FSX
Good to hear! Still waiting with baited breath for that Jaguar!Originally Posted by Shane Olguin
Good to hear! Still waiting with baited breath for that Jaguar!
I contemplated buying a lot of AS aircraft, and actually bought a couple. What really turned me off was when they started doing the EA6B and A6 packages, and charging rediculous amounts of money for them. I bought the EA6B, only to have Razbam make a better one later down the road at a far cheaper price. So where I shelled out over $100 at the time for the AS A6/EA6B package I wound up once I got the Razbam models never installing the AS ones on the system again. I really have my hopes up for the C-17, and I hope once the VC comes out I can convince myself to make the purchase and give them another shot. I have learned the hard way over the years not to buy incomplete packages because you never know what may happen after the fact. It seems that business model is slowly spreading through the payware dev's tho. It is good tho to hear there are quite a few new projects in the pipeline and that the company is doing well. Always interested to see what new aircraft have to bring to the sim.
Steve
FSX Hours: 3000+
Good to hear Shane!
I look forward to some new AS planes.
v/R
-G-
To be honest with you the boss has given me quite a few assignments so there are definitely new releases and updates in the works.
Shane Olguin
AlphaSim Flight Dynamics Specialist
Staff Sergeant, USAF
452nd MXS, March ARB, CA
Ten years ago the models were simple. I loved the accurate exterior shape of the old alphasim mdls. Price was low, you could buy them like candy. I still pull these aircraft out to admire them. The later Jay McDaniel flight models where great. Good evocation without the need for any further tweaking. Just turn on the mags, swing the prop and go. Great stuff.
Like all flightsim creationists, Alpha's facing a new sim and more powerful pc's that require much greater detail/complexity to maintain the sim-experience. Longer production hours, fewer products, higher costs. It's a Darwinian cycle. Amongst the flightsim creators, commercial and freeware, who will stay with it ?
Many have left us, but surprisingly, more artists have stayed with it than I would have predicted. It may have more to do with how aviation and flightsims get under your skin, than so much to do with profit margin.
I'm curious to see where this all is ten years from now.
Alphasim?
OK, I am a glutton for snipes but I thought I would respond to this.
As a team member of AlphaSim I can tell you I am still doing textures.
And I working on them at this moment so AlphaSim is still alive.
Russ
i really like cupcakes. but i also like pudding. i like doritos but prefer to drink pepsi whilst i eat them.
what i don't like is turkey bacon or onion bread or things made with cottage cheez.
has anyone ever tatooed a fish?
Thems fightin' words. I like turkey bacon.
I'm still looking forward to the AS Jaguar packages.
Wow !, I 'really' want some of what you have LOL.
No, but I know someone who had one that was tatooed.
Brian
(regarding Alphasim, I was kind of wondering where the original thought came from for the thread. Is it just because they haven't released anything for a couple months? Or that they haven't posted teaser shots of upcoming projects, drawing the ire of people complaining that it hasn't been released yet? Did they do that anyway, until release was nearly imminent? Kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't in that respect)
Michael Davies! Last I collected of your work were superb steam locomotives for MSTS. You still carving molecular ether into 3d shape?
Personally I steer clear of all Alphasim products simply because I dont think they are worth the asking price. The 3d models are very often quite a bit far off from the actual aircraft (look at their Gripen f.i, it looks nothing like the real thing), there is little or no system simulation, and the flight model is often horrible. When I buy an add-on I want it to be as close to the real thing as possible, and so I would rather spend my money on add-ons like the VRS Superbug or the IRIS F-16D than any Alphasim product.
OT...but since you asked...yes, there is an entire cruel industry centered around tattooed and color-dyed fish. Valentines Day will find various Tetras and Gourami's being tattooed with hearts and I Love You in red and pink. Some fish will be tattooed with polka dots of various colors and sizes. Some fish will have their entire bodies died colors they would not wear in their natural form...Blueberry Oscars, Day Glow Green Tetras. These practices are very painful, drastically shorted the life span of the fish subjected to this cruelty as the dies and inks accumulate in the livers of the fish, turning the livers hard and crystalized. An estimated 70% of the fish that under go tattooing and dying do not survive the process. I will not purchase dyed or tattooed fish nor buy anything from any pet store that has them in stock.
OBIO
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
darn once they have batter on them
who knows
H
DONT CRY WHEN YOU LOSE SOMEONEIN ABOOK!
SMILE BECAUSE YOU KNEW THAT PERSON
Wow, that is going back a few years, was it the payware LNER Pacific's or the smaller freeware LNER mixed traffic locos.
Yes I still bully the molecules, since MSTS some models for Alphasim (hence the association in a previous post), the Seaking was the last major model of mine, though assisted in one small way or another with most helos there after.
