With the NZ simmer in the middle of the sandwich ... to go with VLC or Orbx; as it stands (from a scenery developer's financial pov), the above decision suggests the later appears to be winning.
Huh? I thought NZEddy had already finished NZAA for an NZSI release. See:
here.
I based this on Orbx's announcement that they will no longer release international airports. Eddy may have different plans, but the performance issue still remains.
That's not quite true ... NZ simmers were locked into the FS9 SimXperience Mesh/Topo payware base ... every commercial scenery available at that time was specifically designed around simmers having this combination. What complicates the issue today is there are 2 competing
payware bases (and, yes, I know I'm stating the obvious).[/quote]
My goal has always been to release mainly agnostic airports, and there is a difference between 'recommended for XXX', and not being able to install it in anything else. I'd love to see an Orbx NZQN which works in default FSX/VLC/Orbx. I'm not saying it won't happen...
QUOTE
The question I think we should be asking is: how committed is Orbx to further developing NZ? Yes, NZMF and NZQN undoubtedly have great appeal to non-native simmers (and yes Heiko's preview shots are stunning). And yes, NZAA is a great stop over ... for those flying Oceania heavy iron. But that leaves another 94 (I think) local airports/fields listed in the FSX database which have little/no appeal to non-native simmers. Will we ever see an Orbx payware Rangiora, Timaru, Foxpine, or Keri Keri airfield? I think not.
NZ is still a relatively new product, but as non-native simmers move on to the next bigger/brighter/newer Orbx product (SoCal, Alaska), I doubt the interest in NZ will be sustained (or if it is, it will be piecemeal). For Orbx, the bottom line is always preceded by a $ value.
Just my two penneth worth.[/quote]
From a user point of view, the current situation is very positive, once you get over the which-way-do-I-go issue. I moan a lot, that's for sure, but only because I'm a developer in a tiny part of the world, where until now normal business practices haven't really been advisable. Developers tend to work around each other (sometimes together, but not often) rather than compete with each other. Orbx have to operate outside this, otherwise they wouldn't be successful at all. (Although there is an informal agreement not to duplicate airport development.)
The future is the tricky bit, as you've mentioned. Nobody can know what Orbx have in store for NZ -- was it a self-contained experiment testing various features leading to something with a much larger market, such as England? (If so, it's done its job already, with England selling at a rate of 3-4 times faster than any other FTX region.)
Personally, I'd expect to see one, maybe two payware areas for NZNI over the next twelve months after NZQN and Milford. Anything more would be a real bonus, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Within that period, I'm 100% convinced that nobody can make money from NZ payware, not even Orbx. This may mean a boon-time for freeware.
In two years we will have a much better idea of where things are heading, in the meantime it'll be mainly business as usual, but without the business... There is a lot more at stake in the future of FS -- when MS stopped FS development it was seen as a mistake on their part, but really it seems inevitable that any niche software market based on PCs would be on the decline. In five years time the desktop PC will go the way of the record player. Die-hard fans will still have them, but they won't be a part of the modern world.

Posted:
Tue Nov 20, 2012 1:59 pm
by Ian Warren
toprob wrote:but really it seems inevitable that any niche software market based on PCs would be on the decline. In five years time the desktop PC will go the way of the record player. Die-hard fans
Whats a Wecord player

.. was that something Bruce Willis invented during his Die hard trilogy


Posted:
Tue Nov 20, 2012 2:32 pm
by ZK-LGD
Ouch! That's a rather bleak future you've painted there.

Posted:
Wed Nov 21, 2012 12:42 pm
by AndrewJamez
toprob wrote:In five years time the desktop PC will go the way of the record player. Die-hard fans will still have them, but they won't be a part of the modern world.
Then Apart from the mobile platform, why do Intel and AMD keep developing there latest and greatest new tech for full sized PC's first. PC Gaming is still a big thing, and all the tech in console machines is derived from PC component development. I dont see things changing that fast.

Posted:
Wed Nov 21, 2012 1:07 pm
by toprob
AndrewJamez wrote:Then Apart from the mobile platform, why do Intel and AMD keep developing there latest and greatest new tech for full sized PC's first. PC Gaming is still a big thing, and all the tech in console machines is derived from PC component development. I dont see things changing that fast.
Things change fast, but sometimes they take a long time to die. Remember Kodak?
Here's the latest Intel news --
Intel chief logs off as rest of the world leaves PCs behind.
EDIT:
AMD as well...

Posted:
Wed Nov 21, 2012 1:09 pm
by Ian Warren
ZK-LGD wrote:Ouch! That's a rather bleak future you've painted there.
Bit like the movie the other night ....
Knowing ... only thing missing now is the dates and the longitude and latitude

Ya look like a real dork walking around with ya rudder pedals yoke and throttle system for ya held held communicator .. all this doom and gloom ..