Reflecting on the future of flight simulation

[CrewF16 26]

I was checking out the Outerra site. If they could get together with Microsoft and some developers like PMDG and make the Earth engine work with the what rest of what the community has to offer---- That would be One great Simulation!!! Train Sims, Ship Sims, The Baja 1000, Off Shore Racing. There could be a lot of possibilities here.

[Highiron 21]

I too stand behind your thoughts oktorn777.Just as your statement's stand true in regards to weather and all such things related, they also stand true in all other aspects of simulation such as flight dynamics. I share your concern that for a newly upcoming release nearly 6 years after FSX, there still has been no movement in such a direction. It appears once again, that holding tightly to extensive backward compatibility is crippling what gains are already achievable.I agree that in a simulation environment with buildings, AI, and other factors, even the Outerra concept would be brought to a grind. But it would still be nice to see a platform moving in that direction for the future. From what I see, MS Flight will not be a native 64bit process, which right out of the gate kills what ever curiosity I have had for it. I'm with you that MS Flight looks like nothing more than an "amp'ed up" FSX, which already exists in Prepar3D. Microsoft's latest news has only solidified my decision that moving away from the M.S. franchise is a correct choice. For a while I was getting worried about separation anxiety, but with the latest news, I'm now far more relaxed. My personal thoughts about Microsoft's roadmap with the flight simming franchise appears to be accurate, 3 steps forward followed by 2 steps back, but by definition it is still progress and improvement.

[Nick Barber 0]

very interesting read oktorn777, i agree that ms should have moved to a physics driven game, but just remember this software is for the public, and not for professionals

[turner112 52]

How can you reflect on the future?

[Highiron 21]

I believe his "reflections" are refferring to the first 3 paragraphs. He's reflecting on the past to put explaination to his view of the future of the franchise."How can you reflect on the future?" The concept stems from the fact you don't know where your going until you look back where you have been.

[HUSSAR 262]

Long ago I commented on an atmospheric rendering engine called Windward Mark. I would love to see the earth rendered properly as well.http://www.windwardmark.net/index.phpMS could purchase Windward Mark, seems like nothing much has happened since 2007 since it was purchased by Second Life, have a look at this short clip:

Here are a couple of pics:http://www.windwardmark.net/images/screenshots/windlight/urban5.jpghttp://www.windwardm...ght/urban33.jpg

[simmerhead 885]

Windward Mark looks great indeed.

[HoratioWondersocks 4]

How can you reflect on the future?

Fire up that Tardis.WHO's the name.

[turner112 52]

Happens to be my 11 year old daughter's favorite show...Well played, sir.

Fire up that Tardis.WHO's the name.

[HoratioWondersocks 4]

Happens to be my 11 year old daughter's favorite show...Well played, sir.

Now that's interesting. Its amazing how this once rather quirky ,low budget ,very British style TV show has become popular in the U.S. By the way its not far off fifty years when it first appeared on UK screens (1963 ish) and very different from today's slick modern version.Time certainly DOES fly. (sadly in my case it ain't backwards)Cheers A.

[CrewF16 26]

I keep seeing here and there people (including MS) talking about the direction MS wants to go with Flight. Lets get back to basics here. It is and always has been as the name implies a SIMULATION. My son will not play it because it is boring to him, but I recently had a friend at work get started in it and loves it. I think it all boils down to your interest in aviation. The more realistic they can make the simulation the more aviation buffs they will draw in. This is not a game and if they ever try to make it one it will be a total failure. When I was a teenager (35 yrs ago) I had an opportunity to fly a full size simulator of an A-7. I am sure that the graphics could not hold a candle to today but it was still pretty kool.Thanks,

[Nick Barber 0]

if it's not a game, what is it?

This is not a game

if its not a game, what is it?

[Jcannon 13]

if its not a game, what is it?

Its a marriage, Sometimes you gotta plough on through, other times its a breeze!

[mmann 72]

I find it interesting that in the Microsoft Flight "News From The Development Team" for October 13, 2011 made use of the word game (along with games and gameplay) a total of 16 times! Go to the Lockheed Martin Prepar3D products page where they describe what Prepar3D is and the word game is not mentioned once.

[Fsau 0]

I find it interesting that in the Microsoft Flight "News From The Development Team" for October 13, 2011 made use of the word game (along with games and gameplay) a total of 16 times! Go to the Lockheed Martin Prepar3D products page where they describe what Prepar3D is and the word game is not mentioned once.

Of course not since Prepar3D is not aimed at gamers/casual users. It's marketing and nothing more.