"Simulator" no more? MS announces "Flight"

[zerosum]

Trailer here, which is very pretty but tells you nothing:

www.microsoft.com/games/flight/

PC World story:

www.pcworld.com/article/203440/microsoft_flight_announced_loses_simulator_tag.html?tk=hp_new

[jan]

I am interrested, and i wonder where it ends.
But maybe after tomorrow we know more

My regards Jan

[Tom/CalClassic]

Hi,

Looks like more of the same - more eye candy and no more of things that matter to me (AI Aircraft, ATC, scenery compatibility, etc.). I'll stick with FS9.

Note the date of that story was Aug. 17, so "tomorrow" was a week ago...

[ussmidway]

I will likely be flying FS9 for a long time to come. It's like an old pair of comfy shoes.
Any new sim, including this one and future versions of X-Plane will get a look from me, but I dont see anything pulling me away from FS9.

[jesse]

Just like FSX. I bought it, looked at it. Put it back in the box. I'll stick with FS9

Jesse

[ozbeowulf]

Just a guess, but I suspect MS "Flight" will be cloud software. You log in to fly; log off afterward, with little in your computer to configure. No freeware development; no custom scenery, etc, but you'll need a first rate broadband link. That trailer was stuttering in my rig and that almost never happens.

I hope I'm wrong...

Glenn

[pung]

I have FSX, but only for very limited use. A flight to Telluride or a circle around Oahu, it's O.K.
Since probably 90% of my flying is in the classic era, I don't see that changing anywhere soon.
I'm sure the propliners look pretty good in FSX, but without the scenery it's just not the same.
Since trying my hand at designing retro airports, I spend more time designing buildings and airports than I do actually flying. FSX and this other $%^&%$$# sure doesn't seem to offer much to me. I may upgrade my computer, but I'm afraid it will have to run FS9, or NO go.

[Randy_Cain]

Hi,

Yeah, I can see it coming. A server-based game (as the next version of "Windows" is rumored to be) along with the "..only $15.99 a month to sign up!.." that many of the "Age of Empires", "Warcraft X" , etc. games cost to play online. Actually, I'm kinda surprised they havent' gone back to the long-standing tradition of by-the-minute and/or hour charges that the internet service providers started out with.

The one word that REALLY stuck in my mind was "..MAGIC of Flight". I'm not sure I want to be sharing the skies with anyone that thinks "flight" is .."some kind of Magic". Even if it's as impressive as the clip shows, I'm not sure I'd want to be on very long in times when skies were crowded.

I'll try (almost) anything ...once.

Yours,

[ashaman]

Already seen it some days ago. So unremarkable that I refused to share the horrific experience. A buggy trailer that every two seconds stops and wants you to restart it again... about 1/2 FPS... and an obvious a Real Life non-computer graphic piece too... with a "Games for Windows" WARNING clearly stated.

YES, FSX has its successor finally.

...and it's not a compliment, what I'm doing.

A successor I will carefully avoid like flak while flying a B17.

[raymengel]

At the end of the video clip, it says, "Games for Windows Live".

What does that mean? Is it on line game playing?

Regarding FSX--the ONLY reason why I have it is I had to purchase a new computer last Winter--so I purchased one that has some "umph" in it. I do enjoy the ability to fly some FSX only aircraft--

--However, most of my Flightsim time is still spent in FS09 which I do enjoy overall more than FSX. I tried transfering my favorite "propliners" to FSX platform--I didn't really like loosing the spinning props to the clouds, so back to good ole FS09 I go for all of my propliner flight time

Ray Mengel
Spokane Valley, WA

[coenraad]

For me personaly. i think this might become a great game. I do love simulation, but i am also looking forward to a more online focussed flight game. Simply for the more social part. I fly FSX only online, as that just so much more fun.
If it will be an MMO type of game there won't be much freeware, but more system where you for little cash can buy extra content.
Apart from that maybe some know Silent Hunter 5. That simmulation also requires people to be online when playing. All to prevent pirating. The savegames and such are all saved online.
I think Flight will go more that way. SH5 still is moddable like all other SH games.
That the game is for Windows live will most likely mean that the game also will be on Xbox. And maybe even where Xbox and windows players meat both on the same servers.

Somehwere i hope that there will be a flight sim MMO mix. Where one can make the real climb up the ladder from small planes pilot to captain on a big plane. And that goes from the early years to today.
As they say they will focus more on the magic of flight, i doubt it will be a hardcore simulation with every small button simulated, but maybe like the basic MS, flight sim. But it is all speculation.
And allot of wishing from my side, for massive online severs, with high polulations, so that the airspace and airports feel alive. But i hope realism will not be too low.

But then again, i also enjoyed games like Ace Combat and Crimson Skies. Arcade games, but very well done and very much fun. Especialy Crimson skies was very cool.


So if it is arcade i don't mind as i'll just stick to FSX and FS9 for the realism, and play Flight for pure fun.

I keep my fingers crossed, we will see when the previews come in maybe a year or 1-2

[ashaman]

Coenrad, I too line Crimson Skies (the search for the nVidia 3D patch has taken me the best part of a week, some time ago) and even other games like Airfix Dogfighter... but THAT'S it. They're GAMES. Fun as hell, but GAMES. ONLY.

A simulator, though in the broad sense of the word definable a game because it works similarly, it's not a game, and if I don't want a game, but a simulator? And if I don't want to stay exclusively online?

People all around the globe... I'm sorry to say that X-plane is, day after day, staking itself as the ONLY SIMULATOR of the future.

[Tom/CalClassic]

Hi all,

To inject a little reality into the gloom and doomers on other forums:

Games for Windows LIVE programs can range from games that you can play offline and are free when online, all the way to online-only games that charge for the experience. They CAN have freeware content if the developer wants them too, but usually it's a more "managed" addon system. Some of these include freeware (but often distributed through the developer's web site, etc.).

So it could be anything from FSX with an online component (career mode, managed online competitions, levels you have to reach, online customization of planes, etc.) to an online-only game with only approved addons available for purchase at the MS store. We'll just have to wait.

I pretty sure I won't be flying it, because I still use XP and I assume it will be a DX10/11 game.

Take care,

[ashaman]

Aug 24, 2010 9:54:39 GMT -5 Tom/CalClassic said:

I pretty sure I won't be flying it, because I still use XP and I assume it will be a DX10/11 game.

Ditto.

It's a shame, though, that we must confine ourselves to a software that has already 6 years and no successor in sight. This hoping against hope that some software coder or hardware builder doesn't make a chore making FS9 work on future systems (for references, look for Crimson Skies and its problems with 3D acceleration or Airfix Dogfighter and its problems with Win2K and Xp), just to give you the necessary "push" to fork money for something that you do not find adequate to your needs, but that they so desperately want you to buy nonetheless.

[Tom/CalClassic]

I just bought a new XP computer exactly for that reason - so I'll have a backup when my current one goes...