Fighter Ace 2.5 Winding Down
In December of 1997, Microsoft(R) Fighter Ace 1.0 was released as the MSN Gaming Zone's first pay-for-play game. Version 2.0 of Fighter Ace blended dogfighting with bombing and strategic gameplay, and took team gameplay and cooperation to a new level. In the four years that Fighter Ace has been hosted on the Zone, countless battles have been fought, many players have learned the art of the dogfight, and many aces have been made.
Given this history, it is with mixed emotions that we announce that Fighter Ace 2.5 will begin a process of shutting down on the Microsoft Gaming Zone. With the recent release of Fighter Ace 3 hosted by VR1, the Fighter Ace experience will continue in different virtual skies. VR1's Fighter Ace 3.0 builds on Fighter Ace 2.5 by adding many gameplay enhancements such as naval warfare and a new graphics engine.
Fighter Ace 2.5 Transition Dates
On Thursday, March 14th, Fighter Ace 2.5 will become free and open to all players. New players and players whose subscriptions have lapsed will be able to sign up for a “Free trial option” that will let players into all arenas of the game. This gives players who have been away from Fighter Ace 2.5 the opportunity to rejoin it for its last farewell. After March 14th, we will continue full service for Fighter Ace, including weekly events and support.
On Monday, April 22nd, Fighter Ace 2.5 will enter an unsupported phase. Fighter Ace events hosted by Microsoft will end, as will technical support via online staff.
Finally, on Monday, May 20th the Fighter Ace 2.5 game on the MSN Gaming Zone will end. For those wishing to continue to develop their Fighter Ace skills, Fighter Ace 3.0 will be hosted by VR1 and can be found at: VR1's Fighter Ace 3.0 For those wishing to continue to dogfight on the MSN Gaming Zone, online play with Microsoft Combat Flight Simulator 2 will continue to be available here. We hope to see you there!
In the meantime, please join us in giving Fighter Ace 2.5 a due farewell. Teiwaz@zone will hold two marathon special events to celebrate the sunset of Fighter Ace.
Frequently Asked Questions on the Fighter Ace 2.5 Shutdown
Will the game still be monitored after April 22nd?
There will be limited monitoring of Fighter Ace 2.5 after April 22nd. We will work to minimize MSN Gaming Zone Code of Conduct violations and ensure that the game runs smoothly. As always, we encourage users who see problems in Fighter Ace to send them to the Fighter Ace Community Manager address at Microsoft mailto:facommgr@microsoft.com.
Are there any downtimes anticipated for Fighter Ace 2.5?
On March 14th, we anticipate that Fighter Ace 2.5 may be down for up to four hours as we transition the game to being free for all subscribers.
I took out a six-month subscription in December.Will I get to play out that subscription?
The six-month subscription option ended on December 16th, 2001. For players who enrolled in a six-month subscription to Fighter Ace 2.5 after November 22nd, 2001, we will provide them with a free month subscription in VR1's Fighter Ace 3.0. E-mail will be sent to qualified players on the details of this transition. For any questions regarding this free month, please send them to mailto:slammer@microsoft.com (Mike Ammerlaan) at slammer@microsoft.com.
Will Fighter Ace 2.5 continue on VR1's servers, or anywhere else?
Fighter Ace 2.5 will not be hosted by any other companies after it is shut down on the MSN Gaming Zone.
Where can I find more information on VR1's Fighter Ace 3.0?
See http://fighterace.vr1.com/. For technical support and questions, please visit the VR-1 newsgroup. You can view the VR1 newsgroup by following the instructions located at http://fighterace.vr1.com/community/
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