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b52bob

Charter Member
Check out he newest FS news at AVSIM.

No new PC FS, MS going live and will charge for areas and new planes (downloadable like the IPhone). This info comes from some people in the know but as is everything, not confirmable.

Developers are up in arms if this is true.

So am I.

Bob
 
b52bob said:
Check out he newest FS news at AVSIM.

No new PC FS, MS going live and will charge for areas and new planes (downloadable like the IPhone). This info comes from some people in the know but as is everything, not confirmable.

Developers are up in arms if this is true.

So am I.

Bob
Click to expand...

If true, guess I'll stick with FSX until X-Plane surpasses it. Nice move MS! Typical cubical bean-counter mindset up in Redmond.
 
The Facts Emerge - The future of MS Flight Simulation
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Posted: Sunday, February 8, 2009 - 20:01
There has been a lot of speculation, rumor and simple guesses as to what Microsoft is going to do with the Flight Simulator “enterprise”. Through a number of sources, some of whom are former ACES members, we have been able to get to the bottom of where our hobby is heading, at least as far as Microsoft is concerned. Our sources will remain anonymous, for obvious reasons. Here are the hard, cold, and very disappointing facts:

FACT: Microsoft Flight Simulator for the PC is dead. There are no plans to continue the FS series in a form that we would recognize. The wholesale dispatch of the ACES team speaks volumes to this.

FACT: ESP is dead. Boeing, Raytheon and presumably Northrop Grumman (ESP’s first adopters) received notification that the ESP franchise is done and that, in effect, they are on their own. We have seen some discussion putting hope in the emergence of ESP as the next "engine" for flight simulator. That is not going to happen.

FACT: Some developers in our hobby approached Microsoft to purchase the MSFX code. Microsoft rebuffed that offer in total. We presume that this is because having the FSX code out there would “diffuse” their future intent and model for a flight simulator “replacement”.

What is Microsoft’s future intent as regards flight simulation? Simple really… Create a flight simulation system for Windows Live, and sell applications for it much like Apple does for their IPhone / Ipod family. Third party developers will have to submit their applications, as do Apple developers, for approval by MS and they in turn would earn a percentage from the sales of those applications. Vendors that we have talked to are extremely upset about this. It also brings back memories of the infamous Papa Tango attempts to hijack freeware.

Imagine for a moment a “live” simulator that has as its core a “Flight Unlimited” like virtual world. You can fly around a very small part of the world in the default system, but to add to your simulation world, you have to purchase the additional scenery from MS. You want more than a 172, a Baron, or a 737? Simple, purchase it via the Live system.

Imagine for a moment the availability of liveries that would be made available. Without approval by the airlines, you can imagine the lack of variety in the “live” modeled aircraft. Under the present arrangement, freeware is seen as free advertising for the United’s, American’s, Lufthansa’s and others of the world. Insert the dollar into the equation, and it is reasonable to expect that our current arrangement with carriers would evaporate. Would MS consider providing freeware via its live system? Don’t hold your breath – too many liability concerns, copyright infringement risks, product support and management issues to take on for free.

What about VATSIM, IVAO and the plethora of other peripheral attractions that we now benefit from? Imagine paying to connect to VATSIM for an hour or two of supervised flight. Spend some time thinking about the ramifications of this, and it only gets scarier.

We have a simple new reality to face up to; Microsoft has changed their business model as regards the flight simulation genre and we are seeing the first steps of that new model taking hold. We can assume that a “live” version will entail online subscription costs per month or year, and additional add-on’s will cost us.



Reading this business model one can further guess that they will pull FSX from the shelves in order that the live version is saleable ,
this is prognostication on my part but as my other supposition turns out to become the future it does not stretch credulity .C.J
 
Hey!

Just as predicted by someone (Chuck) a couple of weeks before Aces got canned, and what I have anticipated all along...so for me it's business as usual working on planes for FSX & FS9. There is also a possibility for X-Plane developement, but that is on the far horizon.

I think it's safe to say that I will not be developing for future MS sims :d
 
Hey Bob,

Thanks for the heads up. Going to read it now.

On the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, their extreme success was quite similar to Flight Simulator. Apple has all the SDK's for people to make their own Apps (applications or programs) for iPhones/iPods. Alot of the Apps are freeware, just like in FS9. Not all of them are payware. Being a iPod freak myself, I find myself on a Saturday night, browsing all the newest Apps, just like I did a few years ago looking for all the newest freeware planes.

Apps arent all about costs, and the ones that are actually payware are usually inexpensive. Apple programs are usually $1.00 to $5.00. XP9 for iPod/iPhone is like $10.00. Very inexpensive and all purchaseable through iTunes.


