New Game Announced! | Falcon 5.0 | B-17 The Mighty 8th Updates | Gaming News!

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B-17 News: 9:05
B-17 The Mighty 8th Redux: store.steampowered.com/app/20...
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On August 3rd, 2023, David Lagettie, CEO of the newly relaunched Microprose, conducted an interview with PC Pilot, a flight simulator magazine, which discussed his plans to bring a sequel to the famous Falcon 4.0 flight simulator, title Falcon 5.0. In addition to this announcement, David also discussed some updates for the B-17 games Microprose is currently working on, specifically mentioning that B-17 The Mighty 8th will launch into Early Access in the Christmas Season 2023.
#flightsimulator #Microprose #simulator

[@derekdavis2746]

Hi, My name is Derek Davis and I'm the Editor of PC Pilot magazine. I'm also a fan and subscriber of your excellent channel. I just wanted to say thank you for featuring our interview with David Lagettie, the CEO of MicroProse, which appears in our latest issue - very much appreciated. By the way, I have also placed a link to your KZbin channel in the simulation section of our website. Many thanks again. Cheers, Derek

[@MatthewJohnCrittenden]

Falcon BMS is a game I refuse to uninstall even though I play it rarely and know little of the depth even umpteen years later from playing the original. Special Sim, great community, I hope 5 does it justice eventually.

[@LalaPala-ml2or]

If BMS Falcon had graphics of DCS then it would be awesome

[@Malc2169]

@@LalaPala-ml2or Have great graphics ever made a great game?

[@1teamski]

This is just absolutely beautiful! I missed the days of Microprose greatness and it seems like we are quite possibly going to see those days again.

[@gaurd3]

I remember i used love Janes AH64D Longbow Gold. I swear after reading that manual that was like a real manual I could fly one lol

[@judyhopps9380]

Microprose could announce Halflife 3 at this point, it's how little faith I have in their production line.

[@thehistoricalgamer]

They do have a unusual business model it would seem… announcing games 3-4 years out… it can work if you have an established company folks trust, like Bethesda did for elder scrolls 6, but generally that’s not a great approach imho… but hey what do I know, I’m just a youtuber.

[@ticotube2501]

You are partially right, they seem to offer a confusing mix of vaporware and (unpolished) gems. Carrier Command 2 is great fun.

[@ticotube2501]

...and having four B-17 titles in their lineup is even more confusing.

[@juancho420]

They haven’t released any big titles since their rebirth years ago

[@ticotube2501]

@@juancho420 That's because they aren't big. They try to establish the brand again, with no connection at all to the original MicroProse as far as I know. I think, that was a clever move, but you can't ride the hype train forever (well, except Chris Roberts of course).

[@turtle2720]

Thanks for the news. I mostly come here for news and sneak peaks of strategy/simulation games. Please keep on rambling :)

[@johnwicks4936]

Absolutely outstanding news! My favorite sim of all time.

[@gilchecksix]

Falcon 4 doesn't have any equivalent. The campaign engine is AWESOME. Of course, refreshment is needed but BMS has already done a fantastic job on modelization of the aircraft. We expect graphics as good as DCS and it will be perfect.

[@NuclearFalcon146]

I am skeptical about the inclusion of the F-35 due to much of the important data for it being top secret material, however I also see that they may not have the same rivet counting standards for accuracy that DCS has. The fact they want "approachable" means that they might not go to the same level of "rivet counting" for at least some if not all of their aircraft. If they do for any aircraft then probably the Viper itself, but to do so for the F-35 would be illegal and get the devs thrown in jail. That tidbit of the F-35 tells me that they will go more for the feel of fidelity rather than fidelity itself. This would actually simplify systems modelling quite a bit and allow for more "speculative" aircraft and weapons as well. Will be interesting to finally play with an AESA radar. It will probably feel very OP. Hopefully we get J-20s to fight against for balance reasons (and flyable for PVP).

[@SpecialistBR]

You have been playing with an AESA radar for decades. Just play any Novalogic F-22 title - what was a "magic" radar in these 90s games is actually how an AESA would look like

[@TheGalahad78]

I've been recently replaying Microprose's F-19 and F-117. This F-35 thing reminds me of those two games/simulators.

[@sigvar6795]

F-19 came about out of sheer guesswork as to what the F117 was going to look like as I recall! I was running a local Electronics Boutique at the time in Vermont. @@TheGalahad78

[@gotanon9659]

Nope what Top Secret is the nitty gritty detail of its capabilities but all most all of its capabilities is known and public for years now

[@NuclearFalcon146]

@@gotanon9659 Hence the statement "I also see they may not go to the same rivet counting standards for accuracy that DCS has". Wags in an interview pointed out that they require tactical manuals to be released to the public in order to work on a module. Would be good for Falcon 5.0 to NOT go to that extreme, however I do hope the Viper stays at the level of detail it has in BMS, at least for the block 50 series. However if Microprose has a more relaxed "rivet counting" standard than Eagle Dynamics then that gives them A LOT more freedom. Microprose would not need published tactical manuals at that point.

