I am curious as to why MS has produced this acceleration pack. It obviously adds some things that are not in the original FSx - but essentially, as far as I can see, it is "just" another addon. Perhaps it is just a revenue raiser (OK by me - that's why they are in business) - or is there some other motive?Any thoughts please??Barry

As I understand it, Acceleration was largely the "brain child" of one of ACES' staff members, Paul Lange (P-12c_pilot). He speaks quite well for himself in his own blog, but I believe he envisioned Acceleration as a way to show off more of FSX's untapped potential -- incorporating missions, new aircraft, new scenery, and some dimensions of flight that really haven't been part of Flight Simulator before (air racing, carrier landings, helo operations). It extends the envelope of what FSX is all about, without making us wait for FS11 to see some interesting new features. In that sense, it's really not "just" another add-on. (Would anything released by ACES be "just" another add-on anyway?) As to motivation, obviously Microsoft wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't expected to be profitable. That's a given. But in meeting several of the ACES staff members at last year's AVSIM conference, one of the things that struck me was how much brainstorming they do about flight simming and its potential to go in new, previously untapped directions. These are NOT people who seem content to sit on their collective duffs while merely counting the profits from their near-monopoly in the civilian flight simulation arena. And that's a very good thing, IMHO. I feel it is something the community should strongly encourage, even if there are some hiccups and potential controversies along the way. (I doubt we would rather have a sim that's stuck in the mud and not continually pushing its limits.) There are some other, less obvious, aspects of Acceleration. For one, ACES chose to tap into the expertise of some well-known outside developers/designers, which I see as a very positive move. I hope it will spur some innovative new releases from the "outside" add-on community. (Incidentally, the outsiders' contribution to Acceleration is being widely praised in these forums, even if people don't realize that they're praising the work of people who aren't actually MS/ACES employees. Still more evidence that ACES made a good move in choosing proven talent to help with Acceleration.) The commercial success of Acceleration would also be helpful in demonstrating to Microsoft's higher-ups that not all successful gaming software needs to be designed for the XBox. From what I witnessed when I bought my own copies of Acceleration, it was moving off the shelves at a very rapid pace -- in fact, I don't think any of the initial release copies ever reached the "shelves" at my local store because they were being sold directly out of the UPS shipping box at the customer service counter! I suspect the first shipment was completely sold out within a few hours. Even though I'm just getting started with Acceleration, I hope it's the first of many such releases from ACES. If this product line becomes financially successful, it bodes well for the future expansion of our hobby. AFAIK the ACES team has now shifted its attention to FS11, but I really hope we'll see future add-ons along the lines of Acceleration to feed the habits of us flight sim junkies. Might we see a future add-on that more completely replicates the role of an ATP pilot, from obtaining his preflight briefing to dealing with typical in-flight issues that professional pilots might encounter? How about other dimensions of flight -- maybe crop-dusting, doing air-drops on forest fires, or flying a blimp around a sports stadium or other large event? There are many, many possibilities that ACES could tap into. I hope the apparent success of Acceleration encourages ACES to delve further into more products such as this. Those are my thoughts, anyway. - Lee

Isn't 'Acceleration' only for Dx10 and Vista?

>Isn't 'Acceleration' only for Dx10 and Vista?Nope - works just as well if not better on XP/DX9. Of course XP/DX9 users miss out on the DX10 Preview on FSX. I'm happy with Accel's perf on my 3 year old WinXP system.

Yep, very true. And if you don't happen to own a copy of Acceleration (which would be a BIG mistake, IMHO) you should still apply the SP2 patch when it becomes available separately. Phil Taylor has posted about this previously. But the bottom line is that you can (and should!) use Acceleration and SP2 with any installation of FSX.

Why do you say "But the bottom line is that you can (and should) use Acceleration and SP2 with any installation of FSX."? I am really not excited about much of anything coming from "Acceleration" simply because that is not my style of flying. I mainly fly the realistic "Heavies" (PMDG, Level D, ect....) and some GA aircraft on regular flights. I am not into racing planes and all that other stuff.What all would I be missing if I did not buy "Acceleration"? Would the performance of my FSX game be reduced without "Acceleration"?Thanks.

Right now at this instant in time, you are missing the Service Pack 2 fixes and tweaks in FSX if you do not have Acceleration.SP2 will be released for free shortly - users who do NOT wish to purchase Acceleration will be able to download SP2 and install it like any other patch. This will update FSX to the same "patchlevel" as FSX+Acceleration, and you will have identical performance and stability.

>>What all would I be missing if I did not buy "Acceleration"? You would be missing the great EH101 helicopter and its all-new helicopter flight model.I too have a tendency for big iron, but I bought Acceleration anyway, for a couple of reasons:1) it's only $30.00 and I get 3 new aircraft.2) I can get SP2 right NOW as opposed to in a few weeks3) the helicopter. And I am not even a rotorhead.Have I flown the racing stuff? No, I haven't, because, like you, that doesn't really interest me all that much.>Would the performance of my FSX game be reduced without>"Acceleration"?>No. You just won't have the aircraft and missions and scenery in the Acceleration pack.Acceleration INCLUDES the SP2, but you will be able to download the SP2 for free in a couple of weeks.IMO, even if you are into big iron, you can't miss with Acceleration. The helicopter is amazing.RhettAMD 3700+ (@2585 mhz), eVGA 7800GT 256 (Guru3D 93.71), ASUS A8N-E, PC Power 510 SLI, 2gb Corsair XMS 3-3-3-8 (1T), WD 150 gig 10000rpm Raptor, WD 250gig 7200rpm SATA2, Seagate 120gb 5400 rpm external HD, CoolerMaster Praetorian