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#2658584 - 01/23/09 09:12 AM Re: MS Lays off ACES staff.. [Re: FishTaco]
Goalie SimHQ Member Registered: 11/02/99 Posts: 1061 Loc: BC, Canada	I don't know I could see MS dumping the series. While it sells well for a flight sim, they can make more money off of focusing on other things. I'm sure MS would rather focus on the 360 or the Zune than the Flightsim series.
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#2658591 - 01/23/09 09:17 AM Re: MS Lays off ACES staff.. [Re: Goalie]
Rilex SimHQ Member Registered: 02/20/02 Posts: 2918 Loc: Washington	The only reason FS has been kept around is because of Bill Gates (because he liked it). FS is not a huge money maker, IF it makes money at all (I don't know specifically about FS, but the division that they're in does not). _________________________ Falcon 4.0 - Windows 2000 and Windows XP Guide Nauplius WoW Server
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#2658595 - 01/23/09 09:21 AM Re: MS Lays off ACES staff.. [Re: Goalie]
Heretic SimHQ Member Registered: 10/12/06 Posts: 732 Loc: Former GDR	Okay, Microsoft, you've said "A". Now say "B". Either outsource development to a competent team or assemble a new one including some of the old dogs from ACES. I'm not sad about seeing ACES go. The FS series desperately needs a fresh start. If it takes a whole new team to achieve this, so be it! _________________________ -> Hardware Specs <-
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#2658632 - 01/23/09 10:00 AM Re: MS Lays off ACES staff.. [Re: Heretic]
swampthng SimHQ Member Registered: 05/24/01 Posts: 902	Originally Posted By: Heretic I'm not sad about seeing ACES go. The FS series desperately needs a fresh start. If it takes a whole new team to achieve this, so be it! While it's sad to see even more people lose their jobs, i tend to agree. MSFS has basically been the same product since day one with a few new features and a graphics update. The last in the series added missions but i think the series itself needs something more. They need some fresh eyes on it and something to really draw people in. Keep it a "sim" such as it is, but add some more game elements to it as flying around aimlessly isn't something that's really sellable. The missions were a good start to this but they need more. I also wouldn't mind seeing them not focus on the entire world anymore if it meant we got a more detailed flying area rather than having to rely on aftermarket crap that's overpriced just to get the game to look passable. _________________________ Boycott Starforce and all games that use it. http://www.glop.org/starforce/
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#2658838 - 01/23/09 12:36 PM Re: MS Lays off ACES staff.. [Re: ]
Maya7 Game Animator SimHQ Member Registered: 08/10/06 Posts: 271 Loc: Northridge, CA, USA	I know, my last job (Before I got laid off) I spent a year cleaning up outsourced animations from China, and boy did they SUCK. It would have been cheaper to have us do it than clean up their crap but of course the higher ups didn't see it that way..it hurt the overall quality of the product anyway. [ A LOT of work in the games industry is being outsourced to China or India right now. At the end of the day, they need to make a living too, but for western developers it sucks. But then that's capitalism. [/quote] _________________________ Dell XPS 710 H2C Intel Core2 Quad CPU@266GHZ (4 CPUs) Hd #1: 596 GB Hd #2: 698 GB Hd #3: 232 GB HD #4: 596 GB Total Physical Memory: 4,096Mb NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX SLI x2 Direct X 9.0c Sound: SB X-Fi Audio Windows XP SP3 24" Dell Widescreen Monitor Microsoft Sidewinder FF2 (9 years old!) Track IR 5 Logitech X-240 Speakers Dell Mouse M-BAC-DELS CDRWDVD-TS-H493A DvD+RW-TS-H653A IPOD 120GB Classic Starsign: Gemini My latest Black Shark video: http://www.vimeo.com/2673417
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#2658839 - 01/23/09 12:38 PM Re: MS Lays off ACES staff.. [Re: swampthng]
