SimPilotBlogs

Avalon airshow

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 22:20:10 +0000

God-sent gift or devil's curse?

Fri, 04 May 2007 02:05:25 +0000

FSX with service

Tue, 29 May 2007 01:57:31 +0000

It's launch time

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 05:14:32 +0000

Hi all

Sat, 02 Jun 2007 23:22:54 +0000

First impression

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 05:04:45 +0000

B-1B Lancers

Mon, 04 Jun 2007 20:24:11 +0000

Dreamfleet 737-400

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 20:00:40 +0000

FSX Can Look and Run Just Like FS9

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 20:23:48 +0000

The 11th day

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 12:30:49 +0000

Racing in Style

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 08:08:59 +0000

Problem with sound on MFS 2004

Thu, 21 Jun 2007 20:32:09 +0000

Simming the Glasshouse Mountains

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 05:30:21 +0000

DX10 for Windows XP?

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 07:30:46 +0000

The Grounded World of Flight Simulator

Sun, 01 Jul 2007 06:24:39 +0000

We have some winners!

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 02:42:37 +0000

PhotoScenery For San Francisco

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:16:25 +0000

Flight dispatch

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 08:43:26 +0000

This month hot at avsim.com!

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 10:43:17 +0000

greetings from canada!

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 16:14:08 +0000

Flight Simulator or Flight Game ?

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 23:59:29 +0000

ATC headaches

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 05:47:12 +0000

There's a First Time for Everything

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 15:10:12 +0000

Here is a new head-tracking software called Cachya.

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 00:16:30 +0000

Flying Alaska

Sat, 07 Jul 2007 03:12:50 +0000

My entry for story competition

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 21:21:03 +0000

Get your simming needs from Amazon

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 11:19:05 +0000

Easy Flight Planning

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 07:05:32 +0000

Larry made me do it

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 12:09:38 +0000

First Blog Post

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 09:17:55 +0000

Easy Descent Profile

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 05:02:22 +0000

Carbon footprints

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 20:20:46 +0000

FSX vs X-Plane - An interesting lesson learnt

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 01:57:25 +0000

Time To Blog.. :-D Optimizing System Performance for Flight Simulator

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 23:53:52 +0000

FSX & Lot's of life for my FS2004

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 20:05:04 +0000

About those Ariane 737s-cool stuff

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 20:16:20 +0000

My first lessons in the 70's

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 01:57:59 +0000

Vegas by Cessna 182

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 18:38:15 +0000

This month hot at avsim.com!

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 01:35:24 +0000

Flinders Island crayfish

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 12:45:50 +0000

Flying in New Zealand

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 21:41:05 +0000

Flying around Princess Julianna

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 10:43:43 +0000

Roll on September

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 01:53:59 +0000

Get the motion simulator for your living room!

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 02:15:03 +0000

Free Flight Sim Training in Second Life

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 00:15:49 +0000

The revolution for your PC cockpit?

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 03:19:22 +0000

Build your own cockpit #2

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 00:24:25 +0000

A little WWI shooter

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 06:29:53 +0000

Must Have Freeware List

Sat, 25 Aug 2007 05:51:28 +0000

Off To Australia

Tue, 28 Aug 2007 10:43:38 +0000

World Tour Part I - A preview..

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 21:08:49 +0000

AFCAD for FSX

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 03:37:28 +0000

Saitek Pro Flight Yoke review

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 03:41:56 +0000

Weasel Air?

Fri, 31 Aug 2007 06:37:49 +0000

video comp with NZFF

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 08:57:55 +0000

guns, bombs, rockets, etc....

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 18:18:30 +0000

Vista Australis 1.5 Released

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 06:54:32 +0000

fly google!

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 04:42:37 +0000

AVSIM top August downloads

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 04:51:03 +0000

ALWAYS PAY ATTENTIO TO ATIS

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 23:24:20 +0000

Ready for the $2850 upgrade?

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 09:29:58 +0000

On Virtual-Aviation.info

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 18:52:00 +0000

gadgets, gadgets, gadgets

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 00:40:31 +0000

Phil Taylor on youtube

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 02:18:42 +0000

Improving FS9 Landclass Textures

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 02:24:53 +0000

Red Bull Racing in Google!

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 05:01:34 +0000

Some Ramblings-FSX

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 17:31:30 +0000

When the bubble bursts

Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:42:51 +0000

Step 6

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 21:50:47 +0000

Hey a flightsim community "down under"

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 09:29:53 +0000

My First FS Wow ...

Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:31:19 +0000

NZFF video comp winner

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 11:09:25 +0000

UTX Canada - First Impressions

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:26:41 +0000

My first race report

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 03:02:53 +0000

I don't use FSX & XP anymore...

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:21:38 +0000

Feel the G-Forces on your torso?

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 02:26:26 +0000

Activation woes & install counters

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 00:47:21 +0000

FlightZone01+02 and video card weirdness

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:59:57 +0000

Piper Twin Comanche-great!

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 10:40:04 +0000

New Hardware...

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 09:59:55 +0000

FS 9 frustrations !

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 13:22:29 +0000

Multi Screen Display

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 18:13:14 +0000

Corpus Christi Event winners:

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 03:11:51 +0000

Corpus Christi awards handed out!

Tue, 13 Nov 2007 23:19:52 +0000

Payware Sim Aircraft

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 03:42:05 +0000

luxury galore in the A380

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:21:44 +0000

Your online target?

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 00:34:25 +0000

Low Cost-Make FSX Work

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 01:43:50 +0000

Dreamflyer survey

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 01:06:26 +0000

FSX the last version to support old aircraft?

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 03:38:59 +0000

Tell ACES what you think...

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 21:46:35 +0000

Is 150-inch big enough?

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 03:08:00 +0000

No this isn't going to be a lame comment on the sort of emails that fill up my spam box, this is about the Panasonic 150-inch Plasma Display which is just enormous. Is this big or what?

Now i want you to imagine having a nice FS setup in front and enjoying some quality simming time. If you like your TVs as big as a queen-sized bed, capable of displaying an elephant in actual size, you may now begin your five-year wait for it to become available, if you can save your money fast enough.

Can't get enough of screenshots?

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 03:23:00 +0000

Are you a plane spotter? Addicted to Airliners.net? Ever wanted to have a Flickr.com for flight sim screenshots? This is your day! FSLiners.net opened their gates.

This is your premium website to view or upload flight sim screenshots. And the site is already filled with great shots. Happy browsing!

Yet another cool monitor...

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 21:45:00 +0000

If you own a matrox triple head card, which allows you to feed 3 monitors, you probably also have 3 monitors to stretch your view out. 3 monitors mean that you don't have one picture, but rather 3 with the monitor bevels in between.

Well, Alienware solved this problem. Check this monitor out:

This is a 4 monitor combo and you can run it directly from your graphics card. The resolution is a whopping 2880x900 and it's 3 feet wide. What a great gizmo!

Yet another sim chair - this one is amazing

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:05:00 +0000

If you're interested in a motion platform chair then this gem should get your attention. The force dynamics 401 chair was built for racing sims, but it does in fact support Flight Simulator. Head over to here: http://www.force-dynamics.com/content/whatis401.php and watch a video that will make your head spin!

Want to commute to work in a flying car?

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:04:00 +0000

Here's your chance to live the future right now. You can get the last Sky Commuter concept craft from ebay. You can own it for just $62,600.

Update: Well, it sold for $131,700.

Fly into Space

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:12:00 +0000

If you have a spare $200,000 lying around you can book your ticket to space for 2009 from Virgin Galactic.

Check out some more photos here:

Virgin Galactic Unveils Spaceships That'll Take Passengers Up in 2009

My other blog...

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 06:49:13 +0000

Musings about life...

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:45:45 +0000

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 14:02:56 +0000

Off To Australia UpDate

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 04:14:54 +0000

How to NOT land an airplane!

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:56:00 +0000

Not sim related but a fantastic video to watch anyway. I lived for 4 years in Wellington, New Zealand, and the Wellington International airport is famous for really exciting landings. Wellington is known as Windy Wellington and watching the big birds coming in can be very exciting on a windy day.

Not as exciting though as what happened yesterday in the city I was born in, Hamburg, Germany. North Germany was hit by a storm and an Airbus was told to land. Grab some popcorn and watch what happened:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkQo4jO7EmY

Know of any similar landings? Please tell us below!

RealAir is OK

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:01:54 +0000

I am here......

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:33:38 +0000

Get your pilot's license from home!

