Microsoft Aces Studio is Closed

[squid 21]

i think thats another bad bit on the negative aspect of MS image ...

[Icarus999 70]

My usual thing with software is to wait a while and see what everyone else has to say about it. Without a single exception, every single person i've met that ran Vista said it's a dog.

 

I'm going on Amazon in a while and am picking up a spare XP copy for emergency backup.

 

I run 64 bit visa on one of my computers once I got past the learning curve absolutely love it There are some tricks to get it to run more like xp . Honestly my vista rig is the most stable machine I have ever had. In the beginning before I learned where to put files that I would need to modify(like all my third wire stuff) the security features pissed me off to no end. Once I learned to put my installs in my user

folder i had no more problems.

[JediMaster 451]

Vista's problem is backwards compatibility. If you don't run any old programs, or have any old hardware, it's really not too bad.

 

Except for where I work, where the security changes in Vista have made secure websites that had no issues on XP a total nightmare.

 

I also had FS2 from Sublogic on my Atari, and later FS4 on my PC, but that was it. I still play CFS3 from time to time as well as OFF. I dumped my Korea mod for it when there was enough done for TK's sims to be modded.

I think CFS4 was in beta when it was canned, which really puzzles me. The shots I saw indicated it was really far along and couldn't have cost them too much more at that point to just finish and release it.

 

Remember, though, with so many of these businesses now making a profit is no longer good enough, you have to make ENOUGH profit so that the stupid "analysts" don't say you "failed to meet expectations" and send your stock lower.

[Canadair 16]

Remember, though, with so many of these businesses now making a profit is no longer good enough, you have to make ENOUGH profit so that the stupid "analysts" don't say you "failed to meet expectations" and send your stock lower.

 

Sad but true. Go figure the laws of the free market- If only the managers knew what they are doing. MS shuts down what works and continue what does not ( I still have and use a lovely FF2 joystick, god only know why they discontinued it)

 

edit. found this on a blog and I cutting and pasting with no comments.

 

Alan Feekery 22 Jan 2009 at 5:06 pm PST

i think its rubbish that people lose their jobs due to a profit decrease. a profit decrease should not be considered a loss since it is money being gained in the first place.

 

Andrew Heywood 23 Jan 2009 at 1:35 am PST

It's not being considered a loss, it's being considered 'a bad thing', which it is. If companies waited until they started _losing_ money before taking action like this, they'd be shafted - it's too late by that point.

 

John Petersen 23 Jan 2009 at 3:34 am PST

So where do we go from here? I'm just kinda curious about if we haven't reached a plateau economically.

 

There is only so much money that can be had, and there's only so many houses that can be built.

 

Then what?

Edited January 26, 2009 by Canadair

[+SkippyBing 8]

Just read on another site FSX made ~$14 Million in sales, vs Halo 3's $300 Million in it's first week. Certainly gives you a feeling for the size of the niche we're in these days.

[sparkomatic 7]

check this out:

 

The closure of Aces marks the shuttering of another major developer within Microsoft Game Studios. Since September of 2007, the company has shut down FASA Studio (Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries, and Shadowrun), announced the closure of Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires), and Carbonated Games (Hexic HD, Uno). In addition, Bungie, the studio responsible for Halo, left Microsoft Games Studios and became an independent studio, though Microsoft does maintain an ownership stake in it.

 

***

 

So sad, to see those names gone...

 

And please do not mention a "free market" if you are referring to the US any more, the financial bail out and the Auto bail out prove that the US has slid out of the free market in some regards at least...how do you make a crappy series of products (for the past 17 years at least trail all of your competitors in quality and survive almost solely on brand loyalty) and stay in business?

 

Argue all you want, but it is done...and to tell the truth it is not difficult to see why...the consoles came back (dont forget the Atari 2600 et al) and they have some advantages that PCs just wont; besides, PCs were never meant for games...that is an aside really. I mean the new GTA came out and my machine needs a new video card...that can be $200 - $800 every couple of years for the headliner games...

 

cheers

[+JSF_Aggie 1,291]

Well, my co-worker emailed the two MS Flight Sim contacts we had, a tech-support guy and the lead for ESP.

 

We got out-of-office replies from both, stating if we had any ESP questions to check with another guy, which we've never heard of before, and they also left their personal emails if we had any "non-microsoft" questions.

 

We've had no reply from the other guy, as of yet.

Edited January 26, 2009 by JSF_Aggie

[squid 21]

we are reaching i believe margins and saturation of certain way of thinking, living & attitudes ... the ones that are money revolving, money centered, money oriented, money gloryfying, money worshiping, the results of greed, self centering, and accepting as natural that the very same jungle rules , the rule of the survival of the strongest, can perfectly apply to modern human societies.

[Lt. James Cater 62]

check this out:

 

The closure of Aces marks the shuttering of another major developer within Microsoft Game Studios. Since September of 2007, the company has shut down FASA Studio (Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge, MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries, and Shadowrun), announced the closure of Ensemble Studios (Age of Empires), and Carbonated Games (Hexic HD, Uno). In addition, Bungie, the studio responsible for Halo, left Microsoft Games Studios and became an independent studio, though Microsoft does maintain an ownership stake in it.

 

***

 

So sad, to see those names gone...

