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I have been working with the Microsoft FSX team to create a series of video news items for broadcast at the Cineplex. You'll see those as we get closer to the FSX release date. Meanwhile, in the wake of all the hoopla at the Consumer Electronics Show surrounding the announcement that Flight Simulator X is coming, I had a chat with Shawn Firminger. He shed some light on where FSX is headed and revealed some insights about Microsoft's unwavering support for their flagship entertainment product.
In the past, the Microsofties seldom let us peek behind the wizard's curtain to see the actual talent that creates Flight Simulator. All that has changed with FSX. Shawn Firminger is the Studio Manager for Aces Studio. He is responsible for Microsoft’s simulation products that include Flight Simulator, Combat Flight Simulator and Train Simulator entertainment franchises. Shawn joined Microsoft in June 1995 as the Product Manager for Flight Simulator and several other games. Prior to his current position, he was the Lead Product Planner for the studio.
Over the last two years, Microsoft has been researching flightsimmer preferences and attitudes about Flight Simulator. FlightSim.Com has also been collecting your thoughts and compiling a wish list of what the community says it wants in the new version of Flight Simulator. One common complaint we heard from you all is that Microsoft seems to have a deaf ear about what our community wants and has turned its attention away from PC simulations and toward the glitz, bright lights and big profits of XBox console gaming. So, I started out by asking Shawn about this: "Fact or fiction, has Microsoft abandoned the PC game world?"
"Ever since I took over as ACES Studio Manager, I have been busy rebuilding the team. We now have renewed enthusiasm for PC games and a new team to go with it. We are transforming ourselves with new thinking about Flight Simulator product features and our relationship with the community. Combined with all the team changes, you'll see the fruits of all this intensive labor in FSX."
After nearly a quarter century of flightsimming, the transformation of ACES Studios is turning the tide. "It's true that in the past, we paid more attention to XBox than Windows gaming," Shawn explained. This is hardly surprising when you consider that 2 million units is a big seller in the PC gaming world and Microsoft sold more than 20 million XBox units last year alone.
Shawn assured me that Microsoft is in the Flight Simulation business for the long haul. "We have changed how we think about the product and are building a new relationship with the flightsim community and the end user. After 25 years, it has become clear to that we can achieve a lifetime relationship with our customers and we will behave that way."
This is a monumental breakthrough and a distinct change in how Microsoft views our community. After 25 years, we now have three generations of users in the flightsim world:
- Grand parents who grew up with flightsimming from the days of the old IBM PC. We all knew a computer was truly IBM PC compatible if it ran Flight Simulator. That was the acid test.
- The saga continues with adult children who discovered the hobby around 1995 when there was a substantial explosion in Flight Simulator sales growth.
- And on to the grandchildren who came into the hobby during the FS98 explosion of users and have continued on through FS2000, FS2002 and FS2004.
- FlightSim.Com has grown right along with the community and we'll be celebrating our Tenth Anniversary in May 2006.
"We want to continue an ongoing dialog with the community even after the release of FSX. Our customers play a key part of the communication in what they want to see in the product. We invite them to participate in the dialog," Shawn continued.
According to Shawn, "FSX is the most well thought through version to date. We now have a new way of viewing the end users and the FS community."
Microsoft has conducted focus group research around the globe to develop FSX. The team members have prowled our forums plus the floors of every major flightsim convention worldwide. FlightSim.Com has provided thousands of responses to surveys plus constant feedback through our forums, wish lists and much more. So the answer to the question, "Does Microsoft listen?" Is a resounding, "You betcha!"
Windows Vista and FSX are not exactly joined at the hip as we were led to believe by the Microsoft keynote presentation at CES. For starters, FSX will be a 32-bit application. It is designed to run on legacy Windows XP systems as well as to take advantage of Windows Vista entertainment features when that 64-bit operating system is finally released to consumers in January 2007. Vista and FSX form the gateway to a resurgence of interest in PC gaming by our friends in Redmond.
"Flight Simulator X is still on track for a holiday 2006 release and will be optimized for Windows Vista when Vista is released," according to Shawn. Expect to see a Windows XP version released first followed by an update for Windows Vista sometime after that. While writing about the delay of Windows Vista, FlightSim.Com reporters speculated on what this would mean for FSX. The question was raised of whether there could possibly be two versions of FSX. Microsoft sources categorically denied that any such plans are in the works. So, we will al just have to wait and see what happens. After all, FSX is still six or more months away and a lot happens in the last days before a product release.
FSX, "Will behave as a professional platform," Shawn said. It is designed to be a flight simulation platform for future development by the add-on community. Much more than any previous version, FSX has features that are sure to thrill the developer community and guaranteed to give us exciting add-ons that far exceed the stock program's already formidable features. We have seen some tantalizing glimpses of things to come and will be reporting on them in detail over the next few months.
