It's Finally Arrived and It's Official - Release Date Feb. 29th

[silverplate]

There's a new video posted and some new screenshots. The video shows the design team talking about how they created the aircraft and how neat one 3 year old son's developer found the program. So I guess it's official. Flight was created for 3 year olds. Wonderful. Also, one person in the video confirms that the new focus in Flight is away from actually operating an aircraft for real. Great. I think I am going to go throw up now. Please excuse me.

[greggerm]

My 3.5 month old is enthralled at sitting in front of my computer and whacking on the keyboard... I don't think my computer is designed to be a child's toy. Although we all know the overall focus and target is different than we're used to, there's no need to be quite so dramatic about it.

I'm curious as to what the future holds regarding Flight... it will be interesting, but I'm keeping my hopes well in check.

-Greg

[angels355]

It looked really good, I was amazed that they talked about instruments and using them to land if the weather doesn't allow you to see, you know like a normal simulator. MS used to put instruments on real planes to guage their true flight dynamics, I hope they are still doing that. I was really encouraged by their latest news release and video. Perhaps they have been listening to us (????) and want to turn things around. I think they should talk about the SDK now, that yes they are going to release it to third party developers. I hope it's not going to suck. They said they drew on Flight Simulator, I hope they draw another 100% out of Flight Simulator and give us everything.

They let us down over dumping the Aces and FS11, it's up to them to regain our trust and business.

[vonBobo]

"Microsoft has announced that the free-to-play Microsoft Flight will finally be launching on February 29. While the download is initially free, players will be able to access additional content for a price. On launch day a Hawaiian Adventure Pack will be released through Games For Windows LIVE for 1,600 Microsoft Points (or $20). The expansion adds an additional plane (a two-seater Vans RV-6A) and 20 missions to the core package, and two additional planes will also be available as separate purchases. The Maule M-7-260C (which includes a fully detailed cockpit) and North American P-51 Mustang will be available at launch for 1,200 points ($15) and 640 points ($8) respectively. While you're waiting for the game to launch, be sure to check out..."

So for $43, you get Hawaii (how many islands?... not that it matters), 5? airplanes, and 20 missions plus the defaults.

I think the goal here is that MS wants the continual revenue stream instead of the one time purchase, and this time they aren't sharing the aftermarket profits. Problem for us is, you can't justify game play with a pie chart.

[angels355]

"Microsoft has announced that the free-to-play Microsoft Flight will finally be launching on February 29. While the download is initially free, players will be able to access additional content for a price. On launch day a Hawaiian Adventure Pack will be released through Games For Windows LIVE for 1,600 Microsoft Points (or $20). The expansion adds an additional plane (a two-seater Vans RV-6A) and 20 missions to the core package, and two additional planes will also be available as separate purchases. The Maule M-7-260C (which includes a fully detailed cockpit) and North American P-51 Mustang will be available at launch for 1,200 points ($15) and 640 points ($8) respectively. While you're waiting for the game to launch, be sure to check out..."

So for $43, you get Hawaii (how many islands?... not that it matters), 5? airplanes, and 20 missions plus the defaults.

I think the goal here is that MS wants the continual revenue stream instead of the one time purchase, and this time they aren't sharing the aftermarket profits. Problem for us is, you can't justify game play with a pie chart.

I think it's just one island, Hawaii. I started from the very beginning flying around the world in jets, so I can't help but be a little frustrated. I think you're right on, a continual revenue stream. The Flight team was friendly and smiling, I'd like them to continue smiling with bon ami and tell us when they are going to release the SDK.

[benEggleston16]

Hell. I thought the DLC would be cheaper, than at least it might get to FSX level content with better graphics etc. But no. All hopes dashed. I'm joking. This is the first announcement, things are always rocky at first, look at FSX. Games are always expensive to begin with, but in a few months, they will be cheaper. Then there will be sales too, on steam for examle games get reduced by 90% sometimes, and these aren't terrible unusued originally-released-in-1999 games, it's up-to-date games that are supposed to be £30++. So there is still hope. We just need PATIENCE

[vonBobo]

it's up to them to regain our trust and business.