 

And please do not mention a "free market" if you are referring to the US any more, the financial bail out and the Auto bail out prove that the US has slid out of the free market in some regards at least...how do you make a crappy series of products (for the past 17 years at least trail all of your competitors in quality and survive almost solely on brand loyalty) and stay in business?

 

Argue all you want, but it is done...and to tell the truth it is not difficult to see why...the consoles came back (dont forget the Atari 2600 et al) and they have some advantages that PCs just wont; besides, PCs were never meant for games...that is an aside really. I mean the new GTA came out and my machine needs a new video card...that can be $200 - $800 every couple of years for the headliner games...

 

cheers

 

The FASA studio closing hit me hard. I'm still dedicated to the MW4 series. Especially Mercenaries, which gave me my introduction to online gaming and being a member of a gaming community.

Edited January 30, 2009 by Lt. James Cater

[squid 21]

MechWarrior rocked ..

[Salamander67 0]

Just read on another site FSX made ~$14 Million in sales, vs Halo 3's $300 Million in it's first week. Certainly gives you a feeling for the size of the niche we're in these days.

 

And don't forget that the gaming industry as a whole is a quite competitive niche. After all, MS is really big on OS and their Office-package. When a crises like this hits, then it's natural to focus on core products, and stop competing with full-time gaming giants like EA and Activision Blizzard. Sad but true.

[+SkateZilla 49]

If They touch Turn10's studio, I'll Go Bonkers...

[squid 21]

i wish at least some of these companies (EA, activision etc) would had bought those studios instead

[Mladuna 0]

While we mourn for Ace Studios we can listen godawful music made whit M$'s newest product; Microsoft Songsmith (or Songs**t)

 

The commercial for this program makes me puke:

[JediMaster 451]

I remember when Acceleration came out ACES made some brief comments about how they were laying the foundation for an eventual return of the CFS series.

 

So much for that.

[+Stary 2,426]

While we mourn for Ace Studios we can listen godawful music made whit M$'s newest product; Microsoft Songsmith (or Songs**t)

 

The commercial for this program makes me puke:

 

That was lame. Another excellent example why simulators (and any decend PC games) are dying.

[scouserlad13 0]

Dang, its a shame to see FS go, i thought it was a great sim, you know if your where bored just put on flight sim and fly to somewhere like half way around the world. FS2004 has got to be the best of the series.

 

EDIT: Ive got one word for Bill Gates... W*****

Edited January 28, 2009 by scouserlad13

[+Veltro2k 6,316]

This is going to leave a Huge hole in the Sims world

[sparky75 0]

Blimey this one did surprise me, having started on flight sims back in the 80's with Harrier Attack on my CPC 464, and having had copies of MSFS in it's various forms since the 90's guess X plane will have to carry the torch now.

[Salamander67 0]

Wouldn't be surprised if MS FS came back in some form or another after the current financial crises has ended, the name is simply too well known to give up.

[IL28 0]

Well we really should not have expected much different from MS should we? When you look at the sales versus other PC games and Consoles there isnt much reason to pour resources into it...

 

On the bright side at least there is a very advanced consumer flight sim made by a man who does it for 'love of sim' and that would be X-plane. It has always amazed me what an essentially one man operation could do... but then again look at TK...

[Slartibartfast 153]

Well we really should not have expected much different from MS should we? When you look at the sales versus other PC games and Consoles there isnt much reason to pour resources into it...

 

On the bright side at least there is a very advanced consumer flight sim made by a man who does it for 'love of sim' and that would be X-plane. It has always amazed me what an essentially one man operation could do... but then again look at TK...

 

 

And it runs on a MAC... (sorry for the bad language...) so no need for Microswipe Windows...

[+GrinchWSLG 24]

And it runs on a MAC... (sorry for the bad language...) so no need for Microswipe Windows...

 

Wow, so its one of the three games you can play on a Mac, great. Give me a break, Apple products are even larger ripoffs then Microsoft. Just look at the idiocy of the ipods and iphones. Not to mention its an OS made for people who can't handle computers.

 

Yes its sad to see MSFS and even Trainsim 2 disappear, but that's the way things are. Everyone is laying off, its not just Microsoft. It may be a choice of lay off teams now and pick up the pieces later, or keep everyone and disappear forever. Before you whine and gripe about a mere game try and think of all folks losing their jobs in the real aviation industry. 10,000 or so at Boeing, 3,000+ at Cessna and so on.

 

Instead of blaming Microsoft, blame the greedy banks, investors, and self image obsessed idiots that ran this country into the ground. And hope like hell we can dig ourselves out. My county just hit 15.3% unemployment, my family's company that would have been in business 50 years this year has declared bankruptcy and is now all but gone, our local air show is canceled because they can't afford it this year due to lack of sponsorships. I can feel for Microsoft, its hard times, and its going to get a lot harder before it gets better.

[JediMaster 451]

Maybe we'll be lucky and the core guys will go into business for themselves during their unemployment and a make a new sim. Granted they can't use any code from MS, but they know the process and the ideas and the whatnot. If TK can do it by himself, I think a handful of those guys can do something a little bit grander.

[+Julhelm 266]

lol, Ubisoft is already staffing up in anticipation of the recession ending. I wouldn't cry wolf yet.