81–90 of 234 posts
Why did Microsoft let the Flight Simulator franchise go to the back burner for so long? I know these vast corporations have to focus but it is still a mystery to me why they let it go. Does anyone have any idea what the thinking was? What has fundamentally changed for them to want to get back to it?
The trailer link on this page is very impressive. Here is the direct link to the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReDDgFfWlS4
It's impressive because it's most likely fake.
I loved MS FS back in the day! According to wikipedia, this new one will feature "Azure AI". What does that mean?
Why did Microsoft let the Flight Simulator franchise go to the back burner for so long? I know these vast corporations have to focus but it is still a mystery to me why they let it go. Does anyone have any idea what the thinking was? What has fundamentally changed for them to want to get back to it?
The ACES Studio was dissolved in its entirety in 2009 while Don Mattrick (best known for his blunders during the Xbox One's launch and his failure to turn around Zynga) headed up Microsoft's gaming efforts. Despite the fact that it turned a small but steady profit, the thinking seemed to be that PC gaming was dead and that consoles were the future.
As for why it stayed on the back burner so long, the terrain mapping team, the flight physics experts, and all the other specialized expertise in the studio was scattered to the four winds. Did Microsoft rebuild it? Who knows? While the new FS has pretty graphics, the true test will be whether it has the accurate flight physics and global map that FS grognards have come to expect or whether its a merely a coat of paint over a hollow shell.
My reply is a little off-topic but I wanted to share as it is Flight Simulator related. Last year an old boss and friend passed suddenly. He had only just turned fifty but the years of poor eating and sitting caught up with him in his late forties. He was a Flight Simulator addict. He held a private pilots license as well and would fly small aircraft. Took us up a few times which was amazing. Very different to a regu…
thanks for sharing this. sorry for your loss.
He had been trying to get healthier for the previous two years after being diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure but the damage was already done. The thing is though he wasn’t huge. Yes he was larger than he should be but you didn’t look at him and think heart disease or diabetes. He thought he could make up for the years of unhealthy lifestyle by exercising and eating well once he had a problem but it doesn’t work that way.
I am in my mid-thirties and it was a slap to the face that I needed to sort myself out now before I end up the same way.
My reply is a little off-topic but I wanted to share as it is Flight Simulator related. Last year an old boss and friend passed suddenly. He had only just turned fifty but the years of poor eating and sitting caught up with him in his late forties. He was a Flight Simulator addict. He held a private pilots license as well and would fly small aircraft. Took us up a few times which was amazing. Very different to a regu…
Also tight deadlines and other maybe less obvious constant stressors might exacerbate pernicious effects.
For that reason even junior and intermediate developers should think twice about fair/sustainable remuneration.
Ageisim diclaimer: That doesn't mean that there aren't lots of people with exceptionable health and/or consistent exercise / eating discipline of course.
[1] https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2019/06/17/ce-que-les-...
Why did Microsoft let the Flight Simulator franchise go to the back burner for so long? I know these vast corporations have to focus but it is still a mystery to me why they let it go. Does anyone have any idea what the thinking was? What has fundamentally changed for them to want to get back to it?
What you see now though is that MSFT is pushing really really hard into cross-platform play, and investing directly in gaming companies to make sure that the XBOX remains a competitor to the Playstation environment as Sony has been on a roll when it comes to impactful exclusive games for their platform for a while. Their latest E3 presentation really showcased just how much they consider this a priority, and how hard they are currently working to get their own environment of exclusive publishing houses with AAA games up to the standard of Sony. Due to the narrowing of the gap between high powered consoles and high powered PC's in the later years it makes sense that they would do this now as at this point they can offer a flight simulator experience across both platforms that is (hopefully) not only incrementally better, but transitionary better.
How does this compare with Prepar3D from Lockheed. I thought Lockheed had bought MS FlightSim and even hired a good number of their developers and that was the end of MS FligthSim https://www.prepar3d.com/
Hard to say with just a 1m30s preview video to go off, but if those visuals are the "basic" MSFS global graphics then they are quite impressive even compared to copy of P3D that has been modded out with global scenery from third party content providers. If i were to guess, its probably a technological leap instead of an increment, as they'd be disinterested in competing with the X-Plane and P3D install bases unless t…
> So they are not allowed to sell it as a game, only as a learning and simulation tool.
That makes sense finally. I had noticed that when was using it and always thought they just didn't want to bother with the gaming part because there was not enough of profit for them to restructure having to support that market.