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 03:24:00 +0000

We had a recent discussion in our forums about flight sim chairs. Well, the Flight Sim Chassis from HotSeat got to be the ultimate flight sim chair. 5.1 Dolby surround sound, three 22-inch monitors, a beefy quad-core system and a comfy seat. The best of it, this chair is FAA-approved, and you can log up to 2.5 hours towards your real pilots license in this chair.

Cost? $17,250!

Read more here: http://dvice.com/archives/2008/03/faa_approves_fl.php

Rotorheads, start saving!!!

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 02:24:00 +0000

Home cockpits seem to be the latest craze. I just came across another one, this time with a different flavor: helicopters.

The FLYIT Professional Helicopter Simulator is a side-by-side seating cockpit with dual controls providing hands-on instruction for hovering and all flight maneuvering - and a complete instrument panel is provided for visual and instrument training.

It comes with an LCD display monitor and VFR or IFR panels. Or you can design your own panel. All switches and controls are hard mounted and replicate size, shape, color and location of those in the real aircraft. The projection space is 93″ wide x 78″ high and rear projected and provides 110º of accurate situational and positional awareness.

Cost? $105,000! You got to decide folks. Family home, sports car or the FLYIT sim...

My First Blog

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:36:16 +0000

New here

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 05:45:40 +0000

FS Studio

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 15:08:13 +0000

Tell ACES what you want in FS11!

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:33:00 +0000

We all love to tell ACES what we want in FS11. Well, now you have an opportunity because Paul P-12C is asking you what kind of missions you'd like to see in FS11.

Head over here:
http://paul-flightsimguy.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!D282374D24B565FB!639.entry
and tell Paul what you're favourite missions are and what you'd like to see in FS11.

Is 4 better than 2?

Wed, 07 May 2008 23:07:07 +0000

We always want to have as many fps as we can get, especially with FSX. The consequence is frequent hardware upgrades. But with each upgrade the question 'is it worth it?' pops up. Increasing your main memory is an upgrade many consider. Well, Cosair (a memory company) has done some research for you. They asked the question what happens if you pop in another 2GB stick to your existing 2GB. And, yes, they tested FSX!

The results are surprising. On 'high' graphics settings there is no difference between 2 and 4 GB and on 'ultra high' frame rates go up from 23fps to 26fps. Not sure that increase is worth the money to be honest. Here's how Cosair puts it (remember they are a memory company so they want to sell you stuff):

"Flight Simulator X generally performs well with 2GB of system memory. However, for enthusiasts looking to achieve the highest possible details settings, installing 4GB provides the extra headroom needed to get the most out of the CPU and graphic hardware so that the game continues to run at peak performance."

You can read the whole report here:
http://www.corsair.com/_appnotes/AN804_Gaming_Performance_Analysis.pdf

Acceleration Goodies from MS - FREE

Fri, 30 May 2008 01:45:20 +0000

Microsoft has just released 3 free multiplayer missions for Acceleration. There 2 Reno cources and a hoop course for Sailplanes. Best of all these are free.

Now, if only people would actually race online. Last time I checked there is no racing happening which is a bit of a shame given that this functionality actually looks quite cool.

Get the free missions here:
http://www.fsinsider.com/downloads/Pages/BonusAccelerationRacingMissions.aspx

Which airport would you like in FS11?

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 04:39:00 +0000

Paul Lange from Aces would like to know which airports FS is missing. Head over here and tell Paul all about your missing favourite airport: http://paul-flightsimguy.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!D282374D24B565FB!842.entry

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Just how well is FSX selling?

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 23:01:00 +0000

Phil Taylor from Aces is currently in a blogging mood and is dropping one 'bombshell' after another. His post are received as being quite controversial, and while I don't always agree with Phil's viewpoint I have to admit I absolutely love his posts! In his latest post Phil shows public sales charts and how FS9 and FSX are faring. FS9 never made the top 10 while FSX did just. I have to admit I was a tad surprised. Based on sales rank from amazon.com, I thought the FS franchise is more popular than that! Anyhow, it clearly shows how successful FSX is (I'm not surprised there, it appeals to males of all age groups - the success of The Sims is based on the fact that is appeals to all age groups across both genders, so no surprise it's dominating the charts). What I quite like about this presentation is that it's not unit based as PC sales continue to rise so comparing unit sales from 2004 and 2007 is moot. This way there is no doubt, FSX is doing well, very well indeed. Read the blog post here: Success of FSX and Future of the Franchise

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Good news - save more money on hardware!

