Microsoft Flight has lost it's wings *post #56*

[Roush_fan_99]

A new MS Combat flight sim would be great, I loved the 1st and 2nd MS Combat flight sims.

I've never heard of it, how old are they

 

[Robin]

I can't wait to see some MS Flight footage of larger commercial aircraft (A380, 777 etc) because the graphics are stunning.

 

[P_Lav]

Never played the old FSX, but one of my instructors at school brought it in to show us starting procedures on turbine aircraft, was amazed by the level of depth. Did the old version include helicopters? I'd love to be able to rip around in a A-Star or something. Plus this could help me get used to cockpits on planes I might inevitably work on as an AME.

 

[Coxis]

They've had helicopters for years. 👍

 

[Roush_fan_99]

I used to take a huey and do barrell rolls w/ it all the time... Even though that wouldn't be realistic

 

[Roush_fan_99]

Been a long time but there's some useful new calling for a bump

MICROSOFT FLIGHT OFFICIALLY COMES OUT THE 29th OF FEBRUARY

it is a work in progress, you download it for FREE, but you have to buy DLC packs, it only comes with 2 or 3 planes and then there's a hawaii adventure pack

Again it is a work in progress

 

[Legendary]

Hey Roush, thanks for the news but next time please provide a source for your information.

I have just double checked it myself because at first I was skeptical, it is indeed free and being released on the 29th of February.

 

[Jay]

Yes I haven't bothered updating the thread due to my recent complete lack of interest after details dropped in January.

MS Flight is Hawaii and only Hawaii for now... no longer can we fly where we want around the globe.

As mentioned it will release free, just Hawaii with some missions and a small bunch of small aircraft. Everything after this will be microtransactions and many of the big payware developers I love are not included due to MS's forced terms and royalties. I personally can't see this microtransaction plan working in the end because serious simmers are not interested in the direction Flight is headed and I doubt casuals will keep buying new DLC's so they can do circles in the sky.

If you're interested in a light buzz around in lightweight aircraft (no airliners as far as I am aware) in a arcadey sort of way than MS flight might appeal to you. If you're a serious simmer who enjoys the technical side of aircrafts then it probably wont.


In the end for us serious simmers it looks like FSX is here to stay for some time and maybe a switch to Xplane is in order, depending on where the good payware developers will be headed.

 

[theotherspongey]

Well that's a killjoy for me, I hate games based entirely around microtransactions. Big step back for the series imo.

 

[Roush_fan_99]

Hey Roush, thanks for the news but next time please provide a source for your information.

I have just double checked it myself because at first I was skeptical, it is indeed free and being released on the 29th of February.

Sorry, I went to the NW Aviation Trade show, and talked to one of the people who was on the team

 

[Coxis]

Jav, I have X-Plane 9 and it is pretty good. There are some drawbacks, like very few detailed airports and the few that are are payware, however I personally feel like the simulation is better, plus, a new version came out very recently, X-Plane 10.

You should check it out, I know that there's a demo for at least XP9, haven't checked if there's one for XP10, might be one.

 

[Jay]

Jav, I have X-Plane 9 and it is pretty good. There are some drawbacks, like very few detailed airports and the few that are are payware, however I personally feel like the simulation is better, plus, a new version came out very recently, X-Plane 10.

You should check it out, I know that there's a demo for at least XP9, haven't checked if there's one for XP10, might be one.

I will check it out when PMDG make aircraft for it (the most deeply and detailed simulated payware airliner maker by a long shot), because thats all I really fly in flight sims (95% of the time). They have hired a X-plane expert to try and help convert one of their airliners to X-plane so I will see how it goes and I will keep my eye on it. If X-plane is the direction they will head then X-plane it is.

 

[zedextreme8177]

Microsoft Flight has been released!!!

You can download it here. First expansion packs have been released as well.

Still downloading over here, the installation itself involves more than 1.4gb of downloading.

I personally don't really like the new format with having to pay for more official content in the end. We'll likely end up having to pay much more than what we would with a complete game (though free addons could offset this to some extent).

But who knows, the actual gameplay will speak for itself

Review over here

 

[Jay]

Thanks for the heads up, I'll download it and check it out anyway.

 

[Coxis]

Thanks for the review. Will read at my leisure.

 

[lbsf1]

Ok game, compared to previous games it feels abit removed from its roots (only having 2 planes available at the start (2 more available to buy)and there is only the island of hawaii.

