The Aviator combines two controllers into one, placing the throttle controls traditionally placed on a separate unit for flight controllers right on the base of the stick, giving players relatively easy access to all the buttons, sliders, and toggles they need to succeed in games like Ace Combat 6, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X., and the Blazing Angels series.

One of the first fruits of the union between Saitek and Mad Catz, does Saitek's console debut soar, or does Mad Catz keep it grounded?

Loved
Sturdy As She Goes: I've been purchasing Saitek peripherals for quite some time now, and have generally been impressed with their construction and overall feel of their products. The Aviator does not disappoint. The controller is deceptively light, but very sturdy, making it just as easy to play with it sitting in your lap as it is with the controller resting on a flat surface.

Smooth And Responsive: The aviator performed admirably in both Ace Combat 6 for the Xbox 360 and the PC version of Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.. After a brief adjustment period I found myself flying more naturally than I ever had with an Xbox 360 controller, banking and rolling with a twist of the stick. Flying games just feel more natural with a stick, and the Aviator does the trick nicely. I should also note here that the installation on my Windows 7 PC was a breeze. I didn't have to install drivers or fiddle with settings; simply plugged the stick in and it reacted like as if the PC were an Xbox 360.

Hated
Two Thingsism: The Saitek Aviator is one thing trying to do the work of two things, and as well as it handles the basic functions of the games I played with it, it doesn't come close to the experience of having a separate joystick and throttle control at your disposal. Moving the stick around with one hand wrapped around the base of the joystick simply feels off, and you wind up throttling blind because your hand on the stick obscures your view. There's also a problem if you have to consistently push one of the face buttons during battle, as there is no way you can grip the stick, access the throttle, and press the buttons at the same time. It works well enough, but it could never replace a two-handed setup.

More than anything, whether or not you should pick up the Saitek Aviator depends on your experience with flight controllers. If you've never experienced the joy of a dual stick/throttle setup and are simply looking for a reasonably inexpensive way to add a little more realism to your arcade flight sim experience, then the Aviator could very well be the controller for you. On the other hand, if your flight sim tastes run more on the simulation side or you've gotten used to a controller like the Hori flight stick that shipped in the Ace Combat 6 premium bundle, you'll most likely find Saitek's single-stick offering fails to achieve liftoff.

The Saitek Aviator Flight Stick was manufactured and released by Saitek / Mad Catz in January 2009. Retails for $49.99 (MSRP, seen for as low as $29.99 online). Manufacturer provided an Xbox 360/PC unit for purposes of review. Played several hours of both Ace Combat 6 for the Xbox 360 and Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. for the PC using the controller.

The U.S. Eagles pack for HAWX features five new U.S. aircraft for the game, which is one less than the previously released European pack, but then again we're only one country. Besides, the planes in the U.S. pack are so much better. We get the F-4 Phantom II, the F-111 Aardvark tactical striker, the A-12 Avenger stealth bomber prototype, the F-15 the Peak Eagle, and the Blackbird. You know who else flies a Blackbird? The X-Men. Professor Charles Xavier, after no doubt reading the minds of the greatest military leaders of our time, chose that plane...or maybe it just looked cool.

Either way, HAWX players can fly it tomorrow, for 400 Microsoft Points or $4.99 in PlayStation dollars. I've included a gallery below, despite the fact that you've already seen all of the screens.

The new aircraft includes the Dassault Rafale, Saab-37 Viggen, Mirage 2000N, Mirage 4000, FB-22 prototype bomber and the experimental XA-20 Razorback from Tom Clancy's EndWar. Ubisoft also blew its DLC load a little early, showing off a hell of a lot more than it probably planned to.

In addition to releasing screen shots from the European Assault Pack, it also (we assume inadvertently) released screens from the "US Eagles" and "Russian Falcons" downloadable plane packs. Go ahead, look at all those screens. Even someone as ignorant to military aircraft as myself can tell there's more than just a half-dozen European fighters in here.

Of course it isn't the real White House or Air Force one. This is the White House and Air Force One of an alternate-reality 2014, where the state-sponsored military has been replaced with private armies, who can get things done the way only private armies could - with tons of explosions.

Unfortunately the release coincides with me packing up all my things and moving to a new apartment, but once I am settled the flight sticks are definitely coming out of storage.

The 360 version will hit at 2 a.m. Pacific time. For those living in Europe you can get the PS3 version of the demo on Feb. 12.

The demo will include jump-in, jump-out co-op for up to four-players, two game difficulties, three planes and two missions.