Haha! They don't care. Even though it was their own fault by not competing in the after market, MS already feels like the FS fans aren't loyal to FS (we replace every piece of default visuals in the package). So instead, they have built a sandbox, essentially telling us we are either in or we are out.

Soon the after market devs are going to anticipate the end of life for FS, and the flood to Xplane will begin. Personally, I'm thrilled thinking about the day when I can fly xplane with the added rich environment from the 3rd party devs.

[benEggleston16]

Does anyone know what it means on their ESRB Content Rating 'Crude Humour'? Or am I missing something obvious. Seems like a joke, hoe can humour effect a game's appropriateness?

PS. For Angels355, can you reply to post #80 & #74 in the 'Hawaii Only' thread?

[vonBobo]

release the SDK.

that's the variable that no one will know, and MS could change their mind about it at any time they want.

If that did happen, I would assume that even the 3rd party addons would still have to be sold through MSLive, which would mean an additional cost and no freebies. I would expect little things like smoke effects, lighting effects, all those little tweaks to be non existent. Also, can anyone confirm if MS even has precedent today for 3rd party addons in the MSlive environment? Best case scenario, I cant imagine it being like the wild west of addons we enjoy today.

[alaskancrab]

Seriously guys... go get yourselves a copy of P3D... You want an SDK you are going to have to pay for its development by pitching in 10 bucks a month. SDK's cost money, they aren't free to produce.

[angels355]

that's the variable that no one will know, and MS could change their mind about it at any time they want.

If that did happen, I would assume that even the 3rd party addons would still have to be sold through MSLive, which would mean an additional cost and no freebies. I would expect little things like smoke effects, lighting effects, all those little tweaks to be non existent. Also, can anyone confirm if MS even has precedent today for 3rd party addons in the MSlive environment? Best case scenario, I cant imagine it being like the wild west of addons we enjoy today.

I get encouraged by what I see, then face the reality of what has been done, and on top of it is DX9, and 32 bit. That scenary on Hawaii looks beautiful. But these guys remind me of used car salesmen, we're short changed on virtually everything we want, to be brief a Flight SImulator with SDK, and on top of it the engine under the hood has 100,000 miles on it, and it's DX9. Wonder if you can select DX10 or DX11? You see what I mean by it being a step backwards? There are used car salesmen that actually insist that 100,000 miles is "low mileage"

I made a guess at their prices and wasn't that far off even though it was a wild guess. It's like Flight Simulator is all broken down and MS thinks no one wants it any more as it won't perform like the hotrod they want. So they junked FS, and are shining up the separate parts and selling off each part at a premium. We paid full price when our Cadillac was new, there are Ferraris that cost less! However after time no one sees it in the same way we still do. I had offers from junk yards to haul it away for free, others offered $700 and thought they were being generous. But it's a family heirloom! I repaired it completely, it was costly, but I have the satisfaction of thumbing my nose at the neighbors! :D Along the way I was forced to buy an electronic part off the shelf from a Cadillac speciality junk yard, $650 for that one part that would fit in a grocery bag! Do you see what I mean, MS seems to be taking the same approach selling us the FS package one junked piece at a time.

I will definitely download it, and try it out, and wait and see what transpires. This is a difficult concept for them to grasp, I started out with jets (well my first plane was only a quasi jet, the King Air B200 turbo prop, but after that it was biz jets and airliners), and all of my flights were around the world. I'm sure there are a lot of you guys out there also who fly nothing but airliners. What we've seen looks very nice, but there's no getting around it that losing the Aces and the standard Flight SImulator format was a really hard blow. Why would they be so trivial in wiping out our hobby as we know it. Boohoo! Waaaah! Terrible to keep crying over it but I think I have a right to be upset about what they did. In fact I think they were irresponsible in managing the successful 3 decade old FS franchise.

