Gaming Microsoft Flight Megathread

[Fabri91]

FlyAwaySims - Behind the scenes

...
The game will feature its own marketplace, with content regulated by Microsoft. There will be no software development kit and hence no user created content. The Live marketplace allows for constant content flow and users that opt-in to share data, allow the team to react to user behaviors to improve the game and add more of what users want. It also allows for quicker response to user requests, fixes and general improvements. On top of that, integration with the Microsoft Flight® website offers a more direct link between team and users.
...

 

[Kveldulf]

From what I've read, the free version will be the full game in terms of functionality, but only have the Big Island as far as terrain/airports go and one or two aircraft. It'll be closer to the demo version of FSX.

The difference being that instead of then going out and buying the full version, you just buy whatever additional content you want. Assuming that they eventually provide the whole word--Don't ever want to fly in Asia? Don't buy it. Don't ever want to fly heavies? Don't buy them.

My biggest concern is that you won't be able to get anywhere near the same full experience for the $50 or whatever that a full game would cost--if you can't get the entire world and a good selection of aircraft of all types for $50, then this is going to get huge amounts of flak from everyone, and it's going to tank.

Secondary to that--assuming all addons have to go through the store, what about free addons? Will it even be possible to make an addon for free and put it in the store for nothing?

My biggest concern is the pricing for these addons.

I don't always fly outside of the US in FS9, but I do still have the option to do European, Asian, South American, or even trans-oceanic flights if I so choose. If I suddenly decide I want to fly from... say KJFK to EDDM (Munich), I'd need to pay for whatever pack Germany is in. Granted, once I pay the money, I'd always have it, but what if the Germany pack is relatively expensive? I'd need to really weigh if I really want to do more flights in the area.

Hell, for that matter, how much landmass would some of these packs cover? Continent/Country wide, or would the landmass suddenly cut off after a certain point?

 

[Cras]

It was already going to be a hard sell. MS Flight's number one demographic most likely already owns either FSX and FS9, and if they have any sort of collection of payware add-ons (such as myself), there is just so little impetus to jump over to MS Flight.

X Plane 10 does look like pretty good. I have to try it out, but certainly will give it a shot and see how that goes. But I got FSX running well enough with enough eye candy that it would have to take something quite remarkable to jump to MS Flight. But with this idea that it will be free, then I have no choice but to at least take a look, and maybe that is part of the plan.

 

[insanity]

Hopefully I can play with the beta this weekend and see what I think. Of course, I'd be NDAd from actually talking about my impressions

 

[Donamy]

A way to have free BETA testers, that actually pay to do it. Brilliant !!!!:idea:

 

[Moach]

here will be no software development kit and hence no user created content.

AND THERE IT IS! - the bucket of shame has been dropped! :rant:


congratulations M$ - you have shot yourselves in the foot so hard it blew off your whole leg



and with that - Flight dies a horrible death while still in the womb....


this absolutely proves my most dire concerns were true - and M$ deserves no respect whatsoever as they clearly have lost their way of business....

scrach this one dead in my book of infamy together wit EA games after the thing they did to Spore....


...now be dead, i shall expect no more good things from you....


thank i opted for a PS3 over the XBOX......


M$ will hear from me no longer :facepalm:

 

[squeaky024]

Great, now to tell all of my fsx buddies of M$'$ move. They just lost another 5 customers.

 

[Cras]

No SDK.....FSX (or more likely Prepare3d) will remain king....at least for atmospheric flight.

 

[Moach]

they really did it this time - this is the most epic gaming industry blunder since the Spore debacle

they better hope those gullible "casual players" they plan to attract (read "lure") pay off - because they just managed to lose every enthusiastic flight SIMULATOR player out there....


stupid decision like this gets me raging to no end -- i'm at wits end trying to contain my urge to profanate this thread with the type of words that best describes what's REALLY going through my head right now...


i'm not kidding - this is the stupidest business move since spore - and mark my words - this WILL die an early hatred-soaked death...

i shall not only refrain from purchase myself - i will from now on partake in actively advocating that M$ is NOT to be trusted, and their games should not be bought by anyone who's not masochisticaly aspiring to get ripped off senseless....



curse the dark, miserable day when these wretched inglorious M$ thugs decided upon this most foul of undertakings -- curse all those involved - curse their mothers and all their kin while we're at it! -- this is a gruesome time we witness, i feel dirty just by working in the same decadent industry as these horrible, unworthy individuals

cannibals, disgraced bastards! putrid amounts of hatred and cess ridden flith befall every last one them! - this decision shall haunt the halls of infamy forever on..


there was once a time where flight simulation prospered - and many a gamer eagerly expected a following release of an acclaimed series....

this day ended when ACES was sacked -- now it is clear, it will also never return



FSX was the last flight simulator -- there IS NO sequel

 

[Cras]

this day ended when ACES was sacked -- now it is clear, it will also never return



FSX was the last flight simulator -- there IS NO sequel

Lockheed Martin owns the FSX code now and develops P3D. It is FSX, only stable, and modern, and can use DX10 (and they expressed they will make it DX11 at somepoint)

ACES was not all aces I would say. FSX is a dog of a progarm. Buggy, not the most stable thing in the world, and does not take advantage of powerful GPUs, with its performance shackled by the CPU. Just to get the thing to run smooth with good frames, you need an overclocked i7.

