So lets be clear... this is the death nail in our hobby
Only if your chasing the latest sim, if your happy with FSX why think its the end??? FS9 will serve me for as long as I draw breath or lose interest, I am sure FSX can do the same for oyu. It may be the end of future developments in FS but so what I was losing interest with the way everyone and his dog were climbing on the payware cart ... FS9 and freeware will continue...
X Plane has its merits but unless you like brand new stuff out of the box every couple of years why bother??
Like I say FSX or 9 will continue and the devlopers for add-ons may be happier in the long run as they do not have to worry about FS11 etc and the hassles that would have brought...
Maybe this could be a good thing??
AMD Phenom II X4 BE 965 @ 3.80GHz
nVidia GTX 560 TI 448 Cores
Its the beginning of the end Tony, there will be no more FS in the way that we are used to developing a completely customisable environment ourselves.
Yes your right we can keep using what we have currently, but the commercial companies will need to move on and you'll find over the next 3 years fewer and fewer picking it up. You have to look to the future in order to preserve the past and when you can't get FSX or FS9 in the shops nobody will come looking for places like this.
Ben Watson wrote:nobody will come looking for places like this.
I have an old copy of Airliner World magazine knocking around somewhere, with an advert inside it for FS2000, and the advert actually made a big deal out being able to download thousands more addon aircraft for free. Therefore I went looking, found Simviation, found Dave Maltby's first incarnation of the VC10 and the rest is history......
Isn't it amazing, that nine or so years ago, Microsoft were advertising their product on the basis of the freeware community.
Following on from your comments about Xbox (I thought that was sold at a loss?).
Ok so I have no idea how successful or otherwise the Xbox part of Microsoft is (ie their contribution to revenue) but there have been commentaries over the past few years that Microsoft does not understand the consumer market and hence could retreat to the corporate market with its subscription approach. Regular income, large scale hardware uniformity, etc instead of millions of individuals running different setups and pirated software. So is the closure of ACES the beginning of this prediction? Operating systems and office software for the corporates and leave the home user crumbs for the Linux and Open Office crew? Or is the home use a significant part of the income that would mean this is just a fantasy?
Just throwing open a concept for discussion.
And unemployment is a shock for anyone (been there), made even worse in the current financial climate. Hopefully the guys involved find companies who need their skills.
Yep.. there are a load of facts out there that don't need too much scrutiny. I really do find it hard to believe that FSX has been such a glowing financial success over FS2004 other than, perhaps, units MOVED. How many copies of FSX have been bundled with other games?? It's like saying Norton is the best AV software because every PC you buy comes with a copy :roll:
I doubt very much that this is the end of the line for flightsim. What it may just do is enable the majority of the fs world to catch up with all those lovely 'blooms' and other improvements FSX has over FS9 (sadly.. there's not an smilie available to cover what I'm thinking and even if there was.. I'd ban it)!
xBox 360 is incredibly successful for MS, in terms of revenue from games licensing etc. They make the xBox and get revinue from licensing from every game sold for it, without having to develope the Game. MS see the home user as a key part of their strategy, so they won't be heading back to the corporate world, remember corporates aren't spending at the moment either.
The reality is FS was pretty unique in the games market. There aren't many (any?) console (xBox, PS3, Wii etc) games that can be modded by end users and professional developers in any think like the way FS can. For some time Microsoft (and others) have been looking at revinue streams, and developing an opperating system such as Windows which is a big one off hit for the user (and the developer) is very hit and miss. A subscription model is better because you know what you've got coming in each month.
If Microsoft ditched the consumer Market, they'd be biting off the hand that feeds. Not because it a great source of income, it isn't bad, but its not huge, but because it actually drives the corporate sales.
I don't know of too many kids that DON'T have an xbox360. Mine is an exception but I DID buy a WII for her and the good lady to keep fit on at Christmas (which of course meant a WII plus the bloody WII fit board plus another controller plus a game to make it all worthwhile). I had a go on Christmas day and I have no intention of ever playing on it again
In the event.. I wish I'd have bought an xbox360 so that I could have bought (and played) Call of Duty on it. Don't think SWMBO would've kept very fit though.. not that she's been on the WII much anyway :roll:
On a brighter note this maybe delays the end of FS9. If FS11 came about then that would have ended all future projects payware and eventually freeware for FS9, but as its a hugely popular sim I think it will now be developed more. For those that demand a new sim every year or two then it is the end for them and no doubt X-Plane will be their next step?
AMD Phenom II X4 BE 965 @ 3.80GHz
nVidia GTX 560 TI 448 Cores
It's like saying Norton is the best AV software because every PC you buy comes with a copy :roll: 
