Simviation Forums

Whats the word on the next FS or CFS?
Haven't we waited a little too long?

Waited a little too long for what?
News, or the release of the games  ???

Waited too long?  It's only been out for 13 months.  MS generally released a new FS every 2 years.  How is that long?

Besides, FS9 is FS2004, and 2004 isn't even over yet...how can that be even remotely interpreted as too long?

Noramlly we would have heard about a new CFS product, they're released on alternate years.

The last MS said about CFS 4 was a "Keep Watching" at a recent FS Conference (Avsim's). It was the same place they announced the forthcoming patch to FS9. This has lead to speculation that the two families may be merged or otherwise combined.

Would that be a good thing...

I actually don't think that would be a bad idea, from a consumer point of view....from M$'s view though....that would be an insane marketing maneuver.  You'd only get half the sales you've been getting.

Is it the same development team that makes the FS and CFS?
If not, just fold the CFS team, which frees up some cash that would otherwise go to salaries...

Aren't I a little devil  ;D

TROLL  ;)

I think that a merge would be a good thing.

Just think of all the neat things that could be done on the civvie side if the ordinance and effects from the combat side were available:

1: Water bombing missions. There is no reason that a forest fire couldn't be a "structure" that could be destoryed be a water drop "weapon".

2. Air-Sea rescue. How about flying offshore and finding a sinking ship and dropping a liferaft to the survivors?

3. Law enforcement. CFS allowed for missions where you had to find something...why not find a drug runner or something similar.

I personally think that a merged product would be a great idea. It would probably be two seperate products that shared a basic set of coding...and hopefully they could actually work together and share terrain, planes, effects, etc... CFS would then rejoin the family.

Personally I am perfectly peachy with FS9 and CFS2 (Not overly fond of CFS3), as well as a few other simulators out there that are enjoyable, that I can patiently wait for anything new

I just hope that if they do merge, they keep the 'real' in 'as real as it gets' and they dont make it into a more arcade style game. I think it would be quite difficult to merge as well. Remember, airfields would be different from wartime and post-wartime. Scenery might also have changed. Were lookingat two separate sims altogether running as one program, both designed for different things.

I checked the CFS3 board and they say theres no CFS in the works, or ever will be again

You checked the CFS3 board on this site....not for nothin', but 99% of the folks on ANY independent message board don't really have any actual facts to back up their "knowledge" of a company such as M$.

This isn't to say their speculations aren't logical, just that without being part of the development team itself, chances are you're not going to have a clue what you're talking about in regards to future releases.

Ridge over at the Sim-Outhouse attended the Avsim FS Conference...

You can read what he had to say about the new FS9 patch, FS10 and CFS 4.

http://www.cfcforums.com/showthread.php ... ight=Avsim

The ultimate source of the info was the MS folks attending the Avsim Conference....

From the Horse's mouth so to speak.

Who needs any new CFS versions???  Do your self a favor and go get IL2 Gold Pack and, towards Christmas, look for Pacific Fighters which is essentially a CFS2 style version of IL2 Forgotten Battles.  Now, I've heard people complain about the twitchy handling of the IL2 platgorm planes but here is a flash.  The dynamics are accurate in the IL2 platform and MS dumbed down the CFS platform flight dynamics so the lil kids could fly it without throwing tantrums.