One of the longest-running simulator programs returns this year as Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 blurs the line between flight simulation and watching real flight footage.
Test players and software reviewers are raving about the new flight simulator from Microsoft. With early samples showing stunning photorealism, the simulator allows you to fly anywhere in the world. An in-simulator 3D globe allows the user to choose a destination. Set your next flight plan and start flying!
A snapshot from Microsoft's upcoming flight simulator, its first in 13 years, taken from flightdeck2sim's pre-alpha gameplay footage.
From Bing Maps to Microsoft Azure
Microsoft makes use of Asobo's proprietary game engine. It allows the simulator to have access to Bing Maps satellite data--more than two petabytes (2PB) of Microsoft's web mapping data available on demand.
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From using Bing Maps' imagery and mapping database, the game can use the required topographical map of the location. It includes the street layouts and even the buildings captured from the most recent update of their map data.
With Bing Maps, the flight simulator can roughly generate the layout that will appear in your flight path. The next step is rendering them, in high resolution.
To create the photorealistic environment you can see from the flight simulator cockpit or an external 3rd person aerial view, the sim uses Microsoft Azure. Their cloud computing service is specially designed for building, testing, and deploying applications.
In this case, Azure makes use of the acquired Bing Maps data to generate 3D renderings of buildings and terrain. The process of Azure generating models from map data and photogrammetry is called procedural generation.
Flight in the Real World
With Microsoft Flight Simulator making an August 2020 comeback, it offers a great visual alternative to traveling, which has mostly been suspended following the global coronavirus pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have already released an advisory, updated June 28, including discouraging all non-essential travel plans.
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An article published last April 20 has noted that the second week of April 2020 was already down by 58 percent, compared to the same time next year. A timeline of scheduled flights from the OAG has demonstrated that from March 10's more than 22,000 scheduled flights, it was down to a little over 16,600 almost a month later, April 2.
The Return of a Beloved Classic
The Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise is turning 38 years old this year, starting with Flight Simulator 1.0 back in 1982.
Back in September 2019, Microsoft unveiled their pre-alpha footage at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as the E3 event. It marked the return of the classic sim thirteen years after 2006's Flight Simulator X. The game studio behind the last three installments of the Microsoft Flight, Aces Game Studio, was forced to shut down in January 2009 in a major blow to Microsoft that forced a layoff.
The upcoming flight simulator program from Microsoft is set to release on August 18 for the Microsoft Windows. Developed by Asobo Studio, the program is exclusive for the Xbox One and Windows. Microsoft formally opened pre-orders for the game last July 13.