Maya7 Game Animator SimHQ Member Registered: 08/10/06 Posts: 271 Loc: Northridge, CA, USA	It definitely sucks for the sim market first & foremost. To be honest I never liked the feel of MS FS, it feels too 'slack'..Im no expert but just never felt solid. The only draw for me was that you have the world to fly in but thats it. Anyway I wonder what will happen next.. Originally Posted By: swampthng Originally Posted By: Heretic I'm not sad about seeing ACES go. The FS series desperately needs a fresh start. If it takes a whole new team to achieve this, so be it! While it's sad to see even more people lose their jobs, i tend to agree. MSFS has basically been the same product since day one with a few new features and a graphics update. The last in the series added missions but i think the series itself needs something more. They need some fresh eyes on it and something to really draw people in. Keep it a "sim" such as it is, but add some more game elements to it as flying around aimlessly isn't something that's really sellable. The missions were a good start to this but they need more. I also wouldn't mind seeing them not focus on the entire world anymore if it meant we got a more detailed flying area rather than having to rely on aftermarket crap that's overpriced just to get the game to look passable. _________________________ Dell XPS 710 H2C Intel Core2 Quad CPU@266GHZ (4 CPUs) Hd #1: 596 GB Hd #2: 698 GB Hd #3: 232 GB HD #4: 596 GB Total Physical Memory: 4,096Mb NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX SLI x2 Direct X 9.0c Sound: SB X-Fi Audio Windows XP SP3 24" Dell Widescreen Monitor Microsoft Sidewinder FF2 (9 years old!) Track IR 5 Logitech X-240 Speakers Dell Mouse M-BAC-DELS CDRWDVD-TS-H493A DvD+RW-TS-H653A IPOD 120GB Classic Starsign: Gemini My latest Black Shark video: http://www.vimeo.com/2673417
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#2658898 - 01/23/09 01:39 PM Re: MS Lays off ACES staff.. [Re: Maya7]
Tbag SimHQ Member Registered: 12/08/06 Posts: 1032 Loc: Leeds, UK	Originally Posted By: Maya7 I know, my last job (Before I got laid off) I spent a year cleaning up outsourced animations from China, and boy did they SUCK. Well, they have to learn as well. They will get better with time, you can be sure about that. I'm in the shipbuilding industry and first it was Korea to offer cheap ships which were probably not comparable to western standards quality wise but they were cheap. Now they build very good ships, have their own research and are not quiet as cheap anymore. China is building the buy one get one free ships now but as said before, they will learn quickly! That's how the world works and that's why we progress. Fingers crossed that MS-FS will be continued somehow. And good luck to all those who have lost their jobs! _________________________ The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. - Douglas Adams
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#2659020 - 01/23/09 05:25 PM Re: MS Lays off ACES staff.. [Re: Tbag]
Maya7 Game Animator SimHQ Member Registered: 08/10/06 Posts: 271 Loc: Northridge, CA, USA	Oh thats great, more reason for western companys to hire them instead of us. I cant wait.. _________________________ Dell XPS 710 H2C Intel Core2 Quad CPU@266GHZ (4 CPUs) Hd #1: 596 GB Hd #2: 698 GB Hd #3: 232 GB HD #4: 596 GB Total Physical Memory: 4,096Mb NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX SLI x2 Direct X 9.0c Sound: SB X-Fi Audio Windows XP SP3 24" Dell Widescreen Monitor Microsoft Sidewinder FF2 (9 years old!) Track IR 5 Logitech X-240 Speakers Dell Mouse M-BAC-DELS CDRWDVD-TS-H493A DvD+RW-TS-H653A IPOD 120GB Classic Starsign: Gemini My latest Black Shark video: http://www.vimeo.com/2673417
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#2659269 - 01/24/09 08:24 AM Re: MS Lays off ACES staff.. [Re: Maya7]
Operator SimHQ Member Registered: 07/13/02 Posts: 2579	Originally Posted By: Maya7 Oh thats great, more reason for western companys to hire them instead of us. I cant wait.. Yeah, we should always hire local incompetent talent instead.
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#2659375 - 01/24/09 12:34 PM Re: MS Lays off ACES staff.. [Re: Operator]
Alexi_Alx_Anova SimHQ Member Registered: 01/30/03 Posts: 603 Loc: Frome/Bath UK	FWIW; i) ACES output probably wasn't much of a profit maker for M$ considering the whole picture of their output, so I'm not surprised to see them axed. ii) Giving people one day's notice to leave (others have 60 days notice) is obscene. iii) I'm sorry for all the people who lost their job. iv) Thank God a line can be drawn under MSFS. It was a very stagnant product and I agree it needs a fresh start. v) Someone, somewhere will do it again, and probably (hopefully) much better than MS, however it may take some time.
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