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List added by Prelude on 29 January 2009 01:49
Fly the Friendly Skies: History of Flight Sims |
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 3  10 Release: April 2008
-Latest in the X-Plane series of aircraft simulators -adds shader support for better shadows, water ripples, and mountains -comes with six double-layer DVDs, with over 60GB of high-res terrain    What is X-Plane? It is an advanced flight simulator that is used in FAA-certified simulators, ranging from $5,000 Level 1 desktop simulators thru to $60,000 Level 3 cockpit simulators. Beginning with version 6 onwards, it became available for the home PC market, priced at under $50, in direction competition with MS Flight Simulator series. All hardcore flight enthusiast are encouraged to check out their Free Demo. It doesn't get any more real than this. Prelude's rating:
 
23 8.6 Release: October 2006 (FS Version 10.0)
-Tenth and latest release in the FS series -Higher resolution scenery and textures; flight dynamics unchanged -Fewer aircraft than 2004 version; vastly improved multiplayer -New Feature: Red Bull Air Racing series    Prelude's rating:
 
2 8 Release: November 2004
-High Resolution scenery; multiple DVDs with over 60GB of data -3D cockpits now have same quality of detail as 2D ones -one of few sims that simulate the Space Shuttle accurately    
17 8.8 Release: July 2003 (FS 2004, Version 9.0)
-First in FS series to see Dynamic Weather and three-dimensional clouds, with localized precipitation -Shipped with many historical aircrafts like the Wright Flyer and DC-3 -Feature allowed real-world weather data to be duplicated in the game, via internet synchronization    Prelude's rating:
0 0 Release: July 2003
-X-Plane differentiates from MS Flight Simulator series by using blade element theory to calculate all physics of flight in real-time off from shape of ships and airplane, rather than rely only on chart of plane data    
6 8.4 Release: October 2001 (FS 2002, Version 8.0)
-Introduced Air Traffic Control to airports -Introduced interactive AI planes (finally, traffic in the skies!) -Release was postponed to remove the WTC Towers from the game -Graphics were improved, and frame rates optimized over 2000 version    Prelude's rating:
 
3 0 Release: June 2001 (X-Plane Version 6)
-First major commercial version of X-Plane was version 6 -Increased resolution to minimum 1024x768 -Major terrain upgrade, auto-generated buildings    
1 6 Release: June 2001
-Second and final in the Fly! series -this version included more aircraft, better high altitude scenery, and higher resolution of terrain    
1 8 Release: December 1999
-Developed by Terminal Reality -Five main scenery areas to fly through    
0 0 Release: November 1999
-third and final of the Pro Pilot series from Dynamix -with disaster that was Pro Pilot, and Pro Pilot 99 being reduced to value bins, Pro Pilot 2000 came with too little too late, coming after FS 2000 
8 8.2 Release: October 1999 (FS 2000, Version 7.0)
-Introduced the Concorde and Boeing 777 to the series -First flight sim to include virtually every airport and navigation beacon around the entire world, and first ever GPS system -Introduced 3D elevation to scenery maps -Criticized for slow frame rates on even fast computers at the time    Prelude's rating:
 
2 6.5 Release: September 1999
-new dynamic weather system, and 10 aircraft to choose from -Flight area is limited to around Seattle, but if player owned FU II, San Fransisco imagery also available, along with flights between the two areas    
2 8 October 1998
-unofficial sequel to SubLOGIC's Flight Light -drastic improvement over the first Pro Pilot release, but still not enough to compete feature-by-feature with Microsoft    
4 6.5 Release: December 1997
-departs from aerobatics emphasis from first Flight Unlimited game; this title is a general civilian aircraft simulator -flying was only limited to San Fransisco area, but with very detailed photo-realistic textures taken from real imagery    
0 0 November 1997
-rushed to market to compete with FS 98 -as a result, game felt rushed; very buggy and unpolished -Developed by Dynamix, makers of the 'Aces' war plane series, together with some of SubLOGIC team, after Sierra's buyout    
5 6.5 Release: September 1997 (FS 98, Version 6.1)
-New Aircraft: Bell 206BIII Helicopter -included more scenery, such as 45 detailed cities & 3,000 airports -first version to include DirectX 3D support    Prelude's rating:
 
2 6.5 Release: October 1996 (FS 95, Version 6.0)
-First release for Windows 95, but based heavily on FS 5.1 for DOS -vastly improved frame rates, better haze -new aircraft: Extra 300 Aerobatic plane    Prelude's rating:
2 8 Release: 1995
-primarily an aerobatics flight simulator -Developed by Looking Glass Technologies -First flight simulator to feature fluid dynamics rather than direct control of airplane movements; this allowed realistic aerobatic maneuvers -for its time, best textured ground in any simulator    Prelude's rating:
0 0 Release: 1994
-last simulator developed by SubLOGIC; they got bought out by Sierra in 1995 and title re-issued simply as 'Flight' -tried to go back to basics of simple flight simulator, but graphics were well below par of competition   
1 6 Release: 1993
-First FS release to introduce SVGA graphics and Sound Card support -added textures in certain flying areas -added Paris and Munich areas    Prelude's rating:
0 0 Release: 1991
-Developed in cooperation with Lufthansa and Deutsche Airbus    
1 0 Release: 1990
-SubLOGIC's first simulator after its split from Microsoft -focused more on mission-based flights of airlines, complete with career mode and point system   
1 7 Release: 1989
-Random Weather patterns introduced -Supported MS Aircraft and Scenery Designer -Five cities included, as well as new sailplane    Prelude's rating:
0 0 Release: 1988
-three different airplanes, and over 100 different airports -EGA graphics were a huge improvement over older CGA and monochrome -First MS Flight Sim developed after its split from SubLOGIC    
0 0 Release: 1984
-Microsoft released SubLOGIC's 2nd flight simulator for the IBM market -same 20 airports as original, but could fly across all of US -added Joystick and Mouse support -1985 revision (Version 2.12) added EGA 16-color support    
0 0 Release: 1984
-for its time, very detailed controls and panel -designed by Sid Meier, who went on to Civilization fame    
1 7 Release: 1983
-SubLogic, under pressure from its Apple fans, released the 2nd generation of its flight simulator for the Apple II system. Commodore 64, Atari ST, Amiga & TSR ports would follow, with the Atari and Amiga ones not until 1987, but with graphics and features comparable to MS FS 3.0    Prelude's rating:
0 0 Release: 1982
-Developed by SubLogic for Microsoft, to push IBM PC sales -Even back in 1982, this simulator met FAA regulations -more than 20 airports included -early computers were tested with this software; if they could run MS FS 1.0, they were 100% IBM Compatible    
0 0 Release: 1980
-First ever flight simulator, developed by SubLOGIC for Apple II system -despite its black and white wireframe graphics, it was a top seller -only one plane and small area to fly in    Comments
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Description
 This list is a showcase, from most recent to original, of the wonderful world of flight simulators. I've only included civilian-centric simulations (i.e. no battle or warfare flight sims). Enjoy! Timeline of SubLOGIC, makers of the first Flight Simulator 1975: Bruce Artwick, an engineering student at Univerisity of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, developed FS-0 for his thesis, a 3D demo of a flight simulator running on Apple II hardware Other Simulator Lists:
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