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.
The question will they still have Meigs Field in it
and Sears tower so I can fly into it (probably not politically correct now a days)
Very goof point. Also, will it have the old Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong (closed after the massive new international airport was opened).
I once flew observed a landing from the “third seat” just behind the captain of a Qantas flight, and it was nail-biting stuff as the 747 came in low from the west just over the rooftops of the buildings in Kowloon and turned right at the last moment to land in a southerly direction.
You missed that MS Flight Sim got purchased by Lockheed Martin, enhanced and became prepared. https://www.prepar3d.com/
Weird, I posted a comment here a few days ago, it never appeared. Anyway, what I said, was you missed that Microsoft sold FSX to Lockheed Martin, who have continued to develop it with prepar3d. http://www.prepared.com It will be interesting to see if this is more of a sim or a Game, after they sold FSX MS did come out with a game called Flight, it didn’t last long.
Carl
Sorry, been slow to approve comments, I am in Sweden right now.
Yes, I knew about prepar3d, but it is now a product for purely commercial use.
I did play MS Flight for a little bit when it came out. The graphics was actually good, and if I remember correctly, the idea behind it was a little bit like DCS, you purchase the addons/planes/locations you want. But it was more of a game than a simulator.