[@GreyZone7]

yeah still waiting for the B-17 remake

[@impromptu24]

I had so much fun playing Falcon 4 Allied Force and if I still had a desktop and my old HOTAS throttle and stick I would still be playing it today. Great memories. I hope 5.0 materializes 🤞🏽

[@EasyTiger700]

The B17 Mighty 8th was always of particular interest to me as i grew up next to the remains of the airbase on which it was based. Nice to see it getting some TLC and a fresh look.

[@kencrowe1965]

Do you live close to Savannah, GA????

[@EasyTiger700]

No, the 381st BG were stationed at base 169, Ridgewell Essex@@kencrowe1965

[@JuergenGDB]

The last time I played... was Falcon 3.0 in 1992. Will check out 5.0

[@paulsaunders6536]

Announcing and delivering are two entirely different things. To-date Microprose have been very slow in the latter department. I’ll buy it, for sure. But my expectations are very low. If it arrives within the next 5 years it will exceed my expectations.

[@gotanon9659]

Microprose could deliver TFA looks amazing

[@dougjb7848]

2:25 It means “we all sat down together and agreed we should develop and publish a new game, and soon we’ll start discussing how that game should look and play, and within the next year we’ll start hiring people to write code and create visuals.”

[@captainkoloth1631]

Yes, this was much more an aspirational "we hope one day we can make this game." Buying rights is easy. Making a top-notch game is very, very hard. Especially from a studio with no flight sim track record (remember, the new Microprose is a completely new company that bought rights to the Microprose name- they haven't developed any flight sims themselves).

[@thehistoricalgamer]

I suspect they’ve had white boarding and maybe even requirement sessions, but either way it’s VERY early.

[@LupusAries]

More like, "let's see what the BMS Team cand do and which of them we van recruit." After all some of the BMS Team like doing freeware, some of them actually don't want to make payware. They have the necessary skills to be snapped up in a heartbeat.

[@captainkoloth1631]

@@LupusAries True, but we have zero indication that BMS is involved in any way.

[@captainkoloth1631]

@@IcyTorment poach unpaid volunteers to a nonexistent flight sim development studio?

[@veerandgames]

Very good news... I hope one of those B17 games has coop ;) Edit : I used to play Their Finest Hour: The Battle Of Britain in the ancient days of DOS :D

[@turtle2720]

I believe the VR version of B-17 (EDIT: "The Mighty Eighth VR) is multiplayer. I played "Aces of the Pacific" and later "Aces over Europe". Also "B-17 Flying Fortress" (I forgot which version). I found "Their Finest Hour" a bit difficult.

[@thehistoricalgamer]

The VR B-17 game will have coop.

[@jedijc5411]

Theirs's also an old relaxed Sim Called Warbirds still around.

[@whammo11224]

Microprose needs to release the games that they have already announced before they start with reveals!

[@doltBmB]

they are a publisher, they have many different studios working for them

[@jonesy66691]

I'm more excited about Combat Air Patrol 2 getting new updates finally.

[@Dave-PL]

Great news! I'm huge fan of Falcon series from Falcon 3.0 released in early 90's. Later, Falcon 4.0 was revolutionary at that times and began completely new approach to mil sims. Now, most popular is DCS. But, personally I don't liked it. The reason is bad optimization, occasionally game crash, and huge game size which demanding more than 100GB of files installation. Crazy... Definitely prefer possibility to chose what I would play instead of install everything. Hope Falcon 5.0 will be well optimized, focused on few planes and players can be able to chose the content they want to play 🤠

[@OpenGL4ever]

As far as i know DCS has no dynamic campaign. That's why it can't win against Falcon 4.0.

[@Dave-PL]

@@OpenGL4ever That's true 👍

[@KK-fi6ms]

I hope they focus on a story-worthy dynamic campaign, the player's role corresponding to career progress, persistent meaningful NPC squadmates and crew - things that are almost universally ignored in the flight sims released recently. (Yes I know about IL2: BoS's career mode.) With decades of progress in computer hardware, programming, AI etc, I had hoped those aspects would have evolved from games like Falcon 4 or Flying Fortress, which were great for their time. Instead, the opposite has happened for some reason. We don't need another DCS. I would rather they stick to a single flyable aircraft with all relevant details and realism. Then put the rest of the development effort on the rest of what constitutes a combat pilot's career.

[@hosedevil]

Finally, the Buxom Banger will fly again! yay

[@MagnumGreenPanther]

Woooooooooooo!

[@dougjb7848]

I had hoped that War on the Sea would be a worthy successor to Task Force 1942, but from watching multiple people play WotS it seems like the AI cannot pursue a cogent strategy. It repeatedly sends small groups of ships into areas where the player obviously has complete control of the air, it moves powerful combat forces in directions and areas that can’t possibly have a worthwhile objective, er.

