Category: Gaming

There is a fresh event available in Genshin Impact that offers the opportunity to engage with adorable felines in order to acquire complimentary Primogems and various other rewards. Here is our Feline Fortress Furrdyssey Event Guide.

However, discovering the most effective methods to establish a bond with each cat can be quite difficult. Although this event may seem straightforward, certain individuals are encountering difficulties when it comes to crafting the most comfortable spaces for each cat and determining the optimal locations to shower their furry companions with affection.

The event has a brief duration, however, it requires only a few minutes daily to finish all tasks.

Feline Fortress Furrdyssey event schedule

The Feline Fortress Furrdyssey event commenced in Genshin Impact on Monday, 8 April 2024. Scheduled to run for 10 days, it is set to conclude on Thursday, 18 April 2024, at 9 AM BST.

This event will wrap up just a week before the release of Genshin Impact Version 4.6, ensuring that players won’t have to wait too long for new content after enjoying this cat-themed event.

To obtain all rewards available during this event, it is necessary to increase Feline Favor by setting up comfortable rooms for every cat and showing them affection in their preferred locations.

Accomplishing the furnishing of a cat’s room will result in receiving 40 Primogems, 20,000 Mora, and three Guides to Freedom.

Achieving the Cherished friendship status with each cat will also grant the same rewards. If additional Primogems are required for character pulls such as Neuvillette, this method presents an excellent opportunity to acquire them.

Snowball’s Warm Little Den

To start, you must create a room for Snowball that possesses a limited level of Comfiness and Aesthetics, yet a substantial amount of Durability. Choose the subsequent furniture items to fulfil these requirements:

• Teatime Accessory
• Comforting Ornament
• Lunch Break Seat
• Overflowing Cabinet

This amount will suffice to qualify for the rewards associated with embellishing Snowball’s Cozy Den.

After you have adorned Snowball’s cosy den, it is now time to engage in playtime with the feline companion in order to enhance your friendship. Snowball particularly enjoys being gently petted in the designated areas:

• Face
• Upper Body
• Lower Body
• Left Paw
• Right Paw

It is advisable to refrain from touching Snowball’s ears or tail, as doing so may result in a decrease in your friendship level. It is important to vary the areas you pet Snowball to prevent boredom and continue earning the most effective friendship boosts.

In order to obtain Primogems, you simply need to raise your friendship level with Snowball to the Cherished stage. However, it wouldn’t hurt to pet the cat a few more times to reach the Inseparable stage.

Bunny’s Hopping Home

Bunny is the name of the second cat participating in this event. The necessary decorations for Bunny’s Hopping Home prioritize durability and aesthetics over comfort. These selections are ideal for creating Bunny’s Hopping Home:

• Gilded Cradle Toy
• Calming Flower
• Philosophy Seat
• Bedtime Story Cabinet

After adorning the chamber, it is now the opportune moment to caress Bunny in order to enhance your bond. While engaging in this activity, pay special attention to these specific regions:

• Left Ear
• Right Ear
• Face
• Upper Body
• Lower Body

Please refrain from touching Bunny’s tail or either of Bunny’s paws if you wish to avoid losing friendship points. Remember, reaching the Cherished level is sufficient to earn the free Primogems, but it wouldn’t hurt to spend some additional quality time to reach the highest level.

Dustball’s Relaxing Room

To proceed to the next part of the Feline Fortress Furrdyssey event, you must select the following furniture items for Dustball, the third cat you will encounter. Dustball desires a room that emphasises utmost comfort:

• Precise Ornament
• Outspoken Stool
• Leisure Cabinet
• Resplendent Carpet
• Rose’s Toy

After completing the decoration, you may proceed to pet Dustball in order to enhance your friendship level. The procedure remains unchanged from the previous two cats. Dustball particularly enjoys being petted in the following spots:

• Face
• Upper Body
• Left Paw
• Right Paw
• Tail

Dustball is the first feline that allows you to stroke their tail, however, refrain from attempting to touch Dustball’s ears or lower body unless you wish to agitate the cat. Following the petting session, you may obtain additional complimentary Primogems as a token of appreciation.

