MS to produce TS2 ?

LAST EDITED ON Aug-18-03 AT 05:48 PM (EDT)

I think this means a release in 2004...by the time they have got all the stuff together.. reviewed plans..reviewed faults and errors..assigned teams etc... etc... or are there too many problems with the new version that MS has decided to redo it 'in-house' with maybe a new graphics engine. I think there is much more behind that decision than just those few lines indicate....it could be good if it comes out as good as the Flight Sims for example..---------------------------------------------------
Welcome To track stocks & more, Register
Financial News
Enter symbol(s) BasicDayWatchPerformanceReal-time MktDetailedChartResearchOptionsOrder Book Symbol Lookup
Dow Jones Business News
Kuju In Train Simulator 2 Deal With Microsoft
Monday August 18, 3:33 am ET
Edited Press Release
LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Kuju said Monday that it has reached a mutual and amicable agreement with Microsoft to transition its PC simulation technology and the ongoing development of Train Simulator 2 to Microsoft.As announced in the AGM statement, this is part of the restructuring and cost reduction exercise that Kuju is implementing which will have a negative impact on results for the current year however in the longer term will result in a lower cost base as Kuju focuses on its core Console and Wireless operations.When is MS going to 'enlighten' us????Georges
British steam fan....just as impatient as all of you!!!

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

RE: MS to produce TS2 ????, OTTODAD, Aug-18-03, 07:01 PM, (1) RE: MS to produce TS2 ????, jm1941, Aug-18-03, 07:48 PM, (2) RE: MS to produce TS2 ????, OTTODAD, Aug-18-03, 08:15 PM, (3) RE: MS to produce TS2 ????, jm1941, Aug-18-03, 08:52 PM, (4) RE: MS to produce TS2 ????, dadbill, Aug-28-03, 01:00 PM, (9) RE: MS to produce TS2 ????, oakpalms, Aug-21-03, 11:16 AM, (5) RE: MS to produce TS2 ????, heffed, Aug-22-03, 01:41 AM, (6) RE: MS to produce TS2 ????, Newton Kid, Aug-24-03, 05:49 PM, (7) RE: MS to produce TS2 ????, Bing, Aug-28-03, 11:31 AM, (8)

Conferences | Topics | Previous Topic | Next Topic

It will take the Microsoft Marketing and a new Train-Sim team a while to sort out what they have inherited from KUJU before they can make a decision about how to proceed from here, keeping the competition from TRAINZ's Simulator 2004 in their sights !As mentioned in the MSTS Forum it is hoped they do not make the same mistake they made with FS2000, releasing a shoddy interim version until they are ready with the fully re-designed one.It is going to look more and more that the old MSTS is likely to be history by the time the next version is fully re-designed for DirectX and a Graphics Engine similar to the one driving FS-2004 now ?O t t o

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

>> It will take the Microsoft Marketing and a new Train-Sim team a while to sort out what they have inherited from KUJU before they can make a decision about how to proceed from here, keeping the competition from TRAINZ's Simulator 2004 in their sights !As mentioned in the MSTS Forum it is hoped they do not make the same mistake they made with FS2000, releasing a shoddy interim version until they are ready with the fully re-designed one.It is going to look more and more that the old MSTS is likely to be history by the time the next version is fully re-designed for DirectX and a Graphics Engine similar to the one driving FS-2004 now ? I agree Otto,
As you say, I think we will have to wait for MSTS Version 3.
I only hope us old(er) folk can hang in there till then. Hmmm,,,, Probably need a P10 with 500gigs ram and a mind blowing graphics card by then.Regards,
John

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

In the meantime there is always FS-2004, L.A./San Diego Mega scenery for it and this stuff from Downunder, John ! Btw, I meant DirectX-9 of course.According to Jim / SNIPER I am going to make it to be 100 ! Got plenty of time then ! Take Care, O t t o.P.S.: Did a visual trace on this connection for the fun of it and was surprised to see the route go via Vienna to Boston. Vienna in Austria is my home town. What a coincidence !

