First Look- Microsoft Flight at CES

There has been a lot of buzz going around the flight sim community the last several weeks regarding Microsoft’s new simulator; Flight.

The very term “Microsoft Flight” can stir up emotions that border on psychotic. It drives a lot of us simmers to say horrible and despicable things about other human beings. Besides, if we don’t get another new simulator we love, life as we know it may as well be over.

All kidding aside, there are two camps with the new Flight platform: the camp that is looking forward to another simulator regardless of what it has, and the camp that is insulted and enraged at the way Microsoft is going about it.

I lay somewhere in between, but I want to leave this post up to you guys and your comments. I’ll share more of my comments later as more details are forthcoming. Right now, I’m sure my judgement would be short-sighted based on the limited information available.

Video Preview

Above is a very fresh video preview of the simulator as seen at the CES conference (arguably the largest of it’s type during the year) going on now in Las Vegas. This shows off a bit of the new simulator, and perhaps there is nothing you haven’t seen before.

Things that stand out to me are the fact that this does seem like a game. I’m keen to see a ‘free flight’ mode, which is what 99% of us flight simmers use. That’s where we get to fly where we want to fly. The verdict is out on whether this will remain a game or become something we can use.

Next, the graphics are pretty awesome. I’m impressed. The lighting seems to be very much improved. Soft shadows in the cockpit, realistic ground shadows (for example, the windmill shadows) and so on. This is something we’ve needed for a long time in a Microsoft Simulator. It’s something X-Plane can do well, but not MSFS.

And, of course, there are a lot of other things… the XBOX controller, missions, aircraft. That’s why I say for me it’s two early to tell right now. Makes me want to explode seeing them use an XBOX controller. Are they that out of touch with the actual community? Well, the answer to that is already yes… but we shall see if the simulator ends up being something we can use.



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