Now.. That said.. Maybe MS wishes to take a route like some of the hard core gaming routes have gone, such as Lucas Ltd. games, where you have to have an account and pay fees for certain things/time online/etc.. That is a huge industry and has extreme players in it and I am sure Lucas (and other game studios) do pretty good at it.

But... I think the FS market is mostly people that are retired and about 45 to 75, and will not be so quick to adapt to the kids way of gaming, pay as you play, etc, like the others.. Different market.

But, MS seems to think they can change the world and 'force' people to do their bidding, lol..

See what it did to their CEO! His eyebrows fell out!


:kilroy:


Bill
 
Is this kid's stuff or am I just too old to understand. Will the kids that I think they're aiming at want that?
I don't want that...just seems silly.
 
I would have expected it to go the console direction, which I would have absolutely rejected. I really do not know what to make of this 'Live' direction...at all.

I use a Mac for work, and have never really embraced this way of integration. To me it 'dumbs down' the ability to manage software/files the way I want to, and because of that, almost always use 3rd party programs to manage these things (calander, contacts, itunes, iphoto, etc etc). Perhaps I'm 'old fashioned'; in being 'DOS based old fashioned'.

This type of direction was probably going to happen sooner or later, I just did not expect it this soon.

I guess we all better realize that PC based games/simulations are becoming more and more of a niche' desire. With an open mind, perhaps it will provide incredible developments....I'm just not likely to warm to it immediately regardless, if ever.
 
I'm gonna get a bag of popcorn & watch the fun over at allnodesbusy...there is a group over there that have been beating this to death for the last 2 weeks, and at one point someone even felt that MS was affecting national security!

Maybe another petition...:kilroy:
 
I just tried to get onto AVSIM and could't - lots of people reading it I guess.

Bright side is MS is out of our Sim? :typing:

FSX has a long life to it yet as long as the payware and freeware guys and gals stick with us?

David :kilroy:
 
If a console can run it, why not!?

But pay as you go, that would pull me away.


And it would need to have the ability to add planes and scenery. Thats a must. And, it needs a keyboard and joystick capability...


I think consoles would be cheaper for us as a platform. No more graphics cards, special memories, Mobos, tripple quadrupple cores.. No more fans, liquid cooling, hyper stringing.. No more shopping all weekend for new drivers, experimenting to get it just right.. All gone.. Just fast frame rates!!!


Consoles are not too expensive! This would free up my computer! I would almost no longer need windows, except for Gmax, DXTBmp.. I can get a Mac version of Photoshop. :d



Bill
 
Obviously this model has worked well for things like World of Warcraft, and various X-Box games, however I think MS have massively misunderstood the FS market. I really can't see the majority of FS users going for a totally pay-to-play environment, sure logging on to a virtual world would be cool at times but unless it's a combat sim where the AI isn't that challenging it doesn't really bring a lot to FS.
And Bill bare in mind the latest consoles probably couldn't run FSX at a decent frame rate, the reason they just work is the same reason Mac's just work (for a given value of work) it's a very limited/fixed hardware set so there's no writing games that are pushing the limits of the hardware to allow for future advances because there won't be any.
So yeah for me it's FSX until it bleeds, then see if X-Plane works for me (it doesn't yet but it's getting there) or stick with combat sims like Strike Fighters.
 
Again:

You have a liscense for FSX, they have not sold it to you. In order to force move to a new system it is entirely possible that they may not continue to support authorizations for your installation-re-installation.

Currently a few talented peole at hone sitting behind a computer can produce a wonderful product, I guess this is the not the future of "Change you can believe in" , at least in FS.

T.
 
IF true:

Ya know, you'd tend to think Microsoft would be run by intelligent people, being as big and successful as it is, but it seems this is far from the truth.

This isnt just something 'different' that we are all uncomfortable with, its that, and its something that makes absolutely no sense, from a hobby standpoint, nor from a business standpoint. No one (meaning very very few comparitively) is going to jump on the new Microsoft band waggon.

Maybe Microsoft is slowly running its ship aground. With these kinds of corporate plans, maybe they wont even make it through this economic slowdown...? Time for new companies to develop where they left off....? Microsoft certainly isnt making ANY friends with ANYONE right now...

Who cares about corporate Microsoft. I guess this shows their 'true colors'.

Like everyone's saying FSX DOES have tons of potential for many years to come. Its not really going to impact us much for a long time.

Lets make FSX all it can be and ignore the bad stuff. :applause:
 
fliger747 said:
Again:

You have a liscense for FSX, they have not sold it to you. In order to force move to a new system it is entirely possible that they may not continue to support authorizations for your installation-re-installation.

T.
Click to expand...

If that were the case I would fully endorse hacking an authorization. MS from being the sometimes frustrating partner, have just become the enemy.
MS went nasty the day Bill Gates left.
 
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