I just read Tom's blog...

[meshman 109]

Reads like damage control.

And how would that be?

Tom,Please recognize his comment for what he is and what he wants. He's an X-Plane ######. Wants to see anything MS related vanish off the earth, so that the masses will flock to X-Plane and place buildings at 30,000 empty airports. They whine and cry if someone wanders itnto their little corner of the site and says ANYTHING they feel is a sleight to XPX. Yet this poster and other X-Plane ###### will wander over here and make their snarky little comments.At this point in time, my impression is that they are worried that Flight may not be the arcade game they hope it is. Because if that happens X-Plane goes back to being the same old X-Plane.

[RYR738 9]

Tom,Please recognize his comment for what he is and what he wants. He's an X-Plane ######. Wants to see anything MS related vanish off the earth, so that the masses will flock to X-Plane and place buildings at 30,000 empty airports. They whine and cry if someone wanders itnto their little corner of the site and says ANYTHING they feel is a sleight to XPX. Yet this poster and other X-Plane ###### will wander over here and make their snarky little comments.At this point in time, my impression is that they are worried that Flight may not be the arcade game they hope it is. Because if that happens X-Plane goes back to being the same old X-Plane.

I totally agree with you.There will be a lot of red faces when Flight comes out.Fred.

[jasonX 24]

Tom,Please recognize his comment for what he is and what he wants. He's an X-Plane ######. Wants to see anything MS related vanish off the earth, so that the masses will flock to X-Plane and place buildings at 30,000 empty airports. They whine and cry if someone wanders itnto their little corner of the site and says ANYTHING they feel is a sleight to XPX. Yet this poster and other X-Plane ###### will wander over here and make their snarky little comments.At this point in time, my impression is that they are worried that Flight may not be the arcade game they hope it is. Because if that happens X-Plane goes back to being the same old X-Plane.

Thats the most childish post I've read for quite a while. It also happens to be a load of BS, merely reflecting your own bias and opinions.

[P47D 5]

I think Mountain Man enjoys stirring things up in the forums. I'm only been posting for few weeks and already been attacked by him.Anyway no need to get off topic.I appreciate the blog entry from Tom and hope something good comes from Flight.

[garsands 0]

Interesting read. time will tell where this ultimately goes, however, I for one think MS will want to attract new flight simmers and cater to the hard core as well. I have yet to find a reason why the would not want to cater to both or why they could not cater to both...lets hope I am right!

I am new to Flight sims & want to learn how to fly a plane & all the navagtion ect that goes with it & to make it a real as possable.To me Flight is just what I have been looking for I only need one island to start with same as a new real life new pilot.In real life as a pilot you don't just jump into a 757 & start to fly around the world you start in a small plane & do short flights as you get better you move up to a bigger less basic plane ect & do longer flights.With Flight you start with one island & two basic planes to learn the basics of flight, then as you get better you buy new DLC that you like the look of & that suits the way you want to learn & what you want to learn. You chose your own path.As a new player to Flight sims you & Flight grow at the same pace as the world in Flight grows you get to reach out & use your new learnt skills to fly bigger planes to fly to the new lands.The Icon looks basic & like a car inside but as a new player I still need to learn how to fly it the right way.For the hardcore simmers Flight is not going to be for them on the day of release & I would think it will not be for them for a min of 3 years but they still have FSX .Flight is for a new generation of flight simmers. Like myself. Thats why I posted the thread 'Is the addon niche market about to boom?'re:

Reads like damage control.

There is a name for posters that make little post's like this.Even images to post up to show you what they are called.

However I'm a beta tester and got bored about a week into it.

You do understand that what you are testing is a boring repetitive beta test to find bugs & you are not playing a demo of the finshed game of Flight?

[Attila 2]

You do understand that what you are testing is a boring repetitive beta test to find bugs & you are not playing a demo of the finshed game of Flight?

We already know that the game shown at CES is the initial download of Flight. One plane, one island some missions. Log into Live and get another plane and presumably some missions that go with this plane. Get your wallet out for anything else, such as Oahu and the other 3 planes that we have seen in promos.People keep trying to give the impression that the beta testers who are underwhelmed are not being shown the whole product. If some people have been given a peek of some DLC, it changes nothing. People will make their decision about buying DLC based on what they see in the free base product and that seems rather underwhelming so far.

[garsands 0]

We already know that the game shown at CES is the initial download of Flight. One plane, one island some missions. Log into Live and get another plane and presumably some missions that go with this plane. Get your wallet out for anything else, such as Oahu and the other 3 planes that we have seen in promos.People keep trying to give the impression that the beta testers who are underwhelmed are not being shown the whole product. If some people have been given a peek of some DLC, it changes nothing. People will make their decision about buying DLC based on what they see in the free base product and that seems rather underwhelming so far.

