From M$:

 

For "Microsoft Flight," we will continue to support the community that has embraced the title and the game will still be available to download for free at http://www.microsoft.../games/flight/.

 

What would be a very bold move on MS's part is if they made the ENTIRE game free -- everything that has been released up until now; Hawaii, Alaska and all the planes -- AND included an SDK, so the community could import FSX aircraft into it. Even if just allowed basic GA planes like the deafult C172... That would be better than what Flight had up until now considering the C172 is rated for both IFR and VRF flying like the Maule is. But I'm not holding my breath.

 

If they did this, it would be the only thing making me re-install "Flight" because like many I tried it, but did not enjoy it enough to keep it installed, or invest in any DLC.

It aint official yet folks just a rumour for now. Probably entirely true but still just a rumour.

Shame though as it did have potential

I'm being serious here. We need to start a huge campaign to get MS to resume the FS franchise. We need to show them that they will gain huge popularity and profits.

 

The reality is Flight Simming... And the simulation genre in general... Is a very niche market simply because people would rather escape from life rather than replicate it when they play video games.

 

I consider myself a diverse gamer -- meaning, I can operate FSX at a high level (GA and Heavy Iron) as well as tweak out my PC if need be -- But I also appreciate games like "Skyrim", "GTA IV", "Just Cause 2" and other mainstream releases, console or otherwise because it's the overall gaming experience itself that matters to me and not so much the subject matter, or how it is treated (realistic vs. over-the-top).

 

Like I said, most mainstream gamers are not into simulations because of the learning curve that goes into them and because they would rather sit down and escape from life for a few hours instead of duplicate some of its hardships e.g. learning complex, real world flight procedures for no other reason than to apply them to a game like Flight Sim, etc.

So sad, if true. I will likely be abandoning simming after this. Not only Elvis will be leaving the building.

 

Why quit simming? You can still use what you bought or go back to FSX or FS9. Lately it seems like there are still lots of aircraft and sceneries being developed for both sims, maybe more for FSX, but none the less still plenty of new content. Of course the choice is yours, but I can never understand why people want to quit the hobby just because developement from MS has stopped. FS9 and FSX are no longer supported by MS but the bulk of flight simmers are still using both products and enjoying all the new content being released.

Well, guess this shows who drives the market.

Well, time to move on... There are allways alternatives.

 

In a couple of weeks FlightGear2.8 will be released. XPlane10 is also progressing, and I was renitent about giving it a chance because I wanted to "believe" that MS FLIGHT had a future ....

 

There is also Prepar3d, although I'm not sure what will come with v2.0 regarding FDM innovation. I've read at their unnoficial forum that they are not working on the FDM - people wanting to use the platform will have to feed their own FDMs, something that is the base of FlightGear too...

 

And threre's DCS p-51

Darn...

 

guess I refused to see the signs. After an initial juicy release (for a free title) with deluxe planes and plenty of missions...

 

... things got quiet with a slow trickle of those much debated warbirds. I thought the team had to use all their resources on Alaska scenery and would catch up with deluxe planes after that...

 

... but when Alaska was released as a generic area, with only a few areas Hawaii-quality I guess I should have seen the writing on the wall ...

 

I wonder what unfinished aircraft and scenery were planned... or if they just wrapped it up with a skeleton team, when they 'gave it up' to steam.

 

A sad day for desktop GA enthusiast :( I'm sad at least :(

 

-

We could just expect this. Real simmers knew since the beginning what Flight was about. To me it comes with no surprise. I just hope Aerosoft plans to make their own simulator platform can one day become reality.

By now despite some little issues FSX might have it seems will be a looooong lasting platform.

Anyway I'm very happy with it.

So Microsoft didn't just fooled the real customers (flight simmers) but now also everybody else.

I just feel for the developers, they had nothing to do with this poor M$ strategy.

I don't even want to think about what has just happened, specially after the the release of VC for the Carbon Cub... I'll simply weep MS FLIGHT, and all of it's content, from my simmer life as far as I arrive home tonight....

 

I really don't think there's much room left for alternative. In the past few weeks I was active trying to find an alternative to MS FLIGHT, and that included:

 

- XPlane 10

- Prepar3D

- DCS World

 

I really fear that the ESP-based platform used by LM for Prepar3D will soon follow, unless their v2.0 starts a proprietary platform.

 

DCS is great, but military, and that is really not my liking.....

 

So... I believe that after recovering from todays news, FlightGear and XPlane may well be the only alternatives left ....

 

Good bye, farewell....

So Microsoft didn't just fooled the real customers (flight simmers) but now also everybody else.

I just feel for the developers, they had nothing to do with this poor M$ strategy.

 

I agree.. Having Joshua Howard be the talking head of the product really didn't help either.. That guy had absolutely ZERO skills in public relations etiquette.

it seems like there are still lots of aircraft and sceneries being developed for both sims,

 

FSX is more healthy and vigorous than it's ever been and continues to grow!

I wouldn't call it a rumour anymore now that Kotaku has confirmed that Microsoft replied directly to them and confirmed it.

It's sad but there were worrying signs, Alaska felt unfinished and rushed, and I kept thinking about this potential outcome in the last couple of weeks.

I still don't put much hope in the Prepar3D thing, LM is experimenting with that and they could pull the plug at anytime when they re evaluate their projects. If the 2.0 version comes out it will probably sound better.

X-Plane is promising in some ways, but it hasn't caught up with FSX and Flight in a number of ways although I reckon it could get there in a couple of years if the current wave of addons continues and expand to high quality sceneries, weather and traffic/ATC, but we'll end up with a complex setup composed of a multitude of addons just like FSX, so Flight was really covering a particular niche, the one where you can launch a flight very quickly, enjoy it for a bit and leave it anytime you like - we won't see something user friendly and simple like that for a long while I reckon.

I'm already a user of DCS, but I'm sure it will remain focused mostly on combat, and I won't be flying a Beaver in Alaska in DCS World anytime soon, so I don't put my hopes there.

I wish someone could apply to good concepts of Take On Helicopters (but I don't trust BIS to be able to make the leap towards good plane flight models, Arma2 isn't better than say BF3 for that) and make a plane version of that.

 

 

I agree.. Having Joshua Howard be the talking head of the product really didn't help either.. That guy had absolutely ZERO skills in public relations etiquette.

 

Agreed, it was almost as if he went out of his way to insult the sim segment of his customer base.

Personally I did not like MS Flight, although I was impressed with some of the technological advances (graphics, flight model etc.) that were included.

 

However, I do feel for the developers who worked on this project and also for the people that enjoy Flight.

 

Despite this news, the future of Flight Simming is far from over and I am sure we will see some amazing advances in our hobby coming out way. We just have to be patient. This is just another spot of turbulence in our flight path.