Sim Gaming Expo 2025

[Bones]

The Sim Gaming Expo was in Chicago this year, so me and Xpendable met up there with our kids in tow.

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The expo was geared more toward the racing side of things, so Creeper and Trichome would have loved that. They had some full motion racing rigs that you could try, and alot of tabletop setups, one in particular being a Turtle Beach one where you can swap out steering wheels with a quick disconnect coupling.

On the aviation side, there was of course DCS as well as Xplane 12 and MSFS. None of them were full motion, but some were static setups while one in particular was a full scale Airbus simpit.

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Xpen and I got to try out the forthcoming C-130J for DCS. I felt like it flew better than the C-130 mod, but I also had to keep in mind that I was not flying with my rig, so the throttle and stick are calibrated differently and I have no buttons mapped. Still, I was able to take off and fly with relative ease, and land but I didn't know what the flaps and brakes were mapped to, so I overran the runway.

Xpen at one point had inadvertantly pulled the throttle to reverse and by the time he regained control of the Herky bird, it had taxied backwards at 80 knots!

Toward the end of my stay at the show, I got to meet Baltic Dragon, who makes several F/A-18 campaigns for DCS, most known for the Raven One series. It was great talking to him about these missions, and the ins and outs of it. I asked him if he was from the Baltic Sea areas since he is Baltic Dragon and he said he is from Poland. I was surprised and said, "Moja żona jest Polką!" (My wife is Polish!) and he was like, "No way." Even more fun was when he said where in Poland he lives, it was only about half an hour at most from our place in Poland! So we had alot of talk about the area and the neighborhood. He has been to my wife's hometown and is familiar with the area. He also had a colleague who works for ED with him, from Germany, and he knew the area as well since he lives in the same town as Baltic Dragon. What a small world! So, next time I'm in Poland, Baltic Dragon and I will try to meet up for a drink or something.

So it was a good time. I'm new to the sim conventions so I don't know if they do it here every year but I'd like to go again. At the very least, our sons had a great time flying around and racing cars in the virtual world.



v6,
boNes

[Bones]

More photos:

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[Bones]

More

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[Bones]

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[Bones]

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Me, Baltic Dragon, and Xpendable

[Cr33p3r]

Great pics! Thanks for sharing.

My mouth watered the first time I saw that Skalari Airbus cockpit at an expo.

[Bones]

Hey Xpen! You made it into this video, around 1:26:55 and 1:27:48

https://www.youtube.com/live/QAXqimH0yh ... Mh4IEZqBjl

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boNes

[PanzerMeyer]

Great photos bones. I wish I could have been there.

[Bones]

Great photos bones. I wish I could have been there.

Yeah, plus it would have been great to meet you.

I don;t know if they do it in Chicago every year, or if they just chose Chicago this time. But if it's here next year I'd go again.

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boNes

[Trichome]

Man, that looks like it was a good time. Thanks for sharing the pics. I dream of getting one of those motion rigs once day.

[Bones]

Oh, and Baltic Dragon also gave me one of these vinyl Velcro backed patches for one of the DCS F/A-18C campaigns:

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v6,
boNes