In my bordem whilst waiting for NGX, JS41 patch, 777, new B747 DH8D i was wandering around the net and stumbled across some X-Plane stuff.... Seems there a version 10 on its way(although they got the PMDG bug of delaying releases ;)I've looked at X-plane before, although never installed or used it, people rave about the flight model used in it over FSX, but although eye candy isnt always my number one priority when flying, I simply couldnt stand how poor looking X-plane looked compared to a nicely speced up FSX.However having seen this....X-Plane at NightGlobal Lightingand although this video is X-plane 9 - the aircraft are xplane 10...take a look at the lighting effects on the aircraft and panels! at start of the film in the shuttle

and some beta lighting videos seen here.cirus lightsstrobesNow why am i worried? Well although it too early to tell, it could look like X-plane 10 could be something worth considering - and FSX could be be removed - and then what use is my new PMDG NGX? so PMDG you thought of maybe looking to develop again for x-plane?It certainly could also mean MS with their upcoming Flight will need to look hard at what it is they are releasing and ensure it isnt just FSX optimised for mutlicore.the new flight will need to fix flight model, weather engine, lighting also.Food for thought though.

It certainly looks good from what I've seen so far. I don't have loyalty to any particular brand, if XP10 turns out to be brilliant, then chances are I'll buy it. If more people buy it and the market increases then there's a chance that the big developers might move over as well. It's already happened with REX, which is a good sign. Although whether the lighting effects in the video are the results of video editing or XP9's own doing is debatable. :(

Yeah XP10 looks great I hope it will turn out to be as good as people got to hope. I never really took the step to XP9 and I believe that one of the thing they really have to work on and I hope they did is their User interface, FSX is really brilliant and easy for that while XP9 looks more daunting you load directly on a plane somewhere in the world and then you have multiple menus, tons of options but I believe it is hard to get your way through everything for a lot of people, so I really hope they have made huge improvements on that.I also expect to see more complex aircraft so far I've never found out an aircraft that would be as complex as a PMDG one for XPlane and that's what I miss because the many other planes are simple, I never really understood their GPS, and well there were no complete 3D cockpit for most part of the planes and often just one simple 2D panel which you may scroll a bit. So it looks great and I hope they really take it to the next level, same for flight they have a good basis I think they can improve quite a lot.

For me it will depend on user interface and support from the addon developers. I think both are crucial to a sim for becomming à success. For now even de shots and movies look Brest, I'll stick with FSX.

I'll buy xplane when pmdg release an add on for it. Until then I'm sticking to flight simulator.

Birds of Prey looks pretty too and so what? It's about simulating aircrafts not lighting. I LOVE BEAUTIFUL GRAPHICS, but I'm concerned much more on detail of systems modeling etc :) And i will probably buy Xplane10 even without PMDG add on ;)

James,I'm not sure I would say worrying, those snippets look really good to me. I take your point about longevity of products on the FSX platform, however, the NGX will be superb for the next year or two and then there will be something else that makes all our jaws drop and we'll all go for that! Be it in FSX, X-Plane 10, MS Flight.... The way I see it X-Plane 10 and MS Flight should compete for market share in this hobby space, the competition, will drive better products from both camps which can only be good for us. What was worrying for me was the (perceived?) downturn in big companies offering serious simulation materials prior to the announcement of MS Flight. I'm just really pleased that games studios are realising that yes consoles are fun but there is a massive specialized market out there that they can cater for if they provide exciting, accurate products. As much as I love my 360 and PS3, you can't Flight Sim on them :Just Kidding:Regards

At some point we will move on from FSX. If X-Plane is any good we'll buy, if not, well.....If people want to use FSX for their entire life, that's OK, but there may be much better simulations out there in the future.If it's better than FSX why not get it. Why spend a fortune pimping up a mini when you buy a Porsche (well! not quite! but you know what I mean)

Birds of Prey looks pretty too and so what? It's about simulating aircrafts not lighting. I LOVE BEAUTIFUL GRAPHICS, but I'm concerned much more on detail of systems modeling etc :) And i will probably buy Xplane10 even without PMDG add on ;)

There are a Boeing 777 and a CRJ 200 on the way that are said to be really good on all fronts - like a PMDG product. For me it's, as others have said, the measure to which addon developers support it. If good aircraft and sceneries come out, chances are I'll get it - and then I'll finally have a flight sim worth mentioning on my Mac.

You should read this post from Austin, what he is saying about how they are building up the scenery is incredible and if X plane 10 ends up being anywhere near as good as what he is suggesting then I see it being the best sim ever to be created http://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?showtopic=47604Richy

X-Plane needs a complete overhaul of its UI I think - I would even go so far as to say that if Austin/Laminar want FSX users to switch over, there should be a mode for the keypresses and menu system that basically replicates the user experience from FSX. Every time I've tried X-Plane I end up lost in esoteric menu settings, adjusting the gain curves of the joystick trying to get it to respond right etc. It's fine if he's got those advanced options in there IF you want them, but the base UI needs to be dead simple for the average simmer.His insistence on using OpenGL as the rendering API could be problematic too in the future - the video card companies focus almost solely on Direct3D in their drivers, hardly anything outside of the professional and academic CAD/3D modelling world uses OpenGL.

Yes, the User interface of XPlane is horrible--too much science, not enough art if you know what I mean. :)Though I really believe a little competition is good--I can never get my X-plane looking anything like that video so I stick with FSX.....for now.

His insistence on using OpenGL as the rendering API could be problematic too in the future - the video card companies focus almost solely on Direct3D in their drivers, hardly anything outside of the professional and academic CAD/3D modelling world uses OpenGL.

Keep in mind, though, that the use of OpenGL allows X-Plane to remain cross-platform, which could be a major benefit in the future as more and more people switch to Macs.

I don't understand why anyone would rave about the X-Plane flight model, flightsim feels far more realistic.Perhaps I never set it up right, I'm not sure.

Developers want make stuff for it, I'll never buy it.