Microsoft Accepting Beta Applications for Flight Sim Reboot
Now simply called Microsoft Flight, the company's rebooted simulator franchise is now accepting applications for a closed beta launching launching next month.
Microsoft's Flight Simulator has seemingly been around forever, and for many, resides in the PC gaming Hall of Fame along with DOOM, Quake, X-Wing Vs. TIE Fighter, Descent, Diablo, EverQuest and numerous other classics. The first version hit store shelves way back in 1982 while Flight Simulator X brought the series to a close in 2006. However Microsoft refused to let the concept die and announced a reboot of sorts in August 2010 with the upcoming launch of Microsoft Flight.
"With Microsoft Flight we're approaching the virtual flight genre from the ground up, with the focus on the universal appeal of the experience of Flight," the company said. "We believe the simplicity of Microsoft Flight perfectly captures that vision while welcoming the millions of existing Flight Simulator fans. The new Microsoft Flight retains the full fidelity simulation longtime fans have come to expect while offering all players a whole new look and feel, a wide range of new game play and challenges, persistent experiences and social connectivity."
According to Microsoft, the company is now accepting applications for the Flight beta program taking to the skies in January 2012. To enter, interested gamers can head here via Microsoft Connect, but there's a catch: a nondisclosure agreement means you can't take photos, videos or audios of the software, nor can you post such items anywhere online. Information obtained about the game cannot be disclosed, nor can the client be hacked or copied for distribution amongst forum friends and strangers... typical NDA stuff that many ignore anyway.
"We will be sorting through your applications over the coming month and will get back to qualifying participants with additional details throughout our beta phases in January," the company said. "As we taxi for takeoff, we will continue to provide intriguing updates about the future of Microsoft Flight so please keep checking in on our website or on our Facebook Fan Page."
Although there's no set release date as of this writing, Microsoft released a set of tentative system requirement last month:
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: Windows XP SP3
RAM: 2.0 GB
Recommended (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: 6 GB
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Should be interesting to see Microsoft against Cascade Game Foundry in the Sim department.
Tried details several times and just kept kicking out with errors.
Not gonna lie those are some pretty high recommended requirements. Exciting.
Wow, those are some pretty hefty recommended system specs!
Those are some pretty high requirements.
even if I may be in a constant struggle to keep futureproofing for fun like many here.. lol
I now feel happy saying that my system not only eats up those recommended specs but sails past them with flying colours.
Mwahahaw...
Thank goodness for futureproofing.
"Program is not open for self nomination."
Well then.. HOW THE HELL do they expect people to register for the BETA?
I got the same error.
I want me some flight sim... =|
Wait.
So that means that even if you have a copy you can't tell people how cool it is?
That seems kind of counter-intuitive, don't you think?
Looks good.
I cannot nominate my self... butthole....
The pictures on the facebook page seem pretty intense however. Looks like some heavy duty work went into atmospheric simulation......
I wonder how long it will take PMDG and the likes to develop planes for this. FS2004 and FSX had such unrealistic aircraft =(
This new version of Flight Simulator, now called "Flight" is likely only going to cover one location, Hawaii. If you look at all of the pics on the Facebook site and the game site, you will notice it only shows Hawaii and if they are going to beta next month and have not shown any screens of any other locations, then it will probably not cover any other part of the world. This will come as a shock to many long time Flight "Simulator" fans.
I want realistic crashes too.. Not some of that crap where the plane hits the ground and stops dead on first contact with anything with a "CRASH" in red writing.
I mean it's 2011 right now, computers can handle the physics needed to simulate it.
So why not?
This new version of Flight Simulator, now called "Flight" is likely only going to cover one location, Hawaii.
Maybe the beta will only feature Hawaii, but I'm sure the finished product will encompass at least what FSX does.
Wow only?
Considering Flight Simulator X was 15GB.
EDIT: My bad, the beta is 10GB. Well I guess that suggests it is just Hawaii for the beta.
It unlikely that the full game won't have the entire world.
Any confirmation apart from the fact that they haven't released any screenshots?
This might be just the beta area they are showing. For example, the FSX demo only had one island and a small area around it.
Wow only?
Considering Flight Simulator X was 15GB.
EDIT: My bad, the beta is 10GB. Well I guess that suggests it is just Hawaii for the beta.
It unlikely that the full game won't have the entire world.
Unfortunately, the 10GB requirement is for the entire game and not the beta.
Regarding confirmation other than screenshots, the game site has been posting images for over a year and the images have only been of Hawaii. They are going into beta next month and if they were going to include any other part of the world, they would have shown images. This is what they have done in prior releases (FS2002, 2004, and FSX) I think a similar game, Take On Helecopters has a higher hard drive requirement.
I can't wait for this, I absolutely love FSX. My GTX580 should have no trouble with this title!
I can't wait for this, I absolutely love FSX. My GTX580 should have no trouble with this title!
That's what people said about their 8800GTX's, and look what happened.. lol
These are the good configuration from Microsoft. I am eager and cannot wait for the release.
Oh man, I felt like entering an application for kicks until I saw the recommended configuration.
I can't wait for this, I absolutely love FSX. My GTX580 should have no trouble with this title!
This game looks far more CPU bound to me...hexa-core is recommended? 6GB RAM? Hardly surprising, really, it supposed to simulate stuff properly...wouldn't GPGPU be a better idea though?
Use IE to apply. It worked for me.
Entered a few days ago. Hope I get selected. Im a big flight sim fan.
Strange Microsoft doesn't ask what kind of PC you have or have previous FS experience.
Space Shuttle included in the place package?
I want realistic crashes too.. Not some of that crap where the plane hits the ground and stops dead on first contact with anything with a "CRASH" in red writing.I mean it's 2011 right now, computers can handle the physics needed to simulate it.So why not?
The reason they did that is to discourage players from deliberately running into things. It's a flight simulator, not a crash simulator. I think I read them saying it like that sometime ago. But I definitely agree with you, I want fiery crashes XD
Since my father-in-law is an avid "flyer" with the previous iterations of MS FS, I have signed up for this in preparation for the million "how to" questions I will get when this gets released. Looking forward to seeing where this evolves.
What makes MSFT think they will be able to compete with Austin Meyer?
What makes MSFT think they will be able to compete with Austin Meyer?
I'm neither an MSFS nor an X-Plane fanboy. I've tried both, and somehow I found X-Plane to be a lot less user-friendly. While FSX has a simple, easy-to-understand menu interface, X-Plane's menus are just @.@. Or is it just me? They need tutorial flight missions too, like FSX's.
"Program is not open for self nomination."Well then.. HOW THE HELL do they expect people to register for the BETA?
That is an error message I've seen before on MS surveys. You may have noticed the text below it had instructions to submit a help ticket. Without doing so there no way to register. They need to know there is a problem.
Not gonna lie those are some pretty high recommended requirements. Exciting.
I'm pretty sure that those are just so that they can test with great HW. I doubt it'll be the final recommended hardware list though.