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000

NVidia released their new batch of graphics card, so the question is should you run and upgrade in the never ending fight to get higher framerates? Not according to Tom's Hardware Review. The new graphics cards Geforce 280 GTX and 260 GTX are getting a flogging by the older 8800 and 9800 cards - if you're using FSX. So, save your money once again... Have a read of the article here:

Nvidia GeForce GTX 260/280 Review

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How does FSX use multiple processors?

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 01:39:00 +0000

Gamasutra released a new article where developers from Microsoft and Intel explain how FSX works with multiple processors. There's lots of in-depth detail from graphics to AI processing - a whopping 4 pages. Read it all here: Microsoft Flight Simulator X SOARS to New Heights with Multi-Threading

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Get better shadows

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:56:00 +0000

Phil Taylor from Aces just blogged about a great tweak for FSX. This tweak allows you to set the quality of the shadows in FSX yourself. Open the FSX.cfg file. Find the [DISPLAY] section. Add this line for highest quality shadows. ShadowMappingQuality=3 For lower quality shadows and better fps you can use values between 0 and 2 (0 being most fps). By default the setting for aircraft and VC is 3, but you may get better ground terrain shadows with a value of 3. See Phil's original blog post: YAFT

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Your very own cockpit at home

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 23:03:00 +0000

Earlier this month, FSInsider posted a great tutorial written by Herman Lenferink. In a detailed 15 pages article, Herman gives you great in depth detail of what is involved when you want to build your own cockpit. Get his article here: Building Your Own Simulator Cockpit

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How many fps does AI eat in FSX?

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:35:00 +0000

We all know that AI demands a fair bit of resources in Flight Simulator. Just Flight just posted a nice little article giving some background info and some tests. They are obviously selling there upcoming Traffic X add-on, but eve if you're not interested in their add-on the article has some interesting facts. Apparently, patched FS2004 AI traffic is very bad news for FSX, while native FSX AI that conforms to the latest SDK standards performs really well. Educate yourself before you buy any FSX add-ons!

This screenshot is taken at 100% AI traffic in FSX at a major airport (look at all parked aircraft!) and still gives a respectable 20 fps!

Read the article here:

A brief look at Traffic X framerates

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Relaxation Flight

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 18:08:32 +0000

Mission tutorial on FSInsider

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:26:00 +0000

FSInsider today posted a couple of pdf files that teach you how to create your own missions in FSX. The two pdf files are part of a series that runs in PC Pilot. Both parts cover very basic stuff and get you started. I did find a couple of cool tricks in there, e.g. using Google Earth to plan your mission path...

Get the pdfs here:

Mission Building in FSX

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Join MS at Oshkosh

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:59:00 +0000

The biggest airshow of the year is approaching and MS invited flight simmers like you to join them for real or virtually:

Join Us in Oshkosh!

If you can't make it in person (like me) you can download the Oshkosh scenery from FS-MP and take part of what will probably be one of the biggest virtual fly-ins this year. And yes, members of the ACES team will try to join as well. Get the full details here:

Virtual Oshkosh 2008

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Most amazing scenery for Flight Simulator X

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 05:48:00 +0000

Yesterday I had the opportunity to try the most amazing scenery for FSX and I've been blown away. This scenery is going to set a new benchmark for flight simmers - full stop. We're involved in the launch via Sim Pilot Shop, where the scenery will arrive shortly. Given that this launch is a mile stone event, we're going to pull out all stops and are going to sweeten the deal for you (as if this scenery needs this, but hey, a bonus is always a good thing, right?).

There is a small catch. This will be a very limited offer and we're going to give Sim Pilot Experience customers and subscribers to Sim Pilot Magazine priority - so make sure you register above if you haven't already.

I'm not going to go into any more detail, I won't even tell what scenery I'm talking about, the big announcement will come in a week or two (as soon as we have the scenery in store).

Here are some screenshots of this amazing scenery. The first one is taken during the Hawaii mission in FSX. Flying with the scenery enabled left me stunned, the difference is just mind blowing. Compare the FSX default shot (which is almost flat) to the scenery which really transforms this location. I hope it's clearly visible just how much this scenery transforms the default.

The second comparison is taken in the Scottish highlands. The difference in the shots may not be as dramatic, but let me tell you, flying over the river canyons feels so much more real.

Well I'm having a buzz and I'm confident you will as well with this scenery. Prepare to be blown away...

