player will join the British Air Force to fight the German forces and renegade pilots on his own side, or join the German Luftwaffe and take part in meticulously recreated historical battles;

• Brand new setting. The battle will take place on a large area spanning London and southern England in the north, to Northern France and Belgium in the south. The huge map will contain thousands of historical cities, towns, roads, airfields, radar stations, ports, and industrial areas – all located exactly where they were in 1940;

• New aircraft. Incredibly detailed true-to-life modeling of aircraft systems based on thousands of hours of dedicated research. Every single aircraft component can be damaged for realistic and immensely satisfying results. Over a dozen famous and highly detailed English, German and Italian flyable aircraft available, with all crew positions open to players. All of them have been painstakingly researched, resulting in incredibly accurate cockpit interiors (including Spitfire, Hurricane, Messerschmitt and the Stuka). In addition, there are 13 AI-controlled aircraft to allow an even more accurate and immersive experience thanks to this variety;

Collector’s Edition includes these assets in a premium packaging:

• An in-depth 150-page ring binder pilot instructions;

• The Windows PC-version of IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover;

• A cloth pilot escape map showing The Battle of Britain strategic locations;

• A replica of the Pilot’s Notes on the Spitfire I Aeroplane, provided to RAF pilots during The Battle of Britain and reprinted from the RAF Museum original document.