Microsoft Flight is the title of a new free-to-play flight simulator from Microsoft Studios announced in August 2010, intended to replace the long-running discontinued Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise that has existed for nearly 30 years.
The simulator is in later development stages, with a beta version currently in closed testing. Limited details have been released on Flight, but it has been said that it is looking to appeal to flying enthusiasts with the realism and accuracy shown in the previous titles of Microsoft Flight Simulator, but also will include other types of gameplay that appeal more to novices. The new simulator will be Games for Windows – Live-enabled, which will allow users with Live accounts to join multiplayer sessions with Gamertags. The introduction of Live also means that the GameSpy client will no longer be in use. Additionally, Microsoft plans to include an add-on marketplace to make it easier for users to find the add-on they are looking for.The official Flight website features video trailers and Webisodes, a frequently asked questions page, and a sign-up link for the Microsoft Flight newsletter, although no release date is given. It also includes a page featuring screenshots taken in Flight. (52 screenshots to date) As of October 2011, four teaser videos have been published to the website, each one exhibiting varying levels of developmental progress as they were published over time. Videos before Webisode 2 do not feature in-game footage.As of the December 1, 2011 a beta application has been set up on the website. An announcement was posted on the official Flight facebook page (on December 13, 2011) stating that an official Youtube channel was published containing the current Webisodes.It was announced on January 4, 2012 that it would be free-to-play on release.
According to the website, Flight will feature new aircraft, scenery and terrain, a revamped weather engine, and new game play elements that users of all skill levels will enjoy. The new weather engine renders more realistic clouds and weather effects, including fog that blends well with the surrounding terrain, which Microsoft's previous flight simulator release, (Microsoft Flight Simulator X), was not capable of. As seen in the screenshots, the most noticeable graphical improvements are the newer shader models and the use of new DirectX versions. Part of the improvement is more realistic lighting and self shadowing on aircraft, as well as the ability for terrain and scenery objects to cast shadows onto other objects and terrain. The aircraft visual models previewed so far are much improved over those of the previous flight simulator releases. Flight is also said to feature a new missions system. While system requirements are not yet final, the November 2011 news update featured requirements based on a later in-development version of the game.
Minimum: CPU: Dual Core 2.0 GHz GPU: 256 MB card capable of shader 3.0 (DX 9.0c compliant) HD: 10 GB Hard Drive space OS: WinXP SP3 RAM: 2.0GBRecommended (high settings): CPU: Intel® Core™ i7 960 @ 3.20GHz, AMD® Phenom™ II X6 1100T 3.3 GHz or better GPU: ATI Radeon™ HD 5870, NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 560 or better HD: 10 GB Hard Drive space OS: Windows 7 64-bit RAM: 6GB
That looks awesome and best of all its free :D
The new simulator will be Games for Windows – Live-enabled
:l
Don't worry. If we poke Gabe enough, maybe he'll make a deal with them for a PC version. (Because Games for Windows is basically Xbox on PC, which is stuff because PC isn't Xbox.)
Made me want to play Flight Simulator again, but then I realized that I lacked a joystick.