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And the winner is ... Nintendo

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:31:00 +0000

Not strictly Flight Simulator related, but interesting nevertheless. Here are some cold naked numbers about how much video games make for Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony. If you have a closer look at the actual figures that's outright scary! We're not talking a few grand here and there, we're talking billions!

What does this mean? Well, I wouldn't hold my breath for a Flight Simulator X-Box. Software titles for Microsoft run in at a loss of half a billion dollars!!! I always knew the Wii is a great concept, obviously, I'm not alone! This is going to be interesting to watch over next decade...

Even more crazy, if you add hardware into the mix Nintendo rake in a profit (and that is pure profit!) of over 15 billion dollars.

Thanks, for sharing boing boing gadgets:

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/07/29/console-makers-profi.html

(check this link for the most hilarious comment on this situation)

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Scenery for FSX - part 2

Sat, 09 Aug 2008 00:56:00 +0000

We've been busy over the last week working on a special surprise for you - as indicated in the earlier blog. We're really quite excited about this bonus, and we believe so should you.

I did want to take as second to a) show you a couple of screenshots and b) ask you directly what sort of free bonus you would like to have if you could choose.

Here's a couple of shots: The first one shows the first location in the mission you have to fly to. The second shows the airport. Can you guess where these shots are taken?

We really would like to know what sort of free bonus would be your favourite. We have a few very cool things planned, not just for this amazing scenery, but also for two of our favourite aircraft (hint: both from Aerosoft). Getting your feedback is really importnat to us to make sure we can offer you cool free stuff that you're going to love.

a) a free mission
b) a free repaint for a default aircraft
c) a voucher for 10% off an additional scenery purchase
d) something else

If you could take a second a drop a comment or send us an email it would be very much appreciated. Make your voice count, because ultimately this is going to decide what sort of free stuff we're going to offer you on a regular basis (this is almost like Christmas - you get to send us a list of stuff you want and we will give it to you for free)!

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Why do people pirate games?

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 22:35:00 +0000

Today I came across a very interesting article on video game pirates. Cliff Harris from Positech Games has publicly asked why people pirate his games and apparently got a massive response.

Here's why:

games are too expensive

This includes many school kids with no money to spend, but surprisingly also many professionals. The common view is that $60 is too much for AAA titles and $20 too much for casual games.

Personally, I believe this is an excuse. From my experience people will buy anything - if they are convinced they are getting a good deal. (The only reason people will not spend any money is if they don't have it - like school kids. Please, don't be surprised to find your game pirated if your target group is school kids). I don't think games are necessarily too expensive, but that most games don't provide quality for the money spent. See next reason...

gameplay sucks

Everyone agrees that the graphics of video games are great. However, the common view is that "games get boring too quickly, are too derivative, and have gameplay issues". The problem here is that many people have developed a mistrust towards video games. We've seen too much hype and don't believe it anymore.

A second point raised is that demos are too short. Personally, I don't believe this to be true. In many cases the demo itself is already revealing repetitive game play. Game play is addictive but not fun - another reason to mistrust the game developer.

copy protection sucks

This is a no brainer. If I pay money for a game I have to put up with (often) complicated mechanisms that spoil my fun or cost me time. If I download a pirated game I get a hacked copy that runs without hassle. Makes you almost want to pirate games.

This is however tricky business and only tells half the story. Viruses and Trojans make this benefit of pirated games go away. Would you rather put up with annoying copy protection or risk some evil software being installed on your system. I wish software companies would realise how much damage DRM is doing to their bottomline as it clearly is turning customers away.

digital downloads rule

The Internet has changed the way we shop and you better offer some form of digital distribution. In todays world relying on people walking to a shop to buy your stuff is risky business. People want your stuff the instance they hear of it, the next second it's forgotten.

I can only say that I consider myself part of this crowd. If I cannot order online, I will think twice about buying. In the case of video games I can easily live without it if I can't buy it at my convenience. It's not like it's food are otherwise crucial for my survival...

I believe this is an excellent article and I could have predicted these answers. What's more it's not just an insight into a 'pirates' mind, but also give a good indication of why people don't buy something (after all the group of people not buying stuff is a lot bigger than the group who pirate stuff).

To sell your stuff you need a) a great offer (good gameplay) b) trust from customers (stop the hype and show me I can trust your promise) c) make it easy (no copy protection, online distribution). Not really rocket science...

Here's the original article:

talking to pirates

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Was the Hughes Racer really blue (and how you can get cool free stuff)?

