dmaher

One problem as you can imagine is there isn't a single Quebec "national/racial heritage". At its worst it's not about promoting French, but working to eliminate everything but French. The region has always been a point of immigration. Quebec has an important anglophone history too. One solution might be sovereignty for now. One day Quebec may even choose to negotiate back into Canadian Confederation on mutual terms.

Using google's numbers I get $2112 per capita...man woman and child. The number of income taxpayers is less than half the population, so higher still.

Don’t forget, Greece makes German cars affordable and that was actually the deal. Historically Greece has had difficulties. Everyone (ie Germany) was well aware. Greece helps German exports by keeping the euro down. The problem is now Greece has no control of their currency when they really need it. A new drachma won't be worth a lot and it shouldn't be like before. This goes back to German reunification, and it’s not evil just an error in hindsight.

I agree. They are simple engines, but they happen to be an ideal design. And it's not nostalgic.The thing is you want an engine that generates power at low rpm...most of all. GA aero engines now have fuel injection and electronic ignition and options for mogas. More than that you really start to add complexity and new opportunities for failures you don't need. I appreciate auto conversions aren’t a fair example…but they make a poor substitute. I like what Superior has done, upgrading say a Lycoming. There’s a good list of promised brand name next gen aero engines; somehow they never get off the ground. When a next gen engine really comes around I'm sure I'll love it too...but it's a sticky problem. ...even this looks familiar, it's half o-style Continental (picture is 10 years old btw)

I've read that historically it was the Ethyl Corporation that manufactured tetraethyl lead (TEL), the corporation was formed for that purpose. The additive was branded as Ethyl. TEL is being phased out around the world now. It’s a shrinking market. So how do you maintain a profit as your phased out? I would suspect even the petroleum industry doesn’t want to be in the 100LL business now. There's an Interesting side story, it was a scientist named Patterson http://en.wikipedia....meron_Patterson that discovered the high levels of atmospheric lead linked to the introduction of TEL. This lead was contaminating his experiments to measure the age of the earth :Nerd: Is there an additive product you can mix with mogas after the pump?

Agent Scully, that last one is an artifact of digital zoom....no question :)

TeamFortress is likely the best example. If I understand right, it started as retail boxed title but didn’t really break through…and went to free-to-play. It brought in a big audience and they sold DLC...much of it made by third parties. Much of the DLC content is cheap to make too...just a few days. Not like FS. But I'd say it gets a lot of attention just by getting to market first. Like Koi Pond for iphone :)

I guess in my mind the factors that will stabilize games again would be; a new round of consoles (or whatever hardware hardcore gamers choose), a mature and secure electronic distribution system, and a more optimistic economy (for funding). The advances in graphics production are harder earner these days, so it takes more time than ever to look great. This change in req'd time isn't linear...it's exponential. devs just need to be aware and take care. Better tools help a lot...and it's unknown what tools we'll have in five years. They may be great. I'm not sure how we'll monetize games (there will be various ways to suit different games), but you get what you pay for. So I expect generally to pay a lot less, and get a lot less too. It is also about the game industry just growing up and working with the free-market as it should. That's a good thing :)

There are good things happening too…yes. But the 'difficult times' are new. Games have always been a very risky industry, and now the stakes are higher than ever. In say five to ten years I think we’ll see some stability again. There are a half dozen reason why it’s so difficult right now…it’s not one trend. There will always be a COD too, yes. But no one just makes a COD…that’s what winning the lottery looks like. EA http://www.google.ca...ASDAQ:EA&ntsp=0 ZYNGA http://www.google.ca...DAQ:ZNGA&ntsp=0

It kinda looks like a penguin to me. But the idea that it's a UAV is much better. I'd go back there with a zoom lens (and some hering) :)

The games industry is having a very difficult time right now. More than ever it’s hard to get a return on investment. It operates like a lottery. There are lots and lots of changes going on. And IMO there's a lot of money that's just going to evaporate in the next few years. It’s easy to think of Activison and EA and MS and think who cares. But the industry is really made up of ordinary people, and that means friends and families.

