Some new shots, including elephants, water textures and carriers here:http://www.gamespot.com/pc/sim/microsoftfl...creenindex.html

I think FSX has really done well with the graphics this time. The water reflections and colour is really impressive. Although i don't like the dull look of it from above when there's no reflection. Textures are amazing. Especially for the airport vehicles. Alphasim will need to up their standards for their aircraft carrier. The one in the screenshot just blew me away. Add-on developers better start thinking of ways they can improve, its a challenge.

Wow, awsome, now those are some new screen shots! The new article there also got me really excited. http://www.gamespot.com/pc/sim/microsoftfl...atorx/news.html"Flight Simulator has made it for nearly 25 years without any kind of mission-based gameplay. That will change, and an example of that was shown in a video where an offshore oil rig is on fire, and you must pilot a helicopter quickly to the scene and evacuate the crew off the burning platform, with things exploding all around you." Hmm, interesting!

"And we should mention that the water effects are absolutely photorealistic, thanks to new shader technology (though you'll need DirectX 10 for that)"How can they write this when the DX10 version aint even being demoed?

>"And we should mention that the water effects are absolutely>photorealistic, thanks to new shader technology (though you'll>need DirectX 10 for that)">>How can they write this when the DX10 version aint even being>demoed?Do you even read stuff before shooting yourself in the foot? :-roll From the same article you quoted:"Company representatives showed us the difference between DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 in the game, and the DX 9 version looked great, but the DX 10 version was substantially better. There was a much better sense of atmosphere and light, as well as the incredibly water noted above."

WOW! WOW! WOW!I love the shots with the animals and the Mayan Temples!!!The racing and ultralight missions reminds me of Pilotwings for the Super Nintendo, looks like a lot of fun.Man, it's going to be an expensive holiday season, may as well purchase a Windows Vista computer and a DX10 card with this game. Guess I'll start saving now!Eric

Hi, it's pretty amazing before and afterhttp://i.i.com.com/cnet.g2/images/2006/130...2_screen008.jpgThanksChris Willishttp://www.hifisim.comhttp://sales.hifisim.com/pub-download/asv6...development.jpg

Some people dont have time to read everything. Now if this is true it is good news. I guess it means the DX10 hardware is available now?

I see no difference in those clouds at all :(

If they can model the African wilderbeasts of the Maharare, I suppose they should be able model ramp workers, too.Bryan

Why the heck are there giant floating targets surrounding an aircraft carrier?? And why isn't that ultralight being intercepted???Just kidding... the shots look awesome, I can't wait to find out more.-Scott

Could be DirectX 10 software emulation going through the graphics card which means it won't run as fast but is still beneficial for taking screenshots and showing comparisons. Works in the same way as people who have Direct8 hardware graphics cards can still play DirectX9 games but if tried enabling shaders etc it would run awfully slow which is why most of the time the game developers auto detect your card when you start playing and automatically disable them. But I bet you could get pixel shaders or HDR to work in software emulation on an older graphics card. Just be like watching a slideshow though.

I know one thing though, looking at all these screens theres gonna be alot of younger simmers who will actually have fun playing FSX. I have a friend who has a son who is about 10 and he finds FS2004 to be quite boring but i bet when he sees FSX and see the brightly coloured targets everywhere and the missions where you have to drop sandbags on them it will make him want to play the game more and this means in the future he will become a customer and help keep future sales in Flightsim going so that by the time I am 60 there will still be a version of flightsim out in the stores for me to enjoy.Craig

Whats with this? Theres no real obvious objective. Can anyone figure it out?I'm getting slightly concerned FSX missions may become a little immature for the sim. I hope they've kept the missions believable and real world orientated.Also, I do hope they add some waves etc around that oil rig as in the video it looked like it was sitting on an ice rink. Has there been any mention of the ocean being affected by wind?http://www.lisav.co.uk/truck.jpg

This is something you usually see at an airshow (US). It might be an AI airshow, who knows - it might be a mission.I like the flames though - also seen on the drilling platform.