If I may return to the Titanic II topic, about the motivations behind it:
1) Clive Palmer has directly stated that he doesn't care if he profits from this or not (though this looks like he certainly will). Even if his sole intent was to gain a profit from the fame of the Titanic, there's cheaper ways to do it than hiring the premier Titanic researchers, hiring a top-of-the-line ship design and naval engineering firm, and commissioning a Chinese shipyard (including overhauling said shipyard's facilities) to build a full-scale, thoroughly researched, ocean-legal replica! As for disrespecting, naming the new ship Titanic II should, along with other efforts from the Blue Star Line, ensure that no one forgets about the original.
2) Considering that construction on Titanic II is slated to begin next month in the CSC Jinling Shipyard and based on a design calculated and engineered by Deltamarin, Titanic II is going to actually happen. There's no longer any question, according to Art Braunschweiger of the Titanic Research and Modeling Association.
On the subject of VSTEP contacting the owners and not the community, how could the community catalyze that interaction between the two?
Titanic II could very well help (at least temporarily) revitalize Ship Simulator Extremes, as it seems that the better part of the community feels that the game, or even the series, is dying!