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:47:00 +0000

Aerosoft recently released a phenomenal version of the Hughes Racer - an amazing piece of technology (both the real racer and the sim implementation).

The add-on comes in its blue livery that we all know so well from pictures of the real model which stands in a museum today (and which also features in the movie The Aviator.

The aircraft has beaten two records, the world speed record and a long distance speed record. For the long distance record the aircraft was modified including its wings. It seems logical that the paint colour wouldn't have changed, or does it?

Here's the thing: There are no colour photos of the original version which broke the world speed record. Newspaper articles at the time described the aircraft as having red wings!

But this isn't where the confusion stops. Howard Hughes crash landed the Racer in a beetroot field and apparently the aircraft was covered in red juice after the crash. It seems though that the wings were indeed painted red rather than just covered in red juice.

We'll never know the real answer for sure, but it seems that a red colour scheme is more realistic than a blue one. Unfortunately, there is no red version of the Aerosoft add-on.

So, we at Sim Pilot sat down and created one for you!

Here's the deal: we're shortly going to upload the Aerosoft Hughes Racer to Sim Pilot Shop. Anyone who will buy it from us will get the red livery for free!

And this is not where it ends. We will throw in another free bonus. Hint: it has to do with the location this screenshot was taken at.

Stay tuned and we'll announce once the Aerosoft Hughes Racer plus bonuses is available here.

Another update regarding the scenery we've blogged about recently. We're working with the developer on finalising our free bonus content and will send out some emails either end of this week or next week. You're going to love this - promise.

(And we haven't forgotten about our next newsletter either.)

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Atlanta Airspace is hectic!

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 05:38:27 +0000

Must have for 2D panel users

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:28:00 +0000

Phil Taylor just put up a new blog on his site telling us about a great new freeware gem: PanelMania

There is lot's of stuff in this freeware that should please 2D panel fans, have a read on Phil's blog:

For 2D Panel fans

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Going for Gold

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:11:00 +0000

If you don't own FSX yet, this offer may sound attractive: Later this month Microsoft is going to release FSX: Gold. FSX: Gold comes with FSX: Deluxe and FSX: Acceleration bundled together and you can have it for the amazing price of $50.

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Morning Flights

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 01:54:43 +0000

X-Plane on the iPhone

Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:18:00 +0000

It seems just minutes that Austin Meyer has written a little post that X-Plane won't be ported to the iPhone anytime soon:

No iPhone X-Plane - yet!

I guess time is relative and it just depends on what you understand by 'soon', but for Austin it's not a very long time, because he's just released X-Plane on the iPhone - yes!

http://www.x-plane.com/

This makes X-Plane the first serious flight sim on a mobile computing device - congratulations Austin!

Mark Avey from flightsimx.co.uk has written the first review (as far as I'm aware of). If you own an iPhone go check it out:

iPhone X-Plane review

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Thank you for the fish, Phil!

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 01:56:00 +0000

Phil Taylor, program manager of the Aces team, has announced today that he will be leaving Aces and, in fact, Microsoft all together. He will be joining Intel to work on their 'graphics' processor project. Many got to know Phil as the 'face' of Aces in forums and other lively online discussions. I'm going to miss his blog posts on flight simulator for sure. Thanks for your hard work and contributions to the flight simulator scene and all the best for your future!

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Top 10 scary runways in the world

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:13:00 +0000

"Travel and Leisure" has published a great article and if you're living on the more adventurous side of flying you should check it out. They picked their own set of top 10 scariest runways in the world. While this is just a selection of many (and some, like JFK, aren't really that scary), a handful are some exciting suggestions to try in Flight Simulator.

Personally, I'd add to this list (all New Zealand):

Wellington - not that scary layout, but get scary when you download some real weather. One of the most windy approaches in the world and always fun to watch landing aircraft being thrown around by the weather.

Milford Sound - perched into some of the steepest cliffs in the world.

Ryan's Creek (not in the default) - cliff drop-off on one end, like a couple of runways featured in the article above. It's a bit tricky to judge height when you don't have a proper ground reference.

Quintin (not in the default) - this has to be my favourite one. It's only a short bush strip, but you can only approach from one side as the other end has a steep and high mountain cliff acting as a brick wall - no chance for a go around, it's land or die. To make it more fun, the approach end has a big rock in the way that you need to swerve around.

