The new Microsoft Flight Simulator
Microsft
proundly shows the newest update to a long run franchise
by Daemon Hatfield
June 13, 2007 - Just a few months after the Flight Simulator X release, Microsoft is already working on the next title of the series, entitled "Microsoft Flight Simulator XI"
"Due to the new graphic elements included with Windows Vista, we noticed that our previous title wasn't taking all advantages from the
plataform as we planned. That's why we are entering in this project so soon, rebuilding the entire engine from scratch, based on the new programming concepts provided by
DiretcX 10" says Bill Robings, project coordinator from Microsoft Game Studios.
Robins also mentioned that an update to DirectX 10 ( DX 10.1 ) will be released at the end of 2007, correcting some minor bugs and including more features like Volumetric Bloom, Pre-processed Parallax Mapping, ShadowLight® Casting and Raytraced Textures.
No release date for FSXI was announced, but the game won't be on stores before Summer 2008. Until there, you can check a few pictures from the new engine ( already using Volumetric Bloom effect ):