Something I am seeing in the Google Earth sim video and the teaser video is that there are no cars painted or baked into the roads as if the roads have been cleared of moving cars which looks awesome compared to the normal photo-real stuff.

9 minutes ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

Microsoft's Azure technology with geo data rendering isn't "new" ... Google Earth "Flight Simulator" (to be used with a grain of salt or bag of salt) was doing this some years ago ...

It's very impressive technology and I'm very glad to see Microsoft put this technology to good use in their new Flight Simulator 2020.  Microsoft have add much more to the experience with weather and hopefully some great aircraft physics and well documented SDK.  Lots of positives with this technology

Lots of positives for sure, and I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it. We can't ignore the downsides though, even aside from the artifacts I keep ranting about with 2D orthophoto-based scenery.

If this is streaming and buffered scenery with a local client to run the flight model and aircraft systems, it's going to require a constant, high bandwidth connection. Look at what Google Stadia is talking about for the premium experience as an idea, especially if we want to do this at 120 fps at 4k resolution like the Scarlett Xbox is promising. There will be many flight sim enthusiasts who don't have the required bandwidth or stable connections.

"Software as a service" and constant high speed connection may be where we all end up with every flight sim, not just this one. I think the days of X-Plane selling the version 11 product as a set of  8 physical DVD's is over. And even then, they had to figure out how to squeeze in Greenland at the last minute!. I'm sure the next version XP12 will be download only, and if they incorporate something like free HD and UHD scenery mesh, then Laminar might well go to a streaming/subscription model eventually.

Maybe this is a good thing. But it will have to drag many of the older flight sim grognards kicking and screaming into that new world.

8 hours ago, irrics said:

I’m sorry but that video is absolutely hot garbage. I wouldn’t get advice on where to eat lunch from that guy.

I might ask him where to eat lunch. He's a large guy. Maybe he knows food better than flight sims?

FS2020 in roman numerals would be FSXXXX  well... actually FSMMXX for FS two thousand twenty, but FSXXXX for FS twenty twenty.

Hi all,

As many have mentioned before, regarding streaming HD games to our computers, that appears what Microsoft has in mind.  I recently saw a YouTube video showing the future of gaming.  And Google is planning to use its technology this year.  it seems Microsoft wants a share of Googles pie with its 2020 Flight Simulator.  I for one, do not like the fact that we will have to rent future games, especially if the trend is accepted by gamers.  I prefer to purchase my own software.

See the YouTube link below regarding the future of gaming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lihhBFnao8

Edited June 12, 20196 yr by Wired100

46 minutes ago, Wired100 said:

As many have mentioned before, regarding streaming HD games to our computers, that appears what Microsoft has in mind.  I recently saw a YouTube video showing the future of gaming.  And Google is planning to use its technology this year.  it seems Microsoft wants a share of Googles pie with its 2020 Flight Simulator.  I for one, do not like the fact that we will have to rent future games, especially if the trend is accepted by gamers.  I prefer to purchase my own software.

See the YouTube link below regarding the future of gaming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lihhBFnao8

Most of us are already in this world, even if we don't think about it too much. I have 128 games in my Steam library -- titles I've either played to death or dabbled in and didn't launch again. Maybe a half-dozen that I'm keeping active on my hard drive because I dip in and out of them.

Every one of those games will disappear if Steam goes bankrupt and disappears. Same thing for a few games I "own" on Origin and the new Epic game storefront.

My main flight sim X-Plane will no longer be usable if Laminar disappears and can't run the occasional "phone home" for authorization. I have a few payware planes and some scenery with DRM that might die, if the developer isn't around for new authorizations.

We don't own our software, not since DRM and online "phone home" authorizations became the norm. Which is fine as far as I'm concerned, as long as we're getting a good bang for the buck for what we're spending, and the state of the art keeps improving so we don't need to hold on to tired and outdated products.

Out of topic, but I can not resist. 😉

Rumors and guesses are allways more entertaining then facts, and this thread is really entertaining.

 

 

Looks fantastic to me. As long as they keep keyboard/Joystick commands as per FSX and its not like the dismal MS Flight, I'd likely buy in. The only other issue is Im not buying all my addons again, so it will want to have accurately rendered aircraft out of the box, with nav systems all working etc

Some of the wishes and expectations in here are amazing - but I seriously doubt them!

Higher expectations equals deeper disappointments.

14 minutes ago, Anders Bermann said:

Some of the wishes and expectations in here are amazing - but I seriously doubt them!

Higher expectations equals deeper disappointments.

I agree. The reality is that Microsoft are in it to make money. Whilst Flight Simulator looks amazing, if the video is to be believed as real in game footage (which as not stated) then a serious chunk of money would have been spent on the development. Would MS recoup that from the hardcore sim market? In my opinion unlikely. So to attract the market they need to make it pay it needs to be accessible to non simmers. Or in other words, dumbed down. Whether MS have pulled of the so far impossible task of creating a flight simulator that is both accessible to novices and gamers as well as hard core simmers, remains to be seen. My expectations are being kept in check for the moment, at least until we know a lot more details about the sim. 

So my question is what happens with P3D with the announcement of this sim? There's a lot people thinking they'll be a major overhaul for V5 but do you guys think P3D will scale back on any major overhaul and just focus on smaller upgrades for their enterprise customers moving forward?

6 hours ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

This horse has been around the track several times, if it's still a concern after 8 years of P3D development then it must be the slowest moving concern on the planet ... DTG nor Microsoft have at anytime attempted to challenge this "concern" at it seems to be only voiced by certain community elements for alternative reasons (aka competitive reasons).

Cheers, Rob.

Rob, that's probably the single post that has made the most sense amongst all posted so far! 

It's more than possible to be both accessible and hardcore. And really hardcore.

Here's hoping Microsoft can follow suit.

A simple question to the community here:

Why are you guys calling the sim MSFS2020, Flight Simulator 2019, Flight Simulator 2020, MS2019, when the actual name is Flight Simulator?

P3D will, of course, still be marketed as a training, not for entertainment tool.

17 hours ago, Bandselect said:

.seems the majority of aircraft are designated AS-MSG XX ... so wondering what AS means assuming MSG is Microsoft Game Studios...

AeroSoft?

What kind of bandwidth are we talking about for streaming/cloud service (in numbers)?