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MS FLIGHT announcement


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You will be forced to use Games for Windows Live and it will probably be distributed through Steam . Looking at my FSX file it is about 18 gigabites in size . If MS Flight is supposed to be equal to or a step up from FSX I would assume that the file size should be the same or larger ( We all know how long it took to download the Xplane 10 demo 3gigs ) so I would guess that the initial download will be very similar to Xplane10 Demo . Based on the Seattle area the Home of Microsoft.

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I doubt it will be on Steam, really. It's branded Microsoft. I don't see anything else there. Yes, a few games, like GTA IV, needs Games for Windows to play online and such, but that's a whole other story.

I would be surprised if this won't be distributed through their own Games for Windows application and website. And since it's free, other's who care enough to spread the gospel, like IGN and such will host the files too.

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This is a sad day for one of the oldest flightsims for the PC. It reminds me of Test Drive Unlimited 2, just with aircraft. If you don't believe me, look at their latest video.

Yes, in a way it is sad. But some will be ecstatic! Ain't many alternatives now. If only Laminar realised the opportunities sitting in front of them right at this minute!

I was just browsing the Orbx forums, and while their sceneries always look great, my god, after flying the betas for awhile now, those FSX clouds look so awful!

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While it's definitely a loss for the current generation of simulator enthusiasts its a massive win for inspiring the next generation of aviation enthusiasts.

As in, an easily accessible platform for them to start flying with, before moving onto X-Plane? Yes, absolutely.

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I can for sure understand the disappointment of the serious FSX users who had some hopes for a new great simming platform and I was following it with interest as well, because I have been using Flight Simulator since version 2, running it on a C64.

However, from my point of view, serious or hardcore FSX users make only a fraction of total sales. Most people who bought FSX are not all that serious and don't want to go through detailed flight manuals and checklist and are also not interested in all too deep system simulations. They just want to take an aircraft for a spin and have some fun.

My feeling is that Microsoft clearly recognized this trend or fact and this is the reason why Flight is what it is. A casual platform for all kind of "pilots", but if this leads to more people getting interested in aviation and are inspired by simulated flight, I am all for it, because the people who want to get serious will move to other platforms after it, like XP10.

I don't see all that big of a loss there, with respect to Flight. We have a nice XP9 and now XP10, which I hope will become an awesome development and flying platform. Beside that, we still have FSX and in the hands of a talented developer (ORBX, A2A Simulations etc.) it is great.

To be honest, I didn't expect anything new from Microsoft after they axed the Aces team. Now they have something called Flight, which could be a great tool to win new serious aviators in the long run. If not, nothing is lost and it is free to start using it. I would have loved that with the age of 12, when I started using flight simulators.

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Good post, Pete. Pretty much concurs with what a colleague of mine who's a hardcore FSX user was thinking. His fellow enthusiasts aren't interested in Flight - or X-Plane for that matter - as they have a stable and satisfactory platform as it is. As well as that, they have collectively invested several hundred dollars in payware scenery and aircraft, along with the investment in FSX, and earlier versions of FS, itself and won't be jumping any time soon.

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The matter is that while FSX lets say that is a steady platform (there are huge problems to setup it right), is a dead one, cause there will be no further version. Flight in the other hand seem like a no-simulator. It looks more like an arcade game till now. I've read that Microsoft will not provide SDK, everything will go through their app store, so there may be there is no future for developers, the strong point of FSX. It will last for a couple a years, but i don't think that right now a developer will start to create a new product for FSX. A good aircraft needs a lot of time to be developed. For them, today, X-Plane looks, i believe, the best option for the future.

Flight it will be a success. That's for sure. Lot of people purchased FSx, but find it hard to "understand" it, specially those with no experience in aviation. Flight will be for them something that they can use more easily. And I think that's the target for MS. Make more money and who cares about flight simulation lovers.

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Seems that PMDG is looking now at X-Plane!

Well- first- I'm not overly concerned. As hardware advances- FSX is really just coming into its own on the average consumer's hardware- so we intend to continue FSX development for the foreseeable future! There are a number of directions in which we can go- and PMDG has already been taking steps to sort out what platform our future products will feature. There has been some loose talk about PMDG and Xplane10- but I must tell you that while we are evaluating that product, and while we do have someone on staff helping to map out the process by which our products wind up in Xplane10- we are still some way out on that project line... From a developers standpoint Xplane10 certainly seems to be a good solid platform that will help our products to shine- but, like FSX it has some weaknesses and we need to evaluate whether it makes sense to allow XPlan10 at this time.

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/358874-some-thoughts-on-flight/

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