Kinda interesting, a serious simmer burried in the mainstream gaming world. http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/27392Nothing all that new in the preview, although it's an interesting story on its own.

Yes 'kinda' interesting as you say. Thing I found funny or contradictory was how adamant he was in saying that one does not 'play' the simulator but 'fly' it, and then goes on to use the word 'game' repeatedly throughout the review.Well just to clarify things we play games and we fly simulators, even cheap ones...the age old debate :-)Bill

>Yes 'kinda' interesting as you say. Thing I found funny or>contradictory was how adamant he was in saying that one does>not 'play' the simulator but 'fly' it, and then goes on to use>the word 'game' repeatedly throughout the review.>>Well just to clarify things we play games and we fly>simulators, even cheap ones...the age old debate :-)>>BillFlight Simulators, just like a lot of various entertainment software packages, are essentially role playing games.Prove me wrong. ;)

I have to agree with ya on that one, it is a game like it or not.

>I have to agree with ya on that one, it is a game like it or>not.It is NOT a game !!It is reality that is trying hard to mimic FS9, THAT IS THE TRUTHall

>>Yes 'kinda' interesting as you say. Thing I found funny or>>contradictory was how adamant he was in saying that one does>>not 'play' the simulator but 'fly' it, and then goes on to>use>>the word 'game' repeatedly throughout the review.>>>>Well just to clarify things we play games and we fly>>simulators, even cheap ones...the age old debate :-)>>>>Bill>>Flight Simulators, just like a lot of various entertainment>software packages, are essentially role playing games.>>Prove me wrong. ;)I would not try to prove you or anyone wrong, as I really do not care. It is the contradiction in terms in the review that I am referring to.Flight plan closed....in the game Bill

"The best feature will likely be the one we can't even demonstrate -- the Direct X 10 graphic engine. If you look at Microsoft's screen shots, you will see some very pretty pictures. I can make the sim look nearly like them on my machine. It's very pretty. At 2 frames per second. DX10 will, supposedly, make scenes like this possible at playable frame rates."The above statement says it all. "My guess is that the computer that can max out the graphics options hasn't even been built yet, and it won't be until 2008 when the engine runs out of tasks to throw at a hot new PC."The term 'Buyer beware' comes to mind (as long as the purchaser knows slideshows are a possibility and the sim may look worse than what they currently have with FS2004)... :-roll

>>>Yes 'kinda' interesting as you say. Thing I found funny or>>>contradictory was how adamant he was in saying that one>does>>>not 'play' the simulator but 'fly' it, and then goes on to>>use>>>the word 'game' repeatedly throughout the review.>>>>>>Well just to clarify things we play games and we fly>>>simulators, even cheap ones...the age old debate :-)>>>>>>Bill>>>>Flight Simulators, just like a lot of various entertainment>>software packages, are essentially role playing games.>>>>Prove me wrong. ;)>>I would not try to prove you or anyone wrong, as I really do>not care. It is the contradiction in terms in the review that>I am referring to.>>Flight plan closed....in the game >Bill>>>I don't understand how it's a contradiction. I play a lot of games that are simulators. If you go to gamestop.com, click on PC games and look at the category list on the side, you'll see a whole category for simulators/simulations. I don't really see the terms as mutually exclusive.

>I have to agree with ya on that one, it is a game like it or>not.So does that mean the 15 million dollar simulator I was in yesterday is just a game?

You didn't read the reviewer's last comment in the comments section below the 'review'. He was baseing this review on a press version which was a beta. Beta3 by any chance?>"The best feature will likely be the one we can't even>demonstrate -- the Direct X 10 graphic engine. If you look at>Microsoft's screen shots, you will see some very pretty>pictures. I can make the sim look nearly like them on my>machine. It's very pretty. At 2 frames per second. DX10 will,>supposedly, make scenes like this possible at playable frame>rates.">>The above statement says it all. >>"My guess is that the computer that can max out the graphics>options hasn't even been built yet, and it won't be until 2008>when the engine runs out of tasks to throw at a hot new PC.">>The term 'Buyer beware' comes to mind (as long as the>purchaser knows slideshows are a possibility and the sim may>look worse than what they currently have with FS2004)...>:-roll

Great article.

>>I have to agree with ya on that one, it is a game like it>or>>not.>>>So does that mean the 15 million dollar simulator I was in>yesterday is just a game?Did you really die if you crashed in the Sim? (Think ala-Matrix)... If the answer is no, then yes, you just played a game... A VERY expensive, elaborate game meant to help teach. But a game none the less.The ONLY thing that seperates the expensive "commercial" simulators from the 'toy" PC ones is cost, level of realism and focus. As a desktop "toy" type Sim, FS is meant to be entertaining as much (or more so than) educational. The big commercial jobs are just the opposite. They shouldn't be fun. They're there to teach. (Although, I think many of us would find a few hours in a $15M simulator fun!)Just my $0.02....--2002cbr600f4i

"You didn't read the reviewer's last comment in the comments section below the 'review'. He was baseing this review on a press version which was a beta. Beta3 by any chance?"We'll see come next month I guess. I'd be willing to bet money the release version is about the same as the version reviewed here. Let

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Nice read while some of you fight over the game or not game part, what stood out to me is the one fact that by the time we can run any Microsoft FS sim great the next version comes along. What a cycle we are in.:)