FSX Gold Edition

When I first bought Microsoft Flight Simulator X, I was relatively new to flight simulation. I had played around with Chuck Yeager’s Advanced Flight Trainer II on our old DOS computer, but I wasn’t sure if I really would get into flight simulation. Obviously, I am a large flight sim fan now. However, not knowing this, when I bought Flight Simulator X, I bought the standard edition rather than the deluxe edition. I have been regretting that decision ever since.

One of the primary things I’ve missed not having the deluxe edition is the SDK. I would like to tinker with my simulator a bit, especially my local airport, but am unable to make many of my own modifications since I don’t have the SDK. Another small feature that would be useful is the ability to use Sim Connect over a network. This would allow me to use some of my add-ons, such as Active Sky Advanced over my home network. Finally, I recently purchased Real Environment Xtreme. I had the unpleasant surprise afterward that it requires the deluxe version of FSX (at least for some features, such as the weather engine).

It was all these reasons that led to me finally ordering the deluxe edition today. Flight Simulator is a lot cheaper now than it was when I bought it, and since I hadn’t bought the Acceleration expansion pack yet, I decided to get Microsoft Flight Simulator X Gold Edition.

Jammit: the title is self-instructive.

The word ‘Jammit’ immediately elicits memories of a game very near and dear to my heart, Toejam & Earl.  A game that, in my humble opinion, is one of the greatest games of all time.  Those of you who have had the pleasure of playing that game will no doubt understand the reference.  Unfortunately for Jammit, it has just damned itself to the seventh level of Videogame Hell simply by being mentioned in the same breath as Toejam & Earl and failing to live up to that gold standard – an unfavourable comparison for many a videogame, and an unfair one, some may say.

Upon realising that Jammit is in fact a basketball game, it reminded me of yet another videogame: NBA Jam.  This is also an unfavourable comparison for any basketball game, recent or otherwise.  Basketball videogame aficionados feel free to disagree with me here, but to my mind there hasn’t been a good basketball game since NBA Jam (perhaps with the exception of NBA Hangtime, which was essentially NBA Jam 2).  Good simulations of the sport of basketball mayhap, but not good basketball videogames.

Speaking of simulations, dunking in Jammit is about as easy as landing an aircraft in Microsoft Flight Sim.

Now that I’ve done Jammit the disservice of comparing it to two great Jams, let’s discuss the game on its own merits.  What do I like about the game?  Well, I like the funky slap-bass soundtrack, which matches the title quite well; I like the fact that there’s a ‘Trash Talk’ setting in the options screen ranging from ‘off’ to ’some’ to ‘lots’; and that’s about it.  Don’t say I didn’t try.

Aside from those things, Jammit is a rather bland basketball offering.  It’s street basketball, so it takes place on a grey concrete half-court with chain-link fences.  That’s a lot of grey.  It’s one-on-one street basketball, so there are only two fleshy sprites to break up the grey.  There are exactly three playable characters to choose from – two black guys and a white chick – meaning only three possible match-ups.  Said characters are photo-captured Mortal Kombat-style like just about every other awful game of that era.  To think this kind of gritty oatmeal ugliness and ’street’ ‘tude is actually praised in today’s games – it’s boring and cringeworthy!

Says 'Chill' to 'Slade': "you as bored as I am, man?" How delightfully 'urban'.

And then comes the racism.  Again.  And the sexism; don’t forget the sexism!  Both of these vices are embodied in one character: Roxy.  Not only is she named and dressed like a prostitute, I’m pretty sure her stats have been messed with on account of her being both white, and female.

Rooooo-xanne, you don't have to put on the red light!

I realised this once I mastered the pilot controls for dunking – Microsoft Basketball Simulator-style – white chick can’t dunk, man!  Only lay it up.  Facts be damned, I call racism!  And sexism!  And the fires of the seventh hell upon this game!

It’s not the least bit surprising, but now it’s official: Microsoft is discontinuing its personal-finance program, Money, after ending updates and yanking the application out of retail stores last year. The program joins Encarta and Flight Simulator among famous, venerable Microsoft products whose lives are coming to an end.

I don’t see this as bad news for Microsoft. Actually, it’s an encouraging sign of rational behavior: the company is being brutally realistic about prospects for  some well-known products, which is surely smarter than trying to continue being all things to all people forever. But I do think that the end of these brands is part of a larger trend that’s still nascent: The start of the end of shrinkwrapped software.