The career (ish) part of the game is ok, however once again it does once again feel more like a game and less like a simulator.

Also the minimum spec for your pc isn't right, my laptop is 3gb of ram and an intergrated video card and it can play the game at halfway between low and medium and still looks decent.


Slightly dissapointed however with it, however its free so I can't complain.

 

[Lizard]

I was hoping to fly over pearl harbour then I found that Oahu is not part of the free part

 

[Joey D]

It's not as bad as I thought it was going to turn out. The missions and challenges are decent enough and the island has pretty good scenery. It's more than I expected from a free game, so that's not really a bad thing. I'm going to keep flying the big island and see if I want to buy the add on for it. Hopefully they add more regions to fly in.

 

[Joey D]

Looks like another DLC pack is on the way.

We're excited to announce some upcoming DLC: the Journey to Alaska Pack, with over 1.2 million miles of captivating scenery, new aircraft and additional missions! Check out our photos for some teaser screenshots.

 

[Coxis]

http://www.simhq.com/_air14/air_525a.html

Some sort of commentary on Flight by SimHQ. As with many of their articles, a good read.

Warning: They bash Microsoft bad.

 

[zedextreme8177]

I just downloaded it. To me, it's more of an entertainment thing than the previous games.

I'll be keeping FSX when I just want to fly in my home country (WHY Microsoft?!).

Nevertheless, I love the engine sounds, the small details, and the clickable switches Same with the graphics.

Now I hope someone comes out with a mod so that Flights' sound system can be used in FSX itself 👍

 

[Jay]

Now I hope someone comes out with a mod so that Flights' sound system can be used in FSX itself 👍

Plenty of FSX aircrafts (mod) that have fantastic sounds to every tiny detail, albeit most payware.

 

[Jay]

A "Interesting" April 1st press release from Laminar Research about X-Plane 10.1

Official press release of Laminar Research (04/01/2012)


Hello, I am Austin Meyer, author of X-Plane, and I am announcing some major new improvements and pricing strategies for X-Plane 10.1, due out in a few weeks!

First of all, starting with X-Plane 10.1, we will be REMOVING almost all of the world-wide dynamic scenery that X-Plane is known for. It is simply too much work for us to create, maintain, and improve this kind of massive database, so we are cutting the Global Scenery out of X-Plane starting with version 10.1. Of course, we still need to have SOME scenery to fly over, so, to keep our jobs simple, we will be cutting the scenery down to the smallest and most geographically isolated area we can imagine: Hawaii. We chose Hawaii because that is such a small area that we can very easily create and distribute it. As well, this tiny flying area will be TOTALLY STATIC. There will be no moving cars, no dynamic lighting, and no living cities. No immersive 3-D world loaded with AI cars and planes to fly in… there is simply no need for this complex and dynamic environment and it is actually a very difficult job for us to continue to provide this stuff for you.

As well, we have grown tired of supplying so MANY airplanes. It takes effort for us to build the countless airplanes that we do, so we are cutting the fleet WAY down. Starting with X-Plane 10.1, rather than having about SIXTY-FIVE airplanes, ranging from the Cessna 172 to the Space Shuttle, with the SR-71, X-15, B-2, Piaggo Avanti, and Boeing 747 in between, we will cut X-Plane down to TWO airplanes. Both single-engine props. That is simply all of the airplanes that we feel the need to give you in a simulator like this. And, you will NO LONGER be able to design your own airplanes to test how they would fly in reality, as Plane-Maker will be removed entirely. I see no need for anyone to have any planes other than the TWO that we give you. So, rather than the SIXTY-FIVE planes that come with X-Plane and the THOUSANDS of others that are freely downloadable from the net, and the ability to make ANY AIRPLANE YOU CAN IMAGINE for FREE, you will be restricted to TWO airplanes. We may let you buy three additional aircraft as add-on purchases at some point in the future, though. These will be incredibly boring single-engine props, though, and will be surprisingly expensive.

Also new for 10.1 will be a new "flight model" for X-Plane! Unlike previous versions of X-Plane, this model will not have un-needed things like "accuracy". We here at Laminar Research feel that "accuracy" is over-rated, and the most important thing that we can do is make sure that X-Plane is so easy to use that nobody feels sad that they cannot fly like a professional on their first flight. Marketing assures us that customers "feel better" if they have no challenge. Certainly, the FEELING that you can fly is more important than ACTUALLY BEING ABLE to fly. For myself, I cannot think of a single reason that anyone would ACTUALLY want to know how to fly a REAL airplane! Better to leave ACTUAL FLYING to someone ELSE, and simply have a game that is accessible to all. So, the new flight model will be designed by our marketing team to be accessible even to toddlers. Starting with 10.1, the ACTUAL laws of physics need not be applied… why would the laws of PHYSICS matter to anyone? MARKETING is more important than PHYSICS!

