Microsoft Flight Launches February 29, 2012

[mutley 4,497]

Prepare for takeoff! On the heels of a successful beta, we’re excited to announce that “Microsoft Flight” will be available to download worldwide for free starting February 29, 2012, right here at www.microsoftflight.com. In addition, the Hawaiian Adventure Pack – which includes the remaining Hawaiian Islands, a new plane and 20 new missions – will be available to purchase the same day through Games for Windows—LIVE.

Microsoft Flight lets players jump into the fun, freedom, and adventure of flight with no special hardware or past experience. If you have a mouse and a PC, you can fly!

In addition to exploring the Big Island of Hawaii for free, you can unlock access to the skies over the remaining Hawaiian Islands by purchasing the Hawaiian Adventure Pack, the first in a series of expansions for Microsoft Flight, which includes:

Hundreds of miles to explore

Stunning recreations of landmark features, from the breathtaking Waimea Canyon in Kaua’i to the high-rise hotels of Waikiki

New challenges

20 new missions

The Vans RV-6A, a two-seat, single-engine, low-wing homebuilt airplane made famous for its speed and maneuverability.

The Hawaiian Adventure Pack will be available via Games for Windows –LIVE for 1600 Microsoft Points.

Tour the Skies in Two All-New Planes

At launch, players will have the ability to purchase two new planes that offer entirely different flying experiences:

The Maule M-7-260C is a rugged utility aircraft that is especially adept at handling take-offs and landings on rough, unprepared surfaces. Players can find out what makes the Maule the plane of choice for adventurous bush pilots by trying tricky landing challenges that push the aircraft’s ability to land on rough airstrips. They can enter the Maule’s cockpit and take the controls to transport people and cargo to complete jobs and advance their pilot career.

The Maule M-7-260C including a richly detailed external model and a beautifully created cockpit will be available via Games for Windows—LIVE for 1200 Microsoft Points.

The North American P-51 Mustang is a historical fighter plane with strong performance characteristics, maneuverability and sharp looks. Stripped of guns and some weight, this version represents a restored Mustang that might be found at airshows today. The Mustang’s superb agility makes it a great option to choose to complete hoops courses and master many other skilled challenges and missions found in the game.

The North American P-51 Mustang flyable from the outside will be available via Games for Windows—LIVE for 640 Microsoft Points.

All the aircraft have been created with detailed graphics and accurate physics: Some models allow players to take the helm using highly rendered, accurate cockpits and master authentic piloting procedures, or they can simply use their mouse and keyboard to control any plane in an exterior view. Players can tailor the flight controls to match their skill level, making Microsoft Flight easy for beginners while still challenging the most accomplished PC pilots.

Find out more about the meticulous detail and passion that goes into building Microsoft Flight’s aircraft with a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the ICON A5.

From early design modeling to the integration of unique speed and flight physics, the following video is a great chance to explore the accuracy and attention to detail that define the gameplay experience in Microsoft Flight.

Thank you to our Beta Testers

We’d also like to thank our beta testers for their invaluable help in getting Microsoft Flight ready for takeoff.

Our executive producer, Joshua Howard, had this to say: “There was an overwhelming demand for access to the ‘Microsoft Flight’ beta and the number of requests was far more than what we initially planned for. We received amazing feedback from the beta participants and it’s great to see this level of excitement from fans as we move toward the release of Microsoft Flight.”

We hope you’ll come fly with us on February 29th!

— The Microsoft Flight Team

[allardjd 1,853]

Oh, joy! I can hardly contain myself. Is it available for the Wii?

 

[/sarcasm]

 

John

[ddavid 149]

Darn - I'm busy that day...

Cheers - Dai.

P.S. Beta testing (Hah!?!) was a grind - no errors to check for, and when I found a couple, I was 'flamed' by other testers! But, then, FLIGHT may herald a new dawn in flight simulation...

NEWSFLASH!! Microsoft announce airbprne 'hogs' coming soon for FLIGHT...

