PMDG’s Robert Randazzo has given numerous briefings over the past month about the EFB, the 777 and also the 737, but his latest update gives a little more meat to the bones that gives us a little bit more information on some of the happenings at PMDG HQ.
Starting with the PMDG 737 for Xbox, Robert says that he and the team are happy with the aircraft on the console platform. Despite being happy with the plane behaving as expected, the team are holding off on releasing it until they have some clarity on timelines for when the associated livery packages will be made available. For those unaware, PMDG has said that they would be releasing a livery package for the 737 upon release for an additoinal $4.99 USD cost. PMDG did clarify that they wanted to release the packs for free, but there is a stipulation stating that a product must cost at least $4.99 to be available via the marketplace. It’s not made clear why there are some free ‘enhancement’ packages on the marketplace and sold as such or why these liveries are not included with the plane by default.
Due to the fact that the DC-6 livery pack still hasn’t made it to the Marketplace, PMDG can’t say for sure how long it would take fot the 737 one to then appear. PMDG wants to be sure of any timelines and processes so that they can inform customers and support Xbxo customers with accurate information. They have opened a query with the MS Marketplace team, but acknowledged that they are busy.
As for the PMDG 737 in general, there are a few updates in the works for those who have the product either through the marketplace (for PC) or purchased through PMDG’s own store. This includes reactoring the click controls and animations, refining roll control logic and improving the magenta line computation.
The universal tablet (EFB to many) has made “great strides” over the past month, according to Rob. As said before, the biggest hurdles were with limitations on sending/recieving data between C++/WASM projects and the outside world. However, despite these hurdles, it would appear the team have now made some breakthroughs that gives fills them with positive vibes.
Rob said in the forums, “Initial release of the tablet will bring you a number of features, with a few more coming over time. Navigraph and simbrief users will be pleased by the care that has gone into ensuring a nice, tight weave between our technology and theirs. I am still not going to project a release timeline for this item, but once I get a green light to share a bit of this with you I will.”
We’re still very much in the same position as we were last week – no previews and no release dates – but it’s a positive step in the right direction. Rob concluded on the tablet topic by saying, “morale has definitely improved with the latest round of internal testing.”
For those waiting on some new PMDG 777 information will be disappointed to hear there’s nothing to showcase in this PMDG update. Rob says work continues to go well, but wants to showcase it properly when things are a lot more refined and polished.
As usual, we’ll keep an eye on anything interesting to come out of the PMDG camp and report back to you. Who knows, maybe PMDG will show something off the FlightSimExpo this June.
