Fodder for rumours - some new FS news

[Guest christian]

This morning I found 2 bits of news that may just indicate that Microsoft is assembling a new team to work on their 'new' flying game. Why they would fire the whole team and then rehire is beyond my logical reasoning, but read for yourself and make up your own mind."I am VERY happy to say that I am now back to doing something productive at Microsoft. My job is basically the same as it was before, but working on a different product (not yet announced and thus doesn't publically exist). I am also happy to say that I have several interviews to conduct in the coming week or so and more folks should be joining me in the world of employment soon. What a relief!"http://paul-flightsimguy.spaces.live.com/B...mp;sa=915032853"Join the team responsible for building the most fun and rewarding flying experiences available on Games for Windows Live. Does working on a small, innovative team that delivers the most immersive flight experiences available today on the PC intrigue you? Our technology makes available entire continents - potentially the entire planet - for a detailed and dynamic 3D experience. We are looking for a Project Art Lead who can define, refine, and extend the visual elements while balancing the need for fun and approachability for a broad set of users."http://members.microsoft.com/careers/searc...10-0EE92F108D14

[McCrash 3]

?

[ryanbatc 12,796]

Why the question mark?According to that link an ex-MS fs dev is going back to work. could be bogus though...

[Geofa 108]

Well I have been wishing/predicting for a while that the scenery engine would move from vector driven to what is capable on Yahoo/google/microsoft.Via the thread in the Hangar chat:http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtopic=240837This is available now. True not worldwide yet and coverage is uneven-but what about two -three years from now?!This news gives me some hope of a whole new revolutionary even more realistic way to simulate.Fsx will do fine for me in the meantime.

[Comanche 417]

This sounds interesting, but Im not going to get my hopes up. Rob

[Paul J 349]

Way ta go Geof! Thank you for the POSITIVE response! Y'know - I am so sick of the "skies falling", "doom 'n' gloom" posts that keep on keeping on getting shoved in our faces by the most negative losers on this planet. Geof; You rarely hear me rant; most of the time I either don't post, or I attempt to offer some help, humor and maybe any small wisdoms which I might have - but indeed I haven't been posting for at least eight months because of the negatives and the continuous knocks against every developer we have, and particularly against Microsoft. Sorry, Rob - your "but Im not going to get my hopes up." just set me off. :( We have a great simulator in FSX. It's been out since the end of '06 - and it's still better than most pc's can handle at this time: that gives it a life of at least another three years - maybe more. FS9 is still commanding a huge following because of the awsome addons available. Many of these addons are now finding their way into FSX. It is a great sim!. We have some superb addons! You have all been demanding that Microsoft should change just about everything in the sim: the ATC's wrong: the "flight model"; the "graphics engine": the "weather engine": the "water engine"; traffic, and so on. Did you ever consider that Microsoft might just know something that you don't know about computers, marketing, and the difficulties in changing a product.?? Taking the sim in a new direction will require a different set of programming skillsets with a different vision and different leaders. Some of the old team will be rehired, for sure, but moving to the "Live" FS, with the graphics shown by the OP - then there will be a new team built and Microsoft is not going to broadcast their plans until they are properly ready to. Nothing in this IT industry remains static, and much is very secret. Just sit back, enjoy what we've got and look forward to a completely new sim in two-and-a- half to four years. If you can't do that then at least quit bringing everybody else down. Life's hard enough for a lot of people without having someone else bashing a hobby that they thoroughly enjoy - 'coz that's all you're doing.Thank you and that's my 2 cents. :(

[FalconAF 213]

And a darn good 2-cents worth, may I say. Well said. There are going to be a lot of "doom and gloom" sayers eating a lot of ill-conceived, mis-informed, ignorance-infested words in the next few years.FalconAF

[mjrhealth 820]

This may be so, but developers who depend soley on FSX for there income are not going to sit around waiting on microsoft to make a decision, they will either keep developing new things for FSX, and i dont believe its shown its full potential yet as noted on some of the new addons, they may dive into XPLANE which is always under development and has a slow growing market but needs some outside help, but i do hope that an announcement is made soon so we can get addons released at same time instead of 2 years later.

[FalconAF 213]

Of course they will keep developing things for FSX. Heck, a lot of them are still developing things for FS9. And they had to adapt to developing things for FSX when it came out. They will adapt to any new Flight Simulator that MS produces in the future also, if they want to develop for it.That is, of course, any new FS release from MS allows for addons from third-party developers. Either freeware or payware. If not, then that's a whole different issue. But it wouldn't be the first time a company either changed their production and direction when a "core" product they produced things for went out of production...or they went out of business as far as that type of production was concerned. There aren't many companies I know of who are still making spare parts for Edsels...but if they changed with the times, they are still in business making parts for other cars.I have faith in the successful third-party developers to change with the times if there is an addon market available for any future FS that MS may choose to produce...and allow addons for. Somebody will take on the challenge if the challenge is there (and available).FalconAF

[Comanche 417]

Way ta go Geof! Thank you for the POSITIVE response!

sick [/i]of the "skies falling", "doom 'n' gloom" posts that keep on keeping on getting shoved in our faces by the most negative losers on this planet. Geof; You rarely hear me rant; most of the time I either don't post, or I attempt to offer some help, humor and maybe any small wisdoms which I might have - but indeed I haven't been posting for at least eight months because of the negatives and the continuous knocks against every developer we have, and particularlyagainst Microsoft.

Listen, I don't know what set you off, but post like yours that are the reason I don't post here much. As soon as someone experses a different opinion from yours, I'm called a looser!I love FSX just the way it is and agree it will still improve over time with the comunitys help, but that Being said, I've heard many rumours over the years and most never come true. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm not optimistic that anyone is going to create a new flight sim now in this economy.That's my 2 cents!

[ahuimanu 50]

THE SKY IS FALLING! Basically, prepare yourself for a "flying game," brought to you via an XBOX LIVE subscription (a la MMPORG style).If that what is on offer, I'll take another helping of gloom please.Yours from planet loser...

[MatthewS 761]

Basically, prepare yourself for a "flying game," brought to you via an XBOX LIVE subscription (a la MMPORG style).

Yes I agree. IMO, Microsoft would not have just canned ACES on a whim and without giving it a lot of thought. Whatever this "flying game" might be, it certainly will not be FS11 otherwise why fire the FS team?

[byork 2,258]

Interesting development.But, as mentioned, why can the whole current team? Some points:I wouldn't read too much into the phrase "flying game".... remember, these press releases are issued by people who would probably use the term "flying game" to describe the FSX MD-11 or Level-D 767. To the uninitiated, a full motion Level-D simulator is probably a "flying game". However, as for the X-Box theory, this line was interesting (my bold).

Join the team responsible for building the most fun and rewarding flying experiences available on Games for Windows Live. Does working on a small, innovative team that delivers the most immersive flight experiences available today on the PC intrigue you?

Now, to play the semantics game, it could still be PC today, X-Box tomorrow.

[deetee 164]

I hope this new game/software will not be a virtual/google earth kind of thing.I actually like having 3D buildings/trees, and being able to select the season.One reason why I have never invested in VFR sceneries which are usually just "any season you like as long as it's summer".I see FTX being on the right road rather than tileproxy etc. :(

[victorwest2 0]

Let's hope that, whatever this team does, we haven't lost the openness that we achieved with Aces.