New A/C available.

[Great Ozzie 101]

Yeah, MS Flight is sinking so fast that no one could have imagined it, that's astonishing indeed.

This is news indeed.Just curious tho... Mark you are on the Board of Directors? Maybe a major shareholder of MS stock? Or maybe you are one of the people JH reports to.... then again maybe just someone who has access to FLIGHT's sales numbers.At any rate... your insider information is... well... quite interesting.

[DAD 2,654]

Considering this roadmap

this does not make a roadmap for me. too vague. by 'what' I meant more details, at least continents. and wrt ATC and other functionalities, I did not see a clear NO. But indeed neither a clear YES. Either one I kindly ask from MS but not this wishy washy we hear now akin 'let's see where the journey brings us'. either they have some sort of commitment and they show it or they have not. I mean, what many miss here and put on the wish lists is not too uncommon to a flight 'program':e.g. jets, atc, autopilot and such. It is not that we request sunbeds for the beaches, the golden coins in local currency or such. If I buy a car I know what I get and which accessories are available. I would not buy a BMW just by looking at the chassis and then see what BMW comes up with - if at all - as body, interior, engine and other equipment. Yes, I would take the chassis for free but would not invest in a nice V8 engine if I knew they will never deliver that forth wheel or the driver seat.

[bsmfinegan 12]

this does not make a roadmap for me. too vague. by 'what' I meant more details, at least continents. and wrt ATC and other functionalities, I did not see a clear NO. But indeed neither a clear YES. Either one I kindly ask from MS but not this wishy washy we hear now akin 'let's see where the journey brings us'. either they have some sort of commitment and they show it or they have not. I mean, what many miss here and put on the wish lists is not too uncommon to a flight 'program':e.g. jets, atc, autopilot and such. It is not that we request sunbeds for the beaches, the golden coins in local currency or such. If I buy a car I know what I get and which accessories are available. I would not buy a BMW just by looking at the chassis and then see what BMW comes up with - if at all - as body, interior, engine and other equipment. Yes, I would take the chassis for free but would not invest in a nice V8 engine if I knew they will never deliver that forth wheel or the driver seat.

You have more chance of hell freezing over than getting a clear roadmap from Micorosft on Flights direction.Microsoft are one of the most secretive companies on earth, and even though they have no clear competitor in this genre, because it's not a simulation (no matter what anybody says) they will still be secretive because thats how they are.Bryan.

[Sean Mitchell 1]

I have to admire the optimism of some of the people on this forum, I wish I could live my life like that. I've been following this MS Flight saga from before the beta stage and I've long since given up on it. There were some prominent third party developers involved with Flight before they were shut out, and when Flight was released and they were no longer bound by an NDA, they all came out and said "If you're reading these forums, then it's not aimed at you". Mr Josh Howard has said that MS are not targeting "hardcore simulation" fans. Yet even now some of the community still believe we are going to get high quality aircraft, ATC, the whole world, etc, etc. It's not going to happen. We have been told this from more than one source, and to me it's pretty much explicit. Even if it were aimed at us, competition is what drives quality and customer satisfaction, and in terms of scenery, aircraft, AI, ATC, weather and whatever else, there is no longer any competition. MS has shut them all out for the foreseeable future for their own gain. That for me is it in a nutshell, and why I really have no expectations for this title. Sean

[bloefield 0]

I have to admire the optimism of some of the people on this forum, I wish I could live my life like that.I've been following this MS Flight saga from before the beta stage and I've long since given up on it. There were some prominent third party developers involved with Flight before they were shut out, and when Flight was released and they were no longer bound by an NDA, they all came out and said "If you're reading these forums, then it's not aimed at you". Mr Josh Howard has said that MS are not targeting "hardcore simulation" fans.Yet even now some of the community still believe we are going to get high quality aircraft, ATC, the whole world, etc, etc. It's not going to happen. We have been told this from more than one source, and to me it's pretty much explicit.Even if it were aimed at us, competition is what drives quality and customer satisfaction, and in terms of scenery, aircraft, AI, ATC, weather and whatever else, there is no longer any competition. MS has shut them all out for the foreseeable future for their own gain.That for me is it in a nutshell, and why I really have no expectations for this title.Sean

Very sobering,Harold

I thought that I was bang in the target market for this game being a casual flight simmer but given the content they are producing I am beginning to think I am in a grey area - too hardcore for Flight but not hardcore enough to want to use FSX on steroids.

