Since you are an LFS player you should know the bit of a difference between a normal game and a simulation. Don't get me wrong, I love the graphics and all but that game neither really is nor is intended to represent a simulation.
€150,- Here in the Netherlands. my brother brought me a pair from Thailand for €63,-, quite a nice deal.
Wouldn't have bought them myself for €150,-, that's for sure.
You're probably right. I'd bought Wings of Prey a couple of days before the developer announced that a new sequel was being planned- more PC centric, more sim oriented. I was looking forward to seeing the game develop a bit more, but it's pretty obvious now that the focus will start to shift to the new game fairly shortly (some items on the community wish list, including a mission builder, are apparently too hard to code into the current game as it is, so the devs have made a choice to start over). It's kind of good and bad news at the same time- but a nice concession to current owners is that they'll be recieving a discount on the sequel when/if it's released.
If you run WOP in simulator mode without all the HUD help, it does a pretty good job actually. No it doesn't contain every bell and whistle, but the list of demands at the high end of PC simulation is always endless. I'm happy to support the devs here- they've released a high quality titles with WOP, they are not making money and now they're wanting to move forwards into even more niche territory with the sequel. That's pretty brave...
From what I know firstly Birds of Prey/Wings of Prey has nothing to do with Storm of War or IL-2. Secondly Oleg and the team of Maddox games were not involved in developing these arcade titles. Also SoW: BoB has been announced since 2005 or so.
I didn't mean to suggest that SoW is the new sequel being planned by Gaijin. This new game was announced (unofficially) only a few days ago, it doesn't even have a title yet.