Globe Cargo

Check out the url below, as found on AVSIM's front page...

http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?s=47 ... g&blogid=1&

I think things are up in the air (no pun intented) with this issue. Times are tough everywhere, but if anything, this will give people a chance to upgrade their computers at their leisure, not being held to succumb to a new FS every 3 years.

Good point Allen. I agree.

Perhaps it would open things up for development of some new FS platforms. At any rate, I don't see this as a bad thing necessarily.

Murray Wheten 2007 wrote:Check out the url below, as found on AVSIM's front page...

http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?s=47 ... g&blogid=1&

There is some more info here: http://globecargova.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3825

Ralf

As I mentioned some time ago, - Microsoft have got fed up with trying to fix Vista and are getting on with the new operating system. "Millenium", or something, is it?

But, I cannot work out why they are shutting down ACES, which is the department that produces The flightsims. and the train sim. Apparently they gave most people about 32 hours notice by email. I believe they have kept only 6 or 8 people.

You would think the Flightsims would be one of their best money earners,

John

Is it really its biggest cash cow - Loook at your Flightsim.
What $100 ?? at worst. - Money for Microsoft

Now count the amount of Addons.
PMDG B747, B737, MD-11, PSS 777 = Over $200 for PMDG and $40 for PSS - NOT MICROSOFT

Now count the amount of freeware addons you have installed - Once again, no money for microsoft.

So to say it is a big money maker for MS - really is wrong in my view.
It makes alot of money in the FS community - But as demostrated, only a very small percentage of that goes to MS

You have to be positive about this, as he says in the Article they will have a Stable Platform to Create new Add-ons for and it will save us having to constantly upgrade all the time ,also it leaves a niche in the Market with a huge consumer base that someone else will no doubt fill, possibly using all the Talent that has been let go,although there may be Intellectual Copyrights to iron out !

Doesn't look good fellas...this is direct from Phil Taylor's blog,as you may or may not know Phil was a lead at ACES until he left last September...and i quote..

"I believe that is the only official confirmation of a particular product group being axed, at least so far. The fact there was so much activity about Aces and Flight Sim that a 2nd press release was required should strike someone at MS that the product was popular, but that would require critical thinking and I dont want to presume.

The rest is my informed speculation, so lets be clear that is all it is. Its pretty reasonably informed given I only left 4 months ago, but I did leave and wasn't there on Thursday so this is an amalgamation of what I knew and what I have heard from multiple sources.

Aces did not get shuttered because FSX sold poorly. To the contrary, FSX sold decently, as this post recounted. And this post places its sales as north of 1m units.

Aces had "internal issues" at the wrong time. They got caught in a game of musical chairs without a chair.

What do I mean by that?

Well, they had issues in trying to develop 3 releases simultaneously ( TS2, ESP2, FS11 ) with current resources and had a schedule change as a result. Note the slip in TS2 delivery discussed in this thread.

This was actually 2 slips, first to from Holiday 2008 to Spring 2009 and then to Holidays 2009 which is what the TSInsider site says now for the expected ship date.

Then ESP2 started consuming resources and the headcount ask went up.

The head count freeze that came down last August in MGS as part of the exec changes did not help from a project management angle, nixing adding more resources. The switch in MGS exec management after Don Matrick came in ( Shane Kim out, Phil Spencer in ) also didnt help from a relationship angle as Shane had been there for a while and had a relationship with Aces management. The exec switch in MGS was reported on gamedaily.

Net-net this meant MGS exec management lost confidence in Aces studio management because of the schedule changes and asking for more heads. Then the dictate to cut heads came down. So do you keep the team that missed their date and asked for more resources, or keep the teams that have been quietly executing? Thus Aces were easier to tag as "it"; eg the squeeky wheel got 'greased'.

Its really just a case of bad timing for the studio, given another year they would have been executing smoothly and had releases imminent. But the economy did not give them that time.

What does this mean for the future?

For the Flight franchise, P-12C ( Paul Lange, lead designer for FS 11 ) replied on this thread that the team asked if they could buy the IP and spin out, and was refused. And later in the thread he indicates the challenge this presents since it is unclear what the future is since the longer the code sits the less useful it is.

For the Trains franchise, Stone Lance ( Steve Heister, Core graphics programmer ) confirms TS2 is gone. And that was before the PI confirmation.

ESP is similarly gone.

We are all waiting to hear what this vague "future opportunity" is for both FS and ESP. And on that thin thread the future of the franchise depends. Until we hear what that amounts to, we are unable to gauge the damage. But it should be crystal clear this is not good for the franchise as we know it.

If I hear enough of what the "future opportunity" is to make a coherent post and present some more informed speculation, I will do so."