The major difference, the "Synergies" component of all this is the online Live gameplay, perhaps that could be a good thing, but we had Vatsim before, and as you recall managed to have an annual aircraft race online (never participated having only had dialup until 18 months ago). Another Synergy was reducing the graphics load as they do for console games. Did you know that the latest X-Box is five years old?? The latest Call of Duty runs at 60 fps on it, that's what I mean by designing it so that it has a lower graphics load. A game critic has said that the latest Call of Duty has graphics that are sharp and impressive, but according to loki it's in the way that they draw the graphics to reduce the graphics load. That was another thing they did to Flight, reduced the graphics load. battlefield 3 with a 64 bit engine that runs on cutting edge game hardware has stunning graphics by comparison. and runs at 30 fps on cutting edge hardware. Flight has gone the way of Call of Duty, relying on their fan base to support them, hoping that we'll buy everything piecemeal through the nose, and resting on their laurels to deliver us a lower quality product like Call of Duty.

Battlefield 3, 64 bit engine, DX11, impressive graphics on cutting edge hardware. Flight and Call of Duty, runs well on old hardware, 32 bit, runs on DX9, both resting on their laurels.

Could they admit that they made a mistake, and just reserve Flight for their 3 year old audience, and announce when we can expect FS12? FS12 is what we need, 64 bit, fully multithreaded, and stunning graphics. FS11 was only going to be 32 bit but we would have appreciated the improvement even though it would have only been 32 bit. Time has passed and 32 bit is no longer cutting edge. That was always the purpose behind FS, to be cutting edge and challenge the latest hardware. Not step backwards in quality and technology.

[fxsttcb]

Seriously guys... go get yourselves a copy of P3D... You want an SDK you are going to have to pay for its development by pitching in 10 bucks a month. SDK's cost money, they aren't free to produce.
You can use the original ESP SDK from MSDN online(http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc526948.aspx), or the P3D SDK, free to download from LM(http://www.prepar3d.com/support/sdk/), or the one that comes with FSX Deluxe/Gold. There are not that many changes in the FSX version or P3D's from the ESP1.0 anyhow.

Now if playing "Submarine" was real important to me I might invest in P3D, because bathymetry is the only substaintial difference from FSX that I see.


So for $43, you get Hawaii (how many islands?... not that it matters), 5? airplanes, and 20 missions plus the defaults.Gee, at that rate, 4 times that many Flight add-ons will get me two new PMDG planes and an OrbX add-on Airport in all their detailed glory. FSX is where I believe my money will continue to go. I sincerely doubt MS will produce anywhere near that quality. Or a long range plane to go any distance, at that...Don

[MattyAlan]

So is the game playable if you don't buy hawaii?

[fxsttcb]

Certainly! The freebie only includes a couple planes, and a some airports on the Island of Hawaii, but is functional...Don

[jomni]

Live points pricing for those who are not familiar. 500 = $11
So the Hawaii pack looks kinda expensive.

[N2056]

Seriously guys... go get yourselves a copy of P3D... You want an SDK you are going to have to pay for its development by pitching in 10 bucks a month. SDK's cost money, they aren't free to produce.

The one for FSX works just fine, for zero $ a month! :cool:

[ricardo_NY1]

I'm yawning at this release date.........aside everything else that's been said, it looks to me like MS lazily updated FSX and are now out to get a revenue stream with more invested in marketing air than actual value. In my opinion, they are HOLDING HOSTAGE coding that could be used as a performance/service update that they should release for all FSX users.

[cowpatz]

I must let my 10 year old know......

[angels355]

It's a joke, I wonder if they feel embarrassed at all.

[ronzo155]

"THE SIMS" marketing comes to FS. Maybe they will even sell you scenery "State-by-State"/ Country-by-Country?
And...no interior view for the "Mustang"! Perhaps cockpits will be addons as well.
I'll stay with FSX, myself.

[win98]

The video shows the design team talking about how they created the aircraft and how neat one 3 year old son's developer found the program.

He was talking about his son's amazement when he saw a plane for the first time.

[mgovernali]

vonBobo I started reading your post and the immediate thing that came to mind was "he would be a perfect xplane customer ( you can tell he does not like MS in other words) then... toward the end of your post you confirmed my thoughts.. I bet you like Mac too? LOL.