Like Quintin, there are some other cool strips in Roads & Rivers of New Zealand - for example, Siberia Valley.

Here's the link to the article:

The World's Scariest Runways

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Navigating old style

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:23:00 +0000

FSInsider has released a great article on navigation. Dump your GPS and learn how aviators used to navigate when they only had compass and airspeed indicator.

I often find myself navigating using ground features and maps, so this is a great read to learn how to do it and how to take your navigation skills to the next level if you're getting sick following roads and rivers.

Have a read here:

Old-Fashioned Navigation

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And they said hoops suck - this is awesome!

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 00:35:00 +0000

Still believe that missions and flying through hoops is just a game and numbing down the aviation experience? Meet Sky Challenge. This NZ company has taken hoops to the very next level. A game? Maybe. Numbing down the aviation experience? I don't think so!

You see, Sky Challenge created a new type of race - real vs virtual pilot. Yes - using their system, you can use the Internet and race against real pilots. While the real pilots are flying a course in the air through hoops marking the course, their position is being tracked accurately on the ground. Mind you, the hoops are extremely challenging to fly through and if you even touch one your race course is being made longer as a penalty.

The best thing is that you can race the real pilots. Sky Challenge envision massive Internet races in which you could participate - if you're good enough!

Still think hoops are for kids? Head over to Sky Challenge and watch the awesome videos:

Sky Challenge

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Poverty - how it affects you

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:52:00 +0000

Today is Blog Action Day where lot's of bloggers write a post on poverty (you may have read some already).

I don't want to step on a soapbox nor write on some far stretched connection between aviation and poverty.

Poverty is a problem that affects most of us in some way, not just people in Africa, Asia or South America. Chances are that where you live people live in poverty and that includes the US, Western Europe and Australia. I simply want you think about for a minute how poverty affects you.

How governments spend your tax money on the poor. If there were no povery, taxes could be spent on better education and infrastruture.

How people without jobs don't pay taxes nor buy stuff to pay our salaries. If more people buy stuff we all would earn more money.

How poverty can lead to drug abuse and crime. You could be mugged by a drug addict tommorow.

If there wouldn't be poverty in the world today we all would have much better lives.

Think about all the children who are born into miserable conditions today and how they could change the world if they would be given the chance.

Then go and watch the movie "City of God". Awesome movie about the life in one of Brazil's ghettos. Not the kind of movie you may think it is, it's a brilliant action/crime/mobster flick (voted by the public at #18 of best movies of all times on IMDB - just after "Raiders of the Lost Arc").

Let's face it. You're not going to change the world, but maybe you can make a small difference somewhere to someone today. Think about it - you're not only helping someone else, you're also helping yourself.

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My Dream to own

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 03:43:43 +0000

FS2004 still more popular than FSX!

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 21:06:00 +0000

I just got a newsletter from Just Flight - Just Flight reported the survey results of the question: Which sim do you prefer? Answer: 62% of simmers prefer FS2004 over FSX! That means more than two years after the release of FSX almost two thirds of simmers still prefer FS2004.

I'm not too surprised, because this is something I predicted a few years ago. It follows a trend with Microsoft software started with MS Office. While MS still release new Office versions, many users are happy to stick with the old, because the old versions do they job just fine and the new versions don't offer improvements worth the money. Similar story with Windows XP - many users are happy with the OS and Vista doesn't offer enough to make the switch. When FS2004 was released I wondered if this would be the version that is good enough to keep. Looks like it is!

The bottonline is that MS better start adding some innovations that make people want to upgrade otherwise FS2004 is going to stay popular for years to come...

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Chicago-Midway

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:20:07 +0000

The future of aviation

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 22:50:00 +0000

The Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe has released a few concepts of what the next 100 years of aviation could bring us. Some really out there pics (including nuclear airplanes, tight formation flying and drive-in check-in), but then again who would have predicted aviation today after the Wrights had their first flight... Check it out here:

Future aviation concepts

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The darkest day in MSFS history? ACES may be no more...

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 04:31:00 +0000

When I read the reports of Microsoft slashing 5000 people mainly in their entertainment section, I didn't think any of it. I should have know. Reportedly, most of the ACES team has been fired, including the complete Flight Simulator team. ACES also produces Train Simulator and ESP, which makes me wonder if the people that were kept are either there to finish off TS2 for this holiday release, or a core team around their newly launched ESP has been kept. It seems everyone is under NDA, so the mayhem isn't quite clear right now, but it does not look good for the future of Flight Simulator. Comments from Hal Bryan, Phil Taylor and Mike Gilbert on facebook and in forums all confirm that this is really happening. The flight sim hobby has already taken a hit during 2008 with traffic to sites like avsim.com and flightsim.com almost being half of what they used to be, so it looks like FSX really did a lot of damage to the series.