Meanwhile, Shawn announced that he hired a professional Software Development Kit designer to create a professional SDK that will be available when FSX releases. His SDK developer is working in parallel with the development team. So developers, you won't have to wait for a year after release to sink your teeth into some juicy add-ons. "I strongly believe the best years in the hobby are ahead of us," Shawn predicted.
This is the question we are frequently asked by our friends in the flightsim community. Shawn was tight-lipped about the answer because FSX development still has a long way to go. Flight Simulator has a tradition of backward compatibility of new versions and FSX will follow those guidelines. "It's a scaleable experience," Shawn explained. "You can craft the FSX experience as you like it, consistent with your system's capabilities; by adjusting the visual quality, frame rate, autogen density and many other features. Dial them up or throttle them back as required and FSX will perform very well. One thing for certain, we are not going to support 16-bit systems!" So, I guess that means your trusty old Pentium 3 is headed for the land fill after all.
"We realize that not everyone is in a position to buy a new system every time we release a new version of Flight Simulator," he continued. "We recognize that not everyone has the same financial resources but all want to have a great FSX experience. We take into account machines and video technology that are just over the horizon as well."
It's clear that the new dual core systems will enable you to get the most from FSX, but it's also clear that it will run very well on your existing Windows XP, 3 GHz, single core system. "FSX is a multi-threaded application so by its very nature the performance will benefit from dual-core. We do not benchmark hardware and the test phase for dual-core will not occur until the summertime," Shawn elaborated.
Translation: if you're an early adopter and want to run FSX full-throttle from day 1, get your dual core system now. If you don't need a new system, and have a 3 GHz Pentium 4 or the AMD equivalent and at least 1-2 GB of high speed memory and a reasonably fast hard drive, you'll be good-to-go on FSX release day. The choice is up to you. Wait and see what happens with the Windows Vista patch to FSX, or dive in on day one. We will all just have to wait and see what happens when the Windows Vista fog clears. Stay tuned for more news on that matter.
We have received hundreds of emails and even more forum postings after Max Merlin and Andrew Herd broached the topic of Flight Simulator with guns in our op-ed article, Beyond 2004. It seems a huge segment of the flightsim community wants the ability to craft realistic combat missions with the FSX platform. So, will we see FS with guns? "FSX is not a combat flight simulator. It’s civilian and expectations are low that there will be all the tools required to create a combat flightsim add-on", Shawn explained.
We think that the ACES Studio team is missing the plane on this one. We have never seen so strong a positive response to a single issue about Flight Simulator in the last ten years as we did to the FS with guns question. But, with FS2004 developers already creating gun, bomb release, explosion and ejection seat effects now; we expect the new FSX SDK may have a few surprises in store for those who want a realistic combat flightsim experience. Never say never.
Much has been blogged and babbled about whether FSX will use DirectX 9 or 10. The official word from Shawn is, "A DX10 solution for FSX will be dictated by when we receive DX10 hardware." So, standby for more on this topic. We will have the straight scoop to you in the coming months.
Here's where the wizards on the FSX team are going to have some fun with us all. Shawn would not describe the list of new stock FSX airplanes. "Of course there will be new stock airplanes as well as some of your old favorites upgraded to the new FSX features. We'll be planting hidden clues in screen shots that will be released throughout the coming months," he teased.
As you can all see from the screen shots we published in our Countdown to FSX article, there are hidden clues. We saw a new Beaver, Maule, Grumman Goose and micro-light in those shots. And you see them again in all their glory with these new screen shots. As for what else is in the FSX hangar? Shawn's lips were sealed. We'll just have to see them revealed in the upcoming FSX screen shots.
If you're a news junkie and want to hang on every word about the latest developments, rumors and random thoughts of the FSX development team, you'll want to visit the FSX blogosphere. The list below shows you which Microsofties from the FSX development team are blogging their brains out and talking about FSX among lots of other stuff both interesting and mundane. Use these links to check them out for yourself. Since blogs are unreliable sources and cannot be independently verified, we don't report the blogging follies as news. But, it can make for amusing reading. Around the FlightSim.Com virtual hangar, we would rather be flightsimming than blog prowling. But, if you want to see the current FSX buzz, click on the links below to enter the ACES Studio development team blogoshpere.
Hal Bryan
http://blogs.technet.com/hal9000/default.aspx
Mike Gilbert
http://blogs.msdn.com/tdragger/
Tim Gregson
http://blogs.technet.com/beatlesblog/default.aspx
Steve Lacey
http://www.steve-lacey.com
Sebastien St-Laurent
http://blogs.msdn.com/sebby1234/
Adrian Woods
http://blogs.technet.com/torgo3000/
Nick Whittome
http://msmvps.com/thenakedmvp/
Jason Waskey
http://blogs.technet.com/pixelpoke/default.aspx