[angels355]

"THE SIMS" marketing comes to FS.

I'm hoping I say the right thing when I order the blonde aviatrix. Hot SIM co-pilot babes can be very temperamental!

I guess this is their new marketing scheme, it will be interesting to see how it works out. The standard format made money for 3 decades. I hate to ask, I wonder if EA games is considering doing a flight simulator. They are of course a much smaller company and don't have the advantage of 7 Win7 sales/second to back them up, but they do have a 64 bit engine. We need full multithreading also. We are very fortunate to have FSX and FS9 to hold us over, in that sense we are simulator rich. I shouldn't be upset, we are doing downright great! Who cares if MS management is having a midlife crisis or affair with Miss Synergies!

[SpeedJet]

been trying to hold out for the longest but not holding my breath on this one.. having played every version since 95 it's going to be interesting.

[angels355]

been trying to hold out for the longest but not holding my breath on this one.. having played every version since 95 it's going to be interesting.

I was somewhat fortunate, I just started with FSX Gold last month, so to me it's a brand new simulator, and FS9 on new better hardware makes it a brand new simulator also, I can go for 5 years easily. But I'm still upset that managment should take this direction, perhaps they'll find out for themselves how it works out.

[Razor68]

"You don't need a keyboard and joystick, grab your mouse and go" OK??? :p

[Daveo]

When this flops hopefully they will go back to the drawing board and start planning FS 11. Lots of good hardware around now to run stuff on. I'll probably d/l the free version on my 9 year old sons machine so he can play with it.

[djjenner]

I'll download Flight and give it a try, I'm interested to see how it performs.
I will compare it to FSX with ORBX and REX2 installed should be interesting!
As it stands, I cannot see that Flight will replace FSX as they are aimed at different markets, but its best not to discount it untill its been tried in the wider community.
Does anyone know which aircraft are included?
Looking at the costs for the addons, they appear to be overpriced, when you compare them to the commercial products for FSX. I think Microsoft will need to rethink the prices if the platform is to prosper and survive.
Still looking forward to giving Flight a go!

[mgh]

When this flops hopefully they will go back to the drawing board and start planning FS 11. Lots of good hardware around now to run stuff on. I'll probably d/l the free version on my 9 year old sons machine so he can play with it.

If Flight flops the chances of Microsoft releasing funds to develop any other version are non-existent.

People tend to forget that Microsoft stopped developing FS11 a few years ago because it decided it wasn't worthwhile. All a Flight flop would achieve would be to convince Microsoft that there's no future in flight games, so it would concentrate its development effort on other games.

[Nels_Anderson]

If Flight flops the chances of Microsoft releasing funds to develop any other version are non-existent.

People tend to forget that Microsoft stopped developing FS11 a few years ago because it decided it wasn't worthwhile. All a Flight flop would achieve would be to convince Microsoft that there's no future in flight games, so it would concentrate its development effort on other games.

I think this is something so important it cannot be overemphasized. Even though Flight may not be something most people here are interested in, it's very much to our advantage to have it succeed, as it will bring in new flightsim enthusiasts and it will keep Microsoft interested in flying related products.

[Paxx]

Perhaps Microsoft is waiting for computer technology (read: CPU GHz) to "catch up" still, and then they will release a more conventional FS title (FSXFixed perhaps), albeit with a store and proprietary control over any add-on market. Flight might be a platform for testing ESP tweaks/revisions, marketing strategy, multi-player use etc..

Or, maybe not.

[vonBobo]

vonBobo I started reading your post and the immediate thing that came to mind was "he would be a perfect xplane customer ( you can tell he does not like MS in other words) then... toward the end of your post you confirmed my thoughts.. I bet you like Mac too? LOL.

I have tried to be a mac customer before, but I'm a spec comparison shopper, and I simply haven't been able to justify the cost of Apple products.

And who is really an MS fan? Other than being thankful that it is an open platform, we all simply use it because it is attainable. I have Linux on two of my machines, but even though there are a few really nice features about it, it is still a long way from a hands off OS too.

