Encouraging News from Microsoft

[Guest tatest]

What are the technical reasons why Flight Simulator cannot be successfully ported to a console?

I see no technical reason why FS cannot be ported to a console. Any console with a DVD reader can handle the amount of data involved, and the current generation of consoles have adequate CPU, DSP, and GPU performance for FS8 and FS9. Quite likely, what is there today may be more than what is needed for FSX, if you remove the overhead of Windows and Direct X and write directly to the hardware. There is only one graphics model per console, a limited range of resolutions to support, you don't need multiple layers of software to insulate and isolate the application from the machine.Just one opinion, from one who wrote games and graphics software at machine level for 8-bit and 16-bit boxes that looked like RISC machines compared to a PC.

[Guest tatest]

We behave here as if what happened at Microsoft last week was about Flight Simulator, and MS saving money in the current economic situation.I don't think Microsoft sees it as either. It is about business strategy, what is big enough for a company that size to be involved in. Microsoft decided that PC games are non-strategic, and the economic situation provides them an excuse to trim away business lines they've wanted, for some time, to shut down.So it is not about Flight Simulator, it is about PC Games; at management level, Flight Simulator is not a flight simulator, it is a game with that name. PC Games are gone from Microsoft. They weren't very good at it. I'm not talking about product, rather about the way they did it, throwing way too many resources at a product that has limited sales potential, by their standards. A few million copies of something was huge for the early computer gaming houses, but by the end of the 20th century for Microsoft that sales volume simply adds too little to the bottom line to look good on the financial reports. It is not so much about the cost structure within the business line, as it is about the size of the business relative to the size and cost of corporate overhead.This way of looking at things is not unique to Microsoft, it is endemic to very large companies. $30 billion per quarter (gross revenue) oil companies don't keep, may not even develop, a 10,000 to 50,000 bpd field, it is non-strategic. The property will be sold to a $10 million to $1 billion per year company, to which the income stream from that small field will be significant.Right now, they say they are keeping the franchise. The Flight Simulator name is big enough that they will look for a way to use it in a business big enough to continue in, or a business they are planning to develop. But don't expect that business to be standalone PC games, on the shelf in a store. I would be a lot happier to see the Flight Simulator franchise sold, or spun off, to a group that will continue to develop it and be happy with the returns. But I don't expect that from Microsoft, their history with unused intellectual property is to bury it, or set it aside until someone gets an idea to use it in another business. From the noises coming out of PR, they already have that idea.

[dmaher 0]

[jostytosty 1]

Microsoft only has one person who they are commited to, his name is shareholder, not consumer. FS did not fit in their Xbox strattegy so we are made redundant together with the commited guys an girls of ACES. An FS kind of thing will always be around but I think the people of X-plane will have had a good glass of Champange when they hear about this bad news.

[blave 0]

Like everyone else here I'm a bit in a state of shock about ACES being shuttered. It doesn't make any sense to me if FSX was making money for MS.I really regret two things:a) that they canned it before the rendering engine was overhauled. I wish they'd rewritten it so that FSX could run very very well on current (i7) hardware.:( that we're still subjected to "what I would wish for in FS11". I can't believe that a thread was started about What FS11 Could Have Been. All some people want to talk about is the next version - were it not for the fact that payware airplanes don't run well on my theoretically pretty fast (but old) 3.4gHz P4 system, I wouldn't care much more than a whit about whatever the next version would've had. FSX rocks in most regards other than performance on affordable systems IMO.<Sigh> everywhere there's bad news, but would not've dreamed in my nightmares that one piece of that bad news was the FS product getting a stake through its heart, after such a good run...Someone PM me when there's some good news out there.Dave B.

[Guest N6722c]

If there ever is an XBOX version of a flight sim, it would have to be a very dumbed down GAME, to have any chance of selling enough copies to the masses, to make it worth developing.MSFS as we know it, in FS9 & FSX is far to complex and detalied, to be cost effective to develope for the PC. Then why should that change for the XBOX.?I have no doubt there will be "XBOX FLYING GAMES", they just won't be realistic flight simulators. ( Captain Mario !! )We all know where the basic FSX engine will be in 3-5 years .. the exciting thing is where will the X-plane engine be after 3-5 years of further development.

[byork 2,259]

If there ever is an XBOX version of a flight sim, it would have to be a very dumbed down GAME, to have any chance of selling enough copies to the masses, to make it worth developing.MSFS as we know it, in FS9 & FSX is far to complex and detalied, to be cost effective to develope for the PC. Then why should that change for the XBOX.?I have no doubt there will be "XBOX FLYING GAMES", they just won't be realistic flight simulators. ( Captain Mario !! )We all know where the basic FSX engine will be in 3-5 years .. the exciting thing is where will the X-plane engine be after 3-5 years of further development.

Can you connect a keyboard to an XBox?Can you install add-ons to an XBox game and install extra downloadable content?

[PhilTaylor 45]

Can you connect a keyboard to an XBox?Can you install add-ons to an XBox game and install extra downloadable content?

yes, peripherals are available, although maybe not a keyboard, I'd have to check.yes DLC ( levels, players, etc ) is available via XBL and some if its even free.

[virtuali 4,421]

Can you connect a keyboard to an XBox?

Not a full sized keyboard, but it's a keyboard...http://www.xbox.com/en-US/hardware/x/xbox360messengerkit/

Can you install add-ons to an XBox game and install extra downloadable content?