New also will be the removal of all navigation, air traffic control, and real-weather options, since they are somewhat challenging to master and would be too much work to properly code. Since these elements of aviation may pose 'challenges' for 'some' we have decided to remove those feature from the sim entirely so that NOBODY can enjoy them.

Also, we will be changing our pricing structure. 10.1 will be free, but by the time you have bought the tiniest quantity of add-ons, you will have paid us a notable amount and never be able to expand upon that without paying us more. And more. And more.

Our programers did notice that this update to X-Plane 10 will make it completely useless, but our marketing team has decided upon the perfect solution to this problem! We are going to 'spruce it up' by adding JEWELS IN THE SKY! You will aim one of the TWO airplanes you get towards those jewels!!! When you do so, there will be a little noise that is played, or something like that… our marketing department is still working out the details.

Also, we at Laminar Research have noticed that it is a somewhat formidable achievement to make X-Plane work on Mac, Windows, and Linux… it simply involves a decent amount of knowledge, savvy, and work. Also, we love the constant viruses, crashes, and frustrations that we go through with Windows so frequently, so we have decided to REMOVE support for Mac and Linux and JUST provide X-Plane on Microsoft Windows. We here at Laminar Research believe that the success of Apple is just a fad, and that MICROSOFT will be the future of computing, since we all love Microsoft Windows so much, just like we know you do.

So, hopefully this will make X-Plane have more "mass market appeal", and therefore be a better sim for all of us!

To the future!

Austin

http://www.aerosoft2.de/xplane/first-of-april.html#english

 

[lbsf1]

A "Interesting" April 1st press release from Laminar Research about X-Plane 10.1



http://www.aerosoft2.de/xplane/first-of-april.html#english

I read the first part of that thinking it could be real (trust me I have read more ridiculous karting anouncements that were serious.) Then I realised their actual point, gave me a good laugh.

 

[Lizard]

(trust me I have read more ridiculous karting anouncements that were serious.) .

Like what?

 

[Jay]

Welp as I expected...


MS Flight development has been cancelled

Microsoft Studios is always evaluating its portfolio of products to determine what is best for gamers, families and the company, and this decision was the result of the natural ebb and flow of our portfolio management. Many factors were considered in the difficult decision to stop development on "Microsoft Flight" and "Project Columbia," but we feel it will help us better align with our long-term goals and development plans. For "Microsoft Flight," we will continue to support the community that has embraced the title and the game will still be available to download for free at http://www.microsoft.com/games/flight/.

http://kotaku.com/5929141/microsoft-shuts-down-vancouver+based-studio


I just hope they are going back to the old way of doing it. it was clear that the "Flight" way wasn't working. I have a bad feeling they wont make another "Flight Simulator" title for quite some time though.

 

[sesselpupser]

All I know is Flight featured cockpitless planes and expected you to pay for them, are they mad or what? Also, why oh why oh WHY was one of the planes a Japanese WWII plane when the game's default, free location is Hawaii? It's almost as if they wanted it to fail.

 

[Jay]

It was obviously wasn't doing so well, I got suspicious when MS offered it on steam suddenly, something they wouldn't do unless it wasn't performing, contrary to interviews where MS stated it was doing great.

 

[Schwartz]

All I know is Flight featured cockpitless planes and expected you to pay for them, are they mad or what?

http://[domain blocked due to malware]/instances/400x/23987833.jpg

 

[sesselpupser]

http://[domain blocked due to malware]/instances/400x/23987833.jpg

Exactly, if PD had asked for money (£4.75 for the cockpitless P-40) per standard car I would've said 'no thanks!' and dived out of the window whilst laughing hysterically out of sheer panic at their lunacy.

Also, who were they aiming this at? Simmers play sims for the physics and accuracy of the planes, right? So a free to play game with unrealistic physics and cockpitless planes wouldn't appeal to them. Casual gamers don't really enjoy flying for flying's sake when there's nothing to do, and in the base game without any DLC there really is nothing to do... That in itself is hardly going to entice people to invest in it.

I've just read that it's not just Flight being shut down and they're also laying off some of the staff involved, that's terrible news.