J. Howard Joshua Howard Interview with AVSIM

[MarkRey 16]

Great interview, all pertinent 'simmer' concerns addressed by what was said, and what was not. Even the most offensive bellyaching would have had and will have no effect on FLIGHT's direction - from a simmer's perspective that is clearly set in stone.

tend to agree with Josh in that the VAST VAST majority of people (not SIMMERS) dont want to spend 10 hours babysitting a computer in a 747. Those people are a niche, but a very strong and loud niche.

That is a grossly inaccurate generalization, you do not understand the 'niche' at all.

[Roger Mazengarb 0]

Tom. An excellent interview, covering all the hard questions. A pity the respondants replies were so vague, evaisive and just so much spin. All in all though this interview has left me in no doubt about the general direction in which "Flight" is headed. It is primarily a game and will never be what I consider to be a flight simulator. More disturbingly that MicroSoft has no plans for future development of its flight simulator franchise.

[pilot_tofly 10]

My point is that Microsoft stuck to the Flight Simulator genre for over 20 years. They obviously found it profitable for that amount of time, otherwise they would have stopped making simulators a long time ago. The fact that simmers are somehow a 'niche' market that isn't profitable is simply untrue. They've completely thrown us in the back seat and don't care for us at all.

[Gibbage 199]

That is a grossly inaccurate generalization, you do not understand the 'niche' at all.

In what area? That most people dont want to stare blankly at a 737 dash on autopilot for hours? I dont think im that far off the mark. The niche that DO like that number in the 10's of thousands, yes, but MS is interested in the MILLIONS, not the thousands.

My point is that Microsoft stuck to the Flight Simulator genre for over 20 years. They obviously found it profitable for that amount of time, otherwise they would have stopped making simulators a long time ago. The fact that simmers are somehow a 'niche' market that isn't profitable is simply untrue. They've completely thrown us in the back seat and don't care for us at all.

The market has been in decline for years now. Fly? Flight Unlimited? Janes? All have died due to the declining market. Just because it was popular in the past, does not mean it will always be that way. I remember times when the PC game sections were DOMINATED by flight sims. Now, you wont find any on the market. You need to go online to find DCS or XP, and maybe if your lucky, youll find an old copy of FSX on Target.

[RichLP 32]

They obviously found it profitable for that amount of time, otherwise they would have stopped making simulators a long time ago.

Times and marketing realities have changed dramatically in the last few years, though...Joe Gillis: You're Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures. You used to be big.Norma Desmond: I *am* big. It's the *pictures* that got small.

[Great Ozzie 101]

They've completely thrown us in the back seat and don't care for us at all.

Sounds like a personal problem...

I remember times when the PC game sections were DOMINATED by flight sims.

"That's a fact, Jack!"Man weren't those the days... Falcon 3.0 | F-117A Stealth something or other | B-17 Flying Fortress | Red Baron | Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe...DLC then meant a stack of 3.5" floppies

[brucewtb 249]

My point is that Microsoft stuck to the Flight Simulator genre for over 20 years. They obviously found it profitable for that amount of time, otherwise they would have stopped making simulators a long time ago. The fact that simmers are somehow a 'niche' market that isn't profitable is simply untrue. They've completely thrown us in the back seat and don't care for us at all.

Yes I'm inclined to agree with this sentiment. I just can't accept that it wasn't possible to have an enhancement of FSX that fixed the bugs and added support for current hardware plus a new flight game for the masses.Anyway I appreciated the interview and, as others have said, all the hard questions were asked - didn't like most of the answers but thats' life - it just confirms that Flight has no appeal for me whatsoever.Bruceb

[n4gix 4,947]

Thanks for that great interview Tom.What bothered me the most... yes even hurt me to read (tho not at all unexpected) was JH's following statement:"We looked forward to engaging in a productive dialogue with our users, but were disappointed in the degree of non-productive behavior some flight simulator enthusiasts exhibited. If anything, the unwillingness of the simmer audience to accept that Flight was intended to appeal to whole new audiences prompted the team to focus on areas where our engagement with our players is more productive."A sad thing so many members here could not help but to whine and complain about the sim they did not get, rather than provide constructive criticism to help improve what we do have.

That is absolutely the truth, Rob. Had there not been so much of a "temper tantrum" response, some productive dialogue might have taken place. Instead the non-simmers are having their voices heard......now I'll wait for the inevitable -1 to appear on this post for no other reason than that the truth is painful to hear.Amazing! That -1 only took about 30 seconds to appear! What a surprise... NOT!It only goes to prove the very point being made...

[ViperPilot 81]

In what area? That most people dont want to stare blankly at a 737 dash on autopilot for hours? I dont think im that far off the mark. The niche that DO like that number in the 10's of thousands, yes, but MS is interested in the MILLIONS, not the thousands.

That's an interesting point, Kevin...I've always thought that, judging by the number of simmers using VATSIM, the overwhelming number of posts at the majority of FS sites and the majority of add ons available, that quite a large segment of the FS community are into airliners and airport ops. Your point about Microsoft's target demographic is spot on; that's where the FS community as a whole is just a small sliver of the entire gaming 'pie'.

