What happened to all the flight sim games

cheddar

cheddar

cheddar

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I remember when I was young games like F16 Falcon, F29 retaliator and a host of other really cool flight sims games.

You never see these type of games before, I remember spending ages playing F19 stealth fighter by Microscope, it had an amazing manual full of tech stuff, totally enthralling.

You would have thought that with the power of todays modern PCs there would be some amazing flight sim games out there, am I missing something?
 
Probably since the PC Gaming market is dying and Flight Simulators are getting increasingly more difficult to make.

The only sort of people who put risk into such a detailed flight simulator that is up to power with todays technology would have to be a pretty big corporation. Like Microsoft.

EDIT: Dying was sort of overreacting. Lets rephrase that to 'losing ground'.
 
nikeair94 said:
Probably since the PC Gaming market is dying and Flight Simulators are getting increasingly more difficult to make.

The only sort of people who put risk into such a detailed flight simulator that is up to power with todays technology would have to be a pretty big corporation. Like Microsoft.

EDIT: Dying was sort of overreacting. Lets rephrase that to 'losing ground'.
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I was under the impression that the PC market was really doing well since Steam started to take off etc. I am sure I read something along those lines the other day actually.
 
I agree! One would think that their time is now when PC graphics have caught up for them to at least look impressive but nah..

Unfortunately, even if flight simulators do come up,they would most probably serve niches of the gaming market which wouldn't be financially good enough for developers.
 
F19 by Microprose! :-) It was my first proper flight sim too.

My theory has always been that developers spent too long listening to the hardcore sim-heads and not enough time making their games (and especially campaigns) fun.... immersive, compelling.

My biggest disappointment was when the Apache-Havoc/Comanche-Hokum line died. That engine was close (but not close enough) to having a campaign engine you could really care about. Clear out an area, support ground troops, move on. All set on a map which was neither too large nor too small. (Falcon4 always made me feel like an inconsequential cog in a massive machine).

I still buy sims (it's not like there are many to waste money on) but I don't really fly or enjoy them much. Too much detail, not enough reason to learn and apply that incredible work.

I recently watched this video from BF3...

<remove this>SsS6bKg
http://*******.com/4y8mdo7 <--same thing with the urine extracted
Oh bum... I give up! Tiny-url being starred out as well.

Obviously it's heavily canned, but the start sequence (approaching and getting into the aircraft) is the first thing to really make me yearn for a flight sim for years. And while the A2A combat in that long movie is unconvincing, the later A2G footage reminds me of Tornado and how I dreamed about what the future might hold.

It's ironic that the compelling gameplay and campaign engine I'm still waiting for may eventually come from something from the Arma or Battlefield series.

EDIT: Darned URL has a random sweary in it. Took me ages to work out why the link wasn't working!
 
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nikeair94 said:
Probably since the PC Gaming market is dying and Flight Simulators are getting increasingly more difficult to make.

The only sort of people who put risk into such a detailed flight simulator that is up to power with todays technology would have to be a pretty big corporation. Like Microsoft.

EDIT: Dying was sort of overreacting. Lets rephrase that to 'losing ground'.
Click to expand...

I love when people chat ****. So where are all the flight sim games on console? Oh wait there aren't any because sims generally require silly massive computers to look and handle nicely with and reasonable FPS and consoles cant take the number of peripherals required to properly play a flight sim.

OP: Look at DCS (Digital Combat Simulator): AC10 and Black Shark, Take on Helicopters is just out, FSX is still going strong, IL2 is great too for some old school combat.
 
Lockheed Martin an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company.

http://www.prepar3d.com/

About Prepar3D®
Training meets reality with Lockheed Martin’s Prepar3D® simulation software. Private pilots, commercial organizations, militaries and academia rely on Prepar3D for immersive, experiential learning.

Prepar3D (pronounced “prepared”) is a visual simulation platform that allows users to create training scenarios across aviation, maritime and ground domains. Users can train anywhere in the virtual world, from under water to sub orbital space.

Prepar3D furthers the development of Microsoft® ESP™ while maintaining compatibility with Microsoft Flight Simulator X, allowing many thousands of add-ons to be used within Prepar3D.
Click to expand...
 
Falcon4.0 with the new BMS4.32 mod is where it's at.

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Not bad for a 1998 DirectX6 game ;)
 
Sims stopped being fun to play for ages, TFX was amazing but now you have to be a tech head to understand it and be able to take off! They need to release a spiritual successor to TFX
 
Oxy said:
Trolling?

Loads of flight sims around.
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I wasn't trolling at all. It just seems that I couldn't think of many new flight sims. Even the one's listed seem to be very specialiased with very little in the way of advertising.

I was looking for something halfway between something like a true simulator and something consolely.

Falcon pictures looks insane for such a old game!
 
  • DCS A-10 (Amazing)
  • Cliffs of Dover (Potential to be amazing!)
  • New PMDG 737 for FSX (Amazing)
  • New microsoft Flight sim in the works

DCS A-10 is probably the best piece of software I have ever used, everytine I fly it it amazes me
 
cheddar said:
I wasn't trolling at all. It just seems that I couldn't think of many new flight sims. Even the one's listed seem to be very specialiased with very little in the way of advertising.

I was looking for something halfway between something like a true simulator and something consolely.

Falcon pictures looks insane for such a old game!
Click to expand...

HAWX?
 
cheddar said:
I wasn't trolling at all. It just seems that I couldn't think of many new flight sims. Even the one's listed seem to be very specialiased with very little in the way of advertising.

I was looking for something halfway between something like a true simulator and something consolely.

Falcon pictures looks insane for such a old game!
Click to expand...

Wings of Prey, Apache Air Assault, World of Planes.
 
If you are looking for a mixture of arcade and realism, I'd suggest the Strike Fighters 2 series of games. I am a simmer from the Amiga days and want something that involves a degree of reality along with a fun play. For me these games deliver exactly that, and I have been playing the various iterations since I discovered the series 4 years ago.

The games can be found at http://www.thirdwire.com.

There is also have huge modding community, with literally thousands of user mods created, everything from air and ground units to new campaigns. The best starting point for mods is http://www.combatace.com
 
Lock On is nice mix between basic and realistic also.

As for flightsims being dead - I'd say we are going though a second golden age of flight sims - there has never been so many top quality sims, for each sub-genre of flight sims, as there is today.

Nate
 
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