As many of us though, and ALL of us feared.. It IS Hawaii only.. Maybe this could be simply a beginner demo.. Surely they wouldn't waste this kind of time and resources on a piece of software that is free and then banking (no pun) on the sales of add-ons.. Possibly seeing if the demo flies (again no pun) and is worth the investment of further development..Still what a major disappointment..

Do not worry they will sell you other nice looking places like Marshall Islands, part of Antarctica, Grand Canyon area and other great places for 39.99$ each!

Like the rest of you I would love for Microsoft Flight to cost $39 and give me a better experience than I get now with FSX plus a couple thousand dollars spent on add-ons - planes, terrain mesh, all flavors of textures, weather enhancers, lighting improvements, voice actuated air traffic control, a flight crew, screaming passengers... hey, why not? Microsoft has lots of money, lots more than I do...But I think it's just unrealistic. I've been in the software business over 30 years and building a great product that is also extensible is hard and takes time. While I'd love for Flight to fulfill all my dreams -- and all of yours -- that probably won't happen on day one. My hope is that it is a stable, extensible platform, with great looks and great performance. I hope it takes advantage of multi-cores and modern GPU's so performance is not limited by CPU clock speed. I want the add-on market to flourish -- including add-ons from Microsoft -- until "Son of Flight" arrives and we start over. Microsoft will continue to invest if they make money on Flight. It took us several years to get FSX to a point where it has become a pretty darn good environment for simming fun. I think Flight looks very nice, the videos look smooth and I have to believe they were achieved on hardware that exists today (unless Microsoft Time Travel is an upcoming product we just don't know about), so I think there is some promise that we will get an improved platform than FSX. I'm not surprised that Microsoft decided to build a revamped platform and try to showcase what it could do by releasing something like a "Mega-Scenery" pack for one area, rather than a generic one for the whole world. I would like to see DLC which may be FSX quality mesh and textures for the "rest of the world," at a reasonable price. Think about how the DLC approach could let Microsoft customize the product to each of us by letting us buy what interests us. The basic product is free -- if you like different planes, you buy planes and stick to the free scenery. If you care more about expanding geography, you spend your money on that. It's really analogous to how things always have worked -- with the big difference apparently being a free "starter kit" designed to provide a rich experience in a limited area, rather than a low cost product providing a medium quality experience globally.The fact that MS invited the proprietors of this website -- and others that appeal to FS hard-core types -- to see a preview of the product, indicates to me that they are trying to appeal to enthusiasts, not just gamers. And their press release confirms this -- "combining the excitement of a great gaming experience with the authenticity of a top notch flight simulator."So -- I'm excited that the product is close to initial release, hope I get picked for a beta, if not I'll live until "the Spring," and I look forward to watching Flight evolve. In the meantime, I have those couple thousand dollars of FSX add-ins to keep me occupied...Good simming,Rowland

Do not worry they will sell you other nice looking places like Marshall Islands, part of Antarctica, Grand Canyon area and other great places for 39.99$ each!

The locations and prices of the un-released add-ons have not been disclosed.

The problem is not strictly the price, the huge issue is that those extra addons will cover 0,001 % of the globe because they will be mainly based on missions, colored biplanes, funny baloons and all the stuff that pertains to conzole boyz only.You get it now ?

If i hear one more (ex)Microsoft employee utter the word 'experience', i'm gonna kill a kitten!

The problem is not strictly the price, the huge issue is that those extra addons will cover 0,001 % of the globe because they will be mainly based on missions, colored biplanes, funny baloons and all the stuff that pertains to conzole boyz only.You get it now ?

No, not really. That could be because I am focusing on the simulation aspects of Flight, which appear to be there as well as I have read in different articles published today. It is not only what you describe, but also trying to land a plane in bad weather at night, without any aids. So although playing the game at the novice level may be arcade, playing the hardcore missions will be as much a simulation of flying an airplane as it is now in FSX at the highest settings. I'll be doing freeflight at the highest settings mainly and I am very curious what additional content, scenery or aircraft, Microsoft will come up with in the months after the initial release. I am looking forward to this!

Maybe this could be simply a beginner demo.

That's what it sounds like, a limited free demo, and if you want more missions, planes, areas, etc. you're going to have to buy them piecemeal.

Edited January 4, 201214 yr by Mountain Man

I must admit I'm a little confused by all the negativity. Flight looks good to me, from the images released so far, and if it attracts new users to flightsims that's got to be a good thing. Nobody yet knows how different areas will be connected, or what they will cost, but if users can get hold of a stable, good looking flightsim (newbies may well view it as an arcade game to begin with), that can be expanded upon, I'm wondering how that can be a bad thing?Of course, if MS are only after the arcade game users and pitch everything at that level, they'll loose out in the end when users get hooked on the siming side and then jump to XPX for example. So are MS that stupid, or will Flight cater to both hardcore and novice users............time will tell I guess.

Well we can already buy fantastic areas as supplied by ORBX.When P3D supports DX11 and irons out a few things that will be the sim of choice for me.I can't see my running PMDG 737 in this somehow....

I'm sorry, did I miss something here. Everyone seems to be down and gloomy because Microsoft is going to release a demo that is only Hawaii area. I have not read anything yet from Microsoft saying that Flight will ONLY be Hawaii. Is everybody just reading between the lines and ASSUMING this will be a Hawaii only program or is there some concrete writing from Microsoft stating this as fact. If so, can you please lead me to this writing so I can understand why there is all this gloom and doom in this forum over Flight. I'm guessing that the demo will be Hawaii only and the full Flight package will be the entire world. Someone show me where I'm wrong so I can understand.

I think I'd rather just spend the money on buying real flight time in a real aircraft. Not interested in where Flight is going.

Looks like FSX has got at least another 3 years ahead of it. No serious FSX enthusiast is going to want to play this game.

Edited January 4, 201214 yr by HighFlyer82

I'm waiting for the Sesame Street characters to provide the tutorial and flight instruction. Oh?????? Fly a bi-plane through the cookie forrest !! This is going to be a casual diversion rather than an immersive experience for die hard FSX simmers. FSX has many years left in it with companies such as REX, Fsdreamteam, ORBX continually coming out with bigger and better things and improvements.

H e l l, I'd pay $100 for FSX SP3!