Announcements

Mathijs Kok of Aerosoft has posted a detailed article on their forum explaining their position with regard to producing Flight Simulator X add-ons.

It’s a well thought out and detailed explanation as to their position, with a (mostly) sensible following discussion. It’s good to see developers taking the time to explain things like this and is to be encouraged.

You can read the full article and discussion here.

Wilco has released version 1.2 of Tower Simulator. It’s a 72Mb download which you can obtain here.

Perhaps more importantly, Wilco have also reduced the price of Tower Simulator to $57. My guess is that it’s not selling quite as much as they’d wish and, given the number of negative comments about the product, that’s not terribly surprising.

I think the best option for them would be to iron out all known issues with the product rather than simply lowering the price.

Brian Gefrich and Joel DeYoung are pleased to announced that after a long wait, a public beta of SquawkBox 4 is now available to try on the VATSIM network. This version of SquawkBox works with Flight Simulator 2002, 2004 and FSX. It has been tested on Windows XP and Vista. Download this latest beta version and help find and resolve the last outstanding bugs.

The main Squawkbox site can be found here.

Please use the Squawkbox forums to report or discuss any issues.

Following the announcement from Carenado that they will be concentrating exclusively on products for Flight Simulator X, Phil Taylor has given a rather large hint about how long it will be before the next version of Microsoft Flight Simulator in his latest blog post:

Carenado, a major add-on aircraft developer, has announced they are going “FSX only” with all future development. See the update here.

With FSX 2 years into its cycle, and 2 years or so remaining, it is time for this and I expect over the next 6 months or so we will see more announcements like this.

Additionally, it’s official and from the horses mouth - Flight Simulator 2004’s days have passed!

FS2004 has had its day, and it was a very good day indeed. But it is time to move on.

I’m not so sure the thousands of dedicated Flight Simulator 2004 users will quite see it that way…

Just Flight are offering savings on their Airbus Collection - Long Haul until Tuesday, 12th August, 2008. You can purchase the DVD version for £24.99/€37.95/$49.99, or the download version for £19.99/€29.95/$39.99.

Features

• Cockpit features include custom Airbus gauges, easy-to-use Airbus style MCDU/Autopilot, realistic EICAM displays, limited function FMC which allows for SIDs and STARs in the MSFS database, EFIS displays, realistic PFD with limited Airbus Laws Logic and Alpha Protection; overhead panel comes complete with switches for air-con packs, fuel pumps, engine fire and more.
• Eight distinct flight models - two for the A340 and six for the A330 covering different variants & engine configurations.
• F-Lite branding guarantees high quality and detail - animations range from thrust reversers & control surface droop to air stairs and pushback truck.
• 150 detailed liveries from around the world spread over the different aircraft - fantastic value for money!
• Comprehensive, detailed manual includes flight tutorial and all the information virtual pilots will need to begin long haul flying.