But the dream died with ACES. A fresh start was needed for FSXs successor. New code to take advantage of modern hardware, but this certainly was not the path I hoped it would have taken.

 

[N_Molson]

M$ will hear from me no longer

I'd like to say that too, but I run Windows... :goodnight:

 

[Pablo49]

And this is why I kept my hopes low and hardly paid any attention to Flight. If it went south, I didn't even lose any time thinking about it. Also keep getting an error when signing up for the beta, did when I tried signing up when the beta started, too. Oh well.

 

[Mojave]

In my opinion, This is a ripoff. Free, but you must pay for enhancements? What kind of nonsense is that. If they wanted me to use this, it would be a CD in a nice package and cover.

As of right now, "Flight" is not on my list of most have games.

Wow! Orbiter is free, and I don't have to pay for enhancements thanks to all those wonderful addon developers.

 

[Urwumpe]

I don't feel like this is a rip-off. It isn't really nice, but in the time of cloud computing and social network gaming, the expected outcome. why should only Blizzard make you pay for playing their games?

And all those FSX fans that are currently ranting around: Later you will buy it and leave a lot of money there, because it will be cool suddenly.

 

[Hielor]

that's exactly what the voices in my head keep saying.... this whole "pay for content" scheme feels very much greedy and prone to end up being a way to have us shelling out heavy bucks for what once was an integral part of the experience....


if they go that way - i'm not following.... M$ be warned - WE'RE ON TO YOU! - FSX fans expect endless extensibility and a very much complete world out of the box...


it's ok to charge extra for OMG-class content (not default autogen) -- but if any mokey business of the likes they're implying proves true.... then by heaves - the thing will be DEAD to me...

and not zombie dead - i mean DEAD dead! :suicide:

"Pay for content" is how the PC gaming industry as a whole is going. Microsoft is not unique in this regard.

I also find it interesting how worked up you can get about a single sentence posted on a third party website. I highly doubt that there will be no available SDK and no way for third parties to get content into the marketplace--better to wait and see.

Think about it--if Microsoft is the greedy corporation you so desperately want them to be, why would they give up on another potential revenue stream? It's commonplace for app stores to take a cut of the profits of anything that gets sold, 10-30%. If the Flight addons store was open to external developers, Microsoft gets a cut of the profits of everything sold there without needing to do any development work.

 

[Codz]

they really did it this time - this is the most epic gaming industry blunder since the Spore debacle

they better hope those gullible "casual players" they plan to attract (read "lure") pay off - because they just managed to lose every enthusiastic flight SIMULATOR player out there....


stupid decision like this gets me raging to no end -- i'm at wits end trying to contain my urge to profanate this thread with the type of words that best describes what's REALLY going through my head right now...


i'm not kidding - this is the stupidest business move since spore - and mark my words - this WILL die an early hatred-soaked death...

i shall not only refrain from purchase myself - i will from now on partake in actively advocating that M$ is NOT to be trusted, and their games should not be bought by anyone who's not masochisticaly aspiring to get ripped off senseless....



curse the dark, miserable day when these wretched inglorious M$ thugs decided upon this most foul of undertakings -- curse all those involved - curse their mothers and all their kin while we're at it! -- this is a gruesome time we witness, i feel dirty just by working in the same decadent industry as these horrible, unworthy individuals

cannibals, disgraced bastards! putrid amounts of hatred and cess ridden flith befall every last one them! - this decision shall haunt the halls of infamy forever on..


there was once a time where flight simulation prospered - and many a gamer eagerly expected a following release of an acclaimed series....

this day ended when ACES was sacked -- now it is clear, it will also never return



FSX was the last flight simulator -- there IS NO sequel

I think someone needs a hug...:lol:

 

[mojoey]

I think someone needs a hug...:lol:

or a copy of X-plane 10

 

[Quick_Nick]

"Pay for content" is how the PC gaming industry as a whole is going. Microsoft is not unique in this regard.

I also find it interesting how worked up you can get about a single sentence posted on a third party website. I highly doubt that there will be no available SDK and no way for third parties to get content into the marketplace--better to wait and see.

Think about it--if Microsoft is the greedy corporation you so desperately want them to be, why would they give up on another potential revenue stream? It's commonplace for app stores to take a cut of the profits of anything that gets sold, 10-30%. If the Flight addons store was open to external developers, Microsoft gets a cut of the profits of everything sold there without needing to do any development work.

I'm siding with Hielor. Pay-by-content is very annoying, but looking at XBOX, it's making loads of cash. There's probably as much money made on CoD map packs as on the game itself.
And I also don't believe that Microsoft would completely stop user content for a flight simulator.
However, I do see Flight as being made too much into a game instead of a true sim. The beta feedback unfortunately agrees.

 

[N_Molson]

And all those FSX fans that are currently ranting around: Later you will buy it and leave a lot of money there, because it will be cool suddenly.

My opinion is that the average hardcore simmer that invested hundreds of $$ and hours of work to build his simulation-pit will buy the stuff anyway.

But still, it's not cool. Orbiter is.

 

[Codz]

But still, it's not cool. Orbiter is.

Yeah, but Orbiter doesn't accurately simulate atmospheric flight...