Microsoft announces Flight Simulator will take flight on August 18

Microsoft has announced that Flight Simulator will be launching on August 18, and in order to make the news even better -- they've released a new 4K trailer for the game. Check it out:

Jord Neumann, the head of Microsoft Flight Simulator, explains: "We have been thrilled and humbled by the support and dedication that has fueled the Flight Sim community for the past 38 years. Since the launch of the very first Microsoft Flight Simulator in 1982, we knew it was finally the right time to develop the next-generation version of Microsoft Flight Simulator".

There will be 3 different versions of Flight Simulator released, these will include:

• Microsoft Flight Simulator Standard Edition: $60 (20 planes, 30 airports)
• Microsoft Flight Simulator Deluxe Edition: $90 (25 planes, 35 airports)
• Microsoft Flight Simulator Premium Edition: $120 (30 planes, 40 airports)

Here's what to expect from Microsoft Flight Simulator:

• Vivid and Detailed Landscapes - Immerse yourself in the vast and beautiful world that is our planet with more than 1.5 billion buildings, 2 trillion trees, mountains, roads, rivers and more.
• A Living World - Earth is vibrant and ever-changing and so is the world of Microsoft Flight Simulator which includes live traffic, real-time weather and animals.
• Highly Detailed Aircraft - Hone your pilot skills in a variety of aircraft from light planes to commercial jets with comprehensive flight models. Every aircraft includes highly detailed and accurate cockpits with realistic instrumentation.
• New Checklist System - From pro to beginner, scale your level from full manual to full assist with interactive and highlighted instrument guidance and checklist.
• Dynamic Weather - The new weather engine enables users to switch on the live weather mode to experience real-time weather including accurate wind speed and direction, temperature, humidity, rain and more.
• New Day & Night Engine - Experience flight at any time of day or year allowing for night VFR, visual flight rules, navigation.
• Aerodynamic Modeling - A state-of-the-art physics engine with over 1,000 control surfaces per plane allows for a truly realistic experience.

More reading on Microsoft Flight Simulator

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• What you need to run it: You will need at least 150GB of storage space to install Flight Simulator, with a 5Mbps internet connection as a bare minimum to take off. The "ideal spec" advised by Microsoft requires a 50Mbps internet connection and a much higher-end CPU and GPU to run it. Check the PC requirements for Flight Simulator here.
• Adaptive Streaming: This is some of the cloud-based magic Microsoft is using on Flight Simulator, which the company is doing special with the game. You can read more about that here.
• Flight Simulator uses Bing Maps: Microsoft is tapping its in-house Bing Maps to provide Flight Simulator with real-world locations that don't just look out-of-this-world, but they are our world. More on that here.
• Real-time weather, including lightning cracking inside of clouds: Yeah, I'm not kidding around -- Microsoft is injecting a gigantic 600km draw distance into Flight Simulator, so under the right weather conditions -- and granted you have the PC hardware to handle it, you're going to see storms hundreds of miles away. Not just that, but there will be lightning cracking inside of the clouds... yeah, I know.

More, more reading on Flight Simulator

Flight Simulator requires 150GB, physical version comes with 10 discs

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Feature Discovery Series on Microsoft Flight Simulator

Microsoft has an awesome 'Feature Discovery Series' that goes into detail about Flight Simulator, from aerodynamics and the soundscape of the game, right through to the cockpits and the multiplayer. Check them out below: