A brand-new development update on the official Microsoft Flight Simulator blog has been shared, which details new information regarding World Update 3: United Kingdom, a new partnership video and also an update to the bug tracker and wish list.
Leading with the bad news first; World Update 3 has been delayed once again. Whilst progress continues to be made, there is still some integration work to be done before the free update can be released for owners of Microsoft Flight Simulator. As mentioned last week, the delay is a result of how the new photogrammetry data is being added to the simulator. That said, Microsoft said “progress has been very good” and that the new anticipated date for the release of the update is between February 9th and February 11th.
It was also confirmed that the new World Update will include five brand-new photogrammetry cities. These are Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Oxford and London. In addition, nearly 80 points of interest will be included with favourites such as the London Eye, Buckingham Palace and the Eden Project to name just a few. Furthermore, five hand-crafted airports will be added including Barra, Liverpool, Land’s End, Manchester-Barton and Out Skerries, along with visual and other improvements to 85 others across the UK. Digital elevation data right across the UK and a range of activities will also be included for free in the update.
Whilst we wait for the new update to drop, a new partnership video was released. This time, the focus is on Orbx. The video takes us on a trip around their various offices and gives us a peek into the future of the company and how they have worked closely with Microsoft for well over a year.
The blog also features another developer interview. You may remember him from one of the first development videos, but Lionel Fuentes is back providing us an insight into some of the challenges he and his team overcome during the development of Microsoft Flight Simulator. He continues to be incredibly passionate about the simulator, the community and the advances being made by developers.
Finally, the blog post gave us an update on the number of addons in development, released and a brief look at some of the upcoming projects. Those include Just Flight’s PA-28R, Aeroplane Heaven’s DC-3 and the upcoming Aerosoft Twin Otter.