Like they say, there's always sunshine after the storm, so lets hope this is taking a good turn soon.

My sympathy to all the developers who are currently looking for a new job. It appears this has hit out of the blue...

Here's the article that started the rumour mill:

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=21981

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18 months later...

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 23:53:26 +0000

Microsoft Flight Simulator alive and kicking?

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 21:16:00 +0000

We had a few days of doom and gloom with several Aces members indicating that Microsoft Flight Simulator as we know it has been killed. The message was pretty clear with the whole Aces team gone and only 6 people left to archive the code. Just yesterday a news report cited an ex-Aces member that Microsoft indeed killed MSFS (check this article out, it also gives a glimpse at what features FS11 would have had):

What's next for Microsoft's Flight Sim partners?

However, today Paul Lange posted that he's been rehired on a new 'secret' project, which is basically his old job, and Microsoft are hiring more people very soon. What's odd is that Microsoft axes the whole Aces team and then starts to rehire at least part of the original team. It's pretty clear that Microsoft Flight Simulator as we know it is indeed gone, but after the dust has settled it seems Microsoft is indeed committed to flying games. An odd way to restructure, but maybe Microsoft simply wanted to start afresh and they saw this is the easiest way.

Back to Work!

A couple of days ago Microsoft also posted a new job opening advertising for an art management position within a team dedicated to build the most fun and rewarding flying experience on the PC on Games for Windows Live. As Microsoft indicated, Microsoft Flight Simulator is indeed rebranded for the Games for Windows Live market.

Job Details

What does that all mean? I guess it's a bit early to tell. It looks like Microsoft is making a new start but Microsoft Flight Simulator will live on in some way - and a team for the next version is being assembled as we speak.

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Change 'o Pace-Flyin round OZ

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:55:38 +0000

You're very own glass cockpit...

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:32:00 +0000

My friends from Korea at VRInsight sent me an email today with a link to their new JetPit product. This is a glass cockpit system for your very own desktop. Stunning stuff.

Watch the video here:

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Support FSX developers!

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:19:00 +0000

If you're an FSX developer yourself or want to show some support, head over to Nick Whittome's blog and answer his question:

"If the former flight simulator team at Microsoft made available, in a rough form, an unsupported set of tools that they may (or may not) have that would improve the current design tools available to FSX right now, would that at least soften the blow of ACES closing as we knew it and would it be helpful in keeping you all developing for the platform ongoing?"

If you want wonderful things to happen with FSX you'll obviously answer this with a resounding yes!

Here's the link:

http://msmvps.com/blogs/thenakedmvp/archive/2009/03/05/so-let-me-ask-a-question-about-flight-simulator.aspx?CommentPosted=true#commentmessage

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Flying In Alaska

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:16:14 +0000

This one's a classic!

Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:38:13 +0000

Challenge with a goal

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:32:16 +0000

Have a great view

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:07:35 +0000

ALASKA!

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:50:10 +0000

Engine Failure from ATL

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 01:58:19 +0000

Airtran Flying

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:21:59 +0000

Game Spy frustartion

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:30:27 +0000

Hello every body

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 21:20:54 +0000

il 2 Sturmnovik 1946

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 07:00:50 +0000

Flight jacket for roblox

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 15:16:13 +0000

Any tips??

Sat, 24 Apr 2010 21:01:01 +0000

New to Flight Sim

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 06:29:13 +0000

openVFR for Microsoft FSX - new version out!!

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:29:45 +0000

787

Fri, 13 Aug 2010 07:35:50 +0000

Gold Bangle Anklet bracelets

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 09:35:18 +0000

Exactly how Eyewear Shield All of our Eyes?

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 09:55:53 +0000

Superb Useful information on Finding the optimum Developer Trousers

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 10:17:08 +0000

new Virtual airline

Wed, 25 May 2011 04:07:59 +0000

One Stop Shop for Flight Simulation Products

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 17:47:43 +0000

Interfacing FSX to the Arduino Microcontroller

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:15:04 +0000

ATC

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:20:14 +0000