Microsoft Flight Simulator – It will be back!
I am not a gamer, but there are a couple of games I do enjoy. One of them is Microsoft Flight Simulator, which I have been playing since 1988 or so. Yes, since version 3.0 for PC. With each version it became more and more realistic looking, you could even buy third-party maps that used satellite images. I was able to fly over my house and identify it. The graphics was good, but not spectacular compared to the games of today. Then in 2009 Microsoft closed down the studio that had been developing the game, to the big upset of the flight sim community. The last version, Flight Simulator X (version 10) was to be the last. There are a couple of alternatives today, the two major ones are X-Plane and DCS World. I recently started looking at DCS World, and it is pretty impressive. It also supports Virtual Reality headsets out-of-the-box. The game itself is free, you get a couple of airplanes and one region where you can fly. You then purchase the planes and regions you like, over time. The graphics in the game is stunning. Recently, during the E3 trade show, Microsoft announced that there will be a new version of Flight Simulator in 2020. A 4K video was shown, and the graphics is amazing. The terrain is generated from satellite images, and the environment (ground vehicles, animals on the ground, etc) are controlled by AI. Looking at the video, the graphics is way ahead of anything I have seen. I really hope Microsoft will be able to deliver, and that it really will be available in the end of 2020. I have been planning to build a new computer for a while, but now I will probably hold off until closer to the Flight Simulator release, in order to get the best and newest components. I have a feeling the game will use every ounce of power available for this level of realism. https://youtu.be/ReDDgFfWlS4