I grew up flying MSFS, and it has always had special meaning to me. But the only reason I love xplane so much is simply because of the V-22 Osprey, the Harrier, F-22 Raptor, and blimps. If you are also familiar with those aircraft on that software, you will know what I'm talking about with the flight dynamics. I haven't seen anything on FS that comes close to it. I still wonder if MS knows xplane's engine is the future, and that was part of their motive to move FS to Flight. Either MS is giving up, or they are going to have to reinvest into building a new engine (or maybe they will just buy xplane?).

By the way- in no way do I want to get into a "better than" conversation. I'm simply looking ahead and believe that the FS community will have a bright future with a fully populated Xplane world, and comparatively, no one is sure of anything regarding the future of FS.

[Jugador]

So for $43, you get Hawaii (how many islands?... not that it matters), 5? airplanes, and 20 missions plus the defaults.



Wow, what a contrast from the initial release (standard) of FSX. For about the same price we got around 18 assorted aircraft.

[raimondo2]

Wow, what a contrast from the initial release (standard) of FSX. For about the same price we got around 18 assorted aircraft.

There is a world recession in progress !!

[Jugador]

There is a world recession in progress !!

Yeah, which kind of makes you wonder what they're thinking. Don't they know we can't afford these outrageous prices!:D lol

[timholyoake]

I have seen the announcement. and I think Microsoft are try very hard to commit financial suicde. They really are snatching defeat from the very jaws of victory. We all know and remember the fiasco that was FS X when it was released.. All we really want is an FS program that will fuuly utilise the multi core processors and multiple Graphics cards that are the norm these days. WHY DOES MS NEVER LISTEN TO ANYONE???

On a more upbeat note though, it is nice to see that the Americans are taking care of their own AGAIN. Hawaii is lovely, but there are a lot of us who want to to fly in areas where the star spangled banner is not indiginous... I will wait and see what X-Plane looks like in its next incarnation... Flight Sim has been fun , from my firs intr in FS 95 to FS2004. FSX "Got Better" eventually. But when someone dissapoints you twice , you would be stupid to keep supporting them.

Once again it looks as though the user base will be left to salvage something from the disaster. Lets hope we can do it again for them.....

[angels355]

How can we the customers be held responsible for Flight's flop? In the military it is the tradition and expectation, and it is routine, that bad food served is duly thrown against the opposite wall with force. As has been mentioned we've been in an extended recession which turned into a depression, our money is extremely hard to come by. MS rests on their laurels and delivers a terrible product to us based on old technology dating back to 32 bit DX9 and they expect us to pay for every added portion of the Flight world at high prices and expect us to like it? The executives have walking around money that exceed the entire cost of the Flight production, and they spend more on their cars and aircraft than the Flight budget. Just like Call of Duty MS is resting on their laurels and expect us to like it, and expect us to pay excessive prices for it. None of us are in MS management how are we even the slightest bit responsible if their wild marketing scheme from Left Field is a failure? The standard format Flight Simulator franchise is a solid known success that has lasted profitably for 30 years. This wild tangent is MS management's responsibility not ours.

[alaskancrab]

So you would advise Microsoft to not support XP users? Think what you are asking for when you say no to DX9. I'm surprised they even went that route.

As far as Call of Duty that's a bad example to use... the series only got popular after they abandoned the WWII theme and went to modern wars. Certainly the Saving Private Ryan people were upset just like FSX folks are today, but at the end of the day it made them billions :)

And as far as executive pay at Microsoft, not counting stock options no one including Bill Gates makes more than $1,000,000.

[angels355]

So you would advise Microsoft to not support XP users? Think what you are asking for when you say no to DX9. I'm surprised they even went that route.

As far as Call of Duty that's a bad example to use... the series only got popular after they abandoned the WWII theme and went to modern wars. Certainly the Saving Private Ryan people were upset just like FSX folks are today, but at the end of the day it made them billions :)

Battlefield 3, stunning graphics, DX11, 64 bit Frostbite engine, it's vastly superior and attempts to keep up with ordinary modern hardware. Call of Duty MWF 32 bit DX9 runs at 60 fps on the five year old X-Box, resting on their laurels. The comparison could not be more perfect.

