I totally agree. The stick-stirring (especially from spixteens where the do the magical pinwheel, flip-flop, last starfighter "death blossom" maneuver) is far-out to watch, especially when they pull out of it and go blazing off in some totally different direction, seemingly unaffected by the massive changes in G's that they just experienced
I'm ready for the heat on this, but............
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I don't think the trend is going to go any more toward realism than it already is (but I could be wrong). The new pool of recruitment from here on out (and maybe a couple of years earlier) has a different view, for the most part, on what a video game should be. I refer to them as the X-Box generation.
With the advent of X-Box (live) and the availability/ease of access/affordability of MMO games, this new X-Box generation (as far as I can tell) seems to want and expect the Halo, Call of Duty, etc type of game play. Fast, 1st person shoot-em-up as quickly as possible games for there is no patience built in, nor wanted. Couple that with modded controllers, game cheats for every tile offered in every book section of the local game store, and pre-determined ends of most game plots and you have a recipe for lazy gaming. Tactics get thrown out the window, patience is not in the vocabulary. A flight sim that takes patience, teamwork, knowledge (and practice of) ACM becomes very boring after all the action of the games of today. It may be a treat for old heads (like most of seem to be, no offense intended), but for the newer generations, it may not be a good sell.
I can just hear the following... (some of which I've heard from my neighbor, an X-Box junkie who is 10 years my junior)
"What do you mean a black out/red out? I'll just fly the uber planes all the time, even though I should be able to just yank/bank my stick till I get guns on an enemy in any plane I choose. And these graphics? They suck ! And why can't I have an external view in any plane I choose? This is gay/boring/lame, etc"
I can't imagine that in this economic climate, HTC will be making any (or a lot of) changes that make the game harder to play, or less enticing to this X-Box generation. Making a product that doesn't sell will sink a company in this upcoming consumer base of "I want it all, I want it my way, and I want it NOW!" type of players.
This wonderful game that we love, which should be part drama, part time travel (into the WWII era), part shoot-em-up, part action, and part chess game, is slowly becoming (due to the influx of X-Box heroes) very akin to another HALO.
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I could also be totally wrong and off-base. (it won't be the first or last time)
My .02......... (if it's even worth that much anymore)