Skydrift

[ahuimanu 50]

I think this is what Microsoft Games' target audience would eventually enjoy much more: http://skydriftgame.com/Although I'm on record here of being distraught, I do not offer this entirely glibly: I really do think this has more going for it as a game. It probably has a simplified flight model, it has action, it has achievement, etc. In the "catch the gold coins" challenges I've seen so far from Microsoft, we are being asked to writhe about the sky in what are inherently partially-suited aircraft. Or, even of the airplanes that are aerobatic, they are not particularly fast, nor do they blow things up. The Skydrift planes look fast and racy, and would be much more likely to cater to casual and/or action gaming interests.Right now, I feel like we have a Porche chassis and engine, cooped up in a "clown car" body.Lastly, we are given the impression that Mircosoft will gauge user interest and, perhaps, continue to tailor content to majority interests. In this case, I would EXPECT fantasy aircraft, as depicted in Skydrift, to hit the DLC market and come to dominate. No, people won't escalate in their interests, their hands will be forced by the gravity of the lowest common denominator. I predict that flight ends up SkyDrift (which is also doing its own DLC) anyhow. I think this is so as, Microsoft, and the gaming industry at large, will always be forced to follow the market and the market, in the majority and over the long run, does not favor nuance, complexity, or intellectual pursuit.And, in the end, I actually "get it:" it's a stressful world, people want to let their guard down in their entertainment and get the "junk food."

Edited January 15, 2012 by ahuimanu

[drumsonly2002 3]

And it has kind of an ATC in the form of an announcer. Flight lacks the guns to keep me interested. Just kidding. looks fun but I got bad tendons fron drumming with bad technique through the 1980's so yank and bank em sims are not my cup of java.

Edited January 15, 2012 by drumsonly2002

[dmaher 0]

Right now, I feel like we have a Porche chassis and engine, cooped up in a "clown car" body.

Lol :) I've always thought of MSFS as the tractor of game engines.When you need a tractor nothing else will do, and FS's engine is well suited for what it does.It's a very good tractor :)However if you decide you want a race car don't build it on a tractor.What a tractor does well is not needed....and what is needed a tractor does not do well.We shall see I guess :)

[Fsau 0]

I actually have this game on Steam lol no joke. For what it is, it's a lot of fun to mess around in, it's a true arcade flyer, the tracks are tight and the aircraft are fast. Flight can't even compete in this catagory of games, if they were really going for the arcade genre they need to do a lot, lot better.

[Guest jahman]

Another analogy would be this. FS franchise used to be a platform that allowed talented aviation enthusiasts to come together to develop freeware and payware third party add-ons for the enjoyment of the simming community. They are rewarded (financially) for their efforts and as a result entire ecosystems like Orbx, AOA, etc spawn around these quality aircraft add-on developers. A lot of the forums (including these one) exists because of the healthy ecosystem and the advertisements by third party developers and companies that are in their orbit. Some naysayers retort that since Microsoft provided the platform, the developers are somehow indebted to MS and MS is somehow entitled to a slice of pie... What?Modern civilization, in fact all industrial societies and all corporations require energy to run their operations. Whether this is in the form of electric energy, petroleum and hydrocarbon derivatives such as coal, oil, natural gas, etc the point is without energy businesses will cease to exists. Companies like Microsoft build empires and riches on the back of the electric companies and power utilities that provide the raw energy for the lights in the corporate offices at Redmond, for the juice that powers the computers so the developers can run the hardware and software and code and develop titles such as Flight Simulator to make PROFIT. MS has made much profit off the use of electricity and power that was provided to them by other companies...Now imagine if the companies came back one day saying that this arrangement wasn't fair... Microsoft was making billions off the cheap electricity that these power companies provided and they wanted a cut and a slice of the pie... and that they were going to install smart grid and digital monitors that cataloged exactly how, what, where and for what purpose the electricity was being used and that they intended to start taxing 30% of all of Microsoft's revenues generated as a direct result of use of the power companies electricity, and furthermore they demanded the intellectual property rights and source code to all applications being developed on hardware that was drawing power from their company's electricity platform... the rationale being that this arrangement will help fund the electric company's growth so that it can provide more power to Microsoft...

Your analogy is spot on, but I'll improve on it: Suppose you're a software developper for Windows like Photoshop or any of the other gazillion software packages that make good money for their developpers. Now Microsoft decides they want some (or most) of that money, so no more Windows SDK! Thank God for the U.S. Anti-Trust Department.Oh, and I like Skydirft, it's more fun than Flight! (Flight is for girls...)Cheers,- jahman.

[fsxkitty 62]

I've played the demo for Skydrift.What you see may look good but when you're flying low the terrain looks horrible. It's like it's made of 10cm2 squares - like a game from 2000.

[Fsau 0]

What you see may look good but when you're flying low the terrain looks horrible. It's like it's made of 10cm2 squares - like a game from 2000.

Hahaha... please don't tell me you flew around looking at the scenery? I think you missed the whole point if so, also it's an indie title you can't expect too much.

[simmerhead 885]

Sure looks more fun than collecting aerochaces in a flying Toyota...

[ahuimanu 50]

FLIGHT is a game, and it seems that Skydrift is a better game...