MS Flight on XBox

[Adam24]

Back to topic, I think MS will soon release a XBox version. Its just question of time.

[JSkorna]

Even though MS has stated that Flight will be for the pc only?

[Adam24]

Well, if FLIGHT becomes a success, then why MS wouldnt release it for their console? Im sure about that.

[loki]

Jim, seeing as MS is pushing hard for Windows everywhere, I don't think it would be a stretch to see them release it for the Xbox 720 (or whatever it will be called). Windows Phone 8, coming this fall, is running on the NT kernel, and Windows 8 itself will be running on both ARM and x86 hardware. Both of which have been rumoured to be the processor for the next Xbox.

The concept of the standalone PC is changing.

[n4gix]

That really all depends on whether the 720 will have not only the processor power to run it, but the memory resources as well. Keep in mind that even Flight requires nearly a full 1GB of RAM memory, not to mention the GPU memory!

[angels355]

I heard some rumor that if Flight were on xbox that it would have to be on the 720.

In the first article about the 720/Durango w/ Corinthian Leather from above, they said it would be an AMD 16 core processor (saves money, not as powerful as the Intel processors) with an ATI 7000 video card, no believe it said two 7000 series video cards for better 3D vision plus graphics processing power. The articles said that these specs will already be out of date by the time it is released for Christmas 2013. However Xbox operates in it's own world, the 360 is five years old and new games are still produced for it and people still like it just fine. That's because the software is written for the Xbox in such a way that the hardware can handle it better while still looking impressive and sharp (paraphrased from loki previously). Also the 720 will feature DX11, because they seem motivated to make it the best possible. And the 16 AMD CPU cores indicates that Xbox games will be multithreaded at last. So, in a sense, the 720 has many of the things wished for for years by PC enthusiasts, DX11, multithreaded, 3D vision.

The way nvidia's sli setup for 3D nvidia vision works (newegg interview of nvidia) is that in 3D mode, the first nvidia card processes the first frame for the left eye for example and the 2nd nvidia card produces the second frame for the right eye. The ATI system is probably the same.

I hope the future bodes well for FS and PC enthusiasts, we've had a lot of disappointments. I have three W7's but I did like W8, the graphic processing seemed very good, but had warnings about compatibility with older games. I got W7 for now, but would not object to W8 also later. Just saying W8 will work nice on the 720.

[JSkorna]

Well, if FLIGHT becomes a success, then why MS wouldnt release it for their console? Im sure about that.

FSX was the most successful title for the flight sim series and was never released for XBox. I'm sure about that.

[angels355]

FSX was the most successful title for the flight sim series and was never released for XBox. I'm sure about that.

Well, managers in the past in business have been known to go through bad phases and make mistakes. The engine in my Cadillac has been proclaimed many times to have been designed by engineers that used CP's, quoting from different sources; the followon engine was a work of art originating from Lotus and Corvette, but still took roughly 15 years to perfect; that was replaced by an outstanding engine directly from Corvette). At MS there was a change at the top, which ushered in I'd say, extremely arrogant management, who in their arrogance failed to see the value of our complex detailed FS series and threw the whole works out. And designed Flight according to how they like to fly, just go out and fly however wherever you want ignoring all real world rules as if you're on the Avatar planet, and it came with a vending machine interface which appealed to their sense of financial gratification. Perhaps like Cadillac, it could take years to correct and design the flying game to come out right. W/o Steve Jobs Apple floundered badly, Jobs came back and Apple became an unprecedented stunning success. There are loyal fans of Flight to be sure, but the point is that they could have been just as happy or happier if FS 11 or 12 had been produced instead. FS appeals to both audiences, the casual fliers who just start it up and fly around, and also the sticklers for detail that fly detailed GA aircraft or airliners etc. Even the loyal fans of Flight have been disappointed that they don't get the whole world, and they're going to be charged for each piece of real estate, and many of the aircraft are arcade incomplete models. The management won't listen to us because this new management is breaking away from the standard FS format and detail, because they think they know better. I have experienced changes in management in the work environment where the new management made absolutely no sense at all, however we employees could not do anything about it because we were constantly threatened to be fired. Off the top of my head without trying I can come up with three examples in my experience of such situations, what was the result? First company was utterly wiped out, it had previously existed for twenty five years with many of the customers dating back at least 20 years. That company was ruined and wiped out in 18 months, the new owner was in big trouble w/ the authorities also. Second company was a worldwide success for I don't know how long 20 or 30 years, the worldwide company also went down the drain, despite the big titles given to the arrogant managers. Third company was smaller but was designed to be recession proof, they are on the verge of collapse; the new owner took note of every single standard operating procedure that was designed and refined over years for success, and incredibly and emphatically demanded that the opposite be done, and the demands were loud. The reasoning in each of these cases were beyond comprehension. Such terrible errors in judgment seem common place now, I'm the one that has changed and when I see such things going on I start looking for another job. Arrogance is not always a good strategy. Just my $1,295.00.

[JSkorna]

Pretty much 100% off topic!!

[loki]

I don't think processing power will be a limitation for having Flight on a console. The biggest hurdle is the core sim engine itself not fully utilizing the hardware available. Current mid-range PCs have far more processing power than FSX needs, but the sim just can't make use of it, for example. Flight runs well, but it still doesn't fully utilize the hardware available either. Being that the next Xbox is still at year away at the earliest, there is plenty of time to update for modern hardware.

Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 will both use the NT kernel. And both will support very similar development environments, including DirectX. I see little reason why the next Xbox won't follow the same trend.

Keep in mind that even Flight requires nearly a full 1GB of RAM memory, not to mention the GPU memory!

Current tablets have 1GB of RAM and have GPUs approaching at least the first Xbox in power. RAM is cheap and certainly won't be an issue.