When X-Plane releases more screens then Flight will update thier site with another video...

When X-Plane releases more screens then Flight will update thier site with another video...

How do you know this? Let me guess: speculation. How'd I do?

I'm blown away..."Appealing to a wider audience means......improving the user-interface experience, achieving better performance on today’s hardware"Someone's reading the forums lol!"Based on the previous webisode, we’ve heard, “This doesn’t look any different from FSX!”"I must say this impressed me, I honestly thought the dev team who interacted so well with us for FSX's released died off when ACES was shut down.

I am happy with where they say they are in the development cycle. I have great confidence in them. I will buy MS Flight when it is released. I will buy new equipment if necessary to run it. I will support and promote it and make the best of it no matter what it is. If I have to do my share once again in turning a sows ear into a silk purse, I can use my experience if it is of any use at all, to help with that too. It will be fun and I am really looking forward to it. May the dead past die and stay dead, and the future live and live and live on forever! I'm in, all the way in, even if that means separating myself from the other grumpy old farts!Spirit FLyer

I am happy with where they say they are in the development cycle. I have great confidence in them. I will buy MS Flight when it is released. I will buy new equipment if necessary to run it. I will support and promote it and make the best of it no matter what it is. If I have to do my share once again in turning a sows ear into a silk purse, I can use my experience if it is of any use at all, to help with that too. It will be fun and I am really looking forward to it. May the dead past die and stay dead, and the future live and live and live on forever! I'm in, all the way in, even if that means separating myself from the other grumpy old farts!Spirit FLyer

Coudln't have said it better myself :(

How do you know this? Let me guess: speculation. How'd I do?

No speculation, just psychic powers ! What else do you want to know ??

No speculation, just psychic powers ! What else do you want to know ??

Thinking about it again, you are probably right. It makes sense that MS would do this. :(

I am happy with where they say they are in the development cycle. I have great confidence in them. I will buy MS Flight when it is released. I will buy new equipment if necessary to run it. I will support and promote it and make the best of it no matter what it is. If I have to do my share once again in turning a sows ear into a silk purse, I can use my experience if it is of any use at all, to help with that too. It will be fun and I am really looking forward to it. May the dead past die and stay dead, and the future live and live and live on forever! I'm in, all the way in, even if that means separating myself from the other grumpy old farts!Spirit FLyer

+1! That's the spirit! Request permission to use this text as my signature! :-)Cheers,- jahman.

My guess is that dropping 'Simulator' was simply part of the deal with Lockheed Martin- the latter to have the exclusive right to market their version as a Simulator and MS to make no pretension in that context.Not an unusual marketing strategy when you are selling certain product rights for further development and resale by another company.Alex Reid

Maybe, but this seems more like a marketing decision.Dropping "simulator" was because they want to sell more units to a bigger crowd than the hard core simmers. "Simulator" is intimidating to a more casual crowd that may have an interest in flying/aviation but then they see "simulation" and think "ugh, that sounds really complicated" (my brother-in-law comes over to play on my set up and loves flying, but he hasn't bought the product because he sees the yoke, throttle quadrant, radio stack, etc. and gets overwhelmed).Or, perhaps they are positioning it to NOT be the next version of Flight Simulator. It may not be using the same code base or even have the same feature set. It may not support add-ons from FS9 and FSX (given their emphasis on performance that may be very likely, actually). Or maybe the marketing campaign will go in a different direction. Of maybe "Flight Simulator" wouldn't fit on a box cover as well :(

Maybe, but this seems more like a marketing decision.Dropping "simulator" was because they want to sell more units to a bigger crowd than the hard core simmers. "Simulator" is intimidating to a more casual crowd that may have an interest in flying/aviation but then they see "simulation" and think "ugh, that sounds really complicated"

Thinking about it, I tend to agree with that.Entice new customers by just calling it 'Flight', yet behind the apparant simplicity lies and advanced and complex simulator.The newbies get hooked and want more, go on to become 3rd party devs and we are all happy. :(

Thinking about it, I tend to agree with that.Entice new customers by just calling it 'Flight', yet behind the apparant simplicity lies and advanced and complex simulator.The newbies get hooked and want more, go on to become 3rd party devs and we are all happy.

That is how this hobby will survive. People on this forum tend to have very specific and special interests. It is a testament to the robustness of FS as a platform and a testament to the passion of many add-on builders and consumers that such a variety can exist.But as a group we (the enthusiasts) must do a better job of welcoming and helping new members to our hobby. I think Microsoft is trying to make the flight simulation experience more appealing to a wider audience, then third party products and organizations (AvSim, IVAO, Vatsim, etc.) can help move them from being novices to the more dedicated (maybe crazy? :( ) fans that most of us tend to be.Some of the blogs, web sites, tutorials, etc. I see are good examples of that. Maybe the "social experience" stuff Microsoft mentions will let me be a virtual CFI to a newbie (like the shared cockpit in FSX...not that Gamespy ever worked very well, though). You see the same thing at the local airport with things like EAA's Young Eagles program. Aviation has a broad appeal but can be an intimidating learning curve. Once someone becomes proficient they have earned a bit of the right to puff their chest out and be proud--good for you!But if they then lose sight of the Big Picture and start fighting over "1% features" (things that 1% of the audience really cares about but have a disproportianate investement to design, build, and test) then we all end up losing. I'll take thousands of newbies coming to play and reinforcing our future ahead of a dozen people who really care about a perfect SIDS/STARS implementation--maybe someday one of those newbies will right an add-on for it!

The next person who brings up the name change buys me a Christmas present! Does it really matter what they call it? It's still a flight simulator. What if they took the "X-" off of X-Plane? That wouldn't change the product. MS is starting fresh with a new name. Since ACES no longer exists, they had to change the name. Also, they have to appeal to a wider audience. End of discussion. :(

The next person who brings up the name change buys me a Christmas present!

I'll take that offer!How's about that name change, eh! Ain't it something!...and here's your Chrissy present:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRCbkBfdBrQ&feature=grec_index

I'll take that offer!How's about that name change, eh! Ain't it something!...and here's your Chrissy present:...

Wow! That's an AMAZING display of pilot skill! On one wing and a prayer. Jumped right out of my simchair!Now if only MS Flight would allow add-on aircraft to sport detachable wings... Just kidding! :-)Here's my Xmas present:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN77b9DqEbcCheers,- jahman.

Just give me sloped runways, make ATC sound like they at least have a clue what they're doing, and don't make me have to have a computer powered by plutonium in order to run it, and I'll be in heaven.

+1Oh, and just get rid of those great dry desert grass textures that are every where they shouldn't be....