People who went to CES... Anyone?

[dighost 25]

I just got back from CES, I guess I am that guy.

Thanks for being the guy! :) I know shows can be crazy, but we appreciate what you are able to share from the frontlines.

[Guest]

<<removed by MOD>> breaks NDA - do it again and you're banned permanently!

In case you didn't know: beta's aren't to be played to have fun. They are played to find out if there are things not working well. It's got beta TESTING, bot beta PLAYING or beta HAVING FUN. And of course (quite obvious but still) the fun only starts when the free version is released and the dlc comes online. The fact that you are bored after three hours with the beta says absolutely NOTHING about the game itself. :(

[mgh 89]

Overall, nothing that fsx cannot provide with the best addons,

So Flight even in beta is an improvement on FSX out of the box. Edited January 13, 2012 by mgh

[Attila 2]

<<removed by MOD>> breaks NDA - do it again and you're banned permanently!

But...but people with really high post counts say that there are two betas, with hidden features and we just don't know what we are talking about. You are just not privileged enough to be let in on all the secrets. Flight will be all that everyone wants, it's only in early beta, maybe even alpha. Well, MS says it's in beta and will be released in Spring, but what does MS know.Eventually everything will be there, the whole world with jets and ATC and AI and the stars and the Moon...er never mind..got carried away on the MS bandwagon for a second.Put your flame retardant pants on, because here come the people who know you are wrong in your assessment.

[simmerhead 885]

Those were from Jaded simmers and doctored to look like ____. I will gauraentee you the graphics engine is very good!!

No, I was refering to the official webisodes on the msflighofficial youtube channel.

[Dogstar23 0]

If they wanted to limit MSF it to a causual game, the quality would not likely be as good as we have seen and they would not have 50+ programmers working on it. It is clear that they have a strict scripted marketing plan and talking points. This first phase may be only focused on rebranding the FS franchise to attract casual users. They know they don't have to say anything at this point to cater to the hard core sim community because those users will easily come on board at such time that they offer full simulator features. They do no want to dillute or distort their current focused message by also talking about later plans to add complex features, which plans may not even be fully baked yet anyway. It's all consistent with a classic phased roll-out.

[n4gix 4,947]

Finally! Someone else who understands the new marketing paradigm. Neatly summarized sir!

[Toys_R_Us 0]

"Phased roll outs" in the computer software industry are more usually better described as "crash and burn". Does anyone seriously think the other developers are not pumped at this point. They are being handed what may be a two to three year gift "from God" and it is exactly what they need.And this is a giant incentive for all the big boys to pool their resources and get together to "roll out" their own offering with all the bells and whistles of a much better and wider development all in one package.Do it with an engine of day, and the arcade game is milktoast.Bob - Las Cruces, NM

Edited January 13, 2012 by Toys_R_Us

[DylanM 1,069]

Unfortunately for their marketing paradigm, they'll also need to put up with some very public (and now obvious) bad press...There certainly are signs of a half-baked PR strategy.

If they wanted to limit MSF it to a causual game, the quality would not likely be as good as we have seen and they would not have 50+ programmers working on it. It is clear that they have a strict scripted marketing plan and talking points. This first phase may be only focused on rebranding the FS franchise to attract casual users. They know they don't have to say anything at this point to cater to the hard core sim community because those users will easily come on board at such time that they offer full simulator features. They do no want to dillute or distort their current focused message by also talking about later plans to add complex features, which plans may not even be fully baked yet anyway. It's all consistent with a classic phased roll-out.

[haskell 298]