Money, Encarta, and Flight Simulator all flourished in the era when doing stuff with PCs nearly always involved going to a store, buying a box with one or more discs inside it, and installing software on a hard drive. The shrinkwrapped-box part of that process already feels archaic; software remains relevant, but it’s hard to imagine any future except one in which traditional applications largely give way to Web-based services (and application/service hybrids) over the next few years.

Of course, the rise in Web apps doesn’t automatically spell doom for successful desktop software: Money, Encarta, and Flight Simulator could have theoretically kept on going in largely or completely Web-based form. But it would have been a tricky leap. In a way, it reminds me of what happened in the early 1990s, when Windows began to catch on. Over the next decade, most of the best-known applications of the DOS era–hits like Lotus 1-2-3, Harvard Graphics, dBASE, and many others—failed to be anywhere near as successful in Windows as they’d been in DOS. They didn’t always go away completely, but they were rendered irrelevant.

(Intuit’s Quicken, an application which managed to triumph over Money despite Microsoft’s best efforts, is going a far better job of reinventing itself for the road ahead–but it too is going to find the transition hugely challenging.)

You gotta think that many, many other notable applications–and not just Microsoft ones–will join Money in the deadpool over the next three to five years…

Copyright Simviation.com

Are you a pilot? Do you enjoy playing Microsoft Flight Simulator? Then Simviation.com is a great website for you. Simviation has hundreds of aircraft to choose from. You have selections of aircraft for all versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator. You can chose from different types of military aircraft, commercial jets, airlines, props, helicopters, vintage planes and even futuristic aircraft. The best part is, all of the downloads are free.

I personally have downloaded almost a hundred different aircraft from this website with few problems. Now every now and then you will get an aircraft that does not function properly or even work at all. But overall, it is a very reliable site with quality aircraft for your simulator.  Simviation.com also offers helpful forums to those new the flight simulators. This website features a section for real pilots or those wanting to learn more about flying. It offers a lot of helpful information and tips for those wanting to learn more about flying. So if you are looking for a website to get more aircraft for your Microsoft flight simulator’s or want some flying tips, then check out Simviation.com.

Copyright Simviation.com

While probably not being of any value at all, here are twenty obscure facts:

20. The can opener wasn’t invented until forty-eight years after the sealed can.

19. Zebras are black with white stripes, if you decide to shave one you will see it is a black animal. However, there are albino zebras.

18. Fleas can jump 130 times their height, vertically, and nearly 200 times their body length, horizontally.

17. The earliest Thanksgiving is attested to have been held on September 8, 1565 in what is now St. Augustine, Florida.

16. John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison.

15. Wavy Gravy was given his name by B.B. King.

14. In computing, a jiffy is four milliseconds.

13. The Commodore 64 was the best selling computer of all time.

12. John Forsyth was never seen during the entire run of Charlie’s Angels though he participated in every episode and was the highest paid actor in television during the series run.

11. Dogs are dichromats.

10. Diet Coke was invented in 1982.

9. The first item to be scanned by a bar code reader in a grocery store was a pack of Wrigley’s gum.

8. The plastic or metal sheath at the end of a shoe lace are called aglets.

7. Charlie Bown’s father was a barber.

6. It is impossible to lick your elbow, but 75% of those who read this will try.

5. The highest wind speed ever recorded is 231 miles per hour.

4. A cockroach can continue to function for several weeks after being decapitated.

3. In the 1980’s, the ability to run Microsoft’s Flight Simulator was an indicator for a computer to be considered one hundred percent IBM compatible.

2. Lincoln logs were invented by architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s son

1. The name Oz in the Wizard of Oz comes from L Frank Baum seeing a file drawer labelled O-Z.

Microsoft Flight Simulator. What's next?

I have been playing Microsoft Flight Simulator on and off for almost twenty years.  The BBC has just published a story about the upcoming end of its development following the latest layoffs at Microsoft.

This would be sad news for millions of avid users like me.  I have not come across any official statement from Microsoft and will update the post once there is one.