So was the game of flight shown at the CES the finshed product?If so why are we not all downloading it now?The problem is the beta testers can not post want it is like what they do like & what they don't like.There have been some leaks but what a suprise the leaks are from the beta testers that don't want us to like flight who have nothing good to say about it.Otherwise how did you come to this

impression that the beta testers who are underwhelmed

Below is a quote From Tom's blog

My point here is that the flight charateristics of the Stearman are significantly more realistic than the assessment that it is a game and aircraft dynamics and characteristics are modeled for that less demanding audience. If the Stearman is an example of the detailed flight models to come, then the picture is much prettier than some vocal community opinions would concede.

The beta testers that do like flight are the one's that can respect the NDA unlike 'Whatever Dude' who can't but help themselfs but to tell you what they think of it.You can only see one side of the story as the other side can't tell you a word due to NDA.And don't forget this forum is going to be very onesided what's the % of hardcore simmers reading & even posting here?I know someone like me & even posting is very rare as I am not a hardcore simmer I am a new guy wanting to get into simming.But I am learning alot about the hardcore simming community.I think Tom's closing lines of his blog sums it up.

There has been thousands of posts, or it seems like it, bewailing the demise of FSX and any successors that might appear. Of course that is not based on any real "fact" or "direct" knowledge of the subject. Nashing of teeth and arm waving are in my opinion, wasted energy at this point in the story of the Flight Simulation genre'. For those of you who are nashing your teeth, running around with your hair on fire and quickly damaging your shoulders, I have news for you...In the meetings with Microsoft in December, the question of FSX's future was asked.. I can't remember the details of the answer, but I can sum it up by saying that MS has NOT SAID they are abandoning the product or ruling out a future successor. You can interpret that, anyway that you wish.

Edited January 18, 2012 by garsands

[Christopher Low 5,332]

And Windows Phone, after a decade of dilly-dallying has been the talk at CES 2102.

Are you a beta tester for Windows TARDIS?

[Attila 2]

So was the game of flight shown at the CES the finshed product?If so why are we not all downloading it now?

By all indications, it is feature complete and content complete. So, in my opinion it is indeed what you will be downloading for free in a few months.You are not downloading it yet, because people with various kinds of hardware need to test it for compatibility. Missions need to be tuned for difficulty and fixing bugs. Manuals need to be finalized and prices need to be set. Servers need to be set up, but you get the picture.What is not going on is the addition of features that have not already been planned, designed, implemented and tested in-house months ago. Edited January 18, 2012 by Attila

[Mochi 82]

Lol, sorry but this is really amusing. MS sacked a talented team who created a great product for Flight Simulator enthusiasts. What they have scrambled together with "Flight" is a nasty arcade game. Just like the disaster that is the Windows product line, MS are loosing market share left right and centre and become less relevant in the personal computer / software space.

[Arwen 289]

By all indications, it is feature complete and content complete. So, in my opinion it is indeed what you will be downloading for free in a few months.

No it isn't.

What they have scrambled together with "Flight" is a nasty arcade game.

Wrong again.http://image.spreadshirt.com/image-server/v1/compositions/15540206/views/1,width=178,height=178,interlace=true/light-pink-you-know-nothing-john-snow-baby-body_design.png

[John the Pilot 0]

Microsoft is notorious for sticking through with what it believes in. The first useable version of Windows was v. 3.1 I can tell you, I had v. 1, 2 and 3.0), Word 1.0 for Windows was hell, ditto for 32-bit Windows NT until v. 3.51, etc. etc. And Windows Phone, after a decade of dilly-dallying has been the talk at CES 2102.

I bought a great GPS three years ago with MSN Direct, a Microsoft service that provided tons of current information including traffic conditions, gas prices, flight information, etc. After paying for the hardware as well as $200 for a lifetime subscription, I was told six months later that MSN Direct was being discontinued due to sales that didn't meet expectations. I now have hundreds of dollars of hardware and a lifetime subscription that is totally worthless.So, yes, Microsoft does come up with ideas that don't sell well, and yes, Microsoft does just abandon the whole product line when that happens.

[Attila 2]

No it isn't.Wrong again.

Trying to sound important, are you? Point out where we are wrong, otherwise I believe the proper answer to your post is "Yes, it is." My source: http://forum.avsim.n...light-01042012/What's yours?

[andyjohnston.net 617]

Lol, sorry but this is really amusing. MS sacked a talented team who created a great product for Flight Simulator enthusiasts. What they have scrambled together with "Flight" is a nasty arcade game. Just like the disaster that is the Windows product line, MS are loosing market share left right and centre and become less relevant in the personal computer / software space.

Oh my goodness, what nonsense. Obviously coming from a voice who is biased in the first place, commenting aout Windows, the most used operating system in the world.And I believe the word for which you were searching is "losing."

[n4gix 4,947]

Trying to sound important, are you?

I doubt that is true. She is trying (with no success) to convey what is true without breaking an NDA. You know that of course, but perhaps it is you who is trying to "sound important," eh?