[stu7708 244]

I heard that PMDG will do the Pogo-stick and Woodpigeon for MS Flight

This might be the wrong forum for that comment, but I hope at least someone here understand what I'm on about

[britfrog 180]

what a classic missed opportunity, i do hope that the M.S. shareholders tar and feather the team that created a game suitable only for the 4-14 year age group, to replace a simulator enjoyed by millions, i still cant believe how smug those guys look and how proud they appear to be having enabled people to enjoy the pleasures of flight using only a mouse. Talk about dumming something down, such a terrible shame. i wont flame the team as they were clearly obeying orders from above, i might even forgive M.S. not wanting 3rd parties to develop add ons so to keep it all in house or in purse, not that anyone would want to get involved in a kiddies game, maybe we all expected too much? so shall now have to wait for more forward looking companies to carry our hobby forward. in the meantime rock on fsx!

[allardjd 1,853]

In the grand MS scheme of things, this rollout is just a drop of water in the ocean - no more really than a new game release.

 

However, they have taken advantage of their well-earned reputation in flight simulation and spent some of it (unwisely, in my opinion) as a marketing ploy for this game release. They've devalued that, but its a kind of intangible asset, so there's probably no way to quantify its worth anyway.

 

There's probably not too much here for MS stockholders to get their knickers in a knot over because, succeed or fail, this one release is not going to materially affect their bottom line very much. All shareholders care about (and rightly so) is ROI, and perhaps ethics. I don't think what they did is going to affect ROI very much and while we aren't pleased with what they did, it's not unethical.

 

John

[Tim_A 997]

What's "1600 Microsoft Points" in English?

[allardjd 1,853]

From a recent JF post on the same topic...

 

Quote

2100 points at Game for £16.49

 

John

[ShrewsburyFC 215]

Im going to give it a go when it comes out!

The North American P-51 Mustang flyable from the outside will be available via Games for Windows—LIVE for 640 Microsoft Points.

Above is a bit pointless, that is similar to buying a game which is half finished, why dont they finish the cockpit then sell it!!!

DLC planes seem a bit pricey...

[Tim_A 997]

Very rough back of a f.a.g. packet...

Hawaii is about 6400 square miles. Knock off 4000 for the Big Island (cos it's free), gives 2435 square miles.

Divide into 1600, works out at 1.52 square miles per point, or 0.657 points per square mile.

Now let's scale that up. The UK is roughly 94,000 square miles. So that's 61,758 points, or £524.95

The US is 3,794,083 square miles. That's 2,492,712 points, or £21,188.00

That's expensive real estate!

[M31 0]

Well, I'm still not sure about Flight, but I do sometimes still lurk on the Avsim forum for it and reading between the lines I thought I detected there might be a bit more to Flight from the enthusiastic folk there the past week or so than I thought there was to it ... But I'll certainly download the free content for a look, just cant see it taking off for me as a replacement for FSX and I don't think its intended to be.

The beauty of past MS Flight Simulators was it had the globe modeled and even though most airports were basic they were there, how long is it going to take to do this with Flight (not to mention how much will it cost?) we'll see, but I'll still have a rich FSX and perhaps soon Prepar3D v2.0 for the foreseeable future.

As I understand it, they are offering a Mustang skin to fly from the outside? that's a nod to arcade folk for sure, what is it about flight sim Mustangs lately? DCS announce a P51-D Mustang add on for their hardcore modern jet/Helo DCS series, no doubt it will be high fidelity, but a Mustang flyable online with an A10 C, how bizarre is that? ... its a funny old (flight sim) world

[TedG 0]

It's a shame that concurrent with Flight development the good folks at MS could not throw the "sim" community a bone and properly tidy up some outstanding FSX issues.

Personally I am pretty much ignoring Flight. I have plenty to enjoy with both FSX and X-Plane. I will say that the payware externally-flown P-51D makes me simultaneously chuckle and throw up in my mouth a little bit...or is that a bit too descriptive

[Tim_A 997]

Oops. It was late! Figures adjusted for "inflation"...