Update:
The Flight Simulator team has asked me to link to their public statement:

By now, many of you have heard that Microsoft has closed Aces Studio, the publisher of Microsoft Flight Simulator. This was not a reflection of the quality of the products Aces has developed, the sales performance of the games, or the quality of the team at Aces. This difficult decision was made to align Microsoft’s resources with our strategic priorities. Microsoft Flight Simulator X will remain available at retail stores and web retailers, the Flight Sim community will continue to learn from and encourage one another, and we remain committed to the Flight Simulator franchise for the long term.

Microsoft Game Studios is investing significant resources in many exciting and new areas of gaming and entertainment, including Windows games. We believe these future investments will push innovation, community, and collaboration to unprecedented levels and will provide more synergy with our ongoing investments in Games for Windows – LIVE as well as other Windows entertainment technologies. We have nothing specific to announce at this time, but stay tuned for more information.

We are humbled and proud of the passion and support that the Flight Simulator franchise has developed over its more than twenty-five year history. This includes you, the large community of flight simmers, as well as the vibrant third-party ecosystem that has developed around the game. We will continue to produce, sell, and support the latest version of Flight Simulator as we plan for future versions of the franchise. Thank you for your understanding of our decision and for your continued support!

AVSIM has the latest on FS Flight Simulator and it does look grim.

Under the heading of: “The Facts Emerge – The future of MS Flight Simulation”

I have just read this:

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.

What a sad day indeed.

Seems only Flightgear and X-plane remain in the future.
On the upside, both run on Linux. One more reason to turn away from Microsoft for me.
Oh, and FSX has a long time to go before I intend to replace it.

Minimum System Requirements

• Windows XP SP2 / Windows Vista
• Processor: 1.0 Ghz
• RAM: Windows XP SP2 – 256MB, Windows Vista – 512MB
• Hard Drive: 14GB
• Video Card: 32MB DirectX 9 compatible
• Other: DX9 hardware compatibility and audio board with speakers and/or headphones
• Online/Multiplayer Requirements: 56.6 kbps or better for online play

Microsoft Flight Simulator X Deluxe Trailer

Download Link:

Click to Download

UPDATE: dopo lo scioglimento di Ensemble Studios da parte di Microsoft, buona parte degli ex dipendenti sono confluiti in Robot Entertainment. Speriamo ci sia ancora uno spiraglio aperto per dei seguiti ad Age of Empire.

La recessione colpisce anche il mondo dei videogiochi. E non c’è da stupirsi in fondo: si tratta pur sempre di imprese che lavorano in un’economia reale, e che con l’economia reale devo fare i conti.

Quello che forse stupisce di più è che a chiudere non siano piccole compagnie che tentano di stare a galla, ma grossi nomi con franchise rilevanti: è il caso di Aces Game Studio (la notizia ufficilae qui), lo sviluppatore interno di Microsoft deputato alla produzione di Microsoft Flight Simulator (la cui prima apparizione risale al 1982!) e di Ensemble Studio (la notizia sul sito di Ensemble), anch’esso appartente a Microsof, produttore della famosa serie Age of Empires. I più maligni potrebbero pensare che queste chiusure si son rese necessarie per compensare il flop economico di Windows Vista ^_^

Un’altra notizia piuttosto recente è quella della chiusura di ben 31 server su 48 da parte di Funcom per il gioco Age of Conan. Qui magari la crisi centra meno, forse il gioco non ha avuto l’impatto sperato, ma è comunque un dato significativo: qualche anno fa una casa come Funcom avrebbe potuto anche tirare avanti in perdita, ma con la situazione attuale, alla prima avvisaglia di problema si chiude senza pensarci su troppo!

Everyone has heard the news about the layoffs happening at Microsoft and I even seen news relating to laying off the Aces division which includes the Flight Simulator program. If this is true it is truly sad. Its one of the oldest products of Microsoft since 1982 and even older then that starting with Sublogic . I hope this is not the end.

What do you have to say about it ?

Here is a link that has some information about this . Click-here.

Thanks

Chris

ACES Studios, developer of Microsoft’s Flight Simulator, has been terminated as part of Microsoft’s budget and job cutting plan. As of now nearly everyone at ACES has been dismissed from their well known job of creating one of or the best consumer simulators to be released. Flight Sim. has had a epic voyage, but the 27 year long flight has sadly landed and we hope the disembarking crew the best.