EDIT: PS: OK, it's fine with me if they keep Flight for the 3 to 10 year old market, but the Flight Simulator franchise has long been known to challenge the latest hardware and has always been a showcase of cutting edge technology. It's a good thing that this product was renamed Flight because it does not deserve the respect given to the FS franchise. When can we expect a real Flight Simulator?

[alaskancrab]

BattleField has FXAA support big deal. First of all they didn't invent it all they did was implement design specs from ATI/Nvidia. By next year every game will have it, and if you haven't noticed yet you can actually to the FXAA post injection yourself. Just a heads up, it's not all that great.

Lets remember one thing. MS didn't create these high end addons the 3rd party developers did. And when they did that they broke every rule of real-time graphics. COD probably doesn't have 300,000 polygons in one scene, but FS addon developers put more than that in a single airicraft. So I'm sorry you think MS is taking something away from you but the reality is these 3rd party addons cause most of the headaches people complain about an then blame MS for the sim not handling it. Look at OrbX they were smart enough to say no more to large international airports, as they simple can't be made to run in real-time and they take an enormous amount of time to make.

You see where I'm going with this...? What you see in Flight is definitely an improvement over FSX. But the reality is even if you did use DX11 and 64 bit tech, you simply can't have 300,000 polygon aircraft and 4k textures not make a slide show out of it.

[vonBobo]

it is nice to see that the Americans are taking care of their own AGAIN.

I live in Kansas, right in the middle of the US, and Hawaii is no further up on my list of places to fly than Nottingham.

I think it was a perfect spot for them to launch Flight: the small area can easily be modeled entirely by hand, it is lovely, and to fly in your home town (eventually?) is going to cost you money.

BTW- what is with Just Flight giving away the 757 speed bird, but charging money for other liveries? Just sayin.

[torkermax]

I have seen the announcement. and I think Microsoft are try very hard to commit financial suicde. They really are snatching defeat from the very jaws of victory. We all know and remember the fiasco that was FS X when it was released.. All we really want is an FS program that will fuuly utilise the multi core processors and multiple Graphics cards that are the norm these days. WHY DOES MS NEVER LISTEN TO ANYONE???

On a more upbeat note though, it is nice to see that the Americans are taking care of their own AGAIN. Hawaii is lovely, but there are a lot of us who want to to fly in areas where the star spangled banner is not indiginous... I will wait and see what X-Plane looks like in its next incarnation... Flight Sim has been fun , from my firs intr in FS 95 to FS2004. FSX "Got Better" eventually. But when someone dissapoints you twice , you would be stupid to keep supporting them.

Once again it looks as though the user base will be left to salvage something from the disaster. Lets hope we can do it again for them.....
Ya think we Americans have to bail you out AGAIN?

[fxsttcb]

In my opinion, they are HOLDING HOSTAGE coding that could be used as a performance/service update that they should release for all FSX users. "Acceleration 2" for FSX, 5000 points, online registration valid for one year, with a discount for 2 and 3 year commitments, at the GFWL Marketplace, soon?! :p ...Don

[benEggleston16]

We really should have expectd this. From the moment ACES closed, hopes should never have been raised. I'm not going to say anything aboiut 3-year-olds, I'm just saying it isn't MS's fault your expectations weren't met. At least this might attract a new crowd, FSX/9/8 etc aren't going to stop working, rather than being so angry we can just ignore this slip-up and continue as pre-2010

I will give it a try, but admittedly we all accept it isn't a flight simulator

[fxsttcb]

I'm just saying it isn't MS's fault your expectations weren't met.Sure it is! They specifically stated that they were committed to the FS franchise and constantly reassured us hardcore simmers that the fidelity would be there. Not!...Don

[alaskancrab]

Sorry simulators don't run at 10-20 FPS... you have to be crazy to believe that. And if you want a simulator try XP9... at least it's actually been sold and used as such.

