THE X BOX 360 COULD THIS BE THE FUTURE?

[Guest beana51]

Microsoft is offering two versions.One for $299. ,the other for $399.They expect to sell three million of these in the next 90 days.To be sure its a game player,among other things it can do.While diversification with game products exists today at MS,will consolidation of all games to be included in this new game player tomorrow?.I know ,we don't like to refer to our selves as game players,however they do.Interesting concept for us to pounder. Wonder if any other concepts are out there? VINPS: 3 Mil X $300. or $400. a shot Do the math,and follow the money.

[Dillon 2,197]

"THE X BOX 360 COULD THIS BE THE FUTURE"Hopefully NOT concerning Flight Simulator.... :-boom And I'm sick of people suggesting this....

[Guest aarskringspier]

>"THE X BOX 360 COULD THIS BE THE FUTURE">>Hopefully NOT concerning Flight Simulator.... :-boom >>And I'm sick of people suggesting this....Why are you "sick" of people suggesting this? I would be willing to be it moves in that direction as consoles become more and more the gaming machine. Personaly I dont think I would like it but Ill bet it gets to that point.

[Guest beana51]

Hi, "Control your self man", its in the National news.I don't like it either.Its part of our world,like death and taxes,and nobody likes to talk about that too.The trouble seems to be ,to me at least, they MS, does not come out and strongly , to allays our fears,give us concrete reassurance,that our FS future is secure.They just let our imagination,and rumors, rule our thoughts.Now if any one ,in this supportive industry, and with certainty, integrity, and proof can show otherwise ,I wish,now, they would revel it to us all,so we may keep our heads in the clouds, instead of buried in the sand. If MS, uses an "ET TO BRUTUS" action it would not surprise me. Money talks ,others can walk.However, the Flight Simulator concept will never pass on like some short term game.Vacuums get filled.The talent already is in place,to create new,and possibly Superior products. Some of us have baulked at the price of the FS programs.We may have to fork up more money in the future.I for one find that no problem.Considering what we spend to make our own "Game Player" In the meantime "HAPPY SIMMING" to you. REGARDS VIN! !:-wave

[AWACS 12]

Game Consoles will never have the gaming capabilities that computers have, remember as gaming consoles technology increases, so does the computers. It has always been this way.Jeff

[Guest JeanLuc_]

I for sure would like a "certain" version of FS on XBOX: it would allow having a fixed frame display of the scenery on large size cheap screens (comparing to computer monitors) and make the XBOX a scenery 3D world rendering engine for FS, while having the networked version of FS running on the PC for just the system, gauge and anything else!Better than a dual core CPU in my opinion. Furthemore, in having hardware specs known (the XBOX hardware is set once for all), this permits optimizing the FS rendering engine to this specific hardware to ensure a constent refresh rate of the scenery display: no stutters and such at best!I see the XBOX version of FS an an external super 3D gfx card with intelligent connectivity and devices possiblities. Add XBOX Live connection to the set, and you could envision massive multiplayer with VOIP, and leave the entire CPU on your computer for highly realistic AI simulation (traffic and more) for example.Hope this helps!

[Guest]

I've been predicting and fearing that entertainment companies (including MS Games studio who create MSFS) would move away completely from PCs for the far more easily controlled consoles for some time now.The capabilities of the XB360 make that move more likely than ever, we might well be seeing the last generation of PC based games in production at the moment.

[aerdt 0]

>The capabilities of the XB360 make that move more likely than>ever, we might well be seeing the last generation of PC based>games in production at the moment.That would be the end of flight-simming as we know it. I have written many articles about this and moving FS to any gaming console would be a disaster.First of all, think practically: I refuse to set up my equipment in the living room in front of the TV, besides, if I wanted to I would get a projector in the living room through the TV-Out of my graphic board. Peripherials? Yokes? Joysticks? Keyboards?Upgrades? New add-on planes? E-Commerce? How would all the small (and big) add-on developers handle this? And how would it get onto your XBOX in the first place. What about add-on backups? Serials? Freeware?Also, any modern computer system outperforms the XBOX right now anyway. Everything on a XBOX flight sim would look generic and of the same quality. Would be boring, huh? Part of the fun is the tweaking of FS, upgrading to a new system, expanding...Folks, please stay real. FS on XBOX shall (and will hopefully never happen) unless for some 12yo. who wants to fly around in a "FS Lite"Pat

[RFields5421 1]

PS: 3 Mil X $300. or $400. a shot Do the math,and follow the money.Remember the retailer, the distributor, the manufacturer all get a cut on this. If MS clears $5 per unit profit I'd be greatly surprised.Would MS like to go to a proprietary game platform - of course.Then all the no-CD pirates would actually have to buy the game.Probably 25% to 35% of all the Flight Sim users are pirates - luckily most of them give up and move to the next hot item soon.However, MS problem with moving FS to XBox will be the addon issue.They know full well that 80% of us would drop the program if we could not customize our flying experience.

[Guest]

what are you talking about? The Xbox "IS" a PC. If anything consoles have become more like PCs than ever.

