It looks really good. But I really am concerned that this will be GA only and only in Hawaii. I think it looks great, but if I can only fly in one little area, I wont buy it.

wow, looks great, cant wait to see the finished product

Players can fly quick and exciting challenges that test their skills even if they only have a few minutes to play. Alternatively, players can fly “story-based” missions such as finding a missing person or playing a key role in an event. Another way to play is flying jobs such as carrying cargo or passengers from one location to another using piloting skills and knowledge to get them to the destination safely. Of course, players can always choose to fly freely without guidance in order to simply enjoy the beauty of the world, fiddle with the knobs and switches in the cockpit, or put an aircraft through its paces. Each of these experiences is different and enriches the game overall, providing short-term and longer-term gameplay. I think MS Flight will suprise many of you.

to fly freely without guidance in order to simply enjoy the beauty of the world

Here we go again: Every word of that ''update'' could have been about FSX, it tells us absolutely nothing new whatsoever about what Flight is. I'm not surprised they are advertising for someone with PR experience, because it looks like they need them: That update is an attrociously bad effort if they are hoping it is going to garner anything other than more criticism and negative speculation. Nothing wrong with putting missions in a flight sim of course - Take On Helicopters is one new sim which is doing exactly that. The Missions and Badges aspects of FSX was/is one of the best features of the sim, it is sorely underused for it's wider training capabilities which have only occasionally been touched upon with products such as Wilco's ''Aviation and Mission'' add on for the PIC 737, and nobody could deny that missions are great for more casual simmers, so there is little to fear from news of that for hard core simmers. But we already know all this. So MS really do need to put some meat on the PR bones that are being tossed out once every month or so in relation to Flight; slinging out more pics of Hawaii is not going to improve matters on that score, any more than a nebulous load of old first year student's PR babble which says nothing new, and calling it ''news'' is going to. This is the best one of the largest computer companies in the world can come up with? No wonder Apple are all over them like a cheap suit if this is their idea of marketing. Al

Quoted from the October news about "Missions":

• Of course, players can always choose to fly freely without guidance in order to simply enjoy the beauty of the world

Unless Microsoft consider Hawaii the "world", I don't think Flight will just include Hawaii, but that marketing are simply using Hawaii as a benchmark in showing what Flight can achieve from out of the box.

• it’s easy to get lost in the details of building a game

• As we get closer to releasing a game

• creating a fun flying game

• Flight is a game that is designed for a wide range of players

• players that accomplish something in the game

Although I too am still looking at Flight with my glass half full, I could not mention the amount of times they used "game" in the news story, they did not once use the word "simulator". Maybe they are just doing it to not put the scary "simulator" word in it, so that new players don't think it's going to be diffcult/complex to get into like the old ones, but just annoyed me that it sounded like they were marketing "Flight" like a platform-game, something you would for a game appealing towards a Xbox or Playstation 3 fanbase, than a simulator fanbase. Pictures look nice though, shading looks a lot better and overall the detail looks of a better quality than that of straight out of the box FSX scenery. That's my thoughts on it, I liked the missions in Flight Simulator X, and FSX is still called a simulator? I hope Microsoft keep with this approach and make "Flight" a simulator with missions/extras included, than a game based around missions that includes certain elements of simulation in it. But we'll see, only time will tell! Virtual Reality

Although I too am still looking at Flight with my glass half full, I could not mention the amount of times they used "game" in the news story, they did not once use the word "simulator".

Hasn't Microsoft Flight Simulator always been in a folder titled "Microsoft Games"?

And the "news" sound even more like they are building a "fun game" more than a sim like the MS Flight Simulator has been. "creating pretty aircraft and scenery", "creating a fun flying game", "fiddle with the knobs and switches in the cockpit"? There might be some fun in it for everybody (even the so called "hardcore-simmers") but it´s more and more obvious that it isn't a "successor" of FSX.

I agree. They've dropped the word simulator from the title, and I was disappointed to see the word "game" used so much in this update. I think MS has decided to switch gears here. I suspect they have focused more on turning Flight into a "fun game" as opposed to a simulation that it was in FSX. I hope I'm proven wrong but it's beginning to look like Flight will be a "fun for the whole family game" and will loose its appeal to most hardcore simmers. Time will tell. Mark

Flight Simulator is and has always been a game. Get over it.

I seriously doubt any flight sim would ever be something that would appeal to a massively wide audience because the fact is, not everyone likes aeroplanes, and as odd as that may seem to us, we have to remember that it is the case. So if MS are to widen a computer flying experience's appeal, they will inevitably have to remove the word 'simulator' from it, because that word might as well be the words 'boring' and 'hard to play' to a large proportion of the populace as far as the perception of a flight sim is concerned. The word 'game' has been on the MS Flight Simulator box for literally years, so calling it a game is nothing new, although being at pains to call it a game is obviously a wise choice if they are trying not to make it sound like a boring flight sim when Joe Average sees the DVD case on the shelf next to Duke Nukem and Call of Duty. Don't forget that the first iterations of Flight Simulator before it was even an MS product had a dogfighting Sopwith Camel game built into it. Flying a sim is fun, but people need to actually try it before they will know that is true, and they won't try it if it has a box with a picture of an FMC and an approach chart on the DVD case. Ironically, that is exactly why hard core simmers ought to be more thankful that developers such as Abacus are around, because they do more to draw people in than PMDG will ever do. Al

Hasn't Microsoft Flight Simulator always been in a folder titled "Microsoft Games"?

Yes, but it is pretty obvious to anyone that "Microsoft Flight Simulator" is of course a simulator, just by looking at the title.If Microsoft wanted to put everything to rest and confirm to all that "Flight" is a simulator, they simply had to just add in "Simulation Game" but they didn't, instead just putting the word "game", which makes it questionable that "Flight" isn't just the same old same old we've been use to like the previous titles. The over use of "game" in the news story just made it seem like it was being put forward as a, well... game, instead of a simulator.I'm not having a go, or trying to get one up, like I know everything, i'm just taking it for what in my opinion it appears to be, but then I could be wrong, and Flight turns out to be an all singing, all dancing flight simulator, we'll just have to see! :)

Flight Simulator is and has always been a game. Get over it.

And the winner of the "most stupid reply on this thread" award goes too...Please, if your going to shine down your holy knowledge to all, do it in a more constructive way, than posting a idiotic comment, which is intended only to start an arguement or cause a clash. Cheers! Virtual Reality

I seriously doubt any flight sim would ever be something that would appeal to a massively wide audience because

It better appeal otherwise I suggest it has no future,

If the missions and career thing is done right it will be great. FSX touched upon it, but never got it quite right. Now if the Flight team managed to create a scenery creation tool as well, both my wishes for Flight will have been met. As for pleasing the hardcore simmers, MS just has to release a SDK, then sit back and relax and watch the magic happen.

If the missions and career thing is done right it will be great. FSX touched upon it, but never got it quite right. Now if the Flight team managed to create a scenery creation tool as well, both my wishes for Flight will have been met. As for pleasing the hardcore simmers, MS just has to release a SDK, then sit back and relax and watch the magic happen.

I fully agree simmerhead, thanks for explaining in more detail! All MS needs to do is just release the SDK and that's the hardcore simmers happy, the rest can be done to please the "wider audience" they are trying to get.Sorry to come across as a little rude in my last post, but the amount of times I come on here and people post replys looking to pick a fight, no hard feelings I hope. :) Virtual Reality

The need to turn on the AA, lots of jagged edges on the wings and other parts of the plane. Also on the overhead shot of the buildings. Other than that, looks good, no other info to really comment on. Mark.