Dopey’s Fantasy Paradise

Dopey, the fourth feline companion you’ll encounter at this event, has a preference for decor that strikes a delicate balance between comfort and style. Below are the furniture options available for Dopey:

• Rich Sofa
• Teatime Accessory
• Pleasing Light
• Cornucopia Seat
• Tremendous Cabinet

To maximise your friendship points with Dopey, make sure to caress him in the designated areas:

• Left Ear
• Right Ear
• Upper Body
• Lower Body
• Tail

You will remain safe as long as you refrain from touching Dopey’s paws. Simply continue following the same petting routine as you have been doing for the past few days, and everything will be fine. By now, you should be familiar with the procedure.

Fantastic Felines’ Forbidding Fortress

Sir Pouncelot, the last cat to arrive at the Feline Fortress Furrdyssey Event, has a refined palate. To satisfy him, select these ornaments:

• Assembled Stool
• Carefree Sofa
• Standing Round Table
• Flowing Flower
• Gently Lit Cabinet

Sir Pouncelot’s refined preferences may give the impression that he doesn’t value pets as much as his feline companions. However, beneath his sophisticated exterior, he possesses a tender heart just like the others. He takes great pleasure in being caressed in these particular areas:

• Right Paw
• Left Paw
• Right Ear
• Left Ear
• Lower Body
• Upper Body

Sir Pouncelot permits you to caress him everywhere except his face. There are no incorrect decisions. Although one might assume that the final cat of the event would be the most challenging, Sir Pouncelot is actually a gentle little boy.

That concludes all the details regarding the Feline Fortress Furrdyssey event in Genshin Impact! While it may not be the most thrilling event in Teyvat, it is certainly the cutest and provides a great opportunity to accumulate free Primogems for future character summons.

Fortunately, there isn’t an overwhelming amount of dialogue to navigate through.

Arlecchino Ascension and Talent materials | All Special Dishes & Food | Everything You Need About Chronicled Wish Banner | Who is Emilie? | How To Get Everamber | 2024 Update Schedule | Lakelight Lily Locations

As the concept of retro gaming has matured over the past twenty or so years, the popularity and demand for retro consoles and games has reached new heights. With so much awareness of the great games of yesteryear, and limited supply, playing old games via emulation has become more and more commonplace. Emulation has flirted with mainstream popularity, from plug and play solutions (NES Classic, SNES Classic, Playstation Classic, Sega Genesis Mini, Turbo Grafx-16 Mini, more) to more tinker-based projects (RetroPie). All of these emulation methods are hamstrung by the emulation in software. Because the operations take place in series, each operation must complete before another starts, this is the logic behind code progression. With retro game consoles, the hardware operations occur in parallel, allowing for (yet simple) tasks occurring with brisk pace. If you’ve ever seen the motherboard inside a NES or Genesis, you can see all the traces between every chip and processor splaying out like an electrical web. All of these traces allow for parallel processing, which is what the console needed to produce the visuals, sounds, and gameplay that you remember. 

Remember when RetroPi was the Bee’s knees?

With good emulation, you might not ever realize there is a difference except for one inescapable tell: input latency. The operating system that is running the emulator will still add some wait time from when a button press is registered on a controller to when the action takes place onscreen. There are things you can do to mitigate input lag: turning off picture processing on your HDTV (using game mode) and using a wired controller. Most people may not even notice that there is any lag at all. But try playing a game from your youth that is heavily reliant on twitch movement, like Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!! You may think that you’re just old, and forgot how to play the game, and that might be true to some extent, but it’s more than likely that the game is not processing your inputs as fast as a real console would. Hence, you will never beat Mike Tyson via emulation.

