Microsoft

Redmond, Washington-based ACES Studio, the Microsoft-owned internal group behind the venerable Microsoft Flight Simulator series, has been heavily affected by Microsoft's ongoing job cuts.  Development sources have told Gamasutra that a large portion of the dev house's staff has been let go - with multiple reports indicating that the entire Flight Simulator team has been axed.

After more than 25 years of flying high near the top of Microsoft’s PC game portfolio, the venerable Flight Simulator franchise has quietly expired.  Perhaps making way for younger, flashier — and far better-selling — productions such as the gargantuan “Halo” series on the Xbox, Microsoft is shutting down ACES studio as part of its biggest-ever wave of layoffs, effectively killing off Flight Simulator for now and perhaps for good.

US, January 23, 2009 - Microsoft has confirmed the closure of Aces Game Studio, the internal development studio responsible for Microsoft Flight Simulator. Flight Simulator is one of the company's oldest product lines, stretching back more than 20 years. The closure came amidst the company's first major layoffs in its history, announced on Thursday. Approximately 5,000 Microsoft employees will be laid off; around 1,400 were cut immediately, with the remainder to but cut over the next 18 months.

Well it's been said, as written on Phil Taylor's blog that we should expect a Microsoft Flight Simulator 11 at the end of 2010, perhaps in good time for 2011 and possibly being called FS11 or Microsoft Flight Simulator 11.  The official name for the next version of Flight Sim has still to be confirmed.  We've collected some comments and views about the next flight simulator and posted them with this article.

Ottawa, Ontario: November 27, 2007: Acron Capability Engineering today announced its first two products for the new simulation platform Microsoft ESP: Acron 3D Modeller and Acron ESP(TM) HLA Interface.

Microsoft have today announced their support in 23yr old Barrington Irving's round-the-world flight.  Microsoft's community website, FSinsider.com are providing real-time tracking of the flight from data from the aircraft.  Click on Read More for the full story.

Microsoft has announced that it will delay introduction of Windows Vista for consumers until January 2007. What does this mean for flightsimmers? Well, since the next version, FSX, is meant to take advantage of the 64-bit dual processor features of Vista it means a delay until FSX can be fully used, even though a version of it is still on track for release in late 2006. For more details, and our analysis of what this means for the flightsim hobby, click on Read More.

... What would you like to see in FS2006?  Forum captain RadarMan has had a great idea regarding what you would like to see in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2006. The idea of this forum topic is to gather what you guys (the public) want to see in the next flight sim and once we have compiled a list and following, submit the information off to the Microsoft Flight Simulator team. Posts are already booming down at the forums, come down and tell us what you would like in FS2006!

Microsoft has now released another in the series of Software Development Kits (SDK) for Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight. The new Terrain SDK explains how to add new line and polygonal data such as roads, rivers and coastlines. It also explains how to add custom terrain and covers importing landclass and DEM data. 

Microsoft has today announced the release of the first Software Development Kits (SDK) for Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight. The first five SDKs available include ABL, ATC Voicepak, Aircraft Container, FSEdit and Multiplayer/Flight Instructor.

Weather Maker relies on FSUIPC to interface with Flight Simulator, the pending change in FSUIPC becoming payware may make it impossible for Weather Maker to continue as freeware. For more information, click on Read More.

Microsoft announces opening of their FS2004 Website: "Microsoft Game Studios today announced that the official Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight site is now li. Visitors to the newly launched site will be able to celebrate the past and explore the present as Microsoft unleashes its ninth version of the venerable Flight Simulator franchise. The rich history of powered aviation as well as the history of the Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise is presented on the site, including an article on the history of flight by Lane Wallace, columnist and west coast editor of Flying magazine. The site also features historical accounts, in-flight screenshots and cockpit images of the 24 aircraft. Visitors will also be able to download videos and keep tabs on events related to the 100th anniversary of the first flight. Enthusiasts around the world will experience the history of aviation with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight. As the world celebrates the 100th anniversary of powered flight in 2003, A Century of Flight allows virtual pilots to feel what it's like to take the controls of nine historic aircraft -- the record-breakers, the workhorses and the innovators -- such as Charles Lindbergh's Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis, the Douglas DC-3 and the world's first successful powered aircraft, the 1903 Wright Flyer.