FSX-SE DoveTail Games Buys Licensing Deal with Microsoft

[BeechPapa 32]

Not sure if this has been posted, but like mentioned on another site it looks like just a disturbution issue.

 

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/brierdudley/2014/07/09/microsofts-flight-simulator-returns-sort-of/

Hm, it's interesting that MS has essentially sold the code and distribution rights to multiple companies but not the right to develop or the rights to the brand itself. I don't really think they're ready to say goodbye to Flight Simulator either. 

Edited July 10, 2014 by BeechPapa

[hairyspin 4]

This is a fact: I just spent a chunk of my summer holiday reading this thread and I don't know why I bothered. Enjoy the good weather if you have it, y'all: I can waste my life on better things.

 

Adios.

[shivers9 1,174]

One of the items I found most interesting in reading the wiki for myself is that P3D hired some of the old heads from ACES Studio.  That excites me more than any of this other stuff.  I think P3D v3 might just be IT, maybe... 

It occurs to me that one of the things that makes these topic get a bit out of control is our age. As an example.....for me I am 67 years old now and this whole thing just simply does not move my needle at all. Even if this company is not as bad as reported here it will take them years to catch up or move ahead of the work of say x-plane or P3D. Now if you are say 40 or 50 then who knows, by the time you are 60 it might make a difference. Like everything else, it is a matter of perspective. At my age then I can only get excited about the next couple of years. Hopefully in that time frame I will still be able to see the screen. LOL For you younger folks, it's ok to dream but I am pretty sure that by the time you see anything that is life changing from this company your will be in a very different part of you life. I wouldn't start upgrading those computer for the new "FSX" just yet.

[MartinRex007 390]

Some legal technical jargon on IP....

 

"Licensing, as opposed to complete transfer or assignment of IP, provides the owner with several advantages. By retaining ownership, the seller (licensor) retains title and typically has an easier time reversing the transfer of rights if the buyer (licensee) doesn’t live up to its end of the bargain. In many instances, the party seeking to acquire the IP rights does not have sufficient financial resources to pay the full value upfront – or may perceive the IP as highly speculative but be willing to pay more if the technology can be successfully commercialized. A well-drafted license agreement therefore not only gives the licensor an opportunity to more readily terminate the agreement if future payments are not made but also allows the parties to “share in the upside.” License agreements can also delineate the responsibilities of each party for maintaining or enforcing the patent rights.Thus, licensing allows greater flexibility and reduces the risk that the IP will be over or undervalued. If the desired revenue strategy is a stream of income, i.e., royalties or contingent payments, then licensing is often the most appropriate choice."

 

http://www.nutter.com/The-ABCs-of-Licensing-Intellectual-Property-04-01-2010/

[vonmar 123]

1. No EULA issues.

2. 64-bit support

3. DX11 support

 

The 3 combined is a formula to success. Anything else will not promote the franchise anywhere.

Official Technical Support (forum) and product upgrades (SP's) would be a plus also.

[styckx 1,872]

Edit: Wrong thread.. Thought I was posting in the "I'm stupid" thread.

 

Darn it.. Digging a nice hole here...

[HiFlyer 9,363]

As someone who doesn't spend a ton of time on the forums, and who prefers to fly and sim more than discuss it, I do have to say that many of the members of this community are the prototypical examples of "the glass is half empty" personalities. 

 

I remember 10 years ago and the discussions around FS9, and the people who were never moving from FS2002, and all the flaws of FS9 and the performance challenges.   I remember the people who lambasted the Microsoft team about everything to do with FSX, and who swore they would never move off of FS9 (they were probably the same people who were never leaving FS2002 behind).   You had the conspiracy people with regard to XP SP1 and the accompanying security changes.   There were the people who knocked Vista, then were never moving to Windows 7 and they would have to pry Windows XP from their cold, dead fingers.   Then the "tragedy" of Windows 8 happened, and now it's Windows 7 forever. 

 

It's just amusing the conculusions that get jumped to, and in every event there is a black cloud to be saved from every silver lining.   :-)

 

+1

[BeechPapa 32]

FSX was the last major release that touched the public consciousness (remember it even had TV ads back in the day, something almost inconceivable now) and you could buy it off the shelf whilst doing your weekly grocery shopping. The boxed market is dead now and isn't coming back. Steam is probably the only way to bring new blood into the community, which as many have said has an absurdly high barrier to entry now. 

I remember the days when you could pick up Flight Sim addons at the check-out display at Microcenter. It was a big rack of nothing but FS addons, to tempt you with purchases right before you paid the cashier. It was all boxed stuff. It's crazy to think how far FS has fallen in the market place. 

 

But I don't think they would need to do much to FSX to make it popular again. There are plenty of other complex sims making money: racing sims, train sims, trucks sims, and even farming sims (literally people watching grass grow) and you rarely hear complaints about complexity, if anything the demand is for more realism.

 

The difference is that FSX has a horrible tutorial system, and looks almost indusrtial. X-Plane is even worse. Personally, I like programs with industrial UI and FSX's suits me just fine. I pushed myself to learn things because I was curious. But that might not be enough for the modern market and attention span. Perhaps a Pavlovian tutorial system with Steam awards, game points to unlock planes, social network prestige, etc. (layered over the same EXACT complexity that's already there) is exactly what the doctor ordered. 

 

But you would need a company that has a true passion for aviation to do all that the right way. It would have to be an effort of love, not one for profit. (well, maybe a little profit too)

[ZKOKQ 984]

 

 

Darn it.. Digging a nice hole here...

Your doing fine Bill. I enjoy reading your posts here and at  TS, and can only concur with your prognosis on DTG. You only have to run the CP Mountain Pass to realize what the FS franchise is in for.

