Microsoft Flight Simulator Preview - 30th September

[DaWu 779]

45 minutes ago, threegreen said:

Can you post the link please? I can't seem to find it.

 

[Gavin 99]

This is the most interesting FS related news I've seen in quite a while. Time to start saving some disposable income 🙂

[Krakin 5,744]

4 hours ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

The possibility of subscription for "online mode" still seems to be a possibility.

That depends on who was asked. This far out, with no preorders up as yet, the go to answer will be "can't comment". Most devs won't open their mouths and potentially get in trouble. They'll leave that to marketing.

[n4gix 4,947]

3 hours ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

But again, who is Asobo?

Asobo is the company that have created what appears to be a silk purse from a sow's ear. They are a very active French company who're on the cutting edge of both graphics assets and systems coding. They have apparently used FSX as a "template" to guide them as to what needs to be developed, but are writing much (most?) of the code from scratch.

They are the company that have ditched both table lookup and blade-element and come up with a fresh approach that can calculate in real time >1,000 data points to simulate much more accurate aerodynamics.

MS may be paying the bills, but Asobo are doing the work! With >200 members of their team, I'm fairly certain that they have the means to complete the task...

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asobo_Studio

[Jim Young 2,356]

2 hours ago, threegreen said:

Have you watched Froogle's video? I can't remember for certain but I think it has been said an SDK will be there from the start. Like I said above, they are also talking to 3rd party developers already so you would think there was some kind of SDK already for them to work with.

FYI, Froogle videos are removed when found as they are used to advertise and/or subscriptions to his service which is against our Terms of Service (what becoming well known and a flight sim guru can create).  Links to his website are allowed or members can simply Google his name. 

[Tino 80]

1 minute ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

I did find their website, but I see a lot of younger kids (very young kids) cartoon like games ... nothing wrong with that, but I didn't see a wealth of knowledge about flight?  https://www.asobostudio.com/games  I must admit, I've never used/played/exposed to any of their products/games and I love "Garfield" 🙂

It does look like great company to work for with internships for the younger generation of 3D modelers and programmers, but I say that about most entertainment companies.

Cheers, Rob.

Just because it shows they made games for younger kids does not mean they can't focus on other technologies. Some of which, are "proof of concepts". These concepts get eaten up from other development studios and various companies if the technology suits their needs. (Exactly what happened in Microsoft's case). The concept was brought forward and this is the result. 

 I can tell you from experience that having all your eggs in one basket is considered suicide in the development industry. 

[SilentChill 43]

Wow just amazing, this is still alpha , so much more to come !!

[HiFlyer 9,343]

Flyinside sim is already using streaming worldwide orthos (for free) though their building placement is very primitive.

And they have far less than 200 employees. As world data becomes more and more complete and available, I think following in Microsoft's footsteps will only become easier......

I wonder what could be done with Outerras new ability to accomodate orthos into its fractal algorithms....

Which is only to say that as groundbreaking as this all seems, it's probably not completely out of range for smaller companies to try and compete, especially if Ms really does eschew VR...

The future could be very interesting now that the ice (and some firmly held community technical assumptions) has been broken.

[n4gix 4,947]

10 minutes ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

I did find their website, but I see a lot of younger kids (very young kids) cartoon like games ... nothing wrong with that, but I didn't see a wealth of knowledge about flight?  

Quote

In 2016, Asobo Studio partners with Microsoft again to release 2 games on HoloLens: Fragments and Young Conker. Both games are available in the Developer Edition, released on March 30, 2016. Asobo Studio is the first independent developer in Holographic Entertainment and wins the 2016 French Video Game Creator Prize awarded by Syntec Numérique EY and SNJV.

Did you miss the part where ASOBO paid for their team member's flight lessons? Most of them now have their PPL. Now that is most certainly a sign that the company takes this seriously!

[Paraffin 2,197]

27 minutes ago, Rob_Ainscough said:

I did find their website, but I see a lot of younger kids (very young kids) cartoon like games ... nothing wrong with that, but I didn't see a wealth of knowledge about flight?  https://www.asobostudio.com/games 

They did work for "The Crew 2" racing game, which includes a few fixed wing aircraft and (I think?) one helicopter. Arcade-level, but at least they're familiar with the 3D modeling. And as said above, some of them are getting flight training.

I think the "200 member team" might be the combined ASOBO and MS people, with MS managing the world database?

[ChaoticBeauty 6,692]

Wasn't it reported in here that Asobo hired a large amount of developers several months ago? Probably flight simulation specialists. There is no indication that they are not taking this seriously, and if they weren't, Microsoft would just assemble Aces back.

With today's reveals, I feel that the combined team is more than capable of delivering a worthy instalment in the series.

[SolRayz 392]

meh...german. Unwatchable. 

[DaWu 779]

So i think i read everything and saw all the videos and hence we know MS and Asobo read here I want them to know that the footage and info I saw today is absolutely amazing and breathtaking. It surpassed all My expectations. Fantastic job!

[BIGSKY 316]

12 hours ago, JonP01 said:

Yep. My local airport is a regional one in Australia and suffice to say that not only has it literally just been a couple of runway strips in the previous default products, but no one has ever attempted a third party one either. I think it is this sort of market that will still thrive, especially as a lot of the world has very poor satellite data (where I live being an example - you'd never produce anything of any consequence relying on the techniques MS are using here for their "detailed" areas - it would be hopeless).

How does your area look in Bing? I wonder if the Bing satellite images of the airport proper,will be used somehow?

[cwam1701 1]

1 hour ago, SolRayz said:

meh...german. Unwatchable. 

I thought the same at first, but persevere - they include talks from the developers at various points who all speak in English; plus the video from the sim itself is great.