Yes, absolutely. In fact, that's something that was GREATLY expanded in the last months with the latest updates to the software, and it's now really taking off.There are several types of downloadable addons:- Additional content released by the same developer of the original game. Example: Rock Band songs, Halo levels, additional scenery/missions for games like Fallout3, Halo3, etc.- Live Arcade: these are games made by small/mid-sized developers, which still need the same type of approval procedure like a normal retail game, just they are usually small enough to be downloadable without too much hassle, and are a lot cheaper too, like less than 15$. Example of these are the Carcassonne/Catan type of games, but there are plenty in different genres. The quality is usually high.- Community Games: these are made by small or even individual independent developers, using a *very* cheap SDK (to release Windows games it's free, and to release Xbox games it's about 99$/year) which is based on C#/XNA, they don't require a special approval procedure, and are basically offered "as is". The quality might be a tad below the Live Arcade games, but they are usually even chearp, like less than 5$ each.So, I don't see any problems for 3rd party addons in case a future flight sim would eventually be released on the Xbox, because any flight developer should be able to fit at least in the Community Games profile, and the major ones shouldn't have much trouble getting approved at the Live Arcade level.The fact that the Xbox is closed/not expandable is really becoming a myth nowadays, and I guess it can only improve, since the only constant progress in the Xbox Live progress, during these years, was the continuous addition of extra downloadable content.

[n4gix 4,947]

The fact that the Xbox is closed/not expandable is really becoming a myth nowadays, and I guess it can only improve, since the only constant progress in the Xbox Live progress, during these years, was the continuous addition of extra downloadable content.

The fact that XBOX is limited to display on a television set will always make it inferior to a PC based platform......that is, until everyone owning an XBOX also has a super HD plasma or LCD television... :(

[virtuali 4,421]

The fact that XBOX is limited to display on a television set will always make it inferior to a PC based platform...

The Xbox360 has never been "limited" to a TV set. There's an official VGA adapter available which works with all models including the first one released, and it supports up to 1080p (1900x1080) resolutions on a standard PC monitor, if one would really like to use that. The current Xbox360 version comes with HDMI in addition to that, which makes it possible to connect with newer PC monitors that have HDMI inputs, but VGA is always an option.And of course, I don't even think any new flight sim from Microsoft might come on the *current* Xbox generation, but (if ever ) on the next one, which I guess should be out in 2010 or so, but I don't think the whole concept of digital distribution of 3rd parth content on Xbox Live would change. If anything, it would keep expanding..

[BIGSKY 316]

Could be that the many full size level D simulator company's are pressuring Microsoft to make sure their products never progress beyond a "game"?

[MatthewS 761]

We all know where the basic FSX engine will be in 3-5 years .. the exciting thing is where will the X-plane engine be after 3-5 years of further development.

Exactly! IMHO if we want the hobby to continue to grow then we should be supporting Laminar Research and buying X-Plane 9.X-Plane its currently discounted to $39 (to encourage MSFS users to take it up) and that includes 6 double side DVDS of global scenery (72 Gigs worth). A bargin!

[blave 0]

Exactly! X-Plane its currently discounted to $39 (to encourage MSFS users to take it up) and that includes 6 double side DVDS of global scenery (72 Gigs worth). A bargin!

Wrong - this "discount" is nothing new. X-Plane has periodically had its price dropped, then he (Austin) puts up a notice "hurry before the price goes back up!". Seems to work well for him... Especially now; I bet he's rubbing his hands together in glee at the news about ACES.Also, it's not a bargin, or even a bargain, if the flight models are porked. I have had various versions of XP since v3.6 I think it was, and in all this time the helicopter models have only gotten worse (I'm talking about the included stock aircraft - I don't know about the payware ones). Most of them are unflyable, and none feel realistic. (Brent Sumpter's add-on helos fly fairly well.) Now, the piston airplanes seem to be OK in general; the Piaggio twin turboprop is pretty nice; not sure about the jets as I've never flown a fighter or airliner.Austin doesn't need our support - he's making money hand over fist with his iPhone/Touch addons (I must confess to having one of them - a neat novelty to show friends). Also, he's got some eye-poppingly expensive variations on X-Plane that he licenses with a hardware device, in order to extract some extra dough from the professional flight training world. Similarly, his "glass cockpit" stuff that emulates Avidyne, etc. costs $500 for non-commercial use.As is probably obvious I'm no big fan of XP. I (stupidly?) keep buying each new version, hoping that the things I care about get better. I did buy v9 a while back as it is significantly improved over v8 in some ways as the demo shows, but it was only after I bought it that I started to see little niggly things (again) that once again sent me back to focusing on FSX.I also find this latest "we'll keep the price at $39 as a big favor to those poor souls that have been abandoned by MS" to be in very poor taste.Austin's a very good programmer, and what he has been able to do almost single-handedly with XP is impressive, but it's not in the same league as FSX in any number of ways. I also wonder if he'll ever really grow up and act like a mature business person, or even learn how to punctuate.Oh - one other thing - ask any developer who's tried to write something that works with XP. They'll tell you that the XP environment is constantly changing from build to build from a programming perspective - and I don't mean from v8 to v9, I mean from v9.x to v9.y. If you have everything working to your satisfaction with XP with a given version, download the latest update at your peril.Me personally, I'm going to go give Flight Gear another look; I haven't played with it in a year or so and this seems like a good time.Dave B.

[n4gix 4,947]

The Xbox360 has never been "limited" to a TV set. There's an official VGA adapter available which works with all models including the first one released, and it supports up to 1080p (1900x1080) resolutions on a standard PC monitor, if one would really like to use that.

Thank you for the correction to my "knowledge gap," which just goes to prove the risk when making &amp;@(&#036;*umptions... :( I still won't invest in an Xbox360 (or equivalent) simply because I have zero interest in games of any sort... :(