FTX Global

[speedbird591]

Now here's a bit of news that will cause some controversy. John Venema, CEO of ORBX, has just announced that in 2013 they will be releasing a very different type of scenery. Nothing less than the WHOLE WORLD done in FTX

He describes it as FTX Lite so it's similar to the FTX regions with less detail. It's an alternative to FSX default and will vary according to the appropriate global regions. It will cost a one-off AUS$ 200 (£140) giving lifetime support and updates and will obviously blend with the more detailed regions which will continue to be released.

New regions earmarked for 2013 release are Southern Alaska, Northern California, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

You can read about it here if you want. Some beta screenshots too. I'm keeping my head down

http://www.orbxsystems.com/forum/topic/ ... d-in-2013/

Ian

[DaveB]

What marvellous news Ian. Thank you so much for bringing it to our attention

Boys.. get the bombers back on alert 5

ATB
DaveB

[PaulC]

Thanks for that great news. I'm going to alienate myself from you good fellows now. I'm just about to purchase ORBX England. (Right Paul, RUN!)

Please be nice to me, I'm a nice bloke really!

[DaveB]

You buy whatever you want mate. As long as you enjoy it, that's all that counts

ATB
DaveB

[dodger]

Hello Paul,

Perhaps when you have it up and running you could give us your thoughts on what you think of it,

Don't you take any notice Paul of some of these Armchair pilots!

Cheers

Roger.

[Nigel H-J]

It will cost a one-off AUS$ 200 (£140) giving lifetime support and updates and will obviously blend with the more detailed regions which will continue to be released.

As good as it sounds given the price I would not buy it simply because I would never fly globally!!!!! Sure, it may well work out cheaper than buying seperate areas but I am quite at home just flying UK and some parts of Europe but that may well change in the future after seeing Ians' shots of ORBX and that will definately be an area that I would want to fly but as far as other countries go......sorry, the £140 would not be worth it, other die hard simmers may very well think differently though!!

Regards
Nigel

[PaulC]

It's downloading as we speak and I'm on nights so it'll be done for tomorrow. I'll have a play over the following week and try out my old VFR routes as well as other types if flying. I'll certainly report back.

[GHD]

£140 is more than 10 times the cost of FSX

[speedbird591]

I've spent a lot more than that in populating just a small part of the northwest corner of the North American continent

That sort of detail is priceless for somebody who enjoys bush flying and GA but unnecessary if you fly long distance or intercontinental.

If my simming was long-haul jets, then the 'Global' product, which would replace default FSX, could be the only scenery add-on I'd ever need as it would constantly be updated and improved and would be far more realistic than default.

And if Orbx went bust after 3 years I'd still have had it at a cost of less than £1 a week.

So I can't see me getting it but I'll probably spend the same amount with Orbx on higher detail local scenery. The point is that it is another option and will appeal to many. We all like different aspects of our hobby so any new product that helps people to personalise their own virtual world has to be a good thing.

Not many people here are enamoured by my choice of virtual world and vice versa but at least we have several choices and we can all enjoy ourselves independently and then meet up and take the p*ss out of each other How boring would it be if we all had to have the same stuff?

Ian

[TSR2]

It sounds like a good option to me, however there is one but, and its a big one. They'll need to make sure that the new global product will work with other standard scenery packages. You can't produce a global product and then tell folk who have other addon scenery products 'tough'. Don't get me wrong, no one can ensure their product will work with every other product, but they will have to be reasonable and supportive.