Let's combine any discussion on MS Flight in this topic. We will have a more official comment on FLIGHT later today.

I think its quite brilliant as a game Nice frames too. But not a flight simulator for sure.

Lol. Thats all I have to say.

I played it for an hour yesterday night. I like some features, e.g. how it grades my landings. It's nice to have on the side, but it won't replace FSX for me.

Still I think this is the sim I would recommend to someone who wants to try a flight simulator for the first time ever.

Yes Mathijs, I want to read all about your newly acquired Coconut Bra !!

Still I think this is the sim I would recommend to someone who wants to try a flight simulator for the first time ever.

You know, I think that's the best comment I have heard so far about FLIGHT.

BTW, think it is a good idea if we all show our MS FLIGHT avatar here so we recognize each other in game.

This is me, think it is a resounding resemblance!

I almost peed my pants thinking about all the hard core flightsimmers who now have to make decisions on how to style their avatar.

Hello Mathijs,

You sure Emma hasn't been playing with your avatar

My avatar got banned.......

My avatar got banned.......

Too realistic?

Btw I just found out all sound in FLIGHT is sub Fs2004. No soundcones, no nothing. Hardly stereo even.

I think they should rename it to Microsoft s**te

I think they should rename it to Microsoft s**te

No, it really is FSX Lite

You know, I think that's the best comment I have heard so far about FLIGHT.

Thanks for the kind words.

I personally have mixed feelings about the effects of Flight on the flightsim community:

Scenario A

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Flight will overall get MORE people interested in this hobby and MORE people will switch after Flight to one of the more serious sims, thus strengthening the addon market there (which in turn means more quality addons for us).

Scenario B

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Flight will attract almost all of the new users, but many of them choose not to move on to another sim, hence less revenue for Aerosoft & Co. and less addons for all of us.

Scenario C

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Flight will be a complete failure and MS cancels its development and/or takes it off the market. Then we're back to square one.

At this moment, I really don't know which of these scenarios will happen. But MS usually doesn't take bad selling products off the market...

PS: Will post my avatar later once I got some work on it done.

For now my biggest gripe is the lack of AI Traffic, lack of ATC and lack of real time weather.

The fact it is now only one (two) aircraft and one island does not mean a lot. That can all be enhanced. But these are such basic functions and such BIG functions it seems hard to see them added with updates.

I agree Mathijs

I have been tempted to d/l it but i just dont see the point at this stage.

Maybe they should have concentrated on SP3 for FSX, for the SIMULATOR enthusiast's.

At this moment, I really don't know which of these scenarios will happen. But MS usually doesn't take bad selling products off the market...

Think it will end up being a mix between a and b. But that's still positive for us. It is just so damned hard to understand what MS was thinking. It makes so little sense, it is so unfocussed.

Square One is by far the best place to wind up at the moment..... ;-)

I agree Mathijs

I have been tempted to d/l it but i just dont see the point at this stage.

Maybe they should have concentrated on SP3 for FSX, for the SIMULATOR enthusiast's.

Yeah but they were not even willing to solve the biggest bugs. Lockheed Martin is now doing that.

So strange as it would have been a small investment for them.

I think Flight! isn't as bad as I feared, and it is a demo a could be enhanced with all stuff I (we) miss currently.

BUT: if there would be enhancements, like the complete world, further planes, bigger planes, Traffic etc, MS would have announced this the last weeks as they simply like it to show off. So, I think there wouldn't change much to what we see currently.

Seems like Lockheed still is our best bet...... but they have the license problem :-(

For now my biggest gripe is the lack of AI Traffic, lack of ATC and lack of real time weather.

The fact it is now only one (two) aircraft and one island does not mean a lot. That can all be enhanced. But these are such basic functions and such BIG functions it seems hard to see them added with updates.

As I have hinted to others when I was muffled by the beta testing, and which I will openly point out now, a quick look at the Cfg file shows that all the old options are still in there, disabled and just waiting for loves first kiss.

Beyond that, the PAK files (easily opened with 7-zip) may show a........... familiar file structure.........

Beyond even that, I suspect that if things work out, the social aspect and lack of Ai may cancel each other out. In other words, imagine a sky full of other fliers, rather than AI.

There are some hints..........

Yeah but they were not even willing to solve the biggest bugs. Lockheed Martin is now doing that.

So strange as it would have been a small investment for them.

Exactly.....A small investment for them, a massive difference to us.

As I have hinted to others when I was muffled by the beta testing, and which I will openly point out now, a quick look at the Cfg file shows that all the old options are still in there, disabled and just waiting for loves first kiss.

Beyond that, the PAK files (easily opened with 7-zip) may show a........... familiar file structure.........

Beyond even that, I suspect that if things work out, the social aspect and lack of Ai may cancel each other out. In other words, imagine a sky full of other fliers, rather than AI.

There are some hints..........

That's almost what I expected...

Think I'll stay with FSX and design my avatar with Gmax and insert it in my FSX then

Well... these "avatars" are really the XBox live ones - wht is interesting in Flight is that you can change your pilot and choose between 3 chaps and a chapess. That's something for the plane devs to come up with - and yes, I know Aerosoft give us a dozen different choices of Beaver Pilot.

"Dingggg!" Hey Mathijs - did you not © that idea?

Here's my own eggs box character:

Yes - a bit plain and not at all extrovert, like Mathijs' Ah well - haven't had time to practice.

All the prophecies around Flight (I like that FSX Lite variant on the name) are appearing to be true. The simulator has been dumbed down to a game, the initial free package appears more a demo than anything else and content requires a Live ID. Ok, you might say that is little different from having an account at Aerosoft. I see different.

All that aside, without real weather capabilities and the ability to allow software like IVAP and so on to interface, I see no future for Flight in the eyes of anyone even vaguely interested in commercial flight. And if I have to purchase each and every country it region separately, even in a base package form, who knows what it will cost me to fly from say Hamburg to Munich in a high end B737. It wasn't cheap in FSX to get to this point.

I see the lack of interface for 3rd parties as being the biggest let down. That throws so much talent and variety down the drain. Not only payware but all that freeware talent.

There is still a lot going for FSX, and will be no doubt for some time unless Microsoft changes its policy on the Marketplace.

I will no doubt look at Flight, but I do not see myself spending too mich time wanting to chase around after golden coins and whatnot. I am not a fan of the mission stuff in FSX even. I know why I want to spend time on a simulator.

Andrew