New Microsoft Flight Simulator announced!

[Sfakman 0]

Be nice to know roughly when this is due out. I'm excited about the online focus - something that has the potential to be fantastic. I can't help but think it will be toned down for the masses but if they open it up so the community can make more complex add-ons then I'm all for it.Hopefully we will hear more soon.

[poplar 39]

I emailed msflight@microsoft.com yesterday to wish them congrats and luck when the news broke and got an undeliverable as a reply I then emailed Steve Lacey - as figured he'd still be sleeping, and he replied this morning saying simply 'thanks' But anyway - this is great news. And has really brightened up my day. Not that I live for MSFS, but love it just the same. Is anyone keeping an eye on whats happening at Gamescom? Is there anyone physically at the show that could be there to feedback any news?Ina Fried at CNET seem to have published a little more info from Kevin Unangst, a senior director in Microsoft's game unit - "I wouldn't expect for people to see Flight in public beta this year," Unangst said.

[Glynn 405]

I then emailed Steve Lacey - as figured he'd still be sleeping, and he replied this morning saying simply 'thanks'

HelloIs that the Steve Lacey who's been working for Google for the past two years?Google will not be pleased if he has been moonlighting on the Flight! project :(

[poplar 39]

HelloIs that the Steve Lacey who's been working for Google for the past two years?Google will not be pleased if he has been moonlighting on the Flight! project :(

Ha ha yes - I emailed him only because I read his blog a lot. Its also the only blog I know that still has an 'index' of all the old Aces team. I trawled through them all last night hoping for updates - but no, they've mostly all moved on!

[victorwest2 0]

Ina Fried at CNET seem to have published a little more info from Kevin Unangst, a senior director in Microsoft's game unit - "I wouldn't expect for people to see Flight in public beta this year," Unangst said.

So January 2011 then? :( Public beta? Sounds like the days of private beta until release are long gone now.

[Avantime 81]

So January 2011 then? :( Public beta? Sounds like the days of private beta until release are long gone now.

If there is a public beta, then I would assume:1) It's a MMO, or2) It is a paid (e.g. Pre-order) beta.

[JimmiG 244]

Well, it's going to be exclusive to Windows. If it was just a silly arcade game, you would have expected an xbox version as well, imo...

[Clipper Ocean Spray 189]

This will hopefully mean a fresh start for the scenery and flight dynamics engines. Modern GPUs can do tessellation now, which is perfect for rendering extremely detailed terrain, with detail smoothly fading out in the distance to keep framerates high. Some rather spectacular effects can also be made, like fog, reflections etc., but also rough surfaces like rock or concrete can be made amazingly realistic. FSX depended mostly on static textures and artwork to make things look realistic. The flight dynamics could also be calculated by the GPU, instead of the 1980's style lookup tables that MSFS used throughout its life cycle.

I would go so far to say the "graphics" people don't even have to have any particular interest in aviation in order for this community to get something that's a lot better than what we have now (in base form). That's how starved we are for something to use our GTX 480(s) and 5870(s) properly. I would have to think in this economy MS could assemble a team well-versed in the latest GPU and CPU coding techniques and engines.

[momtchil 32]

..............I HOPE 'Live' does not mean having to be online to flyGreat news nonetheless.

I too hope any potential on-line stuff would be entirely optional (including registrations). Otherwise I will not buy, I've boycotted all 'on-line required' software.I really doubt that video released by Microsoft for their new FS is anything close to in-game/simulator footage. The end product would likely be substantially different. Certainly looks like an advertisement pre-rendered video clip to me. That kind of advertising seems to be standard practice nowadays (if the development company has the time and resources for it). I doubt they are so far in development that they'd release an actual in-game engine footage. Microsoft seem to be just starting out on the development side, after all up until recently they were still hiring people to work on this.It is great news that we will likely have another Microsoft FS title, and the franchise is looking set to continue - albeit without the 'Simulator' in the title. I don't think that's much of a problem - it doesn't mean they're going to drop realism entirely just because it called 'MS Flight' now.With the small amount of information we have available there really isn't much more to be said. I am happy they are working on an new FS title and hope it will be good and a fully fledged flight simulator! - No arcade stuff of any kind.We called Flight Simulator 2004 'Century of Flight' - 'FS9' or sometimes 'FS2004'. We called Flight Simulator X - 'FSX' or more rarely (in the begging) 'FS10'. What are we going to abbreviate 'Microsoft Flight' to? - 'MF' , that could also stand for ............

[n4gix 4,947]

Don't forget the other alternate acronyms:FS2000 - FS2kFS2002 - FS2k2FS2004 - FS2k4As for the other, that's already been used elsewhere:"Gee I've been an FSX'er and now I'm going to be an MF'er?"(or something similar)

[Hugo346 13]

Let's call it by its name: Flight. But it will probably end up as fs11. Or even MSF.

[Drumcode 1,893]

Someone said earlier that there could be some involvment from ORBX, FlyTampa crews or maybe even a larger amount of current developers involved in the Flight project, signed NDAs and what not. As this being a pure speculation only, I welcome this with open arms and I have to say the next months will be VERY exciting in terms of any news coming from the MS camp.

[c152flyboy 0]

i may have missed if someone else beat me to this- CNET posted a story about the new Microsoft Flight http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20013915-56.htmlKevin Unangst, a senior director in Microsoft's game unit talks about this new product a little but i dont see this as any sort of replacement for FSX.

[rpbartle 0]

I was reading the CNET blog, as mentioned in post #182 above, and was interested to read that an alpha version is going to be released to the test team soon. I know that they are still early on in development but they are further forward than I had initially anticipated.Unangst is also quoted as saying "The company is offering few details on Flight, but Unangst said that it is looking to appeal to flying enthusiasts with the realism, accuracy, and fidelity they expect, but also imagines including other types of gameplay that might appeal more to novices."I'm very much looking forward to hearing more about Flight! Lets hope its gives us and the numerous add-on developers some form of platform that can be built on for the future.Ralph

[cmpbellsjc 2,963]

i may have missed if someone else beat me to this- CNET posted a story about the new Microsoft Flight http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20013915-56.htmlKevin Unangst, a senior director in Microsoft's game unit talks about this new product a little but i dont see this as any sort of replacement for FSX.

Hard to say if it will be an FSX replacement or not.However the section that said this:"The company is offering few details on Flight, but Unangst said that it is looking to appeal to flying enthusiasts with the realism, accuracy, and fidelity they expect, but also imagines including other types of gameplay that might appeal more to novices. "Leads me to belive that since it will retain the "realism, accuracy, and fidelity they expect", it will be like out current sim that you can just fly around in if you want to, or use the gameplay features that it will include, kind of like the missions in FSX.Maybe it will end up being like a patched version of FSX that is basically the same, runs a little better, and has more game play/missions in it that you can use if you so choose.