[aerdt 0]

Piracy is almost everytime an issue, but then on the other side there are plenty of folks, like me, with an approx. $500+ of extra add-ons and tools. I never hestiated for a second to invest $50 on any FS release.I feel that MSFS is a more of a 'show-off' and prestige product for MS as well, because it always pushes the boundaries of realism unlike every other 'game'. I would almost go that far to claim that the development of the next version of MSFS is significantly lower than, for example, the latest release of Age of Empires or Halo for the XBOX.FS is also geared towards the mature 'player', unlike the XBOX that is basically marketed for the teen/college kid. It is usually the poor, smart teen who decides to get a pirated version, not us more mature flight simmers with a (usually) bigger pocket, who didn't mind at all spending $50.I have yet to see any XBOX game that allows me the freedom of any advanced strategy game for the PC. The big sellers for XBOX are GTA, shoot-em-up and sports games, not the simulation, strategy genre.Pat

[aerdt 0]

My Tivo is a PC as well, but it can't run FS. So much for your argument.Pat

[Dillon 2,197]

If MS moves Flight Simulator to XBOX I'm done. Flight Simulator by itself without the massive add-on market doesn't make since. Flight Simulator will be like Falcon 4.0, the last version for the PC will be the version that will stand the test of time and the one serious simmers will gravitate to. Microsoft would be out the money loop for good with that decision... Flight Simulator can be used as a game but it also can be used as a real aviation trainer/tool. Flight Simulator on a game counsel will be the death nail in that concept and will nullify its value in real aviation circles. Flight Simulator will be primed for the gaming community and you'll see it go from GA to Combat Simulator to Space (Buck Rogers) Combat. The military aspect will probley be pushed to the forefront and we may see the day you can fly 747s in combat against one another (a Delta 767 can shoot down a United 737 with gun torrents and if you get enough points put that airline out of business). The sim we know today will go by way of every other game title vying for the 9 year old dollar. If we keep it on PC's it will maintain a status that attracts more mature audiences.An XBOX plateforum really puts the sim in the game realm more so than it is now... Many of you raise an issue with that already even though the pilots among us attest to FS

[Guest beana51]

Hi all,I guess we are all correct.Correct in the fact that we really don't know. Once again in this endless conjecture,the only arbiter who can revel the truth is ? you got it "MICROSOFT" Untill,and if ever they chose to revel the current in house planes for the next FS ,why we just don't know.I honestly believe this supportive industry does not know either. In the past ,the word seems to be,wait,trust me,you will see,your all wrong,your all right,we know! I'm inclined to now believe no-body nows nutting. "Wheres the Beef" the Ole lady once said. In a way ,I'm sorry I posted the question.Already the serous concern is telling here,so is the quit underling fear that it could be so. Some one must have the clout to make an industry inquiry of MS,as to the truth, who can do that?then again what is truth? VIN

[Dillon 2,197]

"the only arbiter who can revel the truth is ? you got it "MICROSOFT"...MICROSOFT CAN'T REVEL ANYTHING. THEY CAN ONLY MAKE A BIG MISTAKE AND LOOSE A COMMUNITY THAT'S BEEN BUILT UP FROM OVER 15+ YEARS.All any marketing department can do is guess by what they think the people would want and/or buy. Our discussions here can sway Redmond either way that's why so many of us are sending feedback to Microsoft as I type this about our simming habits. I mentioned above about channels like the 'Discovery Channel' (we can throw PBS in there as well) to give an example of how a good thing can get ruined. You put Flight Simulator on a counsel it's going to have to compete with game titles more so than it has to now. That would mean the wrong people (non-pilots) would start getting involved and things would change for the worse. Based on everything else around us, THAT'S A FACT... A computer offers more options to get real work done while you fly anyway. The Flight Simulator customer base is mainly older adults who own PC's... Like what was said above kids and college students can't afford $50+ add-ons let alone have the time, patience, and aptitude to learn how to fly them properly. Flight Simulator needs to stay with it's core customers and huge add-on market that's been built around the sim. XBOX would alienate too many people and all that's left is the kids and collage students who I've already mentioned above... If you have doubts about the sales numbers of Flight Simulator and who flies what, just think about who's keeping 'Flight1' and 'SimMarket' in business and above water. Surly it can't be the kids and college students who complain about anything over $30... How can these companies stay in business producing add-ons that keep you behind your computer reading manuals and flying hours at a time. That whole market would die with XBOX...Flight Simulator can be used as a valid aviation utility the same way Word can be used for word processing (Thanks to RealityXP you can learn for example how to use the real Garman GPS for the most part in Flight Simulator). Would you have Word or any comparible software much less training software on a game counsel like XBOX??? I think not and if so who would buy it when it's much more productive on a traditional PC..."I'm inclined to now believe no-body nows nutting. "Wheres the Beef" the Ole lady once said."You have a wealth of examples out there to show you how the wrong approach can ruin a good idea (note what I said about TV and Music and also take note why we don't have that many hardcore Jet Fighter simulations anymore. Some of you may not remember hey day of JSF, F22 Total Air War, Janes F/18, Janes Apache, Micropros's F-14 and last but not least EF2000)...