J. Howard Joshua Howard Interview with AVSIM

[RichLP 32]

can circle around hot air balloons, wondering what the crosshatch is formaybe chase some gold coins, still wondering what the crosshatch is formaybe do a mission, still wondering...you get it

I ran a video store for 16 years, starting in the mid 80's, when Nintendo started ruling the gaming world... one thing I learned then, was when you're stuck somewhere in a game, wait for the next 9 year old kid to come into the store, and he'll show you how to get unstuck.Trust me... they'll figure out the crosshatch... ; )

[simmerhead 885]

I've tried staying excited about Flight but it seems they are hardly excited themselves.

Yep, there are many unanswered questions regarding both the marketing and customer interaction strategies. They are probably overwhelmed by the fantastic response from their new targeted audience and the millions of DLC downloads bringing their servers to their knees.

[dburne 2]

I've tried staying excited about Flight but it seems they are hardly excited themselves.

Perhaps they are all " hard at work"... ya never know .

[g_precentralis 191]

wondering what the crosshatch is for

excuse me, but I have to ask as google translate nor wikipedia gives me answer: ##### is crosshatch?

[RichLP 32]

excuse me, but I have to ask as google translate nor wikipedia gives me answer: ##### is crosshatch?

The oversized + sign in the middle of the display... like a gunsight...

[tom79 6]

Whoops, sorry. I thought that was the english word for that thing. I'll edit the post...

[AzureWX 0]

I rented Just Cause 2. It's fun, but even on the lowest difficulty, eventually the entire army will come after you at all times, so flying around isn't very fun at that point. Certainly enjoyable for a few days, but I prefer Flight, personally.One of the more interesting locations in that game is a casino/bar hanging from a zeppelin, complete with an airstrip several thousand feet off the ground. Not much room to land though, especially if there is a Learjet-knockoff parked waiting to go.

[frankla 44]

I don't understand why the MS Flight team in their left hand says they don't want a simulation, and then in their right hand gives a weekly challenge described like this:

Fly the LDA/DME instrument approach to Honolulu runway 26L in thick fog (Dense Fog flight conditions). In this type of appraoch, you fly it like an ILS (follow a radio beam, but the actual runway is not aligned with the radio beam, so you have to make a turn to actually line up with the runway. It is apparently one of the more challenging types of instrument approaches you can make, especially in a crosswind.

I agree...your statement above is proof that MS has no clear strategy.

How do you know that?

Tom was this interview done on phone or in writing?

[arsenal82 120]

Flight is not either - fish or meat !It is not a real game with booms - fires - weapons etc etc and neither fs nextit just stand in the middle of nowhere !

[Guest Antlab]

OK, my time as a gamer kid is long gone, but let's pretend I am one:Just Cause2....However, I'm not gonna get it, because this is not for kids (rated 15-18 depending on country). My parents are not gonna buy it, because they are good parents and care about what I do on the computer. I'll probably play it over at some friend's house who has less caring parents. 2 players, 1 sale. Probably good enough for the producer.Flight-------.............a ) I want to buy the P-51, because I think the gunsight is there for some reason. Must nag dad for Microsoft points. Maybe dad sees Flight and thinks ("Hey this is cool. But what's the gunsight for?"). Could get dad interested. Dad inserts credit card details and buys P-51. Big disappointment because gunsight still useless. I'm frustrated and will remove the game unless dad still wants to play it. FAIL!b ) I decide to buy the Hawaii Adventure pack instead of P-51. Adventure sounds cool, right? Will probably be disappointed that the adventure pack doesn't really contain anything like the title suggests. Just more islands and some missions/challenges like the free ones. I'm frustrated and will remove the game unless dad still wants to play it. FAIL!c ) I don't decide to buy the Hawaii Adventure pack because it's pooly advertised so that it doesn't give me a compelling reason to want it in the first place. FAIL!Old Tom says:There's certainly something wrong with the concept of Flight. Must be done better!But I also think that there is potential and that it can be done better.

I think your points make good sense, I quite agree with them.Only one remark: I did not know about the age restriction for JC, and actually I was thinking about more mature casual gamers. Also because if you consider the potential public under 15, you have other different competitors for Flight. Many kids probably will consider the broomstick of Harry Potter and the little colorful planes of Wii Resort (with the added benefit of the movement based controls) much more exciting than the Icon or the Maule flying over Hawaii for burger works.A.

[frankla 44]

You're assuming FSXI would require the same amount of resources to make as FSX. Based on the development of the game industry in general and the improvements called for in FSXI

ACES was well beyond having done most of the work and thus expense on FSX1 anyway. MS is a huge company that can't steer fast enough and manage projects well. Even their explorer browser is months to years behind Mozilla and Chrome.

Well if you go by JH's comments regarding the initial release, it has exceeded their expectations in the numbers department.

Would JH tell us it did not meet their expectations, if it didn't? I am not sure he would

[g_precentralis 191]

Whoops, sorry. I thought that was the english word for that thing. I'll edit the post...

Nah, maybe it is, English is not my native language.

[GHarrall 494]

Hm, maybe I should make clear what I associate with serious simming:trying to model reality as close as possible, including the boring parts that RW pilots wish they could skipflying IFR with SIDs/STARsone hour preflightsextensive flight planningVATSIMairport ground servicesenjoying loooooong cruise flights

You do understand that 'serious simming' is not entirely focused on airliner operations right?There are many people using FSX for GA flying utliizing RXP GPS type addons and in many cases actually using a sectional and charts for VFR or IFR flights in GA type aircraft.I have personally used this scenario for practicing cross country routes long before I got anywhre near to flying them in real life, including differing weather conditions for wind correction practice etc.So in summary, no, I dont believe Flight is great for GA/VFR/IFR simmers. At least not those who want to be able to customisze the experience and add in options such as RXP GPS units etc.I certainly do not consider this usage to be any less (in fact it is more so) 'serious' than someone wishing to pretend they are an airline captain.

[frankla 44]

I agree that FSX shoule be GA/VFR/Bush aircraft based, I think the largest aircraft in the game should be REGIONAL Aircraft, such as an ERJ195 or CRJ 900 at the absolute largest, this would allow everyone to get what they want.

You need contiguous regions to fly jets, even small ones.

I agree with that. If the next big DLC won't come with something for simmers it will harm the reputation badly - even when I take into account where it stands now :) And it would be a shame, they were able to do amazing things on the sim side, when they were allowed to invest their time in them.

I agree...I think they need an AI DLC like yesterday.

offer them as DLC (and advertise that they will be available as future DLC)."

That is the main reason I have not purchased (invested) in DLC for flight. Because no one has told me (advertised as you said it better) that Flight will morph into a simulator that I consider to be serious. Don't get me wrong, I am not bashing Flight, but I won't invest in it until I know one way or the other if it is going to become a serious simulator in the future.

[MacGoose 0]

Unless you are at a field with an operating control tower, you are not going to have ATC services.

Well I kinda know that. What really could make this a more real "flightsim" is simply to add "real radio communication" and ATC - and checklists to use them. Just add that and you get a more realistic flightsim easy.