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Well, doctor, I see a...

UPDATE: Thanks to Tom Gibson for finding the "lost" trailer video on the MS download site. Enjoy!

 

With E3 in full swing news about the upcoming Flight Simulator X release is starting to filter out of L.A. And by "filter" I do mean it. Like patients staring at a Rorschach test, everyone is trying to make sense of the few new screenshots and videos that have made it beyond the show floor. Or maybe they are more like military photo interpreters, staring at pixels through a magnifying glass trying to tell if that's a tank or a missile...or a cow.

 

Very few people have actually seen FSX, of course. Yak Yak has, and posted a very nice write up on AvSim, including photos. SimHQ actually had someone in the press breifings with Shawn and Scott and filed this report. (As an aside, it's interesting that they, like many, refer to everyone from the team they meet as "developers". Within MS, that has a very specific meaning--someone who writes code for a living. No offence to Shawn and Scott, but the closest they come to code is picking up a Dan Brown novel. <g>) GameSpot had an annoucemment, then an article (though they misspoke about needing DX10 for water effects). Finally, someone posted their "shaky cam" experience here.

 

People are interested, though. According to GameSpot stats (near the bottom of the home page) FSX is in the top-ten most popular games across all platforms! Schweet!

 

It's so interesting reading the reactions to all these. One of the first conspiracy theories to emerge concerned the moving road traffic seen in one of the videos--it was too fast! Debates raged on the boards (here, here and here) with turner112 going so far as to try an compute their speed based on relative scale and distance travelled over time. 'A' for effort but in reality the video was just sped up in the editing bay. Gold stars to sclincoln for figuring that out.

 

The hullaballu over traffic was followed immediately by posts stating definitively that based on the 6 digital photos and single first-hand experience, FSX hasn't fixed any problems or added any new features worth a darn. (And naturally since one photo showed what everyone assumed was "the blurries" that definitively proved our graphics engine hadn't changed. <g>) By pure coincidence I'm sure, two divergent threads started to grow in the AvSim forums. The "clearly nothing in FSX makes *me* want to upgrade" camp has convened "upstairs" in the general FS forum. While "downstairs" in the dedicated FSX forum the prevailing opinion (with a few exceptions) seems to be "lookin' good, more to come, be happy." I can almost picture them pounding on the ceiling: "Hey, quiet down! We're trying to enjoy the show down here!" <g>

 

There also the search for the elusive trailer video that we worked so hard on. Rest assured it's out there. We handed it to the press on CD so I'm sure it's only a matter of time before it gets posted. Apparently many people thought it would be part of some sort of formal presentation. E3 is anything but formal. We've been showing FSX (and the video) in our booth all week, letting folks get some "hands-on" time.

 

And, by the way, in an effort to clear up any doubt--nothing you have seen is using DX10. Put another way, everything you have seen is using DX9! (And the machines at E3 are those any mere mortal can obtain--dual-core Dells with a couple 256MB SLI video cards.) And, while I'm at it:

  • No, what you're seeing from the show is not all that's in FSX. We're still saving a few suprises.
  • Yes, the display settings used for the hands-on machines have been optimized for each mission (e.g., they aren't all cranked up). We haven't done perf-tuning yet.
  • Yes, you really can own one of those parabolic dome displays--for about $70K.
  • Did I mention everything you've seen is running under DX9?

Anyway, I expect more excitement in the next couple of days. Kudos to the team for braving the aural barrage of the E3 floor. Enjoy!

Comments

  • Anonymous
    May 12, 2006
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 12, 2006
    Keep at it, Mike. Trust me, for every whiner/critic in the forums, there are 5 of us who are sick of trying to point out positives, and then get told that we're either Microsoft sympathizers, or that we don't want to see innovation. Heh Heh. Personally, I'm still looking forward to FSX.

  • Anonymous
    May 12, 2006
    Bravo, bravo et encore bravo ! more to come !

  • Anonymous
    May 12, 2006
    Has anyone ever told you that you wright gooooood!!!!? Thanks for dispelling the cloud of sadness some comentators in some forums are trying to cover over our spirits. The video rocks!!!

    Dito

  • Anonymous
    May 12, 2006
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 12, 2006
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 13, 2006
    It seems FSX is now ranked #2 out of 6016 games at Gamespot with 350 wishlist selections and 669 members tracking it.

  • Anonymous
    May 13, 2006
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 13, 2006
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 15, 2006
    Thanks for the great shots from the E3.

    But, as mensiont above, what is going to be the differance between DX 9 / DX10. Is it woth to wait with upgrading for about half an year?

  • Anonymous
    May 15, 2006
    All the new images and videos have been great to review.  I, for one, am also quite pleased with the statement that there's more features yet to be revealed, I'd hate to think you let the whole cat out of the bag at once.

    Thanks for all of your efforts to let us in on the goings on, not to mention all of your work along with the rest of the team.  There are many people looking forward to seeing the fruits of your labours.

    Good luck in your next project, whenever you're able to reveal the context.

  • Anonymous
    June 04, 2006
    I liked the copter rescue. Does FSX have a way to launch a disaster scenario? I am huge into the series on TV called Air Emergency/Air crash investigations  and it would make interesting flying experience to try land a plane purely by using the invidual throttle controls for left and right engines (provided both even worked). And landing a jumbo on water so that as many virtual passengers could be saved..

    I haven't played FS really so maybe these are something that have been there for years, after all it's a Sim and stuff breaks up.

  • Anonymous
    July 20, 2006
    Do you know by any chance if it will be running smoothly on an AMD X2 64 4400 or on a Intel T2600?? I am gonna buy a lappy and wonder wich one should I get....

  • Anonymous
    July 30, 2007
    I have been a flight sim fan for a long time.after trying all the new stuff,I STILL GET BORED because there are no passengers on the planes.microsoft has created many animations,but what about boarding passengers or unloading passengers seen walking from the planes,that would make flight sim more realistic.thank you.

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