Hi Gray,

If its ok with you i will answer with a PM on that one due to i think this thread has turned a little too negative in a few areas.

Then don't purchase study sims.

This is reality - there is no such thing as bug-free software once you've moved beyond the day-1 Hello World. That's just the way it is.

And personally, I recall BS1 working quite fine, no gamebreakers I recall, and it was even given a new sound engine for free previously. But if the presence of bugs - ANY bugs - offends you, then shut your computer down and never use one again. That's just how it is.

The presence of bugs that are fixed for a price was the discussion. Bugs....not new features.

So if the bugs were left to remain you would have been fine?

You act like this is some sort of new phenomena. I remember all the way back to 1942 PAW Gold having bug fixes that were never addressed in the original 1942 PAW game. Even the various versions of US Nave Fighters all the way through Fighter Anthology had patches for bugs in previous games. I can go on, Strike Fighters 2, Longbow 2, add on content for Rise of Flight, Steel Beasts 2.6. Eventually code becomes legacy and support stops. Sorry but your 45 bucks can only go so far.

There is a certain life cycle for certain games. Companies that patch old games and don't develop newer versions or updates will end up out of business and will never be able to create new titles. BS1 is a four year old product, understand that. The development cycle for that title is long gone.

Yep.

And despite BS1 being a 4-year old product, it's still supported; while it isn't for free, if you are a fan of this heli, the cost to upgrade to BS2, and to be included in DCS: World and be tied in with all the other modules, as well as getting upgrades to the environment, is costing you a twenty. Over four years. That's four years of huge amounts of development for $20.

Understood. I guess the backlash from longtime simmers here and at the DCS forums when the BS2 surprise was announced was completely unfounded? This coming from a community that is well aware of the facts you stated above. Being a long time simmer myself....I guess I just won't get used to the pay for patch model. That is ok though, I have started branching more into other areas of gaming since the flight sim business model is circling the drain. They are making a niche' genre even smaller with poor communication and nickel and dime practices IMO. When flight simming hits rock bottom, the lack of simmers will be a contributing factor.

People's fond memories of days distant are really funny. Jane's titles - really great and fun. Patched once or twice..then nothing more. No add on planes. No add on theaters. No interoperability. Falcon 4. Released, patched once. Then that was pretty much it from the developers. No add ons, no interoperability, no additional theaters.

So don't let your fond memory of old sims cloud your judgement of what business models DO work (ie: making enough money to pay your employees to keep building a solid lineup of products that should appeal to a very broad spectrum of people..)

Every single time I fire up A-10C I shake my head in wonder that it only costs $50 (or $39 or $24 depending on when you got it on sale..) I'm the biggest fan in the world of Longbow, Jane's F-15 and JF-18..but I try to keep my memory based in the reality of what they were and how they turned out (from a business model standpoint) in the long run.

ED has found a successful formula and I commend them for it.

Backlash to what exactly? Some people complained that it was a pay-for upgrade. (By the way, it was something around 2GB over BS1. Not very patchy). A bunch later posted that the upgrade was worth their money. A few thought otherwise, but I imagine they will change their mind once integration into DCSW is complete.

There are those who objected to the sudden announcement, rather than the price. For the most part, they said their piece, and IIRC, Jim Mack made an apology for that, but maybe I'm not remembering correctly.



Nothing is circling the drain. According to what I've heard, sales have been alright so far, though it isn't as if difficulties don't happen. But that's just what I've heard.

I'd like to see your rant on the games you're branching into ... by all accounts, it might be hard to find something that would satisfy you. After all, all game series are just 'pay-for-patches' in the end if one follows your logic.

I guess the difference Beach is the "production values" you got for your initial investment. Falcon while not supported for very long, had enormous value to it. People still play it today and other forms of it that were modded for free to be probably the best sim available right now in the form of BMS. DCS may model planes well, but there is no immersion of being a pilot, isn't that what we are trying to simulate? IE: Promotions, medals, squadmates you care about etc. For the folks that like the way this model works for them....that's fine. If you can understand why some don't like it....even better.