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Microsoft Flight Simulator launches in August

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Microsoft Flight Simulator has been cleared for takeoff. The giant simulated world of planes will launch on August 18th. Microsoft have released a new trailer and some information about what's included in the three differently-priced versions of the game.

The new trailer's got plenty to gawk at, biggo planes flying over cities I don't quite recognise. One's covered in snow though and I do like a good snow landscape. You'll see plenty of the stuff depending on where you choose to fly, it sounds. As they've shown off previously, Flight Sim will have dynamic weather based on real local temperature and wind speed and such if you choose to play with live weather mode on.

Microsoft's announcement has a refresher course on the other many simulated bits you'll find while flying and taxiing around the world. There's a day and night system, air traffic based on real-world flights, and super detailed plane physics.

Before launch next month, Flight Sim's closed beta begins on July 30th, which will be using the same Flight Sim Insider Program as the closed alpha. If you don't get in, ah well launch is just around the corner then.

Serious pilots will probably want to take a gander at the things included in the three different editions of the game. There was a whole ruckus about Asobo Studio manually editing 37,000 airports for the game and specially designing around 80 of them. Even fewer were called "iconic airports." Microsoft say that the standard edition of the game includes "30 hand-crafted airports," while the Premium Deluxe Edition has 40. The pricier versions have extra planes too.

You can find Microsoft Flight Simulator Standard Edition over on the Microsoft Store for £60/€70/$60 on August 18th. It will also be available through the Xbox Game Pass for PC.

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