Operation: Off Certification is a training mode that teaches gamers how to pull different maneuvers. Operation: Glass Hammer takes place in Rio De Janeiro and includes support of the Assistance On mode which allows your plane's computer to calculate interception courses, evade missiles or hit a ground target.

The three planes that will be flyable will be the F-16A Fighting Falcon, SU-35 Super Flanker and the AV-8B Harrier II.

Ubisoft says that the demo will also let players take on tanks, amphibious targets and dog fight in a "stunning panoramic boss scene."

Update: Ubisoft just let me know that the press release we were working off of was actually for the UK. In the U.S. the PS3 demo gets here a couple of weeks later. Time to bust out that Euro account again.

With news that the eagerly anticipated survival title I Am Alive has been pushed back, seemingly within the last day, Ubisoft's earlier 2009 release list is overwhelmed by children's titles and casual games. Of all of their releases, air combat title Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. is really the only mainstream game that is new. There are a handful of games that they're only publishing in other countries - Chrono Trigger, Disgaea 3, and The Last Remnant for instance - but the rest of the list is chock full of Petz, Imagine Titles, and Jake Power DS games.

Four Petz titles are in the lineup, including Petz: My Baby Panda, which everyone should buy just to make it sad. Then we have four Jake Power titles, and a whopping seven new games in the Imagine line, from Cheerleader to Family Doctor.

Check out the full list below, or print it out and use it as a convenient checklist.

Check out the gallery below for some in-game images, along with photographs taken by IKONOS itself. It's an amazing amount of effort to render something you'll spend the entire game avoiding getting too close to.

Ubisoft® and GeoEye Integrate Satellite Imagery Into Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X

SAN FRANCISCO, CA. - August 26, 2008 - Today, Ubisoft and GeoEye, Inc. announced that GeoEye, a premier provider of satellite, aerial and geospatial information, has provided high-resolution images taken from its commercial Earth-imaging IKONOS satellite for integration into Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the Sony PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and on Windows-based PC. Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X will be available in early 2009.

The H.A.W.X development team is working closely with specialists at GeoEye to integrate realistic satellite images for every location throughout the game, including Rio de Janeiro, Cape Canaveral and the Middle East. With more than 16 international locations in the game, every mission will have players flying over GeoEye-provided satellite imagery in a three-dimensional environment creating an unparalleled, dogfighting experience.

GeoEye's IKONOS satellite was the world's first commercial Earth imaging satellite and its imagery is currently being used for US national security, mapping, air and marine transportation, environmental monitoring and insurance risk management. The amazing quality and detail of the IKONOS images will lend realism to Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X giving gamers a feeling of immersion that will plunge them into the air combat mission of the game.

"High-resolution satellite imaging is moving from the black world of intelligence to the white world of commerce and Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X will bring that reality to gamers," said Mark Brender, vice president, corporate communications and marketing at GeoEye. "With video game graphics becoming more realistic, the use of high-quality photographic ground textures in H.A.W.X adds true photo-realism to the air combat experience."

During the development process the H.A.W.X team has also worked with the U.S. Geological Survey and the Center for Earth Resources Observations and Science (USGS/EROS) to understand how to best create a topographical 'underpinning' for the satellite imagery, creating a very realistic representation of the Earth.

"We are extremely grateful to GeoEye for their collaboration with Ubisoft and pleased with the level of quality and service we've received," said Travis Getz, authenticity coordinator for the H.A.W.X development team. "GeoEye's amazing imagery, combined with the intense aerial combat experience in H.A.W.X, makes this a perfect partnership for everyone-especially gamers."

That's not saying that H.A.W.X. Won't have its fair share of DLC, as the presenter at the session indeed mentioned that the game, which is already set to ship with more than 50 aircraft painstakingly rendered down to the cockpit, will be getting even more aircraft in the way of downloadable jets down the line. I asked if they would be getting pink ones, but no one seemed to get the reference.

While the developers might not be too keen on what the competition is doing in terms of DLC, they are right on target when it comes to injecting the arcade flier with a heaping helping of realism. Not only are all of the planes based on realistic design specifications for existing aircraft, the very terrain is rendered using real satellite imagery at a resolution of two meters per pixel. A ton of hard work and I assume not a small amount of money went towards acquiring the data, but considering the beautiful landscapes you'll find yourself flying in and around the move seems to have paid off in full.

It's hard not to compare H.A.W.X. To Ace Combat 6 upon first seeing it in action. To the unitiated, the two games could easily be mistaken for one another. The third-person camera view, the way you target enemies and ground forces, and even some of the warning sounds have a familiar ring to them. It's only until you delve deeper into the gameplay that the difference become readily apparent.

