Ms CFS 3 Box Art, release date, near october/november 2002

good times! it's about time they did a better version of the european theater. i'm more interested in that than the pacific theater.

Sweet! So Dave :-hah you going to buy me that? :-lolBest Regards Derek Beal Senior Test Pilot - SimuBuild Freeware Group (SB) :-waveCLICK BANNER TO ACCESS! :7http://flightsimmers.net/va/aeroflot724/Dereksig.jpgPROUD RUSSIAN/CANADIAN! :D http://www.x-plane.org/users/dbeal/3dflags...om_russi2bl.gif http://www.x-plane.org/users/dbeal/canadaa.gif

Yeah just right after I make Admiral.

OK. That's my Christmas present. It would be an unimaginable scenario that I didn't buy the latest version of every MS flight sim. Especially (as with CFS2), when Tucker Hatfield is at the reigns.Do you notice that the box appears to be the same thickness as the CFS2 box??? Does that mean we are actually going to get a PRINTED manual??? Otherwise why would they ship a box 90% full of air?

I have recently been seeing reduced size Microsoft game packages on the shelves of software retail chains. The new packages have art work resembleing the larger packages and are the size of a DVD boxed set. Package height and width is the same as commonly used for DVD and console disk packageing, while thickness/depth is similar to the depth of the older packages. I have seen similar packageing from other game software publishers. I have seen the smaller boxes containing FS 2000 Std, CFS II, and a combination package containing CFS I and FS 98.Must be some sort of packageing standardization effort on the part of the retailers. Similar to the early oversized music CD packaging that allowed retailers to add a divider to a fixture originaly designed to hold LP records and display two columns of CDs. The smaller game packages would not only permit retailers to use the same displays and shelf spaceing for PC games, console games, and DVDs; the smaller packages would make it possible to display a larger variety of software with the face of the package visable to the browseing customers. Software publishers probably don't object to the added "excuse" to put the "manual" on the CD instead of the production cost of including more than a pamphlet size manual either.

Whats really funny about the new packaging is that they are creating a brand new problem, that of theft. All the stores I shop at now have the added step of having to remove the contents of the box and put the now empty boxes on the shelf only to have to reload and reseal the contents at the time of sale ...I wonder if the loss rate has offset the space savings yet :-lolI chuckled at their returns policy too, "no opened software returns" to which I pointed out that the box was already open before I bought it ... they seemed rather perplexed and did not know what to say.On that topic, you really have to wonder why the software industry gets away with what it does: no returns, no warranties, no recourse except that of making sure you never buy from them again ...Kinda makes one want to talk about the missing *atc* ... hey, thats a good way of terming it ... the p***h will fix *atc* :-lol Ray

Yeah, at the local wal-mart out here, all the MS sims are being packaged in much smaller packages that just contain the cds and nothing else. Also I saw FS5 there for $9.95... didn't buy it though.

Here in OZ, MS seems to have exclusively gone the way of tough outer cardboard packaging, slightly smaller than A4 and around 3cm thick. This seems to be happening for all their software - not just games. If I had a choice, I would rather the old style packaging (ie like FS2000 / CFS2) followed by a DVD style packaging. What I don't like is the CD's in the cardboard wallet trick that MS used for FS2002. I had to return my first copy because disk # 1 was so badly scratched niether of my CD-ROMS could read it properly. Looks like CFS2 packaging was the last of the "good old days".