[ricardo_NY1]

[QUOTE=alaskancrab;1653726]Look at OrbX they were smart enough to say no more to large international airports, as they simple can't be made to run in real-time and they take an enormous amount of time to make.QUOTE]

Why say no to large international airports? That's not where the problem with performance is. I understand that FSX has some features that FS9 doesn't, such as the gate animations, etc..........but do point out a large international payware airport made for FS9 that is a performance issue? I have many decked out with as much WOAI as I can download at 100% and there is no performance problem or issue. It's not the large international airports, it's FSX.

[alaskancrab]

You do realize the fidelity between FS9 and FSX is about 10x given that every texture goes through a transcoding phase. Apples to oranges my friend ;)

[angels355]

Flew FS9 for a long time, still like it it's amazing, and beautiful. I like FSX also, I have mine at moderate settings and my frame rates are silky smooth. I maxed it out and got 1 fps, but didn't bother me to set it back to moderate settings. FSX is great, it will surprise you.

MS FS has also been used as a training tool by local fixed wing and helicopter training schools, the military, and airlines, X-Plane does not have an exclusive in this area.

[ricardo_NY1]

You do realize the fidelity between FS9 and FSX is about 10x given that every texture goes through a transcoding phase. Apples to oranges my friend ;)
You may be right about that, but I don't see 10X in quality or immersion between FSX/FS9 variants of these payware large international airports. I may be somewhat off, and anyone can come in here to correct me, but texture wise, just about the same result if not the exact can be achieved, even if through different methods in terms of runway and immediate airport textures because the texture resolution when dealing with FS9 scenery is limited only when using conventional methods associated with the SDK......not when using polygons, which lend themselves to airport situations because they are flat. The resolution limit does not apply in FS9 when using polys to render textures at airports. What stands out in FSX airports are the gates/animations and of course, things like the ability to have people walking around/unloading baggage from the plane are things unique to FSX sceneries.

[JSkorna]

If this thread doesn't get back on track, we will lock it.

[ricardo_NY1]

I'll be downloading Flight on Feb 29th...........I will probably never buy anything online, but I am curious to see what the performance is like! :)

[alaskancrab]

Looking forward to actually using my Xbox controller as the flight stick. The built in rudder pedals(shoulder buttons) should be a nice addition to the sim. Especially useful for Helicopters in other sims.

[avow555]

29th you say?
Thankfully I will be busy on FSX for the foreseeable future...

[Razor68]

Flew FS9 for a long time, still like it it's amazing, and beautiful. I like FSX also, I have mine at moderate settings and my frame rates are silky smooth. I maxed it out and got 1 fps, but didn't bother me to set it back to moderate settings. FSX is great, it will surprise you.

MS FS has also been used as a training tool by local fixed wing and helicopter training schools, the military, and airlines, X-Plane does not have an exclusive in this area.


You are totaly wrong. X-plane are used to train professional civilian pilots, by the military. It is also used by many large aircraft companies to test their new design. Nasa/Boeing, Northrop Grumman is some of the big ones.

[aircav1970]

Well,I for one have so much money invested in hardware and add-ons for FSX that switching to Flight! makes absolutely no sense in my case.The guy I hold responsible for Microsoft's new direction with the franchise is a fellow named Phil Spencer,Mr. Spencer is titled as V-P of Microsoft Studios. I recently read an interview with Spencer where he openly talks about his background with X-Box Live and the "games" he has been involved with.Games like Halo,Goldeneye,Forza Motorsports,Gears of War etc. etc.so it is no surprise to me at all at the direction he is taking the Flight franchise.Once again,as always,the money is far more important than the customer's satisfaction with the product.I,like I'm sure that most everyone,will download the free product and try it out but at the advertised prices of the so far available additions I sure won't be spending my hard earned cash with GFWL.I wish them the best of luck with their new product but....and I'll just leave it there and see what happpens in the next few months.

BTW,the interview is from "Game Informer #226" if anyone wants to read it.

[alaskancrab]

Profit making? My god what are these corporations up to!!! it's insane! They are just as greedy as people!