- Mango ManAK

Apparently Microsoft has more or less shown all but 6 members of ACES Studios to the door. That means that the FS Product Line will not be worked on in the forseeable future. Not that I am not happy with FSX in it’s current state, but something just doesn’t sit right with the announcements and comments from Microsoft HQ about the future of the franchise.
As long as I’m able to reinstall my copy, I’m fine. Still I would have loved to see a little more enthusiasm on behalf of Redmond…sinking revenues or not….

Oh well.

I got to see and play Microsoft Flight Simulator during OTRONICON at the Simulation Area a few days ago. I was glad to see this game present at the event. At that moment, I wasn’t expecting Microsoft would sacrifice one of the games it has been known for since 1982. Once I heard the devastating news about the company shutting down the offices of ACES Studios as part of overall and expected layoff of 5,000 of its employees, I thought immediately that MS will no longer have the dedicated teams responsible for the development and fame of the game. The game will not go away forever. Most likely another studio will be in charge.

Llegué a ver y a jugar Microsoft Flight Simulator durante OTRONICON en la área de simulación hace unos pocos días. Estaba contento de ver este juego presente en el evento. En tal momento, yo no esperaba que Microsoft sacrificaría uno de los juegos por la que era conocida desde 1982. Apenas escuché la noticia devastadora acerca de la compañía cerrando las oficinas de ACES Studio como parte de su completo y esperado despido de 5.000 de sus empleados, pensé inmediatamente que MS ya no tendrá a los equipos dedicados por el desarrollo y fama del juego. El juego no se irá para siempre. Más parece que otro estudio estará a cargo.

Source/Fuente: Microsoft Shuts Down ‘Flight Simulator’ Game Studio [http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2339520,00.asp].

Reports this morning have it that Microsoft’s venerable Flight Simulator game may be realistically simulating the fate of Pan Am, Eastern, and TWA: Supposedly the Microsoft layoffs announced yesterday include the program’s entire development team, and it’s therefore being discontinued. I hope it’s a false alarm. I’ve never sat inside FS’s cockpit even once, but I feel like it’s been part of my life for almost as long as I’ve been using personal computers (that would be 31 years as of this summer).

Some of the obituaries I’ve been reading for Flight Simulator say it was born in 1982. It’s really even more venerable than that. That may have been when Microsoft first released a flight sim, but its first version was based on one from a company called SubLOGIC, founded by Bruce Artwick, and his version debuted back in January of 1980. Even if you only start counting in 1982, I think that Flight Simulator is Microsoft’s second-oldest product (Visual Basic, the great-great-great grandchild of Microsoft Basic for the Altair, the company’s first product, is the oldest.)

Artwick’s flight simulator ran on Radio Shack’s TRS-80 at first, and for the time, it was just as graphically impressive as any later version of Microsoft Flight Simulator would be–the very notion of 3D graphics on a home computer was a little stunning. Even when all you were looking at was a screen shot in a small ad in an issue of Creative Computing.

Here are screenshots of the TRS-80 version of SubLOGIC Flight Simulator (which I borrowed from the Czech Flight Simulator History Site) and of Microsoft Flight Simulator X, the current version. Pop quiz: Can you tell which is which without peeking?

The word is beginning to leak out across the web tonight, and it’s the worst kind of news for FS fans. Early reports indicate that Microsoft may have pulled the plug – at leat for now – on the ACES studio, the people who brought us Flight Simulator and ESP, and who were edging up on releasing TrainSim 2. If this turns out to be true, some of the best and brightest sim and game developers will soon be looking for greener pastures. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that they quickly find new work and can put their talents to good use elsewhere.

What does this mean for the FS franchise in general? It’s much too early to say. Partly it depends on whether Microsoft reactivates the team in some incarnation at a later date, as we all hope they will. Lacking a dev team at MS means no more versions of FS in the near term, but at least they left us on a high note. FSX is a very capable platform whose full potential we are only beginning to explore. Given the worldwide base of users and fans, I’m sure the old girl has many more years left in her.

For now though, our thoughts go out to those who lost their jobs today. You’re a brilliant lot, all of you, and you deserved a much better fate than this. Keep your chins up and the wind at your backs. I remember my instructor drilling the three rules of an emergency landing into my head: first aviate, then navigate, and once you’ve got that under control, you can communicate. Here’s hoping we hear from you real soon.

