Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 01:36 this Monday (GMT):

Microsoft has recently been announcing a bunch of new features for the up-and-coming newest version of its venerable "Flight Simulator"
franchise, imaginatively named "Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024".
These features include a better flight model, nicer visuals (natch)
and, most unusually, the ability to get out of the plane and walk
around.

(I'm reminded of the advice given in 1997's "Interstate 76" game, when
an NPC warned, 'Never get out of the car'.)

I was rather late coming to the 2020 edition of the franchise; I toyed
around with it a little bit in... I dunno, 2022? but didn't really
engage with the game until late last year. It's an impressive piece of
tech, even if my appreciation of the flight simulator gameplay has
diminished over the decades. But it doesn't really feel like a game
that needs replacing yet; the sim still has legs.

But the newest one added more legs! (since u can walk :P)

But new games are what bring in the sales, so I get why Microsoft is
pushing forward with the sequel. Still, I look at this news with some trepidation, because the 2020 version of the game has a giant boat
anchor hanging off it than could sink the game quite easily.

Namely, the game is entirely dependent on Microsoft's good graces -and
online services- to play. If Microsoft pulls the plug, the 2020
version is dead. And Microsoft doesn't have the best of reputations
for keeping old services and products.

Of course, Microsoft /says/ that players of the 2020 game have nothing
to worry about; not only will the services stay in operation, but they
will be dually updating both games for a while yet. And good ol' Papa Microsoft is so incredibly trustworthy, so I'm sure it's true.

To be fair, I always thought they just pulled data from their Maps
service. Of course, I wouldn't put it past them to "accidentally" break
the connection on the old game to force people to upgrade.

Obviously, this isn't a problem unique to MSFS 2020; just ask any
player of a Ubisoft game, right? These online entanglements threaten a
lot of classic games. But rare is the single-player game so dependent
on online assets as the 2020 Flight Sim.

(Technically, it is possible to play MSFS 2020 offline... if you're
willing to spare a couple petabytes to caching all the data.)

It would be nice if you could archive a portion so it would take up less
space.

So, TL;DR I'd love to get all hyped up for this newest version of the long-running Flight Sim franchise... but all the news about the
impending release of the 2024 edition reminds me of is how short lived
the 2020 version may be. Hardly the sort of thing that inspires me to
pay out more money.

Yeah, plus I can't run it.
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

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Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 17:17 this Monday (GMT):

On Mon, 1 Jul 2024 14:20:03 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07
<candycanearter07@candycanearter07.nomail.afraid> wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote at 01:36 this Monday (GMT):

Microsoft has recently been announcing a bunch of new features for the
up-and-coming newest version of its venerable "Flight Simulator"
franchise, imaginatively named "Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024".
These features include a better flight model, nicer visuals (natch)
and, most unusually, the ability to get out of the plane and walk
around.

(I'm reminded of the advice given in 1997's "Interstate 76" game, when
an NPC warned, 'Never get out of the car'.)

I was rather late coming to the 2020 edition of the franchise; I toyed
around with it a little bit in... I dunno, 2022? but didn't really
engage with the game until late last year. It's an impressive piece of
tech, even if my appreciation of the flight simulator gameplay has
diminished over the decades. But it doesn't really feel like a game
that needs replacing yet; the sim still has legs.

But the newest one added more legs! (since u can walk :P)

I didn't know you were a father, candy, because that was very much a
Dad joke.

I'm not, but thx

Of course, Microsoft /says/ that players of the 2020 game have nothing
to worry about; not only will the services stay in operation, but they
will be dually updating both games for a while yet. And good ol' Papa
Microsoft is so incredibly trustworthy, so I'm sure it's true.

To be fair, I always thought they just pulled data from their Maps
service. Of course, I wouldn't put it past them to "accidentally" break
the connection on the old game to force people to upgrade.

AFAIK, the game used backend data from Bing maps but it not the same
service; you aren't pulling from the Bing Maps servers. Rather, the
maps were duplicated on MSFS2020 servers. That's why all the maps in
MSFS2020 are several years out of date, whereas the changes wrought by
time are reflected correctly on Bing Maps.

If MS were to suddenly kill Bing Maps, it shouldn't affect MSFS2020.
But just because Bing Maps is still up doesn't mean MSFS2020 will keep running.

Oh dang, that sucks.
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 01/07/2024 02:36, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Obviously, this isn't a problem unique to MSFS 2020; just ask any
player of a Ubisoft game, right? These online entanglements threaten a
lot of classic games. But rare is the single-player game so dependent
on online assets as the 2020 Flight Sim.

(Technically, it is possible to play MSFS 2020 offline... if you're
willing to spare a couple petabytes to caching all the data.)

I'm in two minds about this one. I never played the game but from what
you're saying this is different from single player games that are
unnecessarily entangled with online components. This one has a reason to
do it so the exchange is if you want this really expansive world then
you need to accept the price is one day it will disappear.

The clincher though will be what will MS do once it's released.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)