Enter field programmable gate arrays, or FPGA. These devices are programmed to mimic the operations on a hardware level, in parallel, not in series. This means no delay in signal processing and no lag. The FPGA consoles manufactured by Analogue are renown as the pinnacle of clone consoles for their level of accuracy to original hardware, while directly outputting high definition video to modern displays. They play original cartridges, have a modern design and interface, and can utilize original controllers to boot. As great as these are, they are exorbitantly priced, and in short supply. 

View of the optional IO board

The open source MIST project has many talented programmers and coders contributing “cores”, or programs that are designed to mimic specific hardware like the NES, Genesis, Atari 2600, and so on. MISTer project created a buzz like none other. The MISTer name is an amalgam of MIST and Terassic (the brand of field programmable gate array board), hence MISTer. A consumer grade FPGA computer board that can be programmed to mimic nearly every legacy console and micro computer through the 16-bit generation (and possible 32-bit). The MISTer runs on the Terassic DE-10 Nano development board. Everyday it seems more and more cores are available. Just a few days ago the core for the DoDonpachi arcade game was released, and it plays phenomenally well. These are all free to use, because it’s open source. 

There was a requisite level of technical know-how to get started, but with the recent release of Mr. Fusion, a program that writes the MISTer image to an SD card, the number of steps to get started has been simplified dramatically. Once you write the image on the card, insert it into the DE-10 Nano, and turn it on. The program will start up, and it will finish once connected to the net. I setup wifi on it first in order to do this (wifi dongle required). After the update, I moved my ROMs onto the card, configured a USB controller, and I was treated to cycle-accurate NES, Master System, Genesis, Sega-CD, SNES, PC-Engine, PC-Engine CD, Neo Geo gaming. 

It’s a bunch of boards stacked together alright

The board looks like a science project, with exposed boards, wires, and LEDs protruding every which way. There are a host of optional accessories and add-ons, which add various features. I opted for the USB hub for additional ports, the IO board for a fan, 128 MB SD ram board for complete NEO GEO compatibility, and a USB WiFi dongle for updating and file transfers. It ends up looking like a spaghetti monster when everything is connected. There are cases available that help clean up the package, but keep in mind this was not originally built to be a game console. It also doesn’t offer much in the way of menu aesthetics, with it’s plain text menu. The polished front ends for RetroPie win one point here. No matter, as once your start playing you realize that software based emulation can’t match the accuracy of MISTer. 

Arcade game cores are a FPGA revelation

Another downside is the ceiling of console programmability. The DE-10 is projected to top out at the 5th generation, and how well it can pull it off remains to be seen. Playstation and Sega Saturn are the hopes, and If indeed they happen, I’d say the DE-10 has had a good run. Anything beyond would require a more powerful FPGA, which is inevitable.

Then there is the sticky issue of ROMs. Do most people extract the ROMs from their own cartridges? The MISTer does not have a cartridge port, let alone one for every supported core. ROM sites have been struck down in recent years, reminders that the legality of sharing/obtaining games is suspect at best. People will make their own decisions on that matter.

The MISTer opens up the costly world of NEO GEO to the masses

The cost of entry is fair, a DE-10 nano board costs around $140. You’ll also need a micro SD card, HDMI cable, power adapter, USB controller, and USB keyboard (for setup). These add up to a little more than a Raspberry Pi setup running RetroPie, but again, the higher cost is due to the FPGA processor. All in, it’s just a shade of what the equivalent retro gaming setup would cost if original consoles and games were considered. 

Clearly this is not a solution for hardware purists, but that’s OK. There will never be a single solution to please everyone. The MISTer provides accurate gameplay without the flash, accoutrements, or ephemera that is strongly associated with retro gaming. For some that is a deal breaker, yet some don’t feel they need the physical artifacts of gaming’s past. At the end of the day, this is yet another option available to people to have fun and experience games from the the silver age of video games. 