[M31 0]

It's a shame that concurrent with Flight development the good folks at MS could not throw the "sim" community a bone and properly tidy up some outstanding FSX issues.

Agreed, but right or wrong, it looks like that is what LM Prapar3D is doing, looking back I'm guessing we were lucky to get acceleration and even FSX SP2, the Flight team (ex ACES guys or not?) dont like admitting to mistakes, this is in direct contrast to Microsofts open and Honest philosophy for the bigger picture ... Windows 8 is out soon for a very public beta test, most of us tried Win 7 this way and its no doubt in my mind Win 7 has went on to be Microsofts best selling OS (even over the longevity of XP) through open and honest public testing and mostly honest marketing.. heck I've got three legal Win 7 HP 64 licences here now.

[M31 0]

I feel your pain mate, but i do consider the MS OS team as the left hand and the current game flight team as the right hand, in this scenario the left hand knows what its doing and the right hand is floundering around again ... its a communication problem really, Microsoft suits have convinced better attired suits that this garbage called Flight will be a success, they gave a free copy to nay sayers on Avsim under the pretence of beta testing, how could it not be a success:)

As regards Win 7, most of us got to test drive this OS for free and if were quick get a license fairly chealy in the opening phase ...I'm not totally against MS and I'll call them out anywhere if needed.

[brett 2,314]

Sorry to be blunt but I would leave Flight to a game console and stick with FSX on my PC. Points for money is just stupid. Wish I could be as eloquent as yous guys.

[aeromax 10]

Hi everyone,

if i understand that correctly, is the Generation >Flight< as such - impayable, if you like a higher standart sq.ft.mesh/scenery, and other additional Software/AddOn's. Is that the nitty-gritty ???

Unbelieveable. Cheers

[ddavid 149]

An advantage of an actual release, as opposed to a beta test under non disclosure, will be that we'll be able to post screen shots and comments. Thus far, all I've seen are 'promotional' type shots, which don't really do the actual game justice (and I'm talking negative, here).

Also, you'll hear comments that reflect on some of FLIGHT's more questionable player 'targets' - like how high can you fly in an un-pressurised open cockpit without bottled oxygen, and how many hoops can you fly through before the timer runs out. Do I sound jaded? I do apologise!

Cheers - Dai.

[M31 0]

Oh well, the release date is not far off now ... I'll download it for a look have a little fun, but I expect that's as much as I'll do and as much as the majority of MS's target audience will do too before forgetting about it.

I seriously think they have got their arithmetic and public research wrong on this project. Microsoft have rarely apart from MS Flight sim series and an RPG of name that alludes me just now .. made a game that was a success, the RPG they made was a big success as was the FS series, but they chose to dumb down the RPG and apparently its now floundering, what can we expect with Flight with the same formula and thinking ... Its going to be a failure IMHO and that is a worry, either the suits will say, OK we were wrong, lets go back to a realistic FS platform that Bill Gates encouraged and liked or they will just wipe their hands all together ... I suspect it will be the latter option.

One things for sure, we will not see MS turn around quickly and give us a whole globe with AI and ATC (buggy or not) like they did before, if that is to happen again from them, it wont be for at least a decade ... or at least a big shake up in the internal MS gaming division.

It will be interesting to see though, if it fails ... Aerosoft should really start up their new sim ... I'm inclined to think they were bluffing before hoping to convince MS to keep an open platform for them to support and survive with, Matthias Kok from Aerosoft is a very wise and shrewd businessman With a passion for flight sim like Bill Gates had ... but if it turns out MS called Aerosofts bluff, Aerosoft should really go ahead and make their promised sim ... I do believe they made a lot of real research into doing it, it was not all bluff and double bluff.

But MS Flight, add ons or not, I think it will be at least a year for the fallout to be digested and understood after its released and then years again for any new king to take the crown (including Prepar3D 2.0 to establish itself with very serious simmers) What a lot of wasted years and I'm not getting any younger

Thank goodness FSX is still growing in richness.

[rabbitc 0]

Is it definitely confirmed that this 'game' has no path to an accurate flight model?