I guess I'm "the other that guy".Didn't spend a ton of time at the Flight display but here is what I was able to gather.Graphics and scenery are nothing short of amazing. Very immersive and lots of detail. the comparison to ORBX is a fair one. Very fluid play, as I'm sure the computers they were running were beasts. Airport environments were beautiful. Flight dynamics were clearly set to "Easy". When no one was at the controls the planes just tooled along at straight and level with no pilot. The planes were set up in spot view with one flown by mouse and the other an XBox 360 controller. The non-simmer ahead of me tried a landing and bounced it a lot with no damage at all. It is so hard to fly with a mouse or game controller and it was very crowded so I didn't even try a flight. I had a conversation with the Microsoft rep at the booth. Very brief and informal, but it is clear this is a game, not a full-system simulator. His comments:"This is targeted to a different audience than FSX. A lot of people had a tough time even getting a plane in the air with FSX. This is for those people that just want to fire up the game and start flying.""There will be settings that will allow you to configure it more like FS and make it more realistic to fly.""There are scenarios that will allow you to earn points and we feel that will attract more of the gaming audience, which is a much bigger market than the Flight Simulation Market."What is the projected price point for additional scenery areas?"We are evaluating that but have no estimate at this time"What are the first scenery areas that will be available?"That will be based on demand. We don't have that release schedule planned yet."Will third-party developers have the opportunity to develop for Flight?"We are approaching this differently - all add-ons will be curated and sold by Microsoft."So will third-party developers like PMDG, Flight1, OrbX be used to develop those add-ons?"I don't know. At this point we are developing it all in-house."Will there be an airliner simulated?"I don't know. We are basing future expansion on demand."Will you be able to control with a yoke?"Yes. Any hardware compatible with FSX will work in Flight as well."I notice you are using an XBox controller. Any plans to release Flight for XBox."We're just talking about Flight on the PC today."So this is more of a new game than an update to Flight Simulator?"Yes. We feel that people who were intimidated by the complexity of FSX will find this to be a fun experience. I believe that people using FSX will find Flight fun, and different, from FSX. They will probably keep flying Flight Simulator for the advanced and complex planes and hop into Flight when they just want to take off and enjoy flying."This is a lot like when Apple released Final Cut Pro X. It was a more user-friendly version that people coming from iMovie could grasp pretty quickly. But it eliminated some of the functionality of FCP 7 that was required by the professionals using it. And it was $700 cheaper. When it was announced that old FCP edit lists wouldn't work with FCPX the forums were full of comments like "what am I going to do?? I have 8 years of projects that I can't edit with FCPX?????". Well, my suggestion would be... DON'T UPGRADE! Save your money and keep using what works for you. They're not taking your old software away from you.And that's where I see Flight. A new game. With airplanes. That's free! It's not going to replace or upgrade FSX.My fingers are crossed that great developers like PMDG, Flight1, Carenado, RealAir, Eaglesoft, ORBX and others will continue to develop for FSX and I will continue to buy. Hardware is passing FSX and it is running smoother and prettier with each hardware upgrade. If this is the best flight simulation gets I will be happy for many more years.

[drumsonly2002 3]

If Flight will not replace FSX P3d will for sure.

[torium 207]

I guess I'm "the other that guy".

Thanks a lot for some new info!!

That pretty much sums it up. FLIGHT is never going to be a replacement for FSX.

I still think you don't understand the concept?I repeat:"Microsoft Flight® is a new approach to a beloved franchise. It is a completely separate product from FSX,..."http://forum.avsim.n..._1#entry2226940

[rtodepart 761]

I keep seeing the common theme of "based on demand"... That is another way of saying, "whatever the masses want".

there is alot of eyes on what the old simers want , to me its hard to explain it without talking too much . Before there was a line that some new users were not able to pass by and that line is the times when lets say you had FSX you were not a hardcore user and you saw that youtube video with lets say a PMDG plane , you did a research on google end up at with a nice advance Boeing aircraft not knowing how to use it and that was the end of your FSX time in the computer. Now that line has been somehow made easy to go from taking off to wanting to get ahead of your flying experience and yes if you were a hardcore user you can come in and flight your way BUT in the mean time there is a target audience thats also been look at so there may be some features that are not there from the get go. Once again im trying to do my best without getting into hot waters . in the past 3 days there has been a few emails from people that took the time to research my user name here and go to another forum where i had my old email viewable to the public and sent me emails asking for details about flight. Some of this guys and you all know who you are , are in here posting things that to be honest dont make any sence at all and also act like they knew what the final product its going to look like .Please stop and i hope no one ever questions you with details on How do you know that FLIGHT its the end because im sure you will answer that question with another question and not have a solid answer simply because you have no clue and are only repeating what someone else says . About the red text at the begining , yes there is people looking at us for us and at what we the old users want and look for and there has been plennty of hints on a simple video that tells you we are still been part of what its about to come out keep in mind that there is a new target user that needs to be in focus too . If there was no intention on getting far ahead of just collecting points why put a taxiway sign there ? once again jhony blow the lets say Xbox gamer may not even care of whats in that square with H G X in it . Edited January 15, 2012 by rtodepart