Sega Dreamcast
Eden Studios / Infogrames
2000

 

In this reviewer’s opinion, the Sega Dreamcast isn’t nearly as renowned as it should be for its racing game catalogue. Loaded from the beginning to the end of the alphabet, Sega’s swansong system boasts variety galore when it comes to its North American library. With heavy hitters like Sega GT, Sega Rally 2, and Daytona USA 2001, the Dreamcast had plenty of first-party support with regards to giving its players a righteous taste of speed. But what about some of the third-party games that may have slipped through the cracks of time? The titles that perhaps aren’t remembered as vividly, yet remain just as playable as the mainstay juggernauts, if not more so? A quick drift around the Sega circuit affords even the Dreamcast newcomer enough of an opportunity to realize that some spills (looking at you, 4×4 Evo) and total wipeouts (Spirit of Speed 1937) were suffered on the track, but even the sky high plumes of flame and devastation that inevitably erupt from every console’s occasional blunder can’t hide the fact that there are always gems in the rough, just waiting to be discovered. Enter Test Drive V-Rally.

Test Drive V-Rally released stateside for Sega’s Dreamcast way back on October 25^th, 2000. One of three titles to don the Test Drive name for the console, V-Rally hit store shelves a mere two weeks before yet another Test Drive game (Test Drive Le Mans) would rev its engines on the system. Given its close birth date to its French brother, it’s easy to see how one (or both) of the games could’ve been lost in marketing translation, loosely purchased by the guy looking for a new set of wheels to get behind, or just passed on altogether, oversaturating a market all at once almost never pays dividends. That taken into consideration, was Test Drive V-Rally any good upon comparison with its contemporaries? Regardless of when or how a game is released, the most important quality of a new title is how fun it is to play. Well, it’s not a flawless game, but this Test Drive will almost certainly have you spinning it for more than just a quick assessment. 

V-Rally’s true strengths lie with its impressive graphics, solid gameplay and excellent forms of variety. A near master class showcase of beautiful performance vehicles (of which there are over 25 to get behind) along with some truly spectacular looking environments, the game shines with a presentation that can exhibit visuals set during the day, evening and night, including weather conditions such as snow and rain. On more than one occasion, I found myself impressed with how scenic a lot of the courses looked while I was chewing dirt and burning rubber. Vehicles even take real-time damage as they traverse some of the game’s more rugged terrain. With over 80 original tracks to rev through, Test Drive V-Rally is aesthetically awesome, letting you know at the turn of every green light.

Similar in design to what was Sega’s latest entry in their flagship arcade rally racing franchise, Sega Rally 2, V-Rally expands on that game’s ideas and pushes them beyond the quick, quarter play hemisphere by introducing a plethora of new game modes to explore. There are the expected Time Trial, Multiplayer, and Arcade modes here, which are all excellent when spinning the disc for short periods of time or with friends for a bit of couch multiplayer, but the meatier Championship and V-Rally Trophy modes are what really help the game standout – both of which feature three different championships to surmount: European, World and Expert. These two modes of gameplay had me hooked for hours as I was always looking to unlock new cars by way of progressing through them. And if all of that isn’t enough to keep you occupied, there’s also a fully-fledged Track Editor that allows the player to design their own custom-made courses to race around – very august for the year 2000. 

For the most part, Test Drive V-Rally’s gameplay is really tight. Easy to learn but tough to master, the game is great for beginners and veterans of racing titles. Progressing through some of the game’s stages can feel like a breeze, whereas others had me crying folly when my front right tire would pop over a slight ridge, consequently sending my car hurdling nose over tail. Such trappings are avoidable upon taking the time to learn your vehicle and the track that it’s tearing up, so this occasional issue isn’t a massive one, but it can be annoying when you think you’re cruising to victory only to have your car flipped into submission as rival racers squeal past you. Keep your eyes peeled and your sense of timing sharp and you should be fine. 