For example, in regard to CPMP, no track sounds, loco sound re verb that sounds like it was recorded in a 44Gal drum, and notch 1 that will pull a 10,000 tonne freight  off the starting line like a Aston Martin.

Can you imagine a plane designed by them ?

[styckx 1,872]

 if anything the demand is for more realism.

 

You won't get that from DTG. They don't believe in complex realism. They want the casual market. The reason those other sims users demand realism? Because the sim LACKS realism (but it sells like hot cakes so why change it?). Casuals don't want to think about cold starts, priming fuel lines, switching breakers off and on. They want to get in, crash cars, cause derails, and do barrels rolls.  Yes the simulation market is thriving but the realism section of that simulation is nearly dead as far as active development with the exception of Prepar3D and a few indie titles. 

Your doing fine Bill. I enjoy reading your posts here and at  TS, and can only concur with your prognosis on DTG. You only have to run the CP Mountain Pass to realize what the FS franchise is in for.

For example, in regard to CPMP, no track sounds, loco sound re verb that sounds like it was recorded in a 44Gal drum, and notch 1 that will pull a 10,000 tonne freight  off the starting line like a Aston Martin.

Can you imagine a plane designed by them ?

 

Thanks.. I always spoke from the hip.  I used to harp on them for their cheap shortcuts all the time when I beta tested for them. Flange/Wheel audio for the rollingstock was the #1 thing.  The engine would be a loud monstrosity as it should be then the 60 cars trailing it would be completely silent.   A great example are the PRR P70 passenger coaches that come with the Horseshoe Curve.. THEY ARE COMPLETELY SILENT when passing by.  I reported that in beta countless times and as you see.. It was released the same exact way.

[N2056 33]

Seems like everyone is already going after a windmill that has not even been built yet.

[Dillon 2,197]

FSX was the last major release that touched the public consciousness (remember it even had TV ads back in the day, something almost inconceivable now)

 

Within a year or two the tide had well and truly turned and soon if you were still rocking FS9 you were the poor relation. This may well happen with X-Plane, if there's a strong incentive to do so, such as the FSX servers being killed off, as unlikely as I think that will be. We will see. 

 

 

Even though I like most of what you said FSX was not the last major release that touched....  It touched something alright and that was a split in the community because of it's poor (terrible) performance upon release.  The split in the community lasted until a few years ago when the NGX was released and most of the hold outs switched to FSX plus the DX10 fix made things better.  FS9 was the last major release that 95% of the community got behind on day one and touched public consciousness.  It's apparent you worked your way through the issues in FSX and dealt with it until it improved years later.  P3D v2's release is akin to FS releases like FS9, FS2k2, and FS98 where it was solid within reason on day one.  After a few months unless you wanted to find something wrong because your favorite FSX add-on didn't work there was really no major issue. All software is going to have problems but LM addressed things far faster than MS ever did.  If it wasn't for the marketing LM has to do P3D could be sold like the FS series was in the past and it by far would be a major hit.  FSX lost allot of people in our community because freeware was harder to develop than previous efforts and it stopped being fun for many.  The average Joe had to become IT savy to use FSX once they got it installed (tweaking, overclocking, etc).  Many walked away from the hobby during the time of FSX and our community as a whole got smaller not to mention a few big name payware developers closed up shop.  By far I wouldn't put FSX in the running for anything outside of being the last version on the market from MS and there was no choice but to make it work over the years.

 

That being said, I don't know why people are still putting XPX on the same level as P3D and the FS serious as a serious alternative when AI/ATC is seriously lacking and real world weather needs a major improvement.  Without ATC, downloadable high fidelity weather, and a competent AI environment to interact with your getting half the experience.  At this point XPX is a more robust version of FLIGHT.  Great graphics, flight dynamics, and a whole un-detailed default world to fly in but little else.  That's not an alternative to FSX or P3D...

Seems like everyone is already going after a windmill that has not even been built yet.

 

 

More like writing off and making plans to go in a different direction.

[BeechPapa 32]

You won't get that from DTG. They don't believe in complex realism. They want the casual market. The reason those other sims users demand realism? Because the sim LACKS realism (but it sells like hot cakes so why change it?). Casuals don't want to think about cold starts, priming fuel lines, switching breakers off and on. They want to get in, crash cars, cause derails, and do barrels rolls.  Yes the simulation market is thriving but the realism section of that simulation is nearly dead as far as active development with the exception of Prepar3D and a few indie titles. 

To be honest, I didn’t know much about DTG till this all happened. I just sort of assumed that since they got involved in sim markets only, they must have been serious about sim platforms. Using that bold impact font, although totally meaningless, can also play tricks with the simmer mind, eliciting feelings of FS. Now, based on reading the litany of reviews on Steam, I realize that I was seeing the marketing image not the reality. 

 

There needs to be some involvement from aviators on the final product. Out of the top addon makers, in my opinion the best are PMDG, Real Air, and A2A, and all happen to have one or more pilots working on their projects. That’s no coincidence. Even FSX lessons have flight instructor Rod Machado, a stubbornly precise and unsympathetic aviator.  “You don’t seem to be getting this right now… why don’t you try this lesson again later?”… “Arghhh! Noooo, not again, Rod!”… Anyway, I digress… There needs to some real aviator involvement. And specifically for DTG, the thought of former EA execs and graphic designers trying to design a flight sim by their lonesome selves is kinda scary. 

[qnh 70]

Looks like I picked the wrong weekend to give up popcorn! 

[188AHC 2,138]

In an email I got from DTG today, they are announcing FSX soon on Steam.