>No 3rd party developer can compete with ACES prices due to>volumes of sales and the budget they have to work with.Not true. A few months ago I purchased the Shockwave WWII Fighters pack for $20, which includes 5 top quality aircraft. Just the other day I saw their new Aircraft Power Pack 2 at Best Buy for $30, which gives you all 5 of the previous aircraft, plus their new P-40 and other goodies.

I'm sorry but I can't help but notice there's a wonderful, elegant, and totally affordable 2,000-pound Elephant in the room that no one seems to be bringing up, which is, the availablity of many/most of the things that XPack provides (and that also drive down the cost of payware, you'd think), which is, freeware. NOT that I'm condoning another of those old tiresome payware-vs-freeware arguments - both have their place - but let's look at some available freeware equivalents to the content of XPack before we say Microsoft is alone in their influence on the specialist limited-interest payware niche market:(And, I'm not saying XPack isn't feature-rich and a great bargain as I DO intend to buy it posthaste!)New aircraft: Plenty to be had here, of course including a lot of high-quality FS9 freeware aircraft that work very well in FSX. Have we even finished exploring the number of freeware aircraft that work in FSX?New/updated scenery locations: Again, seems like many freeware scenery sets and areas are available in the AvSim library and I'm not just talking about a trip to Chile. :) New features:- Carrier operations: I'm doing arrestor cable landings and cat shots using Rob Barendregt's COP3 gauge set, and on Lamont Clark's excellent moving carrier battle group scenery, or on Corey Hart's freeware multiplayer-driveable-and-landable carrier, so Flight Deck 4's days were already numbered as far as I can see.- Multiplayer racing: The XPack looks GREAT for this but, if you have FS9 still loaded and find this attractive, then nothing, and I mean NOTHING, will ever beat the totally fun (and free!) action of PROPS Air Racing with some fantastic online folks at WestCoastATC. Although I'm a HUGE fan of the genre, the GameSpy connectivity issues and need for an 'officiating' organization to actually bring people together, run season-based competitions and track points races (which PROPS does quite well in FS9 and may take on in FSX in the future, I hope) may mean that in FSX, the XPack approach could just lead to a lot of disorganized scootin' around.- Helicopter hoist/slingload system...OK I dont' know of an alternative for this. Which is fine, becuase I'm excited about the XPack and enjoy helo flying and can't wait to get into this! But was some other payware company planning on working on an alternative? I don't believe so, so there's no impact on the payware market from this feature, right?- New missions: How many missions have been created in the mission forum here and are in the AvSim library for download?That all being said, I can't see an impact. XPack provides all of the above in one fell swoop, integrated, and with a proper development/test/release cycle behind it, easy installing, no unzip and file copy/pasting or editing, which is worth it to many, and I'm sure is of fine quality. So it's a bargain, but nothing new in it as far as impacting the payware market that the freeware alternatives don't do as well albeit in piecemeal fashion. Or am I missing something?

I assume HUD is heads up display. I am not sure about GDI.

>>>>>- Multiplayer racing: The XPack looks GREAT for this but, if>you have FS9 still loaded and find this attractive, then>nothing, and I mean NOTHING, will ever beat the totally fun>(and free!) action of PROPS Air Racing with some fantastic>online folks at WestCoastATC. Although I'm a HUGE fan of the>genre, the GameSpy connectivity issues and need for an>'officiating' organization to actually bring people together,>run season-based competitions and track points races (which>PROPS does quite well in FS9 and may take on in FSX in the>future, I hope) may mean that in FSX, the XPack approach could>just lead to a lot of disorganized scootin' around.>FSHOST was the best thing that ever happend to FS Multiplayer.(congratulations Russell Gilbert )The Prop Racing addition to FSHOST, as used by Westcoast ATC, has set the bar at a very high level for FS Air Racing.FSX Multiplayer was a complete re-design to that in FS9.FSX Acceleration MP Racing will probably also be very different to FSHOST MP racing.Time will tell if the new MP is an improvement or not.Sometimes, there is a lot to be said for"If it ain't broke, don't fix it"Gamespy = disorganized scootin' aroundUnfortuantly, XPACK Racing may be the same -- but time will tell.

>>The Prop Racing addition to FSHOST, as used by Westcoast ATC,>has set the bar at a very high level for FS Air Racing.>VERY high indeed.....and not just the best all-round well-thought-out full package of aircraft, courses, and features, but also the best, toughest and friendliest competitor's I've ever had the pleasure to fly with. If I recall correctly, a couple of PROPS fliers where at the X-Pack booth at the Reno Air Races and one of the MS Developer's blogs mentioned "a couple of sim pilots who proved to be tough competition". Wouldn't have any doubt if that'd be a couple of pilots it sounds like we've both flown with?:-beerchug

>what is a gdi+ hud?HUD = Heads Up DisplayGDI+ = Graphics Device Independent; a programming API that allows real-time drawing of vector graphics rather than moving static bitmaps around the screen, which does not dependend on a specific hardware device (hence: Independent).The "first in FS" means that - up until now at least - no one has managed to find a way to draw to a transparent background using GDI+, which is of course a fundamental requirement for a HUD! ;)

I think it will have to force the price of add-ons down. I recently bought FlightDeck 4 and even though it is good, there are no missions, only saved flights. Also I bought Blackhawk, which had a couple of missions but in my opinion were not of a high quality as MS is. The other addon I bought was UTX,34.95, maybe a little pricy but I like it.I cannot wait for Acceleration, at 29.99 I will be first in line!

>MS releases a product that does appeal to the normal add-on>buyer market so FS addon producer have no choice FS is now a>competitor in their market.This is true. I had been waiting for the Aerosoft SeahwakX to come out, but considering they want a hefty $42 for it, I find it to be a waste of money when I can spend $12 less, get a much cooler helo, AND get two other top quality aircraft. I have also been waiting for the VRSim F/A-18, and will not be buying that either. So Acceleration will actually put money INTO my pocket. lol

Lots of add-ons are way overpriced. Maybe getting some super-premium add-ons at a mid-level price range will force the developers to separate the wheat from the chaff and stop releasing low quality junk at $40 a pop.I offer the Just Flight Lancaster as Exhibit A. I paid over $40 for that... thing, and it was a low-res mess with FS98 quality skins and half the models didn't even have VCs. Thank goodness for the money back guarantee.

I just saw the ad for $30 in circuit city. available on this wednesday at 2pm PST.Dilip

I was hoping for tomorrow. I'll be looking tomorrow anyway.