V-Rally’s largest weakness revolves around its soundtrack. Whereas a few of the tracks are okay, the majority of them leave a lot to be desired. Performed by industrial metal band, Sin, (of which information is extremely scarce) the songs just didn’t jive with me while I was behind the wheel. I’m actually a fan of metal or hard rock music playing in my racing games (cue Alice in Chains’ “Them Bones” in ATV Offroad Fury) but I wasn’t digging these ones. Thankfully, the option to turn music off does exist. 

Outstanding visuals, killer gameplay, and plenty of modes to test your skills with make this one a must-own for the Dreamcast. Easy to serve up for some solo fun or with friends, this is a game that would’ve only been made better had it offered online support and a much better soundtrack. V-Rally deserves more than just a Test Drive, so find yourself a copy and keep it in your collection for good.

 

These are some happy Famicom games inside a happy Famicom.  

They have an interesting story which began back in the 80s.  A mom and dad  bought them for children who had seen them on the shelf in the toy section of their local department store.  Ice Climber  came first, SMB 3 a couple years later.  The kids loved them and played for hours.  They had pride of place in the family home, the Famicom nestled beneath the big TV in the living room.  The kids would invite their friends over to play and Famicom parties would follow.

Famicom games love being the centre of kids’ attention.  This happy state continued for a few years.

Then something horrible happened.  The kids grew older.  They no longer loved Ice Climber and SMB 3.   Neighborhood kids no longer came by to play together. They stopped playing games altogether as they became teenagers.  The Famicom lost its prized position beneath the living room TV, replaced by a VCR. 

The Famicom and the games went into a box, which went into a closet to collect dust.

Years passed.  The kids became adults and left home.  The parents, now older, cleared out the junk that their kids had left behind, including the Famicom and games which they disposed of at a big recycling shop.  

They passed around the second hand market in limbo for a while, getting mixed in with other games similarly discarded by other families.  Eventually a  man in his 30s who was collecting Famicom games bought them and brought them to his home.

But this wasn’t a reprieve.  They gathered dust in a box on his shelf for several years.  The man had too many games and too little time to spend playing most of them.  The games remained sad and lonely, reflecting on the good old days when they were the centre of childhood attention.

One day the man and his wife had a baby boy.  They loved him very much.  Three years after that, they had a baby girl.  They loved her very much too.  They made a happy family.

But the Famicom games continued to collect dust in a box. The man had even less time for them now that he was a father.

Then a couple of years later, a deadly pandemic swept the globe, terrifying people and forcing them to stay home.  The man’s little boy and little girl couldn’t go to school, couldn’t play with other children, or even go to the playground.  This made them sad.

The man, wanting to make his kids happy, thought of what he could do.  He remembered the dusty box with the Famicom games in them.  He brought it down from the closet, blew the dust off and carried it down to the living room.

The boy and girl became excited.  What did their father have for them?

“I think you’ll like this!”  he told them as he cleared a spot under their living room TV to put the Famicom.

The kids jumped around in excitement.

The man  turned the TV on, blew on the connectors for Ice Climber, put it in the slot and flipped the red switch.

Nothing happened of course.  You can’t just toss a Famicom cart that hasn’t been played in decades in and expect it to work the first time.  But after a few tries the man found the exact right position for the cart in the slot and the game worked.

The kids were by now almost literally bouncing themselves off of walls in excitement.  

“This is a Famicom” the man said to the boy “lets play”.

And with that, the story of the Famicom and the games had come full circle.  Today they again sit under a living room TV, and are the  most beloved plaything of little kids once more.  

The End.

Postscript

I’ve given my kids about 20 carts including a lot of the classics (all the Mario games, Donkey Kong, Adventure Island, Ice Climber, Galaxian, Pac Man, etc) and my son especially loves them. My daughter likes SMB USA because it is pink.

The neat thing about giving kids a game system with colorful carts is that the carts themselves become toys.  We keep them to a 1 hour limit of game time per day, and always make sure they play with one of us (usually me) so that the Famicom is a socializing activity rather than an isolating one.  The games don’t just sit there when they aren’t being played though, they become cogs in the larger Lego and other block related toy ecosystem that exists in our home.  