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

In the meantime there is always FS-2004, L.A./San Diego Mega scenery for it and this stuff from Downunder, John !
Yes FS2004 just been released here downunder. May have to get desperate now and invest. I trashed my old Fs98, Fs2000 and FS2002 a few months after MSTS was up and running, messing with the innards of FS and MSTS, well something just had to go. Train working was my life's job, so reason MSTS won over FS. MSTS these days is like a full time job with lots of no paid overtime, and burning midnight oil.

Btw, I meant DirectX-9 of course.
Yes I presumed you meant DirectX-9P.S.: Did a visual trace on this connection for the fun of it and was surprised to see the route go via Vienna to Boston. Vienna in Austria is my home town. What a coincidence !
That's an interesting fun gadget program. Will look into it.You take care,
John.

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Funny you get Vienna, Virginia, Otto. I used to live near there, in neigboring Falls Church, McLean and Langley before 1970.

db
Ceeanoh Shops

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

It seems to me that everyone feels Microsoft has been caught with their pants down because KUJU has dropped out do to economic reasons. From what I've seen, MSTS2 was displayed this past May at a Game Show for retailers. Evidently, it was pretty much up and running at that point and time. However, I can't imagine KUJU not communicating with Microsoft on their intentions, and I imagine Microsoft held them to a time to honor their contract and thus not disclose earlier that they would drop out of the development process. Even more so, I can't imagine Microsoft not being fully knowledgeable that KUJU was dropping out and thus taking action to establish developers to take over the program once KUJU dropped out. If this were not so, we would have heard something in response from Microsoft by now that KUJU was defaulting on contracts, etc. Without any clamor from Microsoft indicates that they have known all along what was happening and were prepared for it when it came. Unless something shows up otherwise, I still think we will see MSTS2 by January 2004 as stated by Microsoft earlier.

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

>It seems to me that everyone feels Microsoft has been caught
>with their pants down because KUJU has dropped out do to
>economic reasons. From what I've seen, MSTS2 was displayed
>this past May at a Game Show for retailers. Evidently, it
>was pretty much up and running at that point and time. I wouldn't call it pretty much up and running. It was a very early production beta. Not "playable" by any stretch of the imagination.-Jeff

Union Pacific is my drug.

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

If MSTS 2 had been almost complete, I don't think that Kuju would have quit and Microsoft taken it over. I am sure the management of Microsoft is well aware of what happend with FS2000. That is probaly why they are taking over the project. We will see if they learned their lesson when we know the new release date. If it is the middle of next year or Christmas 2004 you know they are really working for a good product. If they release it for Christmas 2003, I will wait for the reviews to be posted before buying it.

Newton Kid

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Otto - I you don't mind some ordnance hanging under the bird, you can't beat the visual experience in Falcon4 SP3 with a good system, one of Aeyes cockpits and 1600 X 1200 X 32. You could always just run ferrying duties; there are several new theaters available, including the Balkans and Iraq, which might include Egypt. You know, "See the pyramids along the Nile / Don't get bitten by a crocodile / YOu belong to me ..." Patty Page? Looong time ago.What strikes me is that Falcon4, as flight sim fans will know, was released long before MSTS1. Always was better in terms of graphics and has done nothing but get better with the years. SP4 is due to be released pretty soon, I expect it to be as good or better than SP3. Best part of the Falcon4 experience: Patches, upgrades and almost everything except the work of one cockpit designer cost us exactly nothing. (The cockpits are reasonably priced, and worth every penny to be able to read the HUD at 1600 X 1200, and there are plenty free cockpits.)If this kind of work can be done with a flight sim, where some of the graphics issues are as complicated and difficult to tackle as anything in MSTS, why can't it be done with MSTS? I think it can, but the interest isn't there for the talented programmers, AND it would be a matter of MS agreeing to a rework of the code. If I had serious money I would bet it on MS turning down such a thing, after all there can't be anything wrong with the Kuju creation, can there?Still - all of this - has anyone ever TRIED to approach Redmond for anything similar to SP3 for Falcon4? We don't know what the Redmond elves might say, or would have said, to such a proposition. Stranger things have happened. Like me doing housework in my apartment. It DOES happen.Bing

Alert | IP

[ Home | MSTS Forum | MSTS FAQ | File Library ] Copyright © 2002 by Nels Anderson. All Rights Reserved.