I was installing a patch to my FS 2000 PRO installation and took the time to read the included text document. Here are some quotes from that document that I just had to share:As with all of our major new product releases, the product team has been closely monitoring the Flight Simulator newsgroups, Web sites, and forums to gauge what our users are experiencing with the product. From these sources and a number of emails from enthusiastic Flight Simulator fans, we have addressed some important issues that we felt we needed to provide to our customers on a priority basis. We are pleased to offer this additional update, which will work for both Flight Simulator 2000 and Flight Simulator 2000 Professional Edition.[...]We understand that this patch will not address everyone's specific issues with the product. For example, the redesign of the scenery system in Flight Simulator 2000 makes the method of displaying aircraft landing light illumination used in previous versions obsolete. Adding landing light illumination of scenery and other objects is beyond the scope of this update.We will continue to monitor newsgroups, forums, and Web sites, and post articles to help you get the most out of your Flight Simulator experience. Please continue to check this official Microsoft Flight Simulator Web site (www.microsoft.com/games/fs2000) for the latest information.If you develop add-on products for Flight Simulator or want to customize Flight Simulator by editing aircraft configuration files, creating flight plan files, or creating new adventures, check this Web site for updates to the Software Developers Kit (SDK) and in-depth articles, which we'll be posting soon.Happy Flying!The Flight Simulator teamCall me a hopeless romantic, but I think this is an interesting backdrop when trying to understand the development of the FS franchise. We still don't know what FLIGHT will evolve into, but there's just something about the way the old FS team adress their customers...

Call me a dreamer, but it will be nice if FSFlight is a return to the philosophy not of "tell them what they want" but "let them tell us what they want"I feel (and I have no solid evidence for this feeling) that FSFlight will be about options...hopefully more people will become interested in the passion we have for flight. For some, it's a lot easier to start out with a free download, be able to run the program on their current computer without tweaking, and have limited (or even directed) options. They can try it out without the investment (financially, emotionally, and time) of buying the whole package, fiddling with their computer, and then deciding what to do. I feel Microsoft has made this very accessible and "user friendly".To me,microtransactions will be the consumers voting for what they desire to see in Flight - aircraft, areas, missions, etc - the more response MS sees in a specific area, hopefully the more will be developed along those lines. No, for the hardcore sim fanatics, this may not be what is wanted - the whole package, and more of it. But...and I feel this is an important but...IF more people get interested, and get "bitten" the same way we did, there will be more down the road, instead of our niche aviation simulation community having yet one more option removed from us.I'm not sure I'm expressing myself adequately - I feel optimistic about FS Flight for the very reason a lot of "hardcore" flight sim enthusiasts are NOT optimistic about it - Flight is not the whole meal, it's just an appetizer. I, for one, can't wait to pull up a chair and have a taste!

Edited February 1, 201214 yr by newthog

I, for one, can't wait to pull up a chair and have a taste!

Don't forget the Rolaids! :(

. I, for one, can't wait to pull up a chair and have a taste!

Well, its definatly "A La Carte" --

Call me a hopeless romantic, but I think this is an interesting backdrop when trying to understand the development of the FS franchise.

A great post! You're not a hopeless romantic at all (at least WRT FS), rather , like the rest of us, you yearn for a well managed set of customer needs and expectations from the developper of a software product that is important to you. I can assure you MS didn't get this big by ignoring these very same rules of engagement on its other products!

Call me a dreamer, but it will be nice if FSFlight is a return to the philosophy not of "tell them what they want" but "let them tell us what they want"

So far, it's clearly... not! Specifically, there is little managing of customer expectations (MS is almost almost not providing any information at all) and what information has been provided via MS press releases for hard-core simmers so far has been wrong, with no effort made to date by MS to bridge the gap. As to the future: Well, nobody really knows, perhaps not even MS. All of this may change in the future of course, all the way from Flight morphing into FS11 to Flight development getting canned.

IF more people get interested, and get "bitten" the same way we did

Exactly! And we all got bitten by the RW hard-core sim aspects of flying on a PC. The great scenery that started coming along in FS9 and especially in FSX was the added bonus we all love, but "make no mistake", none of us bought any FS version ever just for the "passion" of flying around in a car to enjoy the scenery.The reason is that scenery enjoyment is mostly a passive action with little or no skill development challenge. On the other end of the spectrum, you can have a windscreen view that's all grey (i.e. no scenery at all), with IFR down to minima, no autoland, a 20 knot RWY cross-wind component and 200 screaming virtual passengers on board and you will sweat like a pig, and you will also have the time of your life. "Challenge" is what we all look for, and the only way for a sim to provide challenge that will be taken seriously is for that sim to be a serious sim. That's why chasing gold coins in the sky is so ridiculous (almost sacrilegous): It can't be taken seriously.Cheers,- jahman.

"Challenge" is what we all look for

I disagree. What I look for in a flight simulator (and indeed, any PC game) is an "atmospheric experience". I get a huge amount of pleasure from my "low and slow" VFR flights around the UK, and thoroughly enjoy looking at the scenery as I pass overhead. Add a small amount of ATC interaction, and I am in paradise :(

Edited February 2, 201214 yr by Christopher Low

 

I disagree. What I look for in a flight simulator (and indeed, any PC game) is an "atmospheric experience". I get a huge amount of pleasure from my "low and slow" VFR flights around the UK, and thoroughly enjoy looking at the scenery as I pass overhead. Add a small amount of ATC interaction, and I am in paradise :(

I agree with your disagreement! I have enough challenges in life, I just want to unwind. To me the "only way for a sim" to be such and such is why there aren't so many options anymore - our community needs to grow to survive with viable options. If someone gets their start in the virtual flight community chasing coins, and sticks with us, welcome! It's not what I'll be doing - but MSFlight allows me other options. That, to me, is what's great about this - there is SO MUCH potential that we're unaware of - it's an open book that is still being written.I don't like to take my fun seriously - I like to seriously have fun!

That, to me, is what's great about this - there is SO MUCH potential that we're unaware of - it's an open book that is still being written.

You do realize that you could say the same thing about a blank sheet of paper, right? :)

You do realize that you could say the same thing about a blank sheet of paper, right? :)

:( :(

 

You do realize that you could say the same thing about a blank sheet of paper, right? :)

you're exactly right - open books DO contain blank sheets of paper! and what we know about this specific sheet of paper is only a few words - I'm curious to see the rest of the story!

You do realize that you could say the same thing about a blank sheet of paper, right? :)

Bingo! Or, in the case of software, a blank DVD.Cheers,- jahman.