That's me too,Harold

[DeadManDriving 0]

....Mr Josh Howard has said that MS are not targeting "hardcore simulation" fans.Yet even now some of the community still believe we are going to get high quality aircraft....

You are correct in every aspect, as I see it.I even thought that the planes were not as good as e.g. the Maul is. Almost all gauges are working - displaying at least some information. So if they did it with the Maul, why not doing so with other planes?! And that makes me wonder...OK there is a difference in prices between the Mustang and the Maul, but I bet ALL of us would pay for appropriate planes - if they are made at a standard, they themself set, like the existing RV-6, Maul, Icon A5, or PT-17.

[dburne 2]

You are correct in every aspect, as I see it.I even thought that the planes were not as good as e.g. the Maul is. Almost all gauges are working - displaying at least some information. So if they did it with the Maul, why not doing so with other planes?!

Well this simmer is not giving up just yet. Giving up or not giving up on Flight is a personal choice, nothing wrong with those that do or those that do not. I can only state my thinking as to why I just will not give up on it - yet.I do not believe, because they released the Zero with no cockpit , that is all we are going to see going forward. I do believe we will see more aircraft offered with the cockpits along with the appropriate working guages. There is just too much in my mind, already built into this sim/game to support having a VC along with working guages, as evidenced in the Maule, in the checklists, etc.We are one month into Flight, and I myself am not going to make a decision on it this soon in the game. Granted, all of the complex things we serious flight simmers would like to see, may not make it into Flight. And if one has to have all of that, then Flight may well be not for that person - FSX or other sims may more suite them. I am glad I have my FSX that I can fall back on when I want that aspect of simming, but in the meantime I am enjoying Flight for what it is for now, it at least does have something in there that interests me and keeps me wanting to do another flight with it.I don't know, perhaps I am not as hard core as I once thought I was. That is ok though, I am still having fun - and I have 5 other titles installed on my PC that I can have fun with as well...

[Guest]

I have to admire the optimism of some of the people on this forum, I wish I could live my life like that.I've been following this MS Flight saga from before the beta stage and I've long since given up on it. There were some prominent third party developers involved with Flight before they were shut out, and when Flight was released and they were no longer bound by an NDA, they all came out and said "If you're reading these forums, then it's not aimed at you". Mr Josh Howard has said that MS are not targeting "hardcore simulation" fans.Yet even now some of the community still believe we are going to get high quality aircraft, ATC, the whole world, etc, etc. It's not going to happen. We have been told this from more than one source, and to me it's pretty much explicit.Even if it were aimed at us, competition is what drives quality and customer satisfaction, and in terms of scenery, aircraft, AI, ATC, weather and whatever else, there is no longer any competition. MS has shut them all out for the foreseeable future for their own gain.That for me is it in a nutshell, and why I really have no expectations for this title.Sean

You have a pragmatic vision of Flight and you didn't let your wishes to obfuscate the facts. I like you.I am also pretty sure that Alaska will bring a small oxygen can to MS but it will finish sooner rather than later.

[HiFlyer 9,363]

Regarding Mr Howards interview, for myself, I am seeing too many emotions involved, which is leading to colored paraphrasing.Looked at objectively, the statements made seem very middle of the road, and contrary to subsequent repetition remain (to me) pretty unobjectionable.He ruled some things in, and did not rule other things out, and he rightly in my estimation pointed out that certain behaviors were not conducive to actually getting anything done.Where the statements get offensive seems to me to be in the way people decide to interpret them.CELINE THE INTERPRETERCELINE WHO DOESN'T LIKE MUDDon't take it too seriously, but people can see different things from the same information when filtered through their own likes and dislikes. Occams razor says it was unlikely MR Howard was talking to ignite a firestorm.........