Not the best of weather and a headwind, but a nice flight nevertheless.

I’ve taken the plunge and bought UTX Europe which I think is another great addition for VFR flying. It brings more accurate roads to navigate with, for starters.

I am now also using the freeware European Texture replacement by Adam Mills, uploaded in 8 parts to AVSIM. They are great, I highly recommend them. They fix a lot of visual inconsistencies in Europe, such as yellow meadows in November.

Taxiing to the Runway in the morning light

Climbing out. Beautiful sunrise...

Bank of fog in the distance.

Cruising south at 5000ft...

Crossing the Neckar in Stuttgart (EDDS)

Snow on the 'Schwäbische Alb'

...and none in the Allgäu around Lake Constance

Harbour for the ferries at Konstanz/Lake Constance

Airfield at Altenrhein

Dornbirn ahead

Downwind RWY 23

Parking in Dornbirn

Alps ahead. This is going to be fun!

Weather appears to be good and the time is right.

Time to fly.

If everything goes as planned, I’ll have a quick nip down to Dornbirn to get used to the mountains.
Then it’s off to Bolzano (Bozen) via Innsbruck.

So the autumn weather is rolling in from the north and I intended to escape it. It was gusty and a broken cloud layer in Winningen, but visibility was good and I was in for some tailwind. Fine by me…:) What became apparent though was that I do have to practice my landing skills.

Starting up....

Taxi to RWY 26

Heading East and climbing out over Koblenz... view is to the North

Heading southeast towards Frankfurt (EDDF)

Frankfurt (EDDF) in the distance, turning south now

Back over the Rhine...

Looking back to the Rhine Valley...

Following the river Main for a while

Thunderstorm brewing, best to avoid that one with a slight detour to the east

The 'Kochertalbrücke' to the east and...

More info on the Bridge on Wikipedia…I was surprised it had an entry!

...Schwäbisch Hall to the West. Thunderstorm in the Background.

As you can see...Lightning. The landing was going to be gusty.

I refrained from taking screenies during the landing. I made it down though…

Parking brakes applied at the fuelbox in EDTY.

Now off for Schwäbisch Hall…

After all the tweaking, I just had to check if it’s all worth the trouble.

It was.  A smooth VFR Flight up the Rhine Valley and over the Eifel from Cologne, Germany (EDDK) to Koblenz-Winningen (EDRK).

Edit: I chose the default Cessna 172 from FSX, because a) I rather like the plane and b) a 172 with an similar paintjob frequently flies over my place. I think it handles OK in FSX – for someone who has 0 hours of real airtime and 45 minutes in a C172 as a passenger. It feels right, somehow.  I’ll pick planes for the “World Tour” as I feel fit.

I’m especially looking forward to the ones that cam with “Flying Club X”.

I am also thinking about adding some more RAM (I’m running XP-Pro on 2GB of RAM, maybe 4GB and no Swap-file will give me another frame or two…).

Pictures after the click:.

At the fuelbox in Cologne

Taxi to the Threshold. Fine weather for an upstream trip

Climbing out of Cologne Adenauer (EDDK)

Volcanic Lake near Mendig. There is an Army Airfield nearby.

VC view to the west into the Eifel Range. Almost sundown, but what a view distance....

Crossing over the Moselle River. Time to turn east, back to the Rhine

Eastbound. The Rhine valley and Winningen in the distance. This will be a landing into sundown .

Turning north again over Koblenz. Winningen Airfield already in sight.

Touchdown. Not the best of landings. Neither on the numbers nor aligned to the middle of the runway. That has to improve.

Parking position in Winningen. Now off for some good glass of local wine.

… wie wir uns nennen, wie wir genannt werden… BESSER!

Hier mal eine kleine Auswahl, die man so im Netz findet…

EDV-Pilot, Chairman, Flugsimulant, Flugsimulierender Wohnzimmerpilot, Simulationspilot, Chairborne pilot, Flusi-Fan, Flusi-Freak, Flusi-Freund, Flusianer, Simulant, virtueller Pilot, PC-Pilot, Flusiholiker, Simpilot, Pantoffelpilot

Also meine Favoriten sind der Chairman und der Chairborne Pilot

Die Liste kann natürlich von euch erweitert werden.