Wow - talking about a thread on fire!*PRE RELEASE ARTICLE, FOLKS!*Anyone remember all the articles about Duke Nukem' 3D ?!? Where the heck is THAT product? Just goes to show that not all articles will pan out correct or accurate. (Extreme example, but it still holds true)It's fantastic that we are starting to see some glimmers of the new product (*AVSIM Convention presentation, this mini-article), but I think we should take it for what it's worth (*NOT a press release!) and await the Microsoft announcement. If anything, it will clear up any confusion this article and the rampant speculation has caused. Awaiting word from the publishers,-Greg

The PC Gamer mag title highlights version 11... so whatever happened to version 10?

Yeah, I want to see Buffalo running on the Great Plains again, and flying over Oak Creek and the Grand Canyon AZ, Elk and Big Horn Sheep in the woods!

Just asking - as near as I can tell we are all speculating on what might be in an article for which only a few paragraphs have been posted in an almost unreadable scan of half a single page.Heck this thread is probably longer than the article.Does the article actually say - RELEASE or IN STORES in Feb 2006 - or does it say - announcement/ unveiling in Feb 2006?Second point"I would like to see Microsoft cut a deal with Google Earth"You do know that Google is Microsoft's biggest competitor right now - even more so than Sun.You also should know that Microsoft is pushing a preliminary product to compete with Google Earth.That product - possibly. I can't ever see Google Earth used - even the government anti-monoply folks would probably object.Using that type technology with the aircraft as the eyepoint - that I could see happening.

"Does the article actually say - RELEASE or IN STORES in Feb 2006 - or does it say - announcement/ unveiling in Feb 2006?"Reggie,From the scan it appears the bottom portion (footer) is announcing Feb 2006 as the release date.-John

This time, I beat them. I'd held off on buying a new computer for a long time, and then bought a Dell Laptop so I could use the FS in our Motorhome. Told my wife, this would probably be the last computer that I'd buy, so wanted to make it the Best... Got it for Christmas, and she got the Automatic Sat Antenna for Dish TV..... She can watch all her favorite programs in the bedroom, no matter where we are. And I can fly in the MH Cockpit, with a Laptop. My frame rates jumped from PC 8-9fps with 38 GA aircraft on the ground at KFUL, to 86fps on the Laptop! Im now a Happy Camper!

>Indeed. Why should they give the hardcore simmers a heads up?>We'll be buying the next version, whether Avsim or>Flightsim.com get first word of it or not. MS will be going>for that average gamer who doesn't add to his program with>addons, and will be looking for reasons to buy the next>version. No reason. How many actually BUY the FS from Avsim or Flighsim.com? Probably only a very small percentage of those who read the forums. The exclusive going to Gamers, who make their purchases from big store sales of software, gets the news out to them much more efficiently. Most will buy it, where they can get the best price.

Your eyes are better than mine.

There is NO way that the new version of FS10 is about to be released or any way near being released.Firstly there has been no beta and there are many here who are very experienced beta testers of the last and previous versions of MSFS.Those who talk about some sort of secret in house beta have no idea of the open source of MSFS and this programmes special needs to beta outside.The only vague possibility would be an interim release of a sligtly patched refaced version of what we already have as an interim release awaiting a major rework of MSFS later.As a patched and window dressed FS9 then maybe they could in house beta but NO way the real new version of FS10 ;-)Oh well here we go againPeter

There were some doubts regarding DirectX 10 and XP.The DirectX 10 Beta is already downloadable and it lists XP as a supported OS. Here is the link:http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...&displaylang=enEdit: make that Direct3D 10, but that should cover the important needs of FS XMatthias

They've clearly been working at this for at least a year. Some of the released graphic pictures which have been posted on this site and others a number of months ago gives you an idea of the graphic engine improvement (including that delicious picture of the glistening wet runway).This sounds great and I have no reason not to believe PC Gamer a magazine which has been around for years.The fact that FS10 is starting to bring the flight world to life is also great news. It started with AI, then moved to weather. Now traffic, people, animals. I always thought it would be nice to go to a remote Alaskan lake with my float plane and actually see some life to the environment (maybe the incorporation of fishing at some point??). Also moving passengers and cargo. More immersion is the way to go and our hardware will have to follow as it has always been.

>>Firstly there has been no beta and there are many here who are>very experienced beta testers of the last and previous>versions of MSFS.>>Those who talk about some sort of secret in house beta have no>idea of the open source of MSFS and this programmes special>needs to beta outside.>I'm sorry, but external testers are the very last part of a development cycle. You may claim it is the most important, but it is not. Beta testers are in house and work sometimes up to 100 hrs a week, doing checklists over and over and over, whether or not they understand the concepts, they are following the guides of the QA leads who do understand it.External testing is done only to get the word out and find some bugs that the testers might have missed... but it is the quickest way to get your game on the pirated websites.I have worked on a few games a few years ago that were totally secret, not even our testers on other games in the same floors knew how far along the testing cycle was and we were not allowed to talk about it.

> If you look closely at the article it states that> version ELEVEN will have air sickness bags! > So not only have they gotten the scoop on version ten,> but we are already getting an insight>into the next version. WOW!>>-ShawnLooks like you noticed the most important announcement!:D :( :-wave :-lol :-jumpy :-beerchug :-spacecraft

>There were some doubts regarding DirectX 10 and XP.>>The DirectX 10 Beta is already downloadable and it lists XP as>a supported OS. Here is the link:>http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...&displaylang=en>>Edit: make that Direct3D 10, but that should cover the>important needs of FS X>>Matthias>Microsoft would not and could not drop support of Windows XP, if anything they will drop support of windows 98 like they did with windows 95 when XP came out.

If that is true Peter, don't you think it PC gamer's typo would be corrected by now? Wouldn't the various MS bloggers be saying things about the error?Just like you, I know of people who were beta testers for FS2002 and others with FS2004. Funny thing is, that MOST of them have reported that they've never been contacted about FSX. The few that have no comment I assume have.Maybe MS changed the beta teams up a bit?Mike