There may still be a glimmer of hope for FS...

[F35LightningII]

Hi

I was just surfing the web, looking up flight-sim-related stuff, and I stumbled across the Wikipedia article on MS Flight Simulator. http://en.wikipedia....light_Simulator

The article has a section about the closure of ACES Game studios. I read it, and there was a quote that caught my attention: "Microsoft Flight Simulator X will remain available at retail stores and web retailers, the Flight Sim community will continue to learn from and encourage one another, and we remain committed to the Flight Simulator Franchise for the long term"

This made me think. I put myself in Microsoft's shoes. They were committed to keep flight simulation alive, and decided that it would be more economical for them to make a game which expands to wider audiences. Two years later, Flight comes out. A few months later, Flight is cancelled. Microsoft realises that it was not a good approach to flight simming. Still committed to genre, Microsoft now goes back to the Flight Simulator series, realising how successful it will be, or they will try another new approach, and see how that works. They will either find something new that sells, or they'll just go back to MSFS.

The point that I'm trying to make is that I don't think that MS has stopped making their contributions to flight sims. In fact, I bet that they're planning or developing something new as we speak. Will it be Flight Simulator? I hope so, but I can't be sure. But what I can be reasonably sure of, is that they are working on something. It just seems like the most logical thing for them to do.

[wifesaysno]

I would not hold your breath. No matter what their intentions are, they already lost a lot of money. Heck they might have lost too much money for them to continue working on it.

[Strategic Retreat]

What you read on that article is the art of political speech brought out of the political sphere.

M$ would get a barrage of flak out of a honest but unpopular declaration of: "We couldn't care less about this crap, not to say you that still want it, but we'll keep selling because there's still a market for it, we already recovered the costs of its [poor] development, and so it's all gain we would be crazy to miss out".

They simply put together two words of circumstances, "Oh yes, we'll keep supporting it [as long you pay for it], don't worry. Buy it. Buy it a lot".

Oldest trick in the book, really. A nothing for someone who's been living in a nation like mine, where promises from above last just the time the ones above get something out of it and all have a well hidden out clause (when this out clause is not simply a "NO!", sometimes but not always followed by some lame excuse, brutally stated in your face should you be so naive go to cash on the promise, that is).

In fact NOWHERE you can read real commitments of any sort, especially towards a ephemeral V11 of FS in that article.

The Art of The Word and how much you can twist it to make it sound like you're saying a thing while instead meaning, promising and swearing your very soul on the exact opposite. This is it.

[Fozzer]

As Microsoft, like any other Company, is encouraged to make a profit, I often wonder what proportion of their total income/profit can be attributed to a program like the; "Flight Simulators" (FSX, et al), to make the effort and overall expense worthwhile?

I doubt that they are in the business just to keep Flight Simulator Enthusiasts; "Happy and contented", regardless of cost... ...!

Paul.... ...!

[Strategic Retreat]

Sorry Fozzer... they started the downward spiral with that crap called Flight. With that manure they showed that THE ONLY THING they care about is the bottom line, even IN SPITE of what the FS enthusiasts THAT PAID THEM FOR FS (it never was a freeware project) thought about it.

If you have an enterprise that gains money because of the satisfaction of a customers base, you should at least FAKE a little interest about what those that pay you say. M$, even in times of great success, never even faked to fake the slightest interest in what their customers would have liked.

All right, FS was not the total of M$'s income... yet... look at what they're doing with Win8... the most incompatible version of Windows yet, EVEN COUNTING Windows NT before and up to V4. Are you going to say the same about WINDOWS?

Flight was the start of a trend. Mark my words.

For what I've gleaned out of it, either Apple went after M$ or the other way around... the policy of getting out a new software and/or hardware that has VERY SLIGHT improvements than before, but that are PUMPED UP TO ELEVEN THOUSAND as revolutionary step forward by biased, if not outright bought over advertising that officially always declares itself to be independent and honest... yeah right, pull the other one, it has a bell on it... just look at the i-Phone 5... two or three dashes of a newer paint and is trumpeted as a revolutionary new conquest.

Shameless. And every time I am astounded at so many IDIOTS falling into this INCREDIBLY STUPID trap.

And M$ is THE VERY SAME... or at least is attempting to be the very same... shame that non-Apple users are on average less idiotic and the attempted coup, at least with Flight, showed not to work...

