Since its seems we have a fairly good idea of what many of the FSX features will be, and that many of the more serious simulation crowd (AVSIM readers etc) were hoping for a little more, my question is this.Would you be willing to pay a modest amount for a downloadable upgrade, lets say 6-12 months after release? (please don't be a smart #$@ and say FS11).I'm not talking about a patch to fix any bugs of the intial release, I'm talking about adding a few new features that the design team didn't address or focus on. Maybe even something that could be released in conjunction with the DX10 release (not just upgraded graphics). Even just one or two things, like improved ATC, AI behavior (seperation, speed), or sloped runways (name feature here). I don't know if this would be feasable or not for the ACES team since I am not aware of their buisness model or what their people may be working on (staffing), but it would seem to be at least plausable since A) they already said they will be doing a DX10 release which will take manpower anyway :( Creates another source of cash flowing in while working on the same product.Other developers have used a similar model such as the Battlefield 2 series, that creates new sets of maps for their mutliplayer environments and sells them as download only (read, limited distribution costs, etc).Seems to me this would a win win situation. Your customer base would be happy campers, and you could keep income flowing in.Simmers, ACES, what do you think?Brian S.

Brian the questions you raise are useless at this point and almost leads one to ask 'WHY' (even go there again)...What we have with FSX is what we have. It's hard enough to get Aces to release a patch if the software called for it 2 years past release let alone a 3 month interval concept. Speaking on FSX, it was built for Vista not XP. Microsoft put the brakes on Vista but the Aces team wanted to move forward with release. Any new features involving upgrades to the current program (such as ATC etc) will not be added... When the patch comes out for Vista all it will do is open up the sim to take advantage of DX10 features (among a few other things). That's it, it's over... This is coming from reading various threads and hearing what 'tdragger' has said about it...I've given up expecting much from FSX outside of what's already been spoken about. I'm happy with the improvements mentioned and will upgrade once Vista is released. Yes it seems from the demo we have another three years to play the framerate game no matter what PC we buy. Yes we have the same old underlying elements of FS2k4 still present in FSX (blurry scenery, limited ATC, etc). The time for asking for new features has well passed us by. The add-on community is the only one now to raise cool new ideas with as they will be the one

I've actually thought of this also....the product continues to evolve and I'm sure some of these features we are now seeing were developed back within 12 months of the release of FS2004. I'd love to have a nice addition about every 12 months, instead of waiting 3 years to have it all in one package.

Hi,Adding maps is like adding planes, it requires nothing new that wasn't already there. Some of the other things you mentioned would require a MAJOR re-working of whole systems and MS is not is a position to do that. The blogs have already explained why sloped runways are not included.All this would do is take away resources from the next release.Hope this helps,Jimhttp://www.hifisim.com/Active Sky V6 Development Team Active Sky V6 Proud SupporterHiFi Beta TeamRadar Contact Supporter: http://www.jdtllc.com/AirSource Member: http://www.air-source.us/FSEconomy Member:http://www.fseconomy.com/

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I don't wanna pay for update - I'd rather pay lump sump $200.00 for FSX Deluxe Ultra with improved ATC.

Well, then you'll be all set. FSX Deluxe plus Radar Contact Next will be way less than $200.Hope this helps,Jimhttp://www.hifisim.com/Active Sky V6 Development Team Active Sky V6 Proud SupporterHiFi Beta TeamRadar Contact Supporter: http://www.jdtllc.com/AirSource Member: http://www.air-source.us/FSEconomy Member:http://www.fseconomy.com/

First off, I will say the FSX demo runs fairly well on XP, I'm assuming by tdraggers response that it wasn't designed for just vista. I would then assume that considering many people will not upgrade to vista until buying a new pc that the Aces team realizes this and didn't design it necessarily for vista, but vista reaady. Next, as has been said a myriad of times, FS has become a platform for 3rd party modders as jskorna is indicating, if the base product doesn't have a certain feature, I'm pretty sure someone will create it as an add-on, and from reading blogs and forums I'm leaning towards the assumption FS put alot of thought into re-wiring FSX for easier access for the 3rd party community.Lastly, it should be interesting to see the final release, the upgrade for Vista and what 3rd party modders will do with this next incarnation of FS. Whether we get a new version in a year or 3 years, I'm pretty sure someone, be it Aces or 3rd party vendor is already thinking of ways to improve the product. And also lest we forget Aces has achieved many firsts this go around with a demo, open communication, a patch for vista etc...so who knows what the future holds.Ian.

???My understanding was FSX was expected to ship after or right around the same time as Vista (DX10). How would FSX not be designed with Vista in mind??? It has been covered extensively that both DX9 and DX10 were being considered but Vista was the planned target OS. Vista in conjunction with DX10 would take advantage of all the new graphic features offered in FSX. I guess I need to find some exact quotes prior to Microsoft's official statement concerning the extended delay of Vista...

FSX with the added new features that you mentioned will be called FS11 (not to be smart, but honest), not FSX.2.But... I would really like the idea of FSX expansion packs, for example an ATC expansion pack, Traffic expansion, etc. I am a huge fan of a modular approach, so that everyone can fit FS to suit their needs. On the other side, all of those niches (aka. expansion packs) are already filled by 3rd party developers.Pat

><>>>???LOL!! Mike your quite humor is hilarious :)Guess you guys have to figure a way to get fsx to run on XP since it wasnt built for it? hehehehe being in the same business as far as developing software products etc...reading this stuff cracks me up. ;-)I'm just glad our products are targeted at Enterprise/Small/Medium business instead of entertainment consumers.We would be tarred and feathered everytime we nixed a feature because of annoucement date deadlines and all. hehehe man your response really made me laugh here at work, while I'm tracking down bugs.

>FSX with the added new features that you mentioned will be>called FS11 (not to be smart, but honest), not FSX.2.>>But... I would really like the idea of FSX expansion packs,>for example an ATC expansion pack, Traffic expansion, etc. I>am a huge fan of a modular approach, so that everyone can fit>FS to suit their needs. On the other side, all of those niches>(aka. expansion packs) are already filled by 3rd party>developers.>>Pat Well Pat; Not be smart but I believe we already have SOME of the featuresyou mention..... they are called sliders. A lot of folks will probably have a hard time running the defaultsetup but some, of course, will feel the need to enrich thier experiencewith addons....free or pay. I think MS is approaching this in the right way by releasing theSDKs and letting outside developers have at them. What a lot of folks seem to be asking out of the ACES guys couldbe likened to asking GM to produce a Monte Carlo with performanceranging from every day driver, to NASCAR or NHRA PRO Stock levelsin each vehicle. Not very practical IMHO. Now I kind of doubt that your average soccer mom would want toshell out $150,000 and only have the ENGINE paid for. But that'skind of the analogy here. Just my 2 cents worth.

Wow, if "???" get's you cracking up don't bother watching BET's Comic view... :-roll

>Wow, if "???" get's you cracking up don't bother watching>BET's Comic view... :-roll I think you missed the whole part of my amusement at "????"In other words what would make someone think that fsx was targeted to run only on a yet to be released OS when you have huge installed base with XP. So Mike's "???" made me laugh because I'm in the same business as he is; just my market is not consumer entertainment but vertical enterprise.You guys have no idea (unless of course you manage software project) what it takes; how many times schedules, slip or are pulled in, which means if it is not fixed or working then it doesn't go out the door with this release etc etc.So finding a little humor reading between the lines of a peer's comment while working today was funny to ME :)

When I say "Imroved ATC", I mean it for both user-player and AI. So far, neither RC nor any other developer has made even small step into direction of AI ATC behavior's improvement.