If this is actually exclusive to Xbox consoles, it’s really going to fail to hit the market that generally buys flight sims.
They still are, and they’re actually bigger and more elaborate than ever. The maker movement and ready availability of cheap, easily programmed, multi-purpose microcontroller boards, has made custom control fabrication more accessible than ever.
Would be great if X-plane came with a personal tech expert.
That was in Office 97. And no, I don’t (but there are instructions on the internet if anyone is still using that 22 year old version). 
I though the same. It looks like it’s based on a new engine, taking advantage of all the latest graphical niceties. With luck we’ll see other developers grab the engine and start porting it into other flight games, like combat flight sims. I’ve really been hoping for a great WWI flight sim that’s not based on CFS3.
Gorgeous.
“Do not touch screens” adds a nice touch.
Is he still fighting that patent lawsuit over using the tools provided by Google to sell an Android version of X-Plane? (A suit filed against small app developers rather than Google.) A quick Google didn’t come up with any obvious resolution references.
RoF and CFS would both be great titles to refresh! I hadn’t considered those, I’m still in shock I get a fresh new FS.
And this sad day…
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No idea, he was always very front-footed about x-plane!
That’s the thing I liked - it was challenging. Developed and maintained by a very small team.
My favourite was learning to fly the helicopters (pay versions). Very entrancing, and deeply satisfying when you learn to hover in variable winds, and fly through dark lightning storms.
I pulled off about 6 years ago though, slow Mac and that dead world. Every trip felt like The Omega Man, without the nasty vampires for company.
I see in the MS Flight thing (which must have been developed by the team they canned) some activity, but I bet it’s repetitious!
Yep. SubLogic. I played that on a friends TRS-80, loaded from cassette (that was about a 20 minute load time, if memory serves). The best part was being able to fly off the grid, then turn back and fly under it. Good times!
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Maybe Rob meant exclusive within consoles, because every iteration of MS Flight Simulator for 35 years has been available on PC and this one is no different.
“Okay, I don’t want anybody to panic, but the flight crew bailed. Who here has played MS Flight Simulator?”
Yet another reason I’m not in marketing; that would pretty much be my ad pitch.
Don’t remember, but I do have teh googles…
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We had the Apple II FS I version. Other than the usual figure-out-the-puzzle solving for taking off and landing what I remember is that is was soooooo dullllll. The only thing that saved it was the dogfight game. Yay, let’s pretend that little single pixel dot is an airplane! I think people sometimes forget how much imagination was required for old games.
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It was kind of tedious. At the time I had the full-sized Red Barron vector graphics arcade game (well, the working guts set up on a shelf - no room for the full cabinet), so the flight sim was pretty dull by comparison. But the Red Barron had pretty limited game play…
Xplane physics are incredible. Did you ever try the V-22 Osprey? Insanely beautiful machine.
I had some local hardware issues that caused me some grief with x-plane, the whole thing felt like learning linux. (And yeah, it was spartan.)
Other than the antiquated graphics engine. My biggest visual gripe with MS is the basic textures on long cross country flights. Even third party plug ins couldn’t solve the problem globally.
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Yeah, X-Plane had a graphics renovation about 5 years ago, but ran into all sorts of colour issues!
But the physics are absurdly good, hence their well-founded statement that professionals use it for training.
I love the youtubes of people who’ve learned to fly helicopters in X-Plane, then first go in the real thing they outperform, eg hovering immediately.
With the right VR and interactivity, X-Plane could smash it. I’m still amazed that investment hasn’t happened.
Since we’re talking about flight sims, anyone here ever mess with VTOL VR? As the name suggests you fly a VTOL aircraft (actually there’s two - a futuristic, vaguely Osprey-esque thing, and some kinda STOVL F-35-esque deal). The big selling point is you can reach out and flip the switches with your actual hands. It’s pretty cool, even if I’ve never managed to score a hit with the absurd GPS-guided cruise missile you can get.
I had this on a Dick Smith System 80 which was like the TRS-80 only less fancy.
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Isn’t MS Flight Simulator still used in some flight training schools for private pilots? I remember talking to someone who got their pilot license mention they used it for some practices before they were taken up in a real plane for more practice.
