| Things like G3 do not make sense to me. I don't understand why someone | having G2 as a successful product, not that it is perfect, would come out | with something like G3 and then tout it as though it was improved.
The graphics are much improved (G2's graphics sucked compared to other games even when it first came out.) There's a few new features -- if I recall correctly, we now have better thermals, slope soaring, more dramatic collisions, etc. (Personally, I refuse to buy G3. I already paid $280 for G2, I'm not paying another $200 just for fancier graphics, and their $25 upgrade rebate was an insult.)
Like any other business, Knife Edge is in the business of making money. Everything else is secondary. If they can do this by releasing a buggy product before it's ready and people will still buy it, well, then they're still making money. Perhaps even more money than if they'd finished the product and shipped it. Unfortunate, but reality.
G2's graphics were very dated, and things like XTR and Aerofly were taking more and more of their business (with much improved graphics over G2) so Knife Edge had to put out something if they wanted to keep selling stuff.
Personally, I've found that if you compare G2 and G3 to games that came out at the same time, they've been quite lacking. It's quite obvious that they're no where near as polished as other, more mainstream games -- even the low budget flight simulator games (like Jetfighter X: Jason vs. Freddy or whatever) probably sell far more copies than G2 or G3.
In any event, Real Flight now has some serious competition, and it'll probably either improve greatly or die out. It's easy to do little when that's all you have to do, but they'll have to do much better if they want to remain the 800 pound gorilla.
| To my line of reasoning, it is an abomination. Nothing has been | "improved" except things that do not count toward making it a better | simulator. It is as though the original idea of offering a simulator | for flight training has turned into eye candy for morons. Is that | the future?
Future? This is the present! Games are coming out with much fancier graphics but with relatively little effort put into things like gameplay and such.
| Are we seeing the dumbing down in action? Is this what the progeny | of the drug generation deem entertainment?
drug generation? I'm not sure who you're trying to insult here.
In any event, games of all sorts have been doing this -- as computers and graphics improve, more programming effort is put into flashy graphics and effects and less into improving gameplay and stories and such. And people eat it up. | Sorry for being so "negative". But I didn't start this - Real Flight | did and Tower took my money, knowing full well what they were | selling. Or did they?
Most people seem reasonably happy with G3, it sould seem.
Tower might very well give you your money back if you complain loudly enough. I've never found their customer service to be anything less than excellent, and while it's generally rare that places will accept returns on software, Tower might just do it.
Though I wouldn't complain _too_ much about how your vertical stabilizer broke off. They're probably just making the simulation more accurate by simulating a poor glue joint like you occasionally find in ARFs :)
| This is my last post about G3, or any other Real Flight product.
Uh-huh. :)