I seem to read conflicting information.

Even as it is, if Flight's modelling is spot on (with all 'assists' turned off obviously) then I will invest in it even if that means buying the world piece-by-piece.

[ddavid 149]

Now, I don't wish to be provocative, but why should MS FLIGHT have a physics engine better than FSX - or XP-X - if all you're going to do is fly through hoops and search for hidden (treasure) items or 'Easter Eggs'?

And, before you bite my head off, I have tried the MS FLIGHT beta - spending a good 20 plus hours or so in January with the 2 basic aircraft. I found them relatively straightforward to control with assists 'off' - not much of a challenge. From reading the support forum posts, I concluded that a good proportion of participants 'flew' using either a keyboard or an XBox controller. I think that alone reflects the target market audience. I did ask how they were intending to use this sort of controller for rotor-craft, but had no reply (Wonder why?!? - Ed).

Lastly, I was initially very impressed with the cloud effect engine - it really does look very good - but, there didn't seem to be much of a relationship between the displayed weather and the corresponding airframe effects.

MS FLIGHT is free to download - go for it and draw your own conclusions...

Cheers - Dai.

[M31 0]

Now, I don't wish to be provocative, but why should MS FLIGHT have a physics engine better than FSX - or XP-X - if all you're going to do is fly through hoops and search for hidden (treasure) items or 'Easter Eggs'?

And, before you bite my head off, I have tried the MS FLIGHT beta - spending a good 20 plus hours or so in January with the 2 basic aircraft. I found them relatively straightforward to control with assists 'off' - not much of a challenge. From reading the support forum posts, I concluded that a good proportion of participants 'flew' using either a keyboard or an XBox controller. I think that alone reflects the target market audience. I did ask how they were intending to use this sort of controller for rotor-craft, but had no reply (Wonder why?!? - Ed).

Lastly, I was initially very impressed with the cloud effect engine - it really does look very good - but, there didn't seem to be much of a relationship between the displayed weather and the corresponding airframe effects.

MS FLIGHT is free to download - go for it and draw your own conclusions...

Cheers - Dai.

Thanks Dai for the insights.

Its just a couple of days away now for free download, but I'm more excited about my latest FSX add-ons arriving in the post tomorrow from Flightstore that cost a fair bit

[rabbitc 0]

That's fair enough, Dai but it doesn't really answer my question.

The controller used is not really a determining factor. The 360 controller is an analog controller not unlike that of an RC airplane so while it's certainly not 'preferred' for us older guys, it's completely viable as a flight controller nonetheless - and most of those using the keyboard/controller would have used assists..

Maybe the problem is that the model presented doesn't have an overly complex dynamics package. Some press explicitly says that this is 'the most accurate flight model yet' and that's a pretty bold statement to make if it's an outright lie.

Perhaps the best is yet to come? e.g. the more accurate stuff will be reserved for those who want to pay the money to get the experience.

i can't fault Microsoft for wanting to dramatically expand the user base. Maybe their approach is to present a 'friendly' introduction to flight that has avenues to more hardcore experiences through choice and price?

[M31 0]

I guess we'll know tomorrow, either way I can see a lot of fireworks erupting on certain sites and I've already ordered my popcorn in anticipation

Does anyone know what time it is released tomorrow and the download size? I'm in no particular hurry for it any-more but I will check it out and maybe even buy the extra Hawaiian island content if I think it warrants it.

PC Pilot have apparently done a preview of sorts that will be on the news stands now but I don't have the issue yet, will be interesting to see what they think of it in the next issue.

Talking of Hawaii, just finished watching the Blu Ray extended Japanese cut of Tora Tora Tora, this film has never looked or sounded so good, simply awesome.

If MS did only one thing right with Flight it was make their only scenery (so far) Hawaii, it really is a paradise and I would love to visit there someday.

[rabbitc 0]

The PC Pilot preview concluded that Flight was not for hardcore fans. But I'm still unsure as to whether that criticism is levelled because of the 'game' design or because the actual flight modelling is simply not up to par.