While third-person view is relatively standard fair, switching into assistance off mode offers up a new and exciting way to control your craft. Assistance off mode presents a more isometric view of your plane, providing more control to pull off some spectacular maneuvers at the risk of stalling your aircraft, something prevented via computer in third-person view. In effect you are turning off the built-in safeguards of your aircraft and taking full control of the vehicle, as well as taking your life into your own hands.

Third-person view isn't without differences either, most notably the ERS system, which at the touch of a button provides on screen guidance for how to best get a highly maneuverable target into your weapon sights or evade an incoming missile. The two modes can be switched out on the fly, leaving it up to you to decide how you want to play the game.

Though H.A.W.X. Will present many opportunities for you to strut your air superiority, it's still a game that focuses on being the part of a team. There will be A.I. wingmen for you to control in single player, along with co-op multiplayer and 8-player team deathmatch modes online, both emphasizing working together as a team to succeed and survive.

The other thing H.A.W.X. Has going for it is the fact that the game is not only coming out on the Xbox 360, but the PlayStation 3 and PC as well, finally allowing PS3 owners a chance to rinse out the bad taste of Xbox 360 exclusive AC6 from their mouths. That, and there are plenty more PC options for flight sticks than you'll find on the Xbox 360 (1) or PlayStation 3 (erm).

Even if you're the biggest Ace Combat fan in the world, I can see no reason why both franchises can't co-exist. While some may look on it as a competition, Ace Combat and H.A.W.X. Together equals two doses of dogfighting goodness to help satiate that little hyperactive Red Baron inside of us.

What he saw:

• "Late alpha test phase of the game it was [an executable file] running on a devkit at the show, so it was obviously very early test phase. The game was riddled with bugs as of now because the 360 was crashing quite a few times."

• "I'm unsure about the company [providing the maps], but they used satellite mapping of the areas and reconstructed them into the game. The mountains look epic with all the texturing and bushes."

• "Distance third person viewing when dog fighting or getting chased by missiles."

What he was told (by an Ubisoft rep):

• "The spokesperson for Ubisoft said that this game was gonna be a gamble like Assassin's Creed was because of the huge amount of money invested into the game only to find out if its gonna be awesome or a mediocre game. From what it seems that the rep was saying HAWX is going to cost a lot to make."

• "At least 50 planes will be available in game"

• "For promotion [materials] they are looking for any air force pilots to get a picture in with the HAWX patch and will get put up on their site."

Now for the pics:

Of course, thanks to reader Anonymous (no, he did not play the game wearing a V for Vendetta mask) for keeping his eyes peeled on coming back with some good info.

The amBX gaming peripheral includes RGB LED lights that can create 16 million colors, variable speed desktop fans capable of up to 5,000 RPM and a wrist rumble strip. Philips says that the device will be used to create "all kinds of spectacular air combat lighting, air movement and rumble effects."

The HAWX support announcement also notes that the peripheral is getting a price drop with the starter kit now selling for about $150, the extension kit selling for $80, the premium kit for $280 and the pro kit for $230. All of them sound too pricey for something that's going to throw rainbows up on my ceiling and blow wind in my face, but each to his or her own.

But despite having modes for missile-lock and bomb drops that are akin to flying with training wheels, the game seems to still provide the technical controls that have always drawn fans of arcade flight sims to air combat games.

The area I played around in was located over Rio and featured a map created by satellite data (the best on the market, I was told). The city, while amazingly detailed, was a bit too flat for my taste, though it did have plenty of high rises to zip through at break neck speeds. The final version of the game will also include settings in Africa and Afghanistan, I was told.

The game, which will include 50 licensed aircraft, takes place during the same time frame as the events of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 and even includes several missions in which you are providing air support for the ground missions played in the shooter. In this world the fighter pilots are part of a private military force, the devs told me.

The game has two modes of flight. In the assisted flight mode you can’t stall and to get a lock-on you have to fly through a series of large transparent triangles. Once you land the lock-on you fire away a missile. You also are lead through a path of triangles when trying to evade incoming missiles. Neither are easy to do, but both take away the need to fly tactically and instead hold your hand through the process of lining up targets or ditching in-coming bad guys.

Hopping out of the assisted mode is as easy as double clicking a trigger and then you’re in free control which allows you to force stalls and doesn’t assist you at all when it comes to evasion and lock-ons.

It feels like this provides a nice mix for casual gamers and the hardcore, though I wasn’t thrilled that the free flight mode seems to force your perspective to more cinematic angles, rather than just in-cockpit.

The overall graphics of the game were very impressive and the controls seemed pretty tight. If they could just add a bit more vertical to their cities and tweak the free-flight camera angel I think I’d be sold on the game.