"Flight" Unlimited?

[Mike T 68]

Does anyone remember Flight Unlimited by Looking Glass Studios? This was a very great looking simulator (much better looking than FS98). It had advanced ATC, great flight modeling, photoreal graphics and was as open as MSFS. The BIG reason that it never gained a really large following is because it had a very limited coverage area - only covering the Pacific Northwest. As I was sitting here thinking (yeah I know that's dangerous) why would MS ONLY be showing pictures of Hawaii after a YEAR? They are working on putting realistic hotels, telescopes, dreamy water falls, detailed airports, sun rises, sun sets, fluffy Hawaiian grass and trees...but nothing else! After an entire year, not one single picture of anything but Hawaii. Even the controversial pictures that they released and withdraw is of a ship docked..you guessed it...in HAWAII! Assuming (yeah I know what happens when I assume, but work with me here) that Hawaii is STILL under construction after an entire YEAR and "Flight" is going to be released next year how would an entire Flight Simulator world be possible when they are only focused on putting every blade of grass in Hawaii? Not one single screenshot, glimpse, rumor, artist rendition, leaked napkin drawing or crayon sketch of anything but Hawaii after over a year of development! I'm now of belief that there are no screenshots of New York because there is no New York in the default version of Flight. This would be much like Train Simulator that has very limited detailed routes and depends on 3rd party addons to fill in the rest of the world. So, is it a good possibility that FLIGHT will be limited to Hawaii out of the box? If so, is it then possible that MS will expect products like Flight1 GEX and ORBX to fill in the rest over time? If that is the case and they're keeping it a secret it would be pretty ugly around here at release time. In the same token, it would also justify continuing to invest in FSX addons (EDIT: or Prepar3d - which is looking more and more attractive each day vs whatever "Flight" is probably not going to be.) Thoughts?

[Glynn 403]

So, is it a good possibility that FLIGHT will be limited to Hawaii out of the box? If so, is it then possible that MS will expect products like Flight1 GEX and ORBX to fill in the rest over time? If that is the case and they're keeping it a secret it would be pretty ugly around here at release time. In the same token, it would also justify continuing to invest in FSX addons. Thoughts?

Hello MikeNailed it in one , I guess

[simmerhead 885]

Before FSX was released I knew nothing else of the scenery than Princess Juliana... But lucky me, FSX was much more than that. I cant't imagine in my worst nightmares that Flight will be Hawaii only. I mean, Microsoft has the entire planet modelled allready so why would they not use it? So the landclass system sucks, but as longs as Aerosoft and ORBX among others are around, that doesn't really matter.

[mmann 72]

I would guess that Hawaii will be dressed up to a level that will showcase what Flight is capable of. All those other areas that got shortchanged in FSX (like my beloved Vancouver Island) will probably get the same lack of attention in Flight, although I truly hope that I am wrong!

[alainneedle1 97]

I would guess that Hawaii will be dressed up to a level that will showcase what Flight is capable of. All those other areas that got shortchanged in FSX (like my beloved Vancouver Island) will probably get the same lack of attention in Flight, although I truly hope that I am wrong!

One thing for sure, if Flight is like Hawaii all over......I don't see why a store will be needed and I won't need any addons to cover it....what do you think?

[Super Six-Four 5]

My hunch is that we will get Hawaii, but have to buy different regions. Isn't this going to be a "live" product? Cheers

[alainneedle1 97]

My hunch is that we will get Hawaii, but have to buy different regions. Isn't this going to be a "live" product? Cheers

Do you mean something like ....pay as you go?

[GAGUY 0]

I think Flight will eventually grow to be a world simulator. I think this is the only way Microsoft may be able to make it viable in the long term.

[Tierborn 46]

My hunch is that we will get Hawaii, but have to buy different regions. Isn't this going to be a "live" product? Cheers

Hunch? This is exactly what the disgruntled developer explained would happen, hardly a hunch.

[Super Six-Four 5]

Hunch? This is exactly what the disgruntled developer explained would happen, hardly a hunch.

Wow, pretty snotty response there, Teirborn. Bad day at Middle School? I hadn't seen the 'disgruntled developer's' comments. Thanks for pointing that out.