And now they're crying misery... "oh... how ungrateful of our milk cows to refuse to become like Apple's, to be happy, even elated to part with ENORMOUS amount of money in exchange of little if not nothing..."

A little self-criticism, M$ dear, would do you SO good. Especially would do you good not to put your customers on the same level as Apple's. Personally I feel BASELY OFFENDED to be compared the THEM in any way, shape or form.

[ftldave]

Though I don't agree with Strategic that Microsoft is the great Satan of software, I do know that, at any huge multinational corporation, it is much more important to say "Yes, Boss" than "I have a better idea." My experience at big corporations has made me realize that management almost always views dealing with customers as an additional cost, to be avoided and minimized whenever possible.

Think happy thoughts, Strat. Lighten up. 

[Bass]

I agree with Fozzer.
The word is MONEY.

And Stratetic, talking about Win8, they are again going the wrong way, putting that OS up first on the iPods aso and not on a update Win7 and letting the rest being an addition to it!

[pete]

Hi

I was just surfing the web, looking up flight-sim-related stuff, and I stumbled across the Wikipedia article on MS Flight Simulator. http://en.wikipedia....light_Simulator

The article has a section about the closure of ACES Game studios. I read it, and there was a quote that caught my attention: "Microsoft Flight Simulator X will remain available at retail stores and web retailers, the Flight Sim community will continue to learn from and encourage one another, and we remain committed to the Flight Simulator Franchise for the long term"

This made me think. I put myself in Microsoft's shoes. They were committed to keep flight simulation alive, and decided that it would be more economical for them to make a game which expands to wider audiences. Two years later, Flight comes out. A few months later, Flight is cancelled. Microsoft realises that it was not a good approach to flight simming. Still committed to genre, Microsoft now goes back to the Flight Simulator series, realising how successful it will be, or they will try another new approach, and see how that works. They will either find something new that sells, or they'll just go back to MSFS.

The point that I'm trying to make is that I don't think that MS has stopped making their contributions to flight sims. In fact, I bet that they're planning or developing something new as we speak. Will it be Flight Simulator? I hope so, but I can't be sure. But what I can be reasonably sure of, is that they are working on something. It just seems like the most logical thing for them to do.

What a co-incidence! I was thinking exactly this thought when I was in the shower this morning.

There are a lot of people still committed to the genre and some of them have a lot of influence.

[Fly2e]

If MS did want to start up the FS series again, they would have to build an entire new engine, correct? They sold the rights to Prepar.

[Strategic Retreat]

Though I don't agree with Strategic that Microsoft is the great Satan of software...

Microsoft is what?

Have you been reading well what I wrote... scratch that, has my English collapsed so badly I've being giving a false impression of what I think?

M$ is simply trying to become a copycat of what could be considered after a fashion the REAL Great Satan of the hard/software. No need to add names... whoever can read can get there by reading my previous post all by him/herself.

And THAT'S what gets me... they're standing down from a position where they were great in themselves to become willing lapdogs... and I CAN'T STAND IT. Especially if their ambitions of lowness passes through ME being lowered as well to the stand of a spineless fashion follower.

You do what you want. As for me, I'm not following M$ towards willing debasement.

Not stupid. Not expendable. Not going.

[Keep It Simple]

"Keeping Flight simiulator alive" simply means that they will contine to sell

[Kabouter_Plop]

Forget Microsoft. Prepar3d and it's next versions wil be it. MS gave up on FS by sending Aces home. They tried to develop something themselves and failed. That's it, they are not going to waste any more money on developing a game. Especially now that there seems to be a global economic crisis going on, it's safer to bet on commercial/business software and OS then on consumer entertainment.

[Strategic Retreat]

The real question is: is P3D really a step forward? Isn't it, after all, FSX without its bugs?

Isn't it FSX HOW IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN?

And if it is... is it a step forward from someone coming from FSX?

More a sidestep, in my opinion. Sidestepping the crap coding reserved to the commercial version to have the better coding of the professional version.

[F35LightningII]

The real question is: is P3D really a step forward? Isn't it, after all, FSX without its bugs?

Isn't it FSX HOW IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN?

And if it is... is it a step forward from someone coming from FSX?

More a sidestep, in my opinion. Sidestepping the crap coding reserved to the commercial version to have the better coding of the professional version.

At its current stage, I'd say it is just a fine-tuned version of FSX. However, it is developing. I've heard that version 2 will be DX11.

[PM]

Hi!

Thanks for the post.