Since late last year a personal resignation to get away from it all, take time for my other hobbies and re asses whether FS modeling is really what I want in the future, but I still dabble in Max, some aircraft, some ships and some trains.
I seem to remember your handle from way back ion CFS2 days ?.
Kindest
Michael
I don't do FSX, but thought I'd toss my two pence out there.. Where AlphaSim lost me was when they went up in price. On a limited income, I just can't justify over $30 for one aircraft. For me over $20 is a hard sell.
Let Being Helpful Be More Important Than Being Right.
All the theories in this thread are a galaxy removed from the real reasons behind the apparent fall from grace of AS. As an ex-AS dev I am qualified to say that. Time to leave AS alone and let Phil regroup. AS will be back in strength having learnt from past mistakes.
as another ex dev from AS, I sure hope that's true.
I thank Alphasim --Alphasim phil was the first guy to take me in a few years ago to do some stuff..if he needs something--I'll be there.. I think its the economy thing going on..New Zealand is taking a hit too
Hope and change = Desparatley hoping with only a bit a change in yer pockets
Well heres my opinion, I'm gutted by them of late, I'm a buyer of the C-17 (Will I get a VC?) and I'm dying for there Jaguar too, but I have to say and I'm a beliver in good things come to those who wait (But I don't drink Gayness lol) I will have lost one of my fave dev's if Alpha goes down the pan thats for sure!
Yes to a certain extent but the ecomony hasn't been hit as bad as some other countries....I'm sure 90% of Alphasim sales wil be outside NZ anyway as we are just too small.
A couple points:
--People have been producing conjecture about the downfall of Alphasim forever. They once produced a jillion models a year, they once had a jillion employees. Production times are on a J-curve in flight simming. The great Mike Stone used to barrage us with models we loved constantly, that simply cannot be done anymore with the clarity and fidelity demanded from competitive products now. To sum it up, it's possible that Alphasim is on a very acceptable production schedule given the complexity of their projects in addition to the amount of employees they have.
--As bitter as people claim to be about Alphasim, they keep coming back. Why? Developers plan projects smartly for the most part. They don't like to do what others have done, and they produce to fill our needs. When we all are foaming at the mouth for a native FSX jaguar (and starting gripe at alphasim threads the whole time) and Phil releases one, who'd gonna buy it? You're darn right we are. Don't talk about poor customer treatment and services from Phil (yes, I've been burned too) because Alphasim's other employees have met us in every forum for solutions and handed out personal email addresses to assist us many times.
--Alphasim has possibly reached a point where they have a fairly decent lineup of products that are still selling. Most other devs are killing themselves getting their fourth aircraft out. Less visibility and releases do not bequeath the fall of Alphasim.
--The departure of some of our favorite artists and developers over the years from Alphasim employment do not neccesarily mean that Alphasim will fail. Probably half the big names I can think of 'round these parts used to work for Alphasim and Alphasim kept going.
--Internal conflicts and pay problems? We only think we know what's going on because maybe a few friends have told us bits and pieces. I've been privy to a chunk of Alphasim drama over the last few years, and I'm sure I don't know the half of it. The drama goes both ways from owners to employees and from employees to owners, and it's common in business.
--Piracy? I don't advocate it, participate in it or see any justification, but let's be real. Piracy's impact on the software industry CANNOT be quantified, and thus, the 'fall of Alphasim' can't be blamed on it. Blaming poor sales on piracy in a rough economy is BS. 99.99999999% of the time, a pirate was never going to buy it anyway, so no money was lost. There are also no lost manufacturing or production efforts on a single pirated piece of software if it's downloaded. The only thing that happened is some jerk has something illegally that he has no right to use. On the same token, price increases to account for piracy are BS, because there is no way to substantiatei your liquidated damages from piracy.
I've never had an issue with Alphasim and have a large hangar full of their FS9 aircraft and a couple of their FSX models. When they producing FS9 models, I felt the price was right and the selection of models very good.
No complaints on the FSX side as well.
"Hornets by mandate, Tomcats by choice!"
I agree, I fly still their B-24, Harvard and Hudson occasionally, and I do like them. They are simple, hop in and fly models, that always look good from the outside and for a fair price too.
You can find most of my repaints for FSX/P3D in the library here on the outhouse.
For MFS paints go to flightsim.to
I am for one really glad with their free FSX upgrades and the amount of time they put into that. Can't go without my beautiful He-111 in FSX to name one plane. Let's also not forget their grand helicopters. I'm happy about what they gave us back then for fair prices. We'll see what a future brings.
:salute: for countless hours of fun in AS aircraft. Their planes still dominate my hangar.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Members who have read this thread: 4
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks