SAVE ACES HIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PJ_Godzilla]

In some ways, because of the effect cited, it actually makes sense. The problem is that the fixed cost of all that development imposes a big barrier.

[Skyyr]

Thats the difference, us old timers pretend we are pilots, and the younger generation are just playing a game.  

I'd say that summarizes the community here quite well, and probably explains the high amount of resistance to what other sims (games) establish as the norm for the genre.

The problem is, sooner or later, you run out of old-timers; and if you haven't maintained a steady influx of new gamers to take their place, you end up with a dead game.

[Kodiak]

I'd say that summarizes the community here quite well, and probably explains the high amount of resistance to what other sims (games) establish as the norm for the genre.

The problem is, sooner or later, you run out of old-timers; and if you haven't maintained a steady influx of new gamers to take their place, you end up with a dead game.

Or, as younger generations age they may not want the fast fix from a game like WarThunder that they do in their teen and 20 something years.  There will always be players aging into their 30's and 40's which would be my guess as the average age in Aces High and as I've gotten older I have wanted more and more realism and less instant gratification.  There will always be a market for the 30+ age bracket also...and someone will fill it.  I wouldn't play WarThunder even if Aces High didn't exist...too frantic and hair brained for me.

[PJ_Godzilla]

Or, as younger generations age they may not want the fast fix from a game like WarThunder that they do in their teen and 20 something years.  There will always be players aging into their 30's and 40's which would be my guess as the average age in Aces High and as I've gotten older I have wanted more and more realism and less instant gratification.  There will always be a market for the 30+ age bracket also...and someone will fill it.  I wouldn't play WarThunder even if Aces High didn't exist...too frantic and hair brained for me.

Exactly, but the outreach to that group, the group that wants something more than a "McSimulator" , is nearly nonexistent. THere used to be some military channel advertising. I think you could reach the right group generally if you targeted Dixcovery/TLC/NatGeo type audiences.
I'm just not buying all this defeatist talk, as if WWII Combat sim appeal was limited to "average" Harley Davidson buyers and, like that group, ages a year, on average, every year. No. this has an appeal that will stretch forward quite a ways. Indeed, there is NO OTHER ERA IN HISTORY that featured this kind of all out, to quote the movie GOON, "gay porn hard" action of masses of aircraft going at it hammer and tongs.


If you ask me, all of these defeatists should be rounded up, und dan, you could hang them from lightposts with a sign around their necks, "Ich bin ein uberlaufer"!

In fact, maybe that ashould be the AH advertising slogan, "Gay Porn Hard!" - and you could get the Team Captain from Goon to be the rep, god knows he's probably not busy these days. Anyway, see the movie, it's hilarious. As for AH, don't give up the ship.

[Randy1]

It is projected next year tablet sales will exceed combined desktop PCs and laptops sales .

[Ack-Ack]

It is projected next year tablet sales will exceed combined desktop PCs and laptops sales .

Doesn't matter since you really can't play AH on a tablet.

ack-ack

[PJ_Godzilla]

I was going to say... Ross the Boss Rhea isn't playing AH on some sissy tablet.

I've got an ipad. It's for watching movies on the airplane (and for skyping) because the ones Delta offers up in business class SUCK WHALE, as do their monitors. My wife plays games on her ipad, therefore, playing games on ipads is for girls and twinkie-eating, redpop-swilling meth-addled teens. AH demands a better setup.

Ultimately, this thing is going to have to be sold on differentiation, not cost or convenience. As in:

you want accurate flight models and an immersive experience? AH. Everything else out there is for losers who can't afford the price of admission. If you can't run with the big dogs, stay on the porch. 15 bucks? Pah! That is near as makes no difference to an AH user. THey should probably increase it.

In marketing, it's called "snob appeal" and it explains why some products actually become LESS attractive when made more affordable. I'm not proud to say it, but I remember back in the 90's, just as DVD was replacing VHS, going in to get a replacement VHS machine. I'd had a fairly expensive JVC pro-series editing deck and wanted something similar - but everything was suddenly less than $200 bucks. I managed to find one that was a little more, and walked out feeling placated.

We need a similar aura around AH. I think for those aware of th egame, that aura exists. Indeed, my old buddy in FL who refuses to pay for his gaming declared as much. The useless turd, however, still will not pay, on principal. 

[Wiley]

In marketing, it's called "snob appeal"

I think a good deal of that market is more interested in stuff like DCS, where you get the joy of half hour startup sequences etc to REALLY show people how you can press a button and sit in a chair watching a gauge move slowly.

We're this weird twilight of more hardcore than WT fans, less hardcore than DCS style fans, and there's nothing else out there comparable to AH.  It scratches our itch, but it's not a common itch for people to have.

Wiley.

[Randy1]

Doesn't matter since you really can't play AH on a tablet.

ack-ack

Me thinks you missed the point.

I wonder if the best strategy is to developer the game to a much higher level and increase the cost.  More exclusive type thing.

[715]

Doesn't (didn't) Warbirds cost more?  How's that working out?

[BnZs]

We're this weird twilight of more hardcore than WT fans, less hardcore than DCS style fans, and there's nothing else out there comparable to AH.  It scratches our itch, but it's not a common itch for people to have.

I think AH hits the biggest POTENTIAL niche in flight sim gaming. The trouble is that nobody knows this game exists.

[Cheyenn]

You people forget this is not a Air Combat Flight Sim!!!!!! Aces High is just a game that has WW 2 stuff in it. It will never be anything but a game!!!!
Aces High is a few steps above Warbirds and a few steps below IL-2 Strumovk 1946 or IL-2 Cliffs Of Dover. The only way for AH to ever become a
a Combat Flight Sim is to up grade the game and change the game play. However that will never happen, because the AH community will never change.

[danny76]

You people forget this is not a Air Combat Flight Sim!!!!!! Aces High is just a game that has WW 2 stuff in it. It will never be anything but a game!!!!
Aces High is a few steps above Warbirds and a few steps below IL-2 Strumovk 1946 or IL-2 Cliffs Of Dover. The only way for AH to ever become a
a Combat Flight Sim is to up grade the game and change the game play. However that will never happen, because the AH community will never change.

What are you basing this on?

[Cheyenn]

From experience!!! I have played Air Combat Flight Sims since 1987. I have seen them come and go. Aces High is no where near a true Air Combat Flight Sim.

[danny76]

Well I too have played simulators for many years and I think AH is a smashing and splendid combat simulator, and I am able to evidence this because of my experience. No qualification needed