My son loves to construct levels in an imaginary game with them.  This one is a water world, inspired by the ones in SMB and SMB 3:

He also likes to use them to construct streets that he can race cars on:

This here is a Famicom cart maze he built for Lego mini figs to go through:

Its been really fun watching all of this unfold, and even participating in it, over the summer.  

I’m not sure how long it will last.  The big difference between kids in the 80s and my kids is that my kids live in a world in which like 5 subsequent generations of increasingly powerful video game systems exist, so at some point they’ll probably jump ship from the Famicom to one of those.  I of course own many other systems, but have been deliberately avoiding bringing them out because I know once they get a taste of a Super Famicom (let alone a Switch) the poor Famicom will go back to collecting dust.  At some point I’ll let that dam break, but for now I’m very happy to see these Famicom games getting so much attention.

I’m also kind of happy that my son at least will grow up having some really nostalgic memories of how playing the Famicom with his dad got him through what would otherwise have been a kind of depressing summer during the pandemic in which he was kept away from his favorite places!

The Jurassic World soft reboot is still underway, and it’s sounding like it might be opting for a cast member that could prove popular.

Back in February, Star Wars: Rogue One director Gareth Edwards was tapped to direct the as-of-yet untitled Jurassic World soft reboot, but it hadn’t quite found its cast just yet. Now, though, it sounds like casting is ramping up, with Scarlet Johansson having been reported to be in talks to join the Universal project last month. As reported by Deadline, up next in early talks to join the project is Jonathon Bailey, the English actor best known for his role as Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton in the immensely popular Netflix period drama Bridgerton.

The actor is still yet to be fully locked-in, so you’ll have to wait for an official announcement. After all, Deadpool 2 director David Leitch was reportedly initially eyed up as a potential director, though it ultimately went to Edwards due to creative differences between Universal and Leitch, so it’s entirely possible talks with Bailey will fall through too. Outside of that, the upcoming sequel is also bringing back the original film’s writer, David Koepp, who wrote both the 1993 Jurassic Park, and its 1997 sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park.

Right now, it’s generally expected that this Jurassic World sequel will be a fresh start for the series, leaving behind previous stars like Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howards, as well as the cast from the original like Sam Neill and Laura Dern. Plot details are being kept under wraps for the time being, if the plot has even been fully set in stone at all, though Deadline did say that pre-production is expected to ramp up if Bailey signs on.

There’s also a release date for Jurassic World 4, too: July 2, 2025, a little over a year away, which would end up being quite a quick turnaround for a blockbuster like this.

Apple’s recent decision to allow game emulators on the App Store took a swift turn as one of the earliest popular Game Boy emulators, iGBA, was pulled due to copyright and spam violations. iGBA, touted as one of the first Apple-approved Game Boy emulators, was flagged for being a knockoff of another emulator, according to Apple. Riley Testut, the developer behind the well-known Game Boy emulator GBA4IOS, revealed that iGBA appeared to be a clone of his decade-old emulator.

“Apparently Apple approved a knock-off of GBA4iOS — the predecessor to Delta I made in high school — in the App Store,” Testut shared on Threads Saturday. “I did not give anyone permission to do this, yet it’s now sitting at the top of the charts (despite being filled with ads + tracking).” Testut expressed gratitude for Apple’s App Review process in addressing such instances. Reports indicate that iGBA violated sections 4.3 and 5.2 of Apple’s App Review Guidelines, which pertain to spam and intellectual property violations. Although it remains unclear if iGBA was specifically pulled for copying Testut’s open-source emulator, the developer of iGBA later issued an apology to Testut.