I'm not an Xplane user, so I don't have a useful opinion on it. For both FSX and Xplane, the airfile itself is very important and variable. I think a good comparison would be to look at one aircraft from a single dev that’s available in both. Carenado comes to mind. And even so, we'd still have to assume the author's effort and expertise was equal in both. Most of all, I’d love to hear from a designer that’s accomplished in both. The effects of propwash on the rudder do work in FSX. The deficiency could be the airfiles you happened to look at. For aircraft with castoring wheels this effect is particularly important. I have tuned this effect myself. In the process I start with an exaggerated effect and then tune it down. An exaggerated effect is actually a lot more fun to maneuver ;) But (in the RV) at very-very slow speeds it's more about differential braking, and the aerodynamic effect is a bit more restrained...but it's there :)

That sounds like Flight :)

Yeah, FSX does still model propwash too...it is a rudder and elevator parameter. What I believe changed (from FS9 to FSX) was the low end performance of the prop itself. I found editing the prop low-end slightly brings back the old propwash without adverse effects. Otherwise the elevator propwash coefficient must be set so high it causes problems at flight speeds.

FSX in fact does have a torque_on_roll effect. And if I understand this is the effect you're seeing. I think FSX's flight model is still underrated myself. I see Flight as addressing some of the problems FSX does have. One simple way to significantly improve upon the FSX model is to increase the resolution of the flight tables. In the worst cases an FSX table is defined with as few as 4 or 5 points on a curve. If we had more points we could do much more. There are a few of what I'd call bugs in the FSX model. They can often be worked around using simConnect scripts... these are things like CS prop drag and the effects of altitude on power. But I completely agree, I’d rather have Flight’s flight model over FSX. Rob, I think from my POV you’re blurring the line between a flight training simulator and an aero dynamic design simulator (and we sort of want both on our desktop). But they are different. You don’t use a design simulator in real-time…or for training (one thing it is used for is generating tables). In real life training some of these effects are hard to spot even when they are there...and that goes for the sim too. Danny

Thanks, just watched it. Time well spent :)

If anyone missed the significance of the date...it was the beginning of a new fiscal year. I was anxiously waiting for news on the other project here in Vancouver...it was canceled too. I remember at an Avsim conference, Aces was asked if they would consider making a built-in store for 3PDs. They said they would like to, and would continue to look into it, but legally it was impractical and unlikely. And that may very well be the biggest reason why 3PD's were never included in Flight. (subcontractors on the other hand answer directly to MS)

Warning: some harsh language in this video This made me lol :) :LMAO: ...maybe that's what it's like. I wonder if Kixeye will be around in five years?

LIMBO is really cool. I haven't played it, but I have watched the videos before. I don't mean to make fun of casual games...they're important :) I haven't played Farmville, but I was hooked on a game called Tribal Wars. You could see how addictive a good simple game can be.

As far as I can tell, we aren't really talking about children, a market that already understands FS - take it or leave it. With 10-20 million new users I'd say we're talking about a casual market. That's a way of saying, mature women who enjoy online backgammon and Farmville....of which there are very many they say ;)

FScamp I totally agree with that. And it might explain why Big Publishers are running away from the middle market. The indie types, 3PD’s included, are willing to run with no margin or even a loss; because there’s a greater purpose. Just as you say. This trend is pretty big…and cost a lot of choice jobs. The good news is quality indie games (using licensed engines often) are getting cheaper to build. But unfortunately indie stakes are much higher for employees and small investors. These devs can’t just walk away from an all-in project...like MS can. I suspect Big Publishers can't compete on the new razor margins...they need a healthy return for investors. So leave the middle be, and then buy any game that breaks through and finds an audience.

My work is in the industry too and I’ve had direct experience with at least six canceled games. These always came with a lot of anger and frustration and finger pointing…and even some relief ;) But it is the nature of the business, games are canceled with surprising regularity. There’s nothing particularly unique about what happen to Flight....except that we are fans.

I don’t agree that it was politics, or at least that's such a vague term it’s sort of hollow. If you mean opposing visions, assumptions, and interpretations in the chain of command…then I can start to agree. But ultimately this is about revenue. I think there may have been a mistaken assumption along the road that Flight (or FSX-style) DLC was profitable. Profitable enough to make this business run...at least in the short-term. IMO they needed to offload this cost onto 3PD’s, and my guess is they knew that very well. But the situation didn't allow that to happen. Flight did a lot of things right, but I think ultimately didn’t have a realistic picture of their 'new' audience. Still from outside it's very hard to tell. I hadn't heard the rumor that Flight might be in Windows 8. It goes to show...that's the kind of inside info that makes such a huge difference in understanding the strategy behind Flight.

CryogenicPilot I agree, and when you fly online there's a lot of young people. And some of them have amazing stick and rudder skills. I did some online beta testing with a few of these guys...it was so much fun. I didn't even know that kind of precision formation was possible. Let's say, I got schooled

I agree, but you make it sound like a picnic :) I'd say the situation is more desperate...