Your right Mike, it doesn,t look good, sounds to me like the Management that came in "knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing ", but I still think someone will pick up the reins so to speak, after all the standard FS is at now ,it only needs a few more tweaks, we.ll still get a kick out of it !

Bruce Artwick where are you ? please come back and stay ???!!!!

I just finished reading an interesting and rather encouraging thread from Robert Randazzo of PMDG where he states their "official" response to the demise of the ACES studio. Check it out here:
http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtopic=241934
Of all the posts that I have read in all of the various forums on this event, this one makes the most sense not only in the whys and hows of this event, but especially on the question of what does this mean for the future of this hobby.

Regards,

Robert

RCR wrote:I just finished reading an interesting and rather encouraging thread from Robert Randazzo of PMDG where he states their "official" response to the demise of the ACES studio. Check it out here:
http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtopic=241934
Of all the posts that I have read in all of the various forums on this event, this one makes the most sense not only in the whys and hows of this event, but especially on the question of what does this mean for the future of this hobby.

Regards,

Robert

Robert,

this is a hobby and im pretty you ve understood that R. Randazzo is in this small business and need MS more than we need PMDG ... why because whatever it happens now you have the product to fly the base FS2004 or FSX (i dont like it) you still can fly on one the best aircraft in the world the 747 ... and if we follow what the flightsim communauty made with Falxcon 4.0 years ago you can trust and hope that your platform will have a long live if you want ...

so the future is not bad at all.

truly yours

Phil

WHAT????????? A HOBBY??????????? DIE PHILIPPE DIE This is a a lifestyle....

And by the way, just in case, this is a joke.... .....................................or is it

esurfman wrote:WHAT????????? A HOBBY??????????? DIE PHILIPPE DIE This is a a lifestyle....

And by the way, just in case, this is a joke.... .....................................or is it

Louis please accept my apologies ...!!! this is not a hobby i confess ....

The Facts Emerge - The future of MS Flight Simulation

Posted at AVSIM: Sunday, February 8, 2009 - 20:01
There has been a lot of speculation, rumor and simple guesses as to what Microsoft is going to do with the Flight Simulator “enterprise”. Through a number of sources, some of whom are former ACES members, we have been able to get to the bottom of where our hobby is heading, at least as far as Microsoft is concerned. Our sources will remain anonymous, for obvious reasons. Here are the hard, cold, and very disappointing facts:

FACT: Microsoft Flight Simulator for the PC is dead. There are no plans to continue the FS series in a form that we would recognize. The wholesale dispatch of the ACES team speaks volumes to this.

FACT: ESP is dead. Boeing, Raytheon and presumably Northrop Grumman (ESP’s first adopters) received notification that the ESP franchise is done and that, in effect, they are on their own. We have seen some discussion putting hope in the emergence of ESP as the next "engine" for flight simulator. That is not going to happen.

FACT: Some developers in our hobby approached Microsoft to purchase the MSFX code. Microsoft rebuffed that offer in total. We presume that this is because having the FSX code out there would “diffuse” their future intent and model for a flight simulator “replacement”.

What is Microsoft’s future intent as regards flight simulation? Simple really… Create a flight simulation system for Windows Live, and sell applications for it much like Apple does for their IPhone / Ipod family. Third party developers will have to submit their applications, as do Apple developers, for approval by MS and they in turn would earn a percentage from the sales of those applications. Vendors that we have talked to are extremely upset about this. It also brings back memories of the infamous Papa Tango attempts to hijack freeware.

Imagine for a moment a “live” simulator that has as its core a “Flight Unlimited” like virtual world. You can fly around a very small part of the world in the default system, but to add to your simulation world, you have to purchase the additional scenery from MS. You want more than a 172, a Baron, or a 737? Simple, purchase it via the Live system.

Imagine for a moment the availability of liveries that would be made available. Without approval by the airlines, you can imagine the lack of variety in the “live” modeled aircraft. Under the present arrangement, freeware is seen as free advertising for the United’s, American’s, Lufthansa’s and others of the world. Insert the dollar into the equation, and it is reasonable to expect that our current arrangement with carriers would evaporate. Would MS consider providing freeware via its live system? Don’t hold your breath – too many liability concerns, copyright infringement risks, product support and management issues to take on for free.

What about VATSIM, IVAO and the plethora of other peripheral attractions that we now benefit from? Imagine paying to connect to VATSIM for an hour or two of supervised flight. Spend some time thinking about the ramifications of this, and it only gets scarier.

We have a simple new reality to face up to; Microsoft has changed their business model as regards the flight simulation genre and we are seeing the first steps of that new model taking hold. We can assume that a “live” version will entail online subscription costs per month or year, and additional add-on’s will cost us.