Apple’s move to allow retro game emulator apps on April 5 was part of an update to comply with the European Commission’s anti-steering guidelines. While retro game emulators are now permitted worldwide, Apple emphasized the importance of originality, not allowing apps that are copies of existing emulators. Despite its initial popularity, iGBA faced removal from the App Store while Emu64XL, a Commodore 64 emulator, remains available for download. Though some game emulators have previously made their way onto the App Store, this marks the first time Apple explicitly approved them. However, fans hoping to enjoy Game Boy games on their iPhones may need to wait a bit longer as Apple navigates the landscape of emulator apps on its platform.

Source / Via

Like this:

Like Loading…

Related

Microsoft Flight Simulator pilots can now fly one of aviation’s greatest icons of innovation.

A MONUMENT OF AVIATION INGENUITY

The Dornier Do 31 is a jet-powered, vertical take-off and landing (VTOL), experimental military aircraft developed by the West German aviation manufacturer and historically renowned as the only jet-powered VTOL utility / transport aircraft ever created and flown. Although Dornier only produced three experimental prototypes and never entered serial production, the Do 31 remains an enduring monument of aerospace ingenuity.

BORN OF COLD WAR IMPERATIVE

The distinctive Do 31 was born out of an ambitious Cold War initiative by the West German military to create an eminently resilient air force. An initial attack by the Soviet Bloc focused on air bases and runways throughout
West Germany, grounding their airplanes. To counter this threat, the West Germans hatched a plan in the early 1960s to create a new air force composed primarily of jet-powered VTOL aircraft. Such airplanes could operate out of traditional air bases, expeditionary airfields, or roads and highways, including Autobahns—any small stretch of concrete or asphalt would work.

The West German military’s plan included three VTOL aircraft: a fighter / interceptor: the EWR VJ 101; a surface attack platform: the VFW VAK-191B; and a large utility aircraft that could transport troops and cargo.

AN ENGINEERING MARVEL

While helicopters had proven their utility by the early 1960s, especially for military operations, they were limited in both speed and lift ability. Developing a jet-powered transport aircraft, however, presented engineers
with tremendous hurdles like generating and directing adequate thrust to vertically lift an aircraft, transitioning it to horizontal flight, and then landing it vertically.

By the early 1960s, companies interested in jet-powered VTOL aircraft operation had proven the concept could work with experimental models. The Short SC.1, developed by United Kingdom aviation company Short Brothers, took its maiden flight on May 26, 1958. The Short SC.1 was followed by the first flight of the British Hawker Siddeley P.1127, the progenitor to the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the world’s first production VTOL fighter / attack jet. Both were engineering breakthroughs that took years of development. The transport aircraft the West German military envisioned would be much larger, dramatically increasing the complexity. Dornier, famed for their flying boats and airliners, undertook the ambitious challenge in February, 1962, when the company and the West German military formally launched the project, designated the Do 31.

While Dornier had never built a VTOL aircraft, the company’s engineers had gained experience with short take-off and landing (STOL) exercises with their Do 29. That airplane, which took its maiden flight in late 1958, was an experimental, twin-engine, piston-powered, high-wing monoplane that used tilting engine-propeller systems to boost lift for take-off. The jet powered Do 31, intended to carry up to 36 combat loaded troops, 7,700 pounds of cargo, or some combination thereof, proved far more complex. It required the company to develop some of the most advanced aviation technology to that point in history including novel powerplant designs, high-strength airframe componentry, and an innovative flight control computer.

Dornier built three airframes with a group designation Do 31 E (“E” for “Experimental”): the Do 31 E1, the Do 31 E2, and the Do 31 E3. The E1 and the E3 were flying prototypes, while the E2 was a ground-based testbed.

