X-Plane has been Steam Greenlight!

[ohsirus 241]

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=201361798

[TOGA-saurus 330]

Fantastic news! This should generate a lot more interest in XP10.

[msimon 1]

This is great, when xplane starts to have 3rd party development as strong as FSX/P3D2 I will have to grab xplane.

[jcomm 5,933]

X-Plane ... is... the... way... to... go  ( my Mantra ... )  - other guys in the bus are certainly browsing the net for it :-)

[FloB 34]

Wow, that will possibly change the X-Plane world (for good or bad?). I guess Laminar will need more guys for support and bug fixing in the first place.

 

Good luck, everybody

[KingOfLeinster 5]

Very good news & another good step in the right direction , Might make the leap in 2014

[HiFlyer 9,359]

I've always thought the program could do well on Steam, but if they do decide to proceed, I hope LR is prepared for a different type of customer.......

[skully 1,045]

I'm good as long as Steam doesn't start every time we launch XP.

[tf51d 284]

I can possibly see the regional versions available for download and even that is a stretch, as it's still would be about a 15GB download. I don't see anyway the global version will be downloadable at 70GB.

[LinuxFlightSimmer 9]

I think that it will possible to download the main game with the default area like the demo and get parts of the world in DLC

[ohsirus 241]

I can possibly see the regional versions available for download and even that is a stretch, as it's still would be about a 15GB download. I don't see anyway the global version will be downloadable at 70GB.

 

15GB is about your standard AAA game download now on Steam. Steam could easily handle 70GB downloads for XPX as the demand won't be that great.

[tharker89 0]

Fantastic news! Steam is a perfect medium and distribution network for this type of software. and it'll be nice not having to keep that disk in the drive :lol:

 

BTW, has anyone heard from Laminar about this? I can't find anything from Austin or anyone there talking about it.

[GodAtum 69]

Interesting comment on Steam:

 

 

If you haven't looked into flight sims yet, but this possible Steam release catches your attention, let me give you an idea of what to expect from X-Plane 10.

First: X-PLANE 10 IS NO GAME. It is an absolutely hardcore simulation platform.
This means, there is no nice and easy tutorial for all your planes and situations, you have to read on the web and be willing to learn a lot to properly fly and land the simulated aircraft.
There are no colorful menus for you, the UI is pretty technical and not very nice to look at, although this will change in the future. There are no achievements, no goals, no missions, it is just you in an airplane and the whole virtual world around you. Fly anywhere at any daytime and any weather (Real weather data possible).

X-Plane has amazingly detailed flight physics and most buttons, switches and levers inside your 3D cockpits work as expected, especially if you buy payware aircraft like the ones from Carenado (awesome stuff, check out their King Air C90B!). Also, good quality planes have simulated systems like fuel flow, icing and all that stuff. Basically, you have the next best thing to a real airplane at your fingertips.

What you should know about X-Plane 10:

- the UI is ugly and technical
- the download will be huge, it takes over 60 GB on your disk if you install the whole world scenery
- there are no seasonal scenery textures implemented at this time (version 10.2x), even if you set a winter date, it will look like summertime.
- you need a BEAST of a PC to get great FPS at high graphics settings. Don't expect to be able to set it all to max. This sim has to calculate a lot of physics and draw tons of 3D objects with lighting at a huge distance, it needs a strong machine.
Be sure to have at least 1.5 GB VRAM on your graphics card, better have 2 GB or more.
Dual Core CPU doesn't work that great. Get a modern CPU as well, and lots of RAM.

For flight sim fans: Is it worth it? Depends. If you already have the MS FSX and tons of payware aircraft and plugins and scenery for it and you are happy with it, you might not need X-Plane 10, except the money is no problem for you.

If you have tried older flight sims or stuff like FlightGear and you want something more serious, go for X-Plane 10. It is the most modern and future-ready flight sim right now, it is 64 bit ready and has a growing amount of plugins and scenery available, although by far not as much as the FSX. Keep in mind, that the Microsoft FSX is no longer supported and an old, slowly dying product.

Last, but not least:

Be ready to put a bit more money into it, to enhance your experience dramatically. First, I highly recommend the payware plugin "SkyMaxx Pro", which replaces the default clouds with much more realistic and beautiful ones and even improves the framerate slightly.

And then, once you know how to control your aircraft, get at least one high quality payware plane. Carenado does the best ones in my opinion, the King Air C90B is amazing! But there are lots of other great planes available, the CRJ-200 from JRollon or the Mitsubishi MU-2 from X-Aviation and many more. Believe me, the level of detail in those will blow your mind.

Now fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the flight.

[LAdamson 240]

From the comment on steam....

 

 

"First: X-PLANE 10 IS NO GAME. It is an absolutely hardcore simulation platform."

 

 

My take on the subject. Whether it's X-Plane, FSX, P3D, DCS, or a few others............it's what you make of it. And that ranges from pure "game", to a fair amount of realism. Are any of these desktop simulations, on their own, the "best thing next to a real airplane" (as suggested in the comment)? I don't think so. IMO, the steam comment is the usual marketing hype. I think I'd re-write it.

 

 

No offense to X-Plane. I just don't believe it's alone, at the top of the heap. My actual opinion here, is that X-Plane must appeal to many more, than just hardcore simmers. If you think that a good share of real pilots in the world, run out and buy these desktop sims, then think again. It almost comes down to a requirement of being a computer wiz, to run these things. And that's not exactly what I'd call flying. A lot of pilots just haven't bothered. I'm sure that some, who haven't explored computer flight simulation, would enjoy these products; but they just haven't got into it.

 

 

My pilot/sim user comments are based on people I actually know, or have known through internet forums over the years. I was one of those guys who spent a lot of time at the airport, due to the fact I kept and maintained an airplane there. You get to know a lot of pilots, just from that. I know many commercial and military pilots because of the organizations I've been involved with. I just know very "few" pilots who are keen on the operation of a desktop sim. Very few!

 

 

So...........who's going to buy X-Plane, if it's just an absolute hardcore simulation? I wouldn't! That's because I'm anything but "hardcore", when it comes to these things. I'm glad to see that X-Plane has scenery, bottoms of clouds to fly under, and all of that. I like those things in other sims too. I like graphics, realistic 3D cockpits, colorful exteriors, sounds, the sense of being there, and more. I even like simulated rivit patterns on the wings. And I should, as I pounded the things for years.

 

 

As usual, I suppose it's just the NO GAME comment, that set's my mind ablaze again. It always does. And then I write my usual thoughts on the subject..........to feel better. Oh well....

[ohsirus 241]

Reading Ben;s interview this part stuck out:

 

"I can't comment on X-Plane 11; our experience is that talking about the next major release before it is ready to ship prematurely hurts sales of the current release - sales we need to fund the completion of that next major version."

 

Hopefully Steam's Greenlight will push out XP11 that much faster.