Microsoft not out of the flight sim game after all...

[Skoshi Tiger]

Of course, I did like the faided-out, sweat drenched Aviatrix in a mid-rift top at the side of the page. I'ld buy it just for that! That the sign of a serious simulation!

[RCAF_FB_Orville]

Originally Posted by hellbomber

uhh hello, LOL! this isn't some back water 3rd world programing hack job where everyone develops games on 15 inch monitors and CPUs from circa 2000 , and take 8 weeks of vacation a year

this is America, we have knowledgeable programmers that understand DX11, and are just now getting ready to unlock the massive potential it has

Great job there dispelling the 'Ignorant, arrogant, head up his arse' American stereotype Myth there hellbomber. Keep up the good work. Might want to get a passport one day too while you're at it. When you're old enough and 'Mom' lets you travel, of course.

@Blackdog, well done in redeeming your fellow countrymen, ~S~

[HFC_Dolphin]

This video causes "WOW" effect

[Blackdog_kt]

Originally Posted by RCAF_FB_Orville

@Blackdog, well done in redeeming your fellow countrymen, ~S~

Thank you for considering my English good enough to pass as an American, but i'm actually Greek

[mazex]

Well, adding a "babe" with a headset on the marketing site and skipping "simulator" from the old worn in brand gotta say something about what we can expect from this title. M$ are now desperate after initially failing to understand the social networking Web 2.0 buzz so they will probably do some insane mash-up of a flight sim and facebook...

C'mon Oleg - do an ad site for SoW with a hot WAAF babe to counter their move!

[RCAF_FB_Orville]

Originally Posted by Blackdog_kt

Thank you for considering my English good enough to pass as an American, but i'm actually Greek

Aieee! Yes I missed the 'your' part and read 'our', just skimmed it. I always thought you were American though....Strange that. Your English is superb btw......which should have made me suspicious anyway come to think of it. Kidding my Yank friends, chill!

On topic, does anyone know if the same team they fired back in 2009 are working on this, and have been rehired? The mind boggles. I hope they are not 'dumbing down' the title to appeal to the lowest common denominator just to make it more popular.....that would be a shame.

The fact they have dropped 'Simulator' from the title does not bode well methinks. Unless they are just trying to be 'Hip' and re-brand. I can see it now, a mission to rescue rapper 'Jay-Z' from a towering skyscraper inferno, and transport him to his next 'gig' in a Harrier Jump Jet. Get da kidz wit it!

[Viking]

So far I have bought most, if not all, of M$ flightsims and they have all, without exception, failed to impress me. Prove me wrong this time and I will be happy! We need more of this in order to keep the interest for this kind of software living.

Besides, if this leads to another “fight flight sim”, I am very curious to see how the Grumman “problem” will be handled.

Regards
Viking

[Meusli]

One Bullshot video does not give us enough to go on, but I like to speculate!
I think the one thing that Flight Sim X had going for it was the missions, they were fun and varied. This is where I think this is going, a smaller world with more detail and missions to complete in that world. It will make it more of a game than a Sim which is what happens when you get rid of your Sim related staff.

[IceFire]

I always felt that Flight Sim had the sim aspects of the navigation and ATC and that sort of thing down but flying always seemed kind of flat and uninteresting compared to IL-2 or LOMAC's flight modeling. When flying a plane like a Cessna, which I actually have a few real life minutes at the controls of, it never really felt like I was flying anything.

The scenery was nice anyways.

So I could hope for a more visceral flight modeling experience with the sights and sounds correct along with the feel of the aircraft. Even if it is a smaller world... that'd be ok. If they get the "flight" part of Flight done properly that'd be great. For the time being I sometimes just set myself up in some sort of aircraft in IL-2 and go sight seeing on some of the newer maps. You never know what you'll find flying around just enjoying the sensation of flight.

[Splitter]

There are two eagerly anticipated sims coming out in the near future: SoW and X-Plane10. It would be just like Microsoft to wait until these games are released, take all the good ideas contained therein, and release a sim of their own.

MS Flight Sim dominated the "flight sim" market for years. X-Plane was the "Apple" of flight sims in that it had a fairly small and very dedicated following. It's also a better flight sim, IMHO having played both (uglier, but the navigation and flight models are superior).

IL-2 garnered a huge following and took a big chunk out of MS's combat flight sim's audience.

Then MS laid off their flight sim staff. I had heard that Austin (X-Plane's owner) has tried to get them on board, but it didn't work out. It was either a money thing or a very long non-compete agreement. That's my guess anyway.

While I have come to love IL-2 recently (sorry guys, I was late to the game and had been dedicated to the Battlefield series lol), it's very apparent that the IL-2 flight models do not measure up to those of MSFS or X-Plane. It's just "too easy" to fly in IL-2 from a pure flight sim point of view.

Of course, X-Plane has been constantly updated so that would account for that impression. Unfortunately, MS Combat Flight sims stunk and X-Plane does not do combat sims for the PC/Apple market.

Those reasons are why I am eagerly anticipating SoW and hoping beyond hope that they get the "flight sim" functionality right (the graphics are good enough for me as they stand from what I have seen).

Those reasons are also why a company with huge resources, like MS, might try to jump back in with both feet. Put out a good flight sim (hah!) and then add a combat element and you corner both sides of the market.

Plus, to the best of my knowledge, many of the MS flight sim programmers are still out there. MS could take them back (might have already done so) and be working on their version of a flight sim right now.

Remember, MS is not known for their innovation. They are known to be very good at marketing and "improving" on other's innovation.

Now THAT, my fellow Americans, IS the American way .

Just my thoughts, be gentle.

Splitter