James Fallows reports that Microsoft has laid off the team that works on Flight Simulator. I was never much of a player of Flight Simulator, but it should be recognized as one of the most important games in the history of personal computing. It was one of the very first games to offer a first person perspective on the action, it was one of the first games for the IBM PC platform, and I think it’s likely that it’s the oldest continually developed computer game on the market.
Wikipedia has a lengthy article on Microsoft Flight Simulator.
PC Magazines has further details.
I can’t help but wonder if the better choice would have been to spin off ACES Studios and give them the Flight Simulator intellectual property to try to make it on their own.
January 24, 2009 at 6:25 pm
They’re up against some pretty hefty competition, and they’ve tended rather firmly towards the entertainment side of things. If you’re serious about aerodynamcs, you’ll fly X-plane, if you’re okay with a simplistic flight model (like MSFS has) but want better airplane system simulation than MSFS has you’ll fly FlightGear, if you’re into Radio Control you’ll fly FlightGear or one of the several excellent R/C simulators…
The only reason to fly MSFS is the pretty scenery, but if that’s why you’re booting up the computer you’ll play a game instead.
January 24, 2009 at 7:03 pm
They’re up against some pretty hefty competition, and they’ve tended rather firmly towards the entertainment side of things. If you’re serious about aerodynamcs, you’ll fly X-plane, if you’re okay with a simplistic flight model (like MSFS has) but want better airplane system simulation than MSFS has you’ll fly FlightGear, if you’re into Radio Control you’ll fly FlightGear or one of the several excellent R/C simulators…
The only reason to fly MSFS is the pretty scenery, but if that’s why you’re booting up the computer you’ll play a game instead.
October 16, 2009 at 8:18 am
i know it is a terrible shame, i am a big flight simulator fan and i am currenlty flying fsx, you would of thought popularity was gaining but obviously not.