THE X BOX 360 COULD THIS BE THE FUTURE?

[kerosene31 349]

Do I think that FS will ever more to the console? Maybe, but probably not anytime soon. However, I don't think the idea is as farfetched as people think. You can't get a semi-realistic driving game on PC anymore (either Forza or GT4 type game). There is just nothing equivalent for PC right now in that area, which to me is very annoying. Look at PC games in stores now. At least in my area, PC gaming has been pushed back to the far corner of many stores. We're a long way from PC gaming going away, but the trend is there. Of course FS has some specific things whick make it very console unfriendly (controllers, addons, etc).

[Guest]

Remember we're a very small minority.Out of the 2 million LEGAL users (roughly) of MSFS the hardcore simmers who pursue addons and all kinds of additional hardware number a few tenths of thousands at most.Of those, a good percentage would do without if they had to.So Microsoft might loose 1% of their legal customer base for a single game, in return for a potentially much larger number of people who now use pirated versions but would buy the game if such would not exist.Add the decreased development cost of not having to take all the miriad possible hardware/software combinations people are using into account when creating the product, not being bound by having to maintain backwards compatibility with a published API (which Microsoft is dedicated to for addons), and the associated lower development cost because of that, and the prospect of creating solely for the console becomes extremely interesting for a company to pursue.Addons would disappear, hardware might survive but be indeed more limited (likely reserved to some yokes and sticks, maybe a set of pedals and some 3D goggles).But for the vast majority of users who now use no addons and fly using either the keyboard or a simple joystick this wouldn't matter at all.They'd get to play FS in their living room on a large screen TV instead of tucked away in a bedroom on a small computer monitor.

[Guest]

This community is too small to sway market forces...It's going the same way as the high end military sims you mention the moment it's economically more sensible to leave it behind than the continue to court it, just as those military sims went away because it was better economically to commit the teams that used to create them to building first person shooters.

[aerdt 0]

This is what I wrote to the EBGames/Gamestop headquarters:"With great sadness, I have noticed the decline of PC game offerings in all of your stores and a progressive increase in non-buying kids that seem to be every-present in those stores. It almost seems that you have abandoned us mature gamers from your target group and converted the EBGames and Gamestop stores into a playhouse for kids playing 'dumbed-down' Ninja games or 'blowing up stuff'. Unfortunately the games offered for any gaming console so far do not cater (or even interest) the mature gamer and I am saddened to see a nation-wide chain disregarding the gamer who likes to play advanced strategy or simulation games, which are non-existant or even possible to play on any console gaming system."

[Dillon 2,197]

That's exactly why XBOX would be the wrong venue for Flight Simulator. Anything for XBOX is going to focus on what sells for that kind of system. Video games work for counsels not simulations which offer no click and shoot potential (I don't care how advanced the XBOX 360 claims to be)...

[Guest Traffic]

While I would not be too happy if Microsoft diverted FS into Xbox environment, it certainly has its benefits.Most are already mentioned. You also have to remember that recently, more than ever before, console gaming's most important target audiences are early thirties mid-high income earners, not kids. And console gaming has just surpassed the music industry for the first time in money making. The potential there for business is quite high compared to PC gaming/Simming.Your Tivo is a PC? I'm not too clear about your argument there. Since your Tivo does not have ATi's next generation video, or three-core CPU running at 3.2GHz all for the main purpose of gaming, you can hardly put Tivo and Xbox in the same sentence, let alone compare them.I am personally tired of tweaking endlessly to squeeze out more frames or improve smoothness in FS. With my addons, no computer today can run them without stutters. So I can certainly see the benefit of a unified hardware that all software would be optimised for.But, as mentioned, no one knows. If anything, my prediction is that MS would support both platforms.

[aerdt 0]

I don't think that gaming consoles are geared towards the mid-thirty audience, hence the lack of intelligent games for any console. I have never seen a thirty-year old guy playing with a console in any store. It is usually the teen/college kid.Tivo is a PC, believe it or not. It has a mainboard, harddrive, graphic board, CPU, RAM and runs Linux as OS. XBOX uses a proprietary firmware as OS, so my Tivo is actually more of a PC, then any gaming console.Another important argument: A gaming console will never been up to the latest technology as a Personal Computer, just because of the prolonged development cycles of a gaming console, compared to the PC industry. The next generation of gaming consoles will hit the stores in maybe 3-4 years. By then, you can be lucky to sell you XBOX 360 for $50 on eBay.Also, are you willing to sacrifice all of your add-ons when a newer generation console will hit the stores? I have yet to see any console that is backwards-compatible.Tweaking comes naturally, when someone does not have the dough to upgrade to a mid-range system. I personally upgrade my machines once a year for a few hundred bucks and I never had to tweak my machine or FS to death to achieve acceptable frame rates.Cheers.

[Dillon 2,197]

"With my addons, no computer today can run them without stutters."XBOX won't solve this issue. If you run FS9 today without any add-ons you

[Guest beana51]

There is only one thing which will end these endless debates,wish lists,optimism,pessimism,and all the general talk.That is, a schedule, by Microsoft for its release date of the much awaited FS10.What prevents them from doing so? we don't know,and that is the source of all this anxiety.Seems something that important should have been leaked out by know.There are no secrets in this world.Then again,there may be no secrete to hide. VIN

[StoneC0ld 5]

Not to be picky, but I assume you mean "console"?"Counsel" is a completely different word altogether... :)

[Dillon 2,197]

Yea that's right, I was at work and rushed for time... It's a shame I can't go back and edit the posts as this takes away from the points I'm trying to make... (-:

[Gdavis0101 0]

I like the Xbox for what it is, a gaming machine.. When I get tired of simming I jump over to my XBOX and play a Tom Clancy game or two. I truely enjoy the sports games, football especially and when I can buy them for 20 bucks after six months of release that is great! I guess I am cheap that way.I recently bought the new Tom Clancy Lockdown and there was a patch released for it, now mind you I have never used my XBOX online so when I went to try and get said patch I found out that I had to subscribe to Microsoft Live, NOT GONNA DO IT! I was more ###### then anything and felt a little ripped off...As for the 360, I am looking forward to seeing it but it will never replace my PC and if MSFS makes the move to the 360 I think I will be done with this particular hobby as well, I sincerely doubt that it will make that move, perhaps a watered down version where you get to do everything in third person, YUCK!

[Guest]

Maybe, but it might make perfect sense to cancel the franchise and allocate the resources to products that will work well on consoles.That's what EA did, and all the others.

[StoneC0ld 5]

If MS does move the Flight Sim franchise exclusively to the Xbox360, I guess FS9 will just have to keep me happy for awhile longer.... :(Until I can get a console Flightsim to display at near the same screen resolution, with the same input capabilities, and using the same yoke/throttle/pedals hardware I bought for FS9 (and spend a LOT of money on!!!), I will just stick with FS9.While it might be nice for the console gamers for MS to make a version of FlightSim for Xbox360 that's tailored to the console and the market it would fit in, MS would be foolish to drop the PC version entirely in favor of the xbox360....

[LAdamson 240]

> Yes>X-Plane may have better FDE modeling It doesn't even have that!And, as you said in your first response,"And I'm sick of people suggesting this...." :D L.Adamson