Dovetail Games' vision and mission statements are remarkably similar to The Flare Path's. Replace “company” with “column”, “hobbies” with “articles”, and “delight and retain customers” with “debag and retrain readers” and they're pretty much identical. Whether we see eye to eye on flight simulation matters remains to be seen. I was rather hoping that this week's word slab would serve as a Rosetta Stone to the exciting but enigmatic press release issued by Dovetail on Wednesday. Searching questions were sent Kent-ward, lengthy responses received, yet somehow I still find myself confused by the Chathamites' aerial intentions.
]]>Microsoft are shutting down Microsoft Flight in October, they announced only last week It's a sad, small death for what was once of The Big Names in PC gaming. Well, sort of. This week brings news that as Microsoft Flight prepares to fly off into the sunset, Microsoft's fly 'em ups will live on in an unexpected way. Train Simulator creators Dovetail Games have licensed the rights to Microsoft's tech, planning to start making their own flying machines. They're also re-releasing ye olde Microsoft Flight Sim X on Steam later this year.
]]>Blimey! What a week! Not only did Harris, the Flare Path quartermaster, pick up twenty thousand exclamation marks dirt cheap at a local fire sale, the world of flight simulation was rocked by a trio of 2000lb news Paveways!!! We literally can't move for !s in the office at present! I'm actually thinking of taking a saw to some of them! Extra full stops and 'i' dots are always useful, and the uprights could be resold as war clubs! For ants!! Or other tiny invertebrates!!! With a fondness for melee!!!!
]]>First-time readers of Flare Path, before you go any further, be aware that the following may contain references to obscure 1920s RAF biplanes. The writer will probably assume you find tankettes, midget submarines, and Welbikes inherently charming. At some point in the text he'll almost certainly use the phrase “almost certainly” and the words 'tad' and 'Panzer' (Or, if the column is looking a tad short, 'Panzerkampfwagen'). Alliteration will go unforgivably unchecked. Semi-colons and hyphens may be used; incorrectly.
]]>Nobody knows for sure why the Hawaiian Giant Booby (Microsofta Flightus) died out. Some say its nest sites were invaded by shipwrecked rats. Others suggest Polynesian cloak-makers hunted it to extinction. A few believe the bird's demise was directly linked to its unusual habit of aero-ovulation. Me, I'm a subscriber to the 'Fatally flawed DLC' theory. MS released the wrong add-ons at the wrong times at the wrong prices.
]]>Rumours that Microsoft's Vancouver studio had been completely shut down were swirling around the internet this morning, but in a statement to Gamespot, the company has specified that the studio will survive despite cuts. One of the projects that will cease, however, is Microsoft Flight, which means Tim Stone's desire for "jets, smuggling, and air-sea rescues...via DLC" is likely to be forever unfulfilled, at least in this game. The free to play title seemed to have been designed as an expanding world but there will be no growth now. Our thoughts are with those whose jobs are affected, on this and other projects. Statement below.
]]>Here at Rock and Paper and Shotgun we are committed to free-to-read Wot I Thinks. The following assessment of Microsoft's new gunless flight sim can be read as many times as you like for absolutely no fee:
"Microsoft Flight is jolly good, all things considered."
Enjoy that? Want more? You'll be pleased to hear that this WIT can be extended in numerous exciting and affordable ways.
]]>Mother Nature is up to something. In my neck-of-the-woods cuckoo pint and dog's mercury have begun appearing amongst the leaf litter. The bare treetops are abuzz with avian Morse code. If I didn't know better I'd say a Big Push was in the offing. Gaia is going to try another assault with her Elite Photosynthesizers. It's as if she doesn't remember how it ended last year. How it ends every year.
If war should come, you won't find me anywhere near bursting buds or strafing butterflies. I'll be ensconced in my Hans Christian Anderson shelter preparing pieces like this week's GIANTS interview and Microsoft Flight report.
]]>Welcome aboard Microsoft Flight gfwlivesetup_4d5308d2e0000001_DIR.exe. Our free-to-play sim set in the skies of Hawaii, but we've been redirected to land on a strip near Tim Stone's house. He'll be trimming the review rudder for us sometime this week. We offer complimentary Big Island, planes and missions. Drinks and light refreshments, such as additional landscapes, planes and missions, can be purchased from our Marketplace. If you'll look out your window to the left, you'll see the launch trailer. And on the right, that black mountain spitting blood-red lava into the air, engulfing the 'Limping Kitten Cattery' in choking, sulfurous, acid rain is GFWL Mountain. There's no way to avoid it. The stick has locked. We're going innnnnnnnn!
]]>Just like Holly Genarro’s plane had to circle the airport at Dulles Airport in the 1990 classic Die Hard 2: Rudder Me This, Microsoft’s free-to-play air-to-plane sim Flight is still up in the air. But fret not, fokkers, for Microsoft will be getting all John McLaine on its crew section, and exploding a planeful of terrorists to create runway lights on the 29th of February. That's when everyone will be touching down on the crunchy snow and into Bruce Willis's comforting embrace. Er, and the game's out.
]]>Pressing the 'SUBMIT' button on the Microsoft Flight beta application page does one of two things. if you're lucky it propels your application down PTT tube 'A' - a trans-global conduit that terminates just above the desk of Merlin Packard, the MS Flight beta manager. If you're unlucky it sends your missive down PTT tube 'B' - a trans-global conduit that terminates just above the maw of Kīlauea, Hawaii's most energetic lava vent. Unfortunately, my application seems to have ended-up in the volcano. Deprived of first-hand Flight experience I've been forced to fact-gather by quizzing the developer. Descend ten thousand micrometers to see the result of that quizzing.
]]>After over 340 years in development, there's finally a trailer for Microsoft Flight. It's the reboot of the previously defunct Flight Simulator series, beginning stuck on the islands of Hawaii, but coming out for free. The trailer doesn't really emphasise the hardcore side of the game at all, so those hoping to find out if it'll meet their MSFS needs will have to wait a bit longer.
]]>Remember when Microsoft closed ACES, the studio that makes Microsoft Flight Simulator, and everyone sighed and looked at their shoes and wondered if Steve Ballmer grew stronger with every studio the behemoth destroyed? That was 2009. In Spring 2012 the new Microsoft Flight will be released, and it will be a download, and it will be free.
]]>Microsoft Flight Simulator was dead for a while, but it's due to return with one less word next year. Microsoft Flight is the name for the rebooted grandaddy of stately, faithfully-recreated aeorplanes, presumably because someone in marketing decided 'Simulator' didn't sound suitably lifestyle. Microsoft Game Studios have been quietly documenting MSF's progress over on their website for a while now, but they've just announced plans to open the bomb bay doors to interested beta testers next month. That all happens here.
]]>It was a sad loss of a genuinely decades-old-franchise when Microsoft seemed to abandon Microsoft Flight Simulator. However, as part of its three-pronged PC-offensive announced at Gamescom, they've brought back an internally-developed PC-Exclusive Microsoft Flight. Very few more details on its sparse page. Few bits from the press release which stand out include the desire to "Welcoming everyone, including long-time fans, to experience the magic of flight" - which brings to mind Tim's feature on the descent of the Flight Sim - and talking about a shared, social experience. The very short teaser follows...
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