[RYR738 9]

Well done Tom A. A fantastic interview and it really gives us a solid idea as to where Flight is going.I love the idea of concentrating on particular parts of the globe and not just serving up the whole planet like FS9/FSX.Those sims might have the whole planet but I agree, it is no where remotely near the type of detail seen so far in the Hawaii DLC.I am very optomistic about the future of MS Flight and I do believe that exciting times are ahead.Flight was the perfect start to the New Year and I will support it all the way.I am also glad that I as well as others on here are still able to ask the Flight Devs questions in the beta forum and still point out bugs as we find them.I hope this sort of ongoing beta will continue and the NDA has been lifted so we are free to post things here.Long live Flight Simulation !!! :Party:Fred.

[MarkRey 16]

In what area? That most people dont want to stare blankly at a 737 dash on autopilot for hours? I dont think im that far off the mark. The niche that DO like that number in the 10's of thousands, yes, but MS is interested in the MILLIONS, not the thousands.

Forget jets a minute - Do you think MILLIONS of people are interested in the depth and breadth of GA flight, which can also last hours? Of course not, that is why FLIGHT will probably always be little more than the lite fare it is now - it HAS to remain so or the MILLIONS will walk away.

[eliyahu 0]

What I learned in the interview:1. Microsoft doesn't believe there are enough flight simmers to pay their bills, so they are looking at the wider market and aren't regarding the opinions of disappointed flight simmers, which was characterized as primarily as a "vocal negative minority."I think this makes sense, even if we don't like it. If there aren't enough buyers of any video game, the developers can't keep beating their heads against the wall. They tried to diversify with FSX in offering missions and other things to do in the game, but it didn't yield enough sales. I suspect that some of the people who were originally in ACES studio felt the same way simmers do about their future plans, thus it folded when they saw a need to discontinue Flight simulator and find a new audience.Nevertheless, he did say, "simulation is a critical aspect of what we are trying to do – no arcade game can capture the majesty of flying the way a sophisticated simulation can. On our journey I expect the depth and breadth of our simulation to grow, as well for the product to get deeper in many other ways as well. Unlike a retail product, with our living product, our fans can join us on this journey, and we can make progress on the journey measured in weeks, not years."That seems to indicate an intention to bring the masses into the simulation world as time progresses. In the long term, I can see that this is good for the flight sim community.2. We can expect a new airplane every month and about 3 to 4 expansion packs a year.This is nice to know. I look forward to the DLC and will probably buy most of them. We're no longer in the complete dark about a timetable thanks to this interview.3. We can be reassured about 3rd party content.This is good as some 3rd party provider will gladly be doing things to help attract the "vocal negative minority" simmers. Perhaps they will come in and save the day for some of you?4. The ability of Microsoft to track usage of the software so closely means that they will better serve customers' needs.Majority rules, especially when it comes to maximizing software sales. Hopefully they do a good job of interpreting the data and provide us with an even better product as time goes on.5. The new online sales platform means quicker updates and more expansionI never really thought of this, but it is quite a clever way of doing business. Other companies have done this and it appears to be the future of gaming.6. We can expect to see "leaderboards, mult-player missions and challenge types" in the future.Sounds like fun. I enjoy the missions and challenges more than staring out the front of the airplane for 10 hours with nothing else to do. How airline pilots stay awake always baffled me, but an airline pilot friend of mine says they often study manuals and procedures when not flying.7. TrackIR compatibility seems to be in the future, but probably not soon.I don't have it, but it looks cool. Serving the majority needs out there probably puts this a little lower on the priority list, depending on how many hours of code writing would be needed to implement it. If people spend money buying TrackIR, that's less money for users to spend on expansions and planes. Maybe that's one consideration they have? It is a business after all.8. Sales of Microsoft FLIGHT DLC is "better than expected."This is good for all of us, because it means they are making enough money to continue project development.SummaryI enjoyed the interview and was encouraged by it overall. We just have to be patient until Microsoft (hopefully) develops a product that ultimately makes most everyone happy. Thanks to AVSIM and Joshua for the interview.That's my .02 :)Eliyahu

[Gibbage 199]

Forget jets a minute - Do you think MILLIONS of people are interested in the depth and breadth of GA flight, which can also last hours? Of course not, that is why FLIGHT will probably always be little more than the lite fare it is now - it HAS to remain so or the MILLIONS will walk away.

To put it simply, YES!!!!!!!!!!! Lets just take a look at some FACTS.http://en.wikipedia....Venture_Oshkosh"Attendance is estimated between 800,000 to 1,000,000"http://www.museumoff...e-record-broken"2011, The Museum of Flight set a new yearly attendance record by exceeding 464,000 visitors. Thank you to all visitors for making 2011 a great year!"http://www.nasm.si.e...t/facts_uhc.cfm" Attendance FY 2009 1,186,493 I go to museums, airshows, and events all the time. Not only do I see kids that want to fly, but the parents also. Flight is for them, and I welcome them. Open your ears a little when your at these events, and you will always hear things "Man, I wish I could fly, but its so complicated and expensive".There is a market out there. Just because its not what YOU want does not mean its not wanted. So you tell ME, that you dont see "millions" of people interested in flying.

[n4gix 4,947]

That's not valid.A dedicated fan base making known their discontent about fundamental changes to the genre IS constructive criticism. The idea that those who don't "accept" the new way should simply go away is most unfortunate.

It was never a case of what was said; it was the case of HOW it was said. If you throughly anger the people you're trying to communicate with by using vulgar, insulting, demeaning language, don't expect them to bother listening to your arguments......no matter how valid they might be.

[sibtiger 0]

How airline pilots stay awake always baffled me, but an airline pilot friend of mine says they often study manuals and procedures when not flying.

They also have a copilot to talk to.