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MS Flight Simulator Development Terminated?

If they would make a Mac version only, they would see more money than the Windows version. Plus it would be fresh and new. Not too many people run a Flight Simulator at work and people that have the program may not upgrade every year.
 
the Xplane developers are probably rejoicing right now.

that said, this has been a long developed program by MS, and i don't know how they can expect to make $$ with a new version every year or so. spread out development and do big updates every other year or every few years and it would be a better program overall.
 
We will have to see if they spin this product off to out of house development, cancel it, or even to a reconsituted ACES group under another name.

Bungie was spun off, but is still making Halo:ODST, and maybe more Halo games in the future.

If Microsoft has decided to discontinue the series, this will be a huge gain for Xplane. It is the only other realistic simulator on the market that I know of.
 
PlaceofDis said:
the Xplane developers are probably rejoicing right now.

that said, this has been a long developed program by MS, and i don't know how they can expect to make $$ with a new version every year or so. spread out development and do big updates every other year or every few years and it would be a better program overall.
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They usually put out a new version every three or four years.

I'll be sad to see this go, assuming this article is correct. Bought every version from 95 up. :( (I think I have the original for the Apple II around somewhere too.)
 
Cassie said:


They usually put out a new version every three or four years.

I'll be sad to see this go, assuming this article is correct. Bought every version from 95 up. :( (I think I have the original for the Apple II around somewhere too.)
Click to expand...

my mistake then. i thought they had faster development than that. :eek:

in any event, i know some who will be sad to see this go as well, as it was a great program.
 
Here's the BBC article about it:

The future of Microsoft's long running Flight Simulator series has been cast into doubt, after the software maker US laid-off the entire development team.

Microsoft says it is "committed" to the series, despite shutting the Aces studio when it cut 5000 jobs.

But third party developers say Microsoft needs to outline its plans for the game in more detail.

MS Flight Simulator is arguably the longest running computer game series ever, first launched back in 1982.

Nels Anderson, founder of enthusiast website FlightSim.com said the studio closure was a "dark day" for the flight sim market.
Speaking to the BBC he said he was baffled by the decision.

"Microsoft have apparently cancelled a 27 year franchise. Flight sims were one of the few things about Microsoft people actually liked. It made them money and had an enormous following.

"To cancel something like that is an amazing thing to do," he said.

Just Flight's director, Dermot Stapleton, which publishes third party add-ons for MS Flight Simulator, told the BBC that as Microsoft had only announced the studio closure, people would have to draw their own conclusions as to what future plans the firm had in store for the game.

"It's the end of the line for their in-house development studio, but that doesn't mean it's the end of the line for the game.

"All Microsoft did was name a group of developers working on the game Aces Studio and now, as they've laid them and a load of other developers off, they have been somewhat hoisted on their own petard.

"My guess is that Microsoft will now licence the code to a third party developer and then cross that "cash bridge" when they come to it."

Deja vu

But Nels Anderson was more pessimistic, saying Microsoft had done something similar with its Train Simulator series.

"Microsoft announced a sequel to MS Train Simulator back in 2003. A year later, they shelved the project. Three years later, they announced a new version, that too was cancelled.

"I think this gives us an indication as to what is in store for Flight Simulator," he said.

Most people agree that the latest incarnation, MS Flight Simulator X, has at least three to four years use before it starts to show its age. Even today, many still use the five year old Flight Simulator 2004, rather than FSX.

Speaking to the BBC, Derek Davis, editor of PC Pilot magazine, said there was a silver lining to the bad news.

"I don't know what the eventual fate of Microsoft's Flight Simulator series will be, but I think we're going to see a rise in sales and an increase in third-party development.

"There is now some stability to be had - we're all going to be using FSX for some time - and that is going to make it far easier for developers to produce new aircraft."
Click to expand...
 
Heres how they revive the series in one easy step bring back:

Combat
Flight
Simulator
4
:cool:
 
I think we will see the next version of Microsoft Flight Simulator on the X-box.
 
dimme said:
I think we will see the next version of Microsoft Flight Simulator on the X-box.
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They might take some tech from Flight Sim and use it in an xbox game, but I doubt that they would make more than an "Arcade" type sim. The focus of Microsoft on the xbox is games, not applications such as flight sim or even web browsing.

As far as I know, the only three xbox flight type games: Ace Combat 6, Over G, and the upcoming Tom Clancy's HAWX. The good thing is that they have made flight sticks work with Ace Combat & Hawx.

That being said, I think that a version of flight sim that doesn't push the hardware would be a good thing. (I would still want to use my CH controls, and a keyboard for those items I don't have enough buttons for.) Cheaper hardware means more people could try the program.

I wish I could run flight sim on my GMA 950 macbook, but I didn't even try to install the 2004 COF version, and didn't buy FSX just due to the hardware requirements. This is also the same reason I game on my xbox vs my mac, Apple's consumer level laptop just doesn't have the power for most modern games.

I will add that Xplane does run on my macbook, with some lower settings. They did a great job squeezing the program down to run on my graphics chip.

I suspect that if Microsoft is interested in making another flight sim, rahter than develop for the xbox they will simply take another program and put the Flight Sim name on it. Who knows, maybe we will see Flight Sim 2010, powered by Xplane.....

The interesting info would be how much did the ACES team cost, vs how much yearly revenue the FS programs made. In other words, did they make enough money to justify the costs and hassle involved?

PS, the very first program I purchased for my new computer was Apple 2's version of the Sublogic Flight Simulator 2. I'm an ATP pilot now, so I guess Apple and Flight Sim helped jump start my career many years ago.
 
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