The Do 31 featured a high-mounted main wing, a cruciform empennage, a capacious fuselage with a ramp-loading cargo system, and retractable tricycle landing gear. Its primary power source: two Rolls-Royce Pegasus BE.53/2 turbofan engines, each of which could produce up to 15,500 pounds of thrust. Each Pegasus was housed in a nacelle, one under each side of the main wing, and thrust from each was directed through four rotating exhaust ports called thrust vectoring nozzles. For complementary thrust and redundancy purposes—should one of the Pegasus engines fail mid-flight—Dornier crafted wingtip-mounted secondary thrust systems. Each wingtip featured a nacelle that housed four vertically oriented Rolls-

Royce RB-162-4D turbojet engines; each engine could generate up to 4,400 pounds of thrust, for a total of 17,600 pounds of thrust per wingtip. In total, the Do 31 was powered by ten engines capable of an aggregate 66,200 pounds of thrust. Only a few other aircraft in history have comprised ten or more engines, including Dornier’s Do X, a flying boat that was powered by 12 piston engines.

To provide control of the Do 31 throughout all its flight regimes, Dornier developed an extremely critical hybrid analog-digital computer, the DO-960. The aircraft simply would be too unstable to function without an adequate flight computer that could continuously solve a series of complex equations to maintain controlled flight. Digital computer technology and integrated circuit design were still in their infancy at this point and not fast enough to perform the specific types of solutions necessary (the microprocessor had yet to be developed). Dornier engineers solved this immense challenge by devising a novel computer system that fused aspects of analog calculation with components of digital computation.

The DO-960 maintained aircraft stability by taking pilot inputs and controlling flight surfaces, power output of each of the aircraft’s ten engines, the orientation of its thrust vector nozzles, and amount of bleed air ducted to nozzles in the aircraft’s tail. The Do 31 lifted off and hovered with downward-vectored thrust from the Pegasus engines combined with thrust from its wingtip turbojets. It then transitioned to horizontal flight through the rearward rotation of the main engine’s thrust vector nozzles.

The DO-960 remains one of history’s most notable computer developments and a brilliant example of technological innovation born of necessity. Although hidden within the confines of the unique aircraft’s form, the computer was one of the Do 31’s most crucial, and notable, features.

A NEW BREED TAKES FLIGHT

After years of development and ground testing, the Do 31 took its maiden flight in early 1967. The first prototype of the airframe, the Do 31 E1, lifted off on February 10, 1967, powered by just its two main engines. In July of 1967, the Do 31 E3 took to the sky using all ten of its engines and performed a hover. The aircraft flew increasingly complex and advanced operations during successive tests in the months that followed including moving backward while hovering and rolls while in horizontal flight. The demonstrations marked not just the initial flights of a new aircraft, but the first operation of an entirely new breed of aircraft, a jet-powered VTOL transport. The Do 31 wowed spectators at airshows and set several flight records for its class—of which it was the only member.

Despite the successes and prospects for commercial adoption in addition to military roles, the Do 31 was abandoned in the early 1970s. The concept of a jet-powered VTOL Air Force proved too costly and complex to implement. It remains the first and only jet-powered VTOL transport ever to fly.

Piloted by two, the Do 31 had a range of 1,120 miles, a service ceiling of 35,100 feet above sea level, and climbed at a rate of 3,780 feet per minute. The aircraft cruised at 348 miles per hour with a top speed of 377 mph.

NOW AVAILABLE FOR MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR PILOTS

The Microsoft Flight Simulator Dornier Do 31 has been expertly recreated for aviators to enjoy throughout the world. Experience the thrill of lifting off vertically, transitioning to high-speed forward flight, and then coming to a
hover with precision in this masterpiece of aviation technology. The sky is calling!

The Dornier Do 31 offers seven liveries: E1 Experimental, E3 Experimental, Olive Green, Green Camouflage, Marine Search & Rescue, Xbox Aviators Club, and Aviators Club. It is available today for $14.99.

Microsoft Flight Simulator is available for Xbox Series X|S and PC with Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, Windows, and Steam, and on Xbox One and supported mobile phones, tablets, and lower-spec PCs via Xbox Cloud Gaming. For the latest information on Microsoft Flight Simulator, stay tuned to @MSFSOfficial on X (formerly Twitter).