Why is AH always overlooked?

[TexMurphy]

I was just reading an article on ign about Fighter Ace closing down http://pc.ign.com/articles/108/1084575p1.html and it speaks of FA, WB, AW, CFS, ect but not a word about AH. Its not the first time I read an article where all the sims get mentioned but AH.

Otherwise the article is quite good. Its also funny to see that WB are offering free months to former FA players.

But still I find the lack of mentioning AH a bit strange.

Tex

[TequilaChaser]

Well, I would disagree that fighter Ace was one of the early pioneer's that paved the way for the huge MMO

Early online sims like Fighter Ace (and Kesmai's Air Warrior and iEntertainment's Warbirds) may not have had trolls and wizards but they nevertheless paved the way for the huge MMO market that exists today.

I would agree that Air Warrior then Warbirds could lay claim to that feat........

but none of the others... that is prob why Aces High is not mentioned.......

YMMV....

[LLogann]

Because the people on top never get praise..................  The harsh reality is they always want to knock down the good ones!  HTC, the good ones! 

 

[kilo2]

In the Immortal words of this guy

No Respect!

[Bruv119]

I was just reading an article on ign about Fighter Ace closing down http://pc.ign.com/articles/108/1084575p1.html and it speaks of FA, WB, AW, CFS, ect but not a word about AH. Its not the first time I read an article where all the sims get mentioned but AH.

Otherwise the article is quite good. Its also funny to see that WB are offering free months to former FA players.

But still I find the lack of mentioning AH a bit strange.

Tex

Luckily enough I still have some old friends that managed to post up some AH links on their forum.  I believe once they have tried both games the better product WILL shine through, for all of those players with half a clue.

[Wiley]

It also could be as simple as the fact those ones mentioned are all relatively obscure compared to AH.  It's kind of like, if you ask the average person walking down the street if they've heard of Warhammer 40k Online, you're probably going to get a blank stare.  If you ask them if they've heard of World of Warcraft, they may have been witness to the dust bowl in the 30s, but they've probably heard the name somewhere along the way.

AH is the most popular one out there.  People with an interest in online flight sims can find it pretty easily if they go looking.  The author might have just assumed everybody's heard of AH.

Wiley.

[Delirium]

The best advertising is word of mouth... I'd be suspect of any game that offered 2 free months, it is indicative of an company's end stage marketing ploy.

[Krusty]

He's clearly talking about AW and WB as being the start to something bigger.

That's true. He's not saying they were the only things. He's not saying AH was at the start of it all (AH was not, so he's right in leaving it out).

If this were some showcase about flight sims I can see your issue, but frankly it's not an article about AH. AH has no connection to FA.

So, what's the issue?

[Wreked]

Ya - gotta agree with Krusty and TC on this - AW mid 1980's and later WB in IMHO are the roots of our present day flight sim world. Aces High got it's birth out of WB's later.

It's like you're upset that Toyota isn't mentioned when including Olds and Ford regarding the birth of vehicle assembly lines. Toyota just didn't have anything to do with it origionally.

Still my feeling is that whenever a competitor disappears the overall flight market is weakened. All sims bring something unique to our world upon which new developers are able to build bigger and better.

Fighter Ace - RIP  

...cheers eh!

[thorsim]

got to agree it is not the sign of a healthy genre ...

i'm not sure the overall numbers playing these types of games have ever improved since the peak of WB/AW ...

[Yossarian]

When I was trying to improve the Aces High Wikipedia article recently (it's in an abysmal state), I found that there's almost nothing I can do with it.  Why?  Because there are next to zero third party sources for this game.  IIRC, I think I found one article that referred to Aces High.  To be honest, I was shocked.  For such an excellent game, it was as if it didn't even exist outside of this website.

[dedalos]

When I was trying to improve the Aces High Wikipedia article recently (it's in an abysmal state), I found that there's almost nothing I can do with it.  Why?  Because there are next to zero third party sources for this game.  IIRC, I think I found one article that referred to Aces High.  To be honest, I was shocked.  For such an excellent game, it was as if it didn't even exist outside of this website.

I doesn't.  I was looking for over a year to find a flight sim (before I started in AH).  AH never came up in any searches back in 2003.  The only way I found out was word of mouth and the guy had to write down the URL for the site.

[TMAW]

I don't know what HTC's plan or philosophy on marketing is, but a simple press release announcing any new additions to the game would go along way.
Many "Articles" we read are actually nothing more than cleverly disguised press releases.
HTC could issue these themselves, or hire a PR person to write it and release it.
The PR people also have the contacts to get the press release or article picked up by magazines or web sites.
At the company I work for we have done it both ways with good search results.

[Yossarian]

The game's so poorly known that when I first downloaded it, I assumed it was one of those cult-following-only games, simply because I couldn't find much documentation at all for it.  It was only when I happened across it from another website a year later that I realised I was wrong.

I just googled "Aces High II", and looked at IGN's and GameSpy's pages for AH.  IGN doesn't mention any updates to the game since 2003, and GameSpy contains an update for 2004.  Quite frankly, I'm not surprised this game seems to have only about 5,000 active players - the third-party sources about AH suck.

Oh, and Gamespot actually has images and updates from 2006.  Amazing!

[Yeager]

I dont think they (HTC) automatically spend money on advertising.......I sense them pushing the advertising when the numbers need boosting.  Most likely they use a sophisticated forcast model to determine when they need to invest.

As far as FA is concerned, I would not think the average FA guy is going to be interested in something as complex and challenging as AH.....For this reason they will certainly be more attracted to WBs.  The good news for WBs is that an infusion of 100 new customers would be an huge game saving deal.  In AH thats probably just a weekly swing in membership.