[Rush1169 0]

It's only strange because you don't know that the exterior model and the interior model are two completely separate objects.

Yeah - OK - I do understand why there is a static cockpit - there has to be something there and the camera controls allow us to move to pretty much any viewpoint, so when we are 'in' the static cockpit we are really just changing our exterior view to an 'interior' location of the exterior view :) - I get it now, but still don't understand why the static cockpit view isn't a more easily accessed view. . .

[razorhog703 15]

Microsoft Flight:I have been strict Microsoft Flight flyer since the program was released. I have downloaded both the Maule and the Hawaii/RV pack. I have been more than happy with the program and the graphics.In addition, I will continue to purchase aircraft and scenery from Microsoft Flight. I was disappointed in finding that the P51 and the Zero will not have a cockpit and thus I will not purchase them. I do not agree with people who are slamming Microsoft for releasing a Zero as this is a historic plane. Releasing it in Hawaii does not matter, kids will be kids and if they choose to spend their time crashing into memorials then they will do so with any aircraft available.I know that you have received the negative outpuring of comments, and hopefully you will release more products in the future. I will be waiting to purchase the future DLC that appeals to me. In the meantime, I haven't picked up FSX in a long time and will continue to spend my flight time in Microsoft Flight. Hope to see you flying around.-Razorhog703

[Guest]

This is news indeed.Just curious tho... Mark you are on the Board of Directors? Maybe a major shareholder of MS stock? Or maybe you are one of the people JH reports to.... then again maybe just someone who has access to FLIGHT's sales numbers.At any rate... your insider information is... well... quite interesting.

Nope of course but it doesn't take much to see a poll result......That Poll speaks about the very latest shining Flight DLC and 98% of 60 users already voted the Mitsubishi as garbage. So, considering that Flight success is based on DLC ..well, I have nothing to add. Also when 300 users will have voted the result will be pretty much the same and also Flight site comments speak by themselves.Also Alaska + Beaver will be pretty much the same , slightly less tragic I think but not far from there.

[Chuck_Jodry-VJPL 663]

The salient point seemingly forgotten is freemium content for Flight is supposed to be cheap and appeal to users who know squat about flying or aviation, the fabled 20 million who dont include the "Hard Core Simmers" , that one factor means MS can pick up top quality mesh at Turbo Squid for less than a grand , add animations , engine sounds and it flies FDE, and its on the product list in no time flat ,Any pro could do that in a week, If it sells to their target market the business model is working perfectly , all the protestations to MS count for little if that kind of product sells to its intended market .What can an angel say the devil wants to know anyway? i see a lot of effort going into making MS see the light and its not what a business is about , its about share prices. not simulation .

[basic ils 0]

The Mustang was going to outsell the Maule, cockpit or not. Every airshow I've been to (20+) has had a Mustang demonstration, yet I cannot remember a Maule demonstration. I'd be willing to bet the majority of target demographic has never even heard of a Maule. The same will probably be true with the Zero. And hypothetically, if after Alaska is released, MS releases a deluxe version of a Twin Otter and a Basic version of an F-16, which one will sell the most? My guess is the F-16 and the path of Flight will be set in stone. I would have more hope for the future if MS would come out and say, "hey, here's the basic version of the Mustang, we're working on a deluxe package update, stay tuned for a release date", but they are silent.

[RoboRay 126]

Absolutely zero chance, pun intended. The "Preview" is simply a replacement for the "UFO Imposter" as well as something to look at in the Hangar.

I understand what the preview is (I have the Mustang's), but if (big question) somebody at MS is wanting to skew the DLC data (which is a remote possibility, but the manner in which they are choosing to offer non-VC planes with no VC alternative version lends it some credence), they could include "preview" downloads in the total number of DLC for the Zero. That would be shady, but shady things do happen in business when people have a predetermined agenda.