"should never exceed the price that the simulator sells for at retail."If it helps, think of the base MSFS as an operating system, and payware as applications. Applications can cost many times what an OS costs. Just look at Adobe Photoshop CS2. It sells for $649.00, 3 times what it costs to buy WinXP new at the store, and in my understanding other specialized software can get into the thousands of dollars. Demand is what dictates prices, both for these specialized software and payware addons. The payware market is very small in comparison to the number of copies that MS sells with each iteration of the FS series, with that market being diluted even further by simmers individual tastes. For example, for as great and wonderful that I've heard the LDS 767 is, I haven't bought it, being a GA man myself. Just as I'm sure that there are those out there who never buy GA addons, yet jump at the latest airliner addons. However, I totally understand where you're coming from. I myself have a price ceiling on what I'm willing to pay, which does happen to coincide with what I paid for the sim. Fortunately, most products keep below that, although I do fear for the day when $45-$50 becomes the average.

I definitely won't be getting it. Simply because it has none of the features I think I need to enjoy flight sim. Like:1. The kitchen sink2. And an easy button... :-badteeth[hr color=#000000][table border=0" width="98%" id="table1" height="4" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="2][td width=500]Jason CYOO - Formerly MYNN[br /]General Aviation Fan[br][/b]P4 3,2Ghz, 1GB Ram, FX5900 128MB, XP SP2.[br /][br /]

I'll wait........Thats half the cost of my aircraft rental............

I will purchase it, but dont know if my system will be fine for it. It runs FS9 very nice.Bill

I'll probably go by a new computer when it comes out or around the time when I know the specs of the fs software. I am not sure if it would run on mine. These are my specs:Dell Deminsion 8200Win XP (Service Pack 2)Intel Pentium 4 CPU at 2.4GHZRam: 1gbVideo Card: Nvidia Geforce 3 Ti-500 with 64mbdrivers: 52.16Soundcard: Voyetra Turtle Beach Santa Cruz WDM InterfaceCD-ROM Drive: D: Model=Samsung DVD-ROM SD-616I get fairly good preformance on fs9, but not sure what this will be like with fsx? The only thing is that my megascenery blurs with my videocard when I am doing high altitude and flying fast. It starts clearing when I am flying below 230kts. Clear skies are the best, but when I add clouds it really gets blurry.

will preorder like I did for any other version :-)Phil

I remember all the hype about FS9 - it's funny how all the guys who review these things rave about them and then after they are issued spends ages pointing out all the pitfalls ! In my opinion, FS9 offered virtually nothing better than FS2002 - I only upgraded because add-ons soon became unavailable for FS2002. Don't forget also that FS9 had terrain mesh problems (less detailed than 2002) and it also missed off loads of bridges etc, also a very unimaginative choice of aircraft; purporting to celebrate a 100 years of flight yet no Comet, no VC10, no Concorde, no Airbus - 100 years of American Flight maybe - another classic example of America re-writing history.Like one of the other replies say, you spend ages tweaking these things to get it to behave how you want it, spend a fortune on add-ons, spend ages downloading freeware - then a new version comes out. Doubt if I'll update very early unless it really has some startling features (better quality default scenery, proper speech ATC ? better able to cope with waypoints and routings that are more realistic? compatibility with existing add-ons)Mind you, I found an old advert for FS95 in my drawer yesterday - think things have moved on a bit - but I remember being very impressed with the graphics !! Ho - Hum ?

rolled my eyes ..I think I can't get em back in place! wow so FS9 was not an improvement over 2002? I guess some people will stay with 8 tracks!

>Doubt if I'll update very early unless>it really has some startling features (better quality default>scenery, proper speech ATC ? better able to cope with>waypoints and routings that are more realistic? compatibility>with existing add-ons)I'm not trying to poke fun at you, but I had to chuckle at this statement. You want revolutionary new features, but aren't willing to forfeit backwards compatibility? Realistically, you're going to have to pick one or the other.The ACES team has more than enough talent to build a new sim from the ground up, probably including the vast majority of hardcore simmers wishes. All the marketing problems of such a move aside, it would violate Microsoft's long held product support philosophy. I'm sure one of the Fs guys can correct me, but I'm pretty sure that MS likes to support the previous version or two, for something like six years. They want user's to get their money's worth out of the software they buy. Thats not something that can be done if they reinvent the wheel every release.Anyway, sorry for highjacking the thread. Carry on.Nick

I will get it - but NOT from this country. FS2000 Professional Edition cost

>I will get it - but NOT from this country. FS2000>Professional Edition cost

Probably not immediately, but it will depend largely on hardware requirements and addon compatability. Eventually I'm sure I will get it. I didn't upgrade to FS2004 from FS2002 for a long time due to those two things. (And my favorite FS2002 plane still doesn't have an FS2004 version.)And the FS2004 ATC still isn't as cool (to me at least) as the ATC in Flight Unlimited II was. (Which the quote in my sig is from.) I miss the days of buzzing the tower to make the controller spill their coffee or being contacted on Guard (which I've heard is being phased out) when entering controlled airspace without contacting the controller first. On the other hand, I don't really miss manually tuning the radio."Let me help you out. You're cleared to taxi any way you can to any runway you see."

Funnily enough, I paid

Didn't really say that it wasn't an improvement merely that it was over-hyped. The difference between 2004 and 2002 was nowhere near as different as between earlier versions, notably 2000 and 2002. All I can say is that unless the "big improvments" were to features I don't use in FS9 (I don't fly on-line for example and don't tend to over-complicate weather situations)then in my day to day use of FS, I haven't noticed any major improvements over FS2002.

I see that statement alot, but I visited my father in Wales last year, he's 67, retired and is learning how to use a computer. He's an ex-RAF maintainence mechanic but does not post on any flight forums etc....I was very suprised to see he had several add-ons for FS 2000, including VFR Wales among others. I didn't ask where he got it though I'm assuming it was available in a store somewhere and it made me realize, with the internet becoming more popular and more readily available the number of people searching for add-ons may increase for the next release, especially if FSX links to aviation sites as they did in FS9.Ian.