While things are fresh in everyone's mind, I wanted to run a short and very informal survey. I look forward to looking at the community's perceptions.

I think some of the answers are little to closed.Definately try the game out, but as for purchasing anything else for the game, would entirely depend on how well the add-on was made.I mainly fly around europe in the 734. If they modeled europe in one neat little package Id spent £20 on it. If they made a 734 compareble or better than the Wilco. Id probably buy that too.I fly for a VA, will my VA move to flight? probably not because its not the entire world.

I'm very disappointed that this is the direction that Microsoft has decided to go in regards to flight simulation. It looks like for those of our ilk,(hardcore simmers) that we'll be using FSX and FS9 for a looooong time. I'll be watching Prepar 3D to see if addon developers migrate to it en mass. I'm also going to see what happens to X-Plane X as it matures as that will also be an option. As of right now, I don't see myself jumping on the Flight bandwagon past the free offering.

I voted "yes" to buying scenery and aircraft, but that is entirely dependent on what I'm getting for the price point. Would I spend over $50 on something through MS Live if it's developed by PMDG? YES. Would I spend over $10 on a MS produced aircraft though MS Live? Probably Not.Quality of the scenery follows the same logic. If MS released, say, 6 different scenery packs that completed a base coverage of the whole world, I'd pay $12 or so each. However, considering the only "free" area they are releasing is ONE island out of the Hawaii chain, I find it hard to believe they will have the whole world available to purchase for anything affordable.As for MS produced scenery packs that focus on a smaller area, I would have to see the product to derive a value. The big question is will the water be warm and friendly enough for the likes of ORBX/Simwings/FSDT/FlyTampa to jump in.Will they even allow 3rd party developers an opportunity to make a profit through this system? Will they even release a public SDK?If MS is the only one controlling/producing the content, my Flight experience will END at the free demo.

Edited January 4, 201214 yr by Valcor

Question 2 and 4 look pretty much the same for me with no opportunity in question 4 to answer "I don't know yet".

The real question is :Comparing prior FS products to the proporsed new piece meal approach,HOW MUCH WILL IT COST TO GET THE ENTIRE WORLD AND EQUIVALENT NUMBER OF AIRCRAFT ?The cost in $ as well as hardware -processor / graphics card / RAM / Hard drive space !Does it mean that MS / Live ID is the only choice for addons ?Too many questions.Bottomline - how much and what do I get for that ?

Edited January 4, 201214 yr by m_av

I'll try the game out considering it's free but there is no way on Earth I am paying for any DLC, mainly because they led us on to believe this was going to be a Flight Simulator, not an Arcade game, and I don't think they deserve money for that.

The answers :http://flyawaysimulation.com/news/4317/microsoft-flight-behind-scenes-at-microsoft-studios/MS Windows Live Marketplace will be the ONLY way to get essentials supplements (one plane only in the free "FLIGHT")Shame on MS !Pierre LFBE

I think some of the answers are little to closed.Definately try the game out, but as for purchasing anything else for the game, would entirely depend on how well the add-on was made.If they modeled europe in one neat little package Id spent £20 on it.

Question 2 and 4 look pretty much the same for me with no opportunity in question 4 to answer "I don't know yet".

The quotes above sum up my views. Whilst the news so far looks pretty disappointing I'm hoping that further details, yet to be released, will improve matters. A big question for me is whether the main flying areas will be available for purchase at launch or at least very shortly after.Hmm - the following seems to answer a lot of questions although not the way I would prefer. :(

The answers :http://flyawaysimula...rosoft-studios/

Edited January 4, 201214 yr by SamYeager

I was going to make a similar poll :)I'll download it - I'm a GA fan so let's see what this engine can do. Until we know pricepoints and quality vs quantity of addons it's too hard to say whether or not I'll spend money.

I was going to make a similar poll :)I'll download it - I'm a GA fan so let's see what this engine can do. Until we know pricepoints and quality vs quantity of addons it's too hard to say whether or not I'll spend money.

The "engine" will apparently be able to render floating gold coins that you can collect to unlock new challenges. Yay.

I'd signed up to try the beta, but after what I've read today I'm no longer sure I'll even bother. I had hoped MS would really do something positive with this franchise, but the way my personal tastes run it sounds more like they've completely gutted it of everything I've liked about the previous versions. I don't care for flying small aircraft, period, and do so only extremely rarely. And I can think of few things more boring than, added to being stuck with a small aircraft, being limited to a single one of the Hawaiian Islands, which I've never visited and never will visit. And yes, I did read the part about using MS Live to download the remainder of the state. The thing I like about FS9, and even FSX, which I install only rarely, is flying heavy jets into major metropolitan and international airports, and I see virtually no chance of MS Flight making that possible in the near future. Or if they are, their PR is even worse than usual. Looks like it would be a complete waste of my time.

I'm not really sure why so many people seem to have already decided this is an arcade game. Microsoft have stated in the FAQ that the simulation elements will be retained and I for one have no basis with which to disbelieve this. Furthermore, I don't recall all this negativity on the cusp of the release of FSX, where, amongst other things, pilots would fly around in an ultralight dropping flour bag bombs or go wildlife spotting in a zebra-striped ultralight.As has also been pointed out, but seems to have been forgotton, no-one is forcing anyone to be a virtual pilot with a plastic face, bad Hawaiin shirt and bonus points for the number of hours spent inverted with blood rushing to his or her head. The free flight mode will still be there just as it has been in the MS Flight sims I have used in the last 15 years.This upcoming flight release has been exactly as I had anticipated it to be, except for the fact that the basic product is free and the pilot thing is a little silly. But since I am almost certain not amassing these "pilot points" is going to be any more mandatory than it was in order to enjoy FSX, I am not particularly concerned by that. If anything, I well may find I'll have a lot of fun with it, since it's giving me things to do.Anyway, I am very happy with what I have seen. The engine seems to run very well, the advances over the FSX engine are there and I have always been very impressed with the default MS aircraft and scenery (especially in FS2004 and FSX), even if others are not. Thus far the game information, screenshots and videos have at worst met my (hopefully high) expectations and exceeded them on most counts.

Edited January 4, 201214 yr by JonP01

I think many of us could see this coming and it isn't really a surprise. I doubt that FLIGHT will have any backwards compatibility due to the "store" structure and there won't be any way to tweak a .cfg to improve what they have to offer as there will only be a select few files installed on your HD in order for the game to be played via the online UI. Yep, set your settings, select your aircraft or scenario and play the sim.

I doubt that FLIGHT will have any backwards compatibility due to the "store" structure and there won't be any way to tweak a .cfg to improve what they have to offer as there will only be a select few files installed on your HD in order for the game to be played via the online UI.

I for one was never expecting any backward compatability and I would actually have been extremely annoyed if there was (this is the professional programmer talking within me). It's about high time this game /simulation made a fresh start rather than having to continue to beat a dead-horse code base that is decades old and that was pushed past breaking point in FSX, let alone 6 more years down the track.I am not sure how you have decided that there will only be a select few files on the hard drive as not only has this never been stated anywhere, but it would be completely contrary to good and efficient programming practice and also contrary to the game hard drive space requirements. I think you will find it will be similar to other Live games such as the Dirt franchise, where the core game sits completely on the user's hard drive. Well, actually, I know you are completely wrong on that one. Sorry, but conclusions alot of people make on this forum are quite baffling.

Edited January 4, 201214 yr by JonP01