[Chock 12,626]

Yeah, Fly, Flight Unlimited and a few others had good potential, one of them - can't remember which one - think it might have been FU3, had really excellent weather depiction, I seem to recall there was a very good motor glider with it, and I think the terrain was pretty much around Seattle or somewhere like that. I had high hopes for that one, but it couldn't defeat the juggernaut that was MS Flight Simulator. Now of course we know that's a real shame that it didn't manage it, but if Flight bombs, then the way may very well be open for someone to have another shot. The momentum for Aerosoft's initial enthusiasm at creating a sim of their own was in large part driven by things before MS Flight was announced, so if Flight turns out to be a damp squib, that initial Aerosoft enthusiasm may well find its second wind, and if Flight does cover a limited area, then a more realistic competing sim will not have such a high mountain to climb in being seen as a better alternative, which is good, since the global coverage of MSFS is pretty much what keeps it at the top of the tree at the moment. Al

[Christopher Low 3,010]

Mike, This is exactly what I was thinking. I used Flight Unlimited 3 for a long time, and even created (with the help of others) airfield and scenery packages for it. In fact, Looking Glass Studios asked the FU3 community what scenery area they would like to see in Flight Unlimited 4........and the most popular answer was Hawaii

[ManuelL 0]

Although I am a bit sceptical about flight, I would still expect that it is covering the whole world (or at least has the potential for covering the whole world, even if you have to buy other regions). The main reason for me thinking this is that that they are still using a landclass based scenery. If they were only featuring Hawaii or a few single regions photographic scenery would have given much better detail for a lot less work (look at "Take on Helicopters").

[MikeT707 725]

Although I am a bit sceptical about flight, I would still expect that it is covering the whole world (or at least has the potential for covering the whole world, even if you have to buy other regions). The main reason for me thinking this is that that they are still using a landclass based scenery. If they were only featuring Hawaii or a few single regions photographic scenery would have given much better detail for a lot less work (look at "Take on Helicopters").

I think they would still use landclass based scenery because if Flight is a regional-based game, and MS uses photo-realistic coverage, then if that would limit MS to releasing future regions using only photo-based scenery. By using landclass, this allows MS to create future regions with landclass. I am thinking one option might be similar to the approach that was taken with the early versions (FS3, 4, or 5) where the game had specific regions that had showcased scenery.

[HoratioWondersocks 4]

Does anyone remember Flight Unlimited by Looking Glass Studios? This was a very great looking simulator (much better looking than FS98). It had advanced ATC, great flight modeling, photoreal graphics and was as open as MSFS. The BIG reason that it never gained a really large following is because it had a very limited coverage area - only covering the Pacific Northwest. As I was sitting here thinking (yeah I know that's dangerous) why would MS ONLY be showing pictures of Hawaii after a YEAR? They are working on putting realistic hotels, telescopes, dreamy water falls, detailed airports, sun rises, sun sets, fluffy Hawaiian grass and trees...but nothing else! After an entire year, not one single picture of anything but Hawaii. Even the controversial pictures that they released and withdraw is of a ship docked..you guessed it...in HAWAII! Assuming (yeah I know what happens when I assume, but work with me here) that Hawaii is STILL under construction after an entire YEAR and "Flight" is going to be released next year how would an entire Flight Simulator world be possible when they are only focused on putting every blade of grass in Hawaii? Not one single screenshot, glimpse, rumor, artist rendition, leaked napkin drawing or crayon sketch of anything but Hawaii after over a year of development! I'm now of belief that there are no screenshots of New York because there is no New York in the default version of Flight. This would be much like Train Simulator that has very limited detailed routes and depends on 3rd party addons to fill in the rest of the world. So, is it a good possibility that FLIGHT will be limited to Hawaii out of the box? If so, is it then possible that MS will expect products like Flight1 GEX and ORBX to fill in the rest over time? If that is the case and they're keeping it a secret it would be pretty ugly around here at release time. In the same token, it would also justify continuing to invest in FSX addons (EDIT: or Prepar3d - which is looking more and more attractive each day vs whatever "Flight" is probably not going to be.) Thoughts?

Nah!A