[@thehistoricalgamer]

War in the Sea is a fun game with flaws imho… but it’s also not published by Microprose, it’s self published.

[@dougjb7848]

@@thehistoricalgamer Wasn’t implying Microprose published WotS. Rather implying there’s clearly an audience for a modern version of TF1942, with a good AI and option to watch the action unfold from first-person perspective.

[@thehistoricalgamer]

Got ya! Yea that makes sense.

[@zaynevanday142]

European Air War is still on Steam 🔥

[@Pakal77]

Loved the squadron management in this game, that gave some life in it.

[@johnkoral888]

What!!! Loved that game! Gotta check it out

[@ShadowGJ]

I don't think there's a need to challenge Falcon BMS and DCS on the realism front. Something akin to Strike Fighters or the DCS FC3 planes would be fantastic (especially with dynamic campaigns in the mix), and fill a slightly different niche without devolving to Ace Combat Star Warsy arcade.

[@simtaylor61]

Falcon 5.0. Huh, Been waiting two decades plus on that. I believe 1) They missed the boat by about 10 competing with DCS and 2) I'll believe it when I see it

[@thehistoricalgamer]

DCS's lack of a living world/dynamic campaign is a major drawback for me. I know some folks have tried to create their own, but in my limited experience DCS just feels like a boring world compared to Falcon 4.0, or Battle of Britain 2, both of which have dynamic campaigns.

[@simtaylor61]

@@thehistoricalgamer I agree that DCS can feel sterile, if you just whip up a mission for some practice..........It takes a little bit to make a mission feel "Live". I agree that this is DCS's Achillies heel. But I also believe ED will fix this drawback LONG before I see Falcon 5.0

[@robertsartino7664]

I don’t believe for one moment that a new Falcon 5.0 can surpass What the many many talented people have done with Falcon 4.0 aka Falcon BMS today. If anything Microprose should be giving them the reigns to build Falcon 5.0 from the ground up.

[@thehistoricalgamer]

There’s nothing preventing the BMS folks from building their own flight sim from the ground up. They could have done that a decade ago. Presumably there’s aspects they don’t want to do and that’s where a dev like Microprose comes in.

[@ShikaiXu]

maybe the graphics engine?

[@anthonyj5298]

Falcon 5.0 and F-16 Throttle from Thrustmaster!

[@justicier10-7]

Aviation Autists, or "Rivet Counters" as you more politically correctly call them are probably one big cause of the decline of flight sims. Back in the "happy times" of flight sims, late '90s - early 2000's, developers were selling a complete product upon its initial release. Now there's such a obsessive focus on every button, switch, dial, lever, and obscure avionics programming being fully functional, that the emphasis is more on creating a "virtual museum" than presenting a virtual war simulation in an unpredictable, dynamic, combat environment. DCS devs have stated they've been working on a dynamic campaign for how long? Its been several years now with little progress shown. It is clear where their priorities lie, and when the dynamic campaign does release, any guesses as to how much money they'll charge for it? In contrast, Falcon 4.0's dynamic campaign, which is still the most impressive to date, was created over the course of a summer, with limited hardware and software tech of the late '90s, by an intern who was experienced in coding strategy games. I still play Falcon 4.0 (Now BMS) to this day because the combat environment is just that good.

[@ChucksSEADnDEAD]

It's really not that simple. What is the purpose of rivet counting? I like the feeling of a DCS module being so close to the real thing that not only it allows me to evaluate the capabilities of the aircraft, it also enhances the power fantasy of sitting in the cockpit. The dynamic campaign in Falcon 4.0 is known for abstracting the units in play, essentially becoming chess pieces controled by dice roll, and only becoming "real" entities once the player bubble gets close to them. Falcon 4.0 is a flight sim built on top of an Advance Wars game (the one for the Game Boy). DCS does not have that low level working beneath it. That intern said in an interview that if he knew how much trouble the dynamic campaign would give him beforehand, he'd have refused to do it.

[@gicobra1159]

I understand why they announce games so early, for a company that hasn't had any new releases in years. It keeps MicroPros, in peoples head. So when it does come out, they'll remember it.

[@pollock56th]

Masters of the air is finally releasing next month on Apple TV! This will ignite interest of anything B17 especially B17VR!

[@thehistoricalgamer]

Oh awesome, I thought it was pushed to 2024!

[@flymax4066]

Is it really going to release next month? That would be freakin awesome! Can't wait for more details on that!

[@majorborngusfluunduch8694]

I'm super looking forward to flying the F-35. It doesnt have to be illegally accurate, I'm down for a speculative F-35 sim. The real thing probably flies like playing a video game anyhow.

[@DarkFire515]

Falcon 5! Given the comlexity of such a sim I wouldn't expect to see this be released before 2025 - 2026. Still, great to know there's another Falcon game on the way.

[@justacomment1657]

In the meantime everyone just plays dcs... Falcon 5 needs to be something really special to pull people away from dcs to F5.0 legacy alone will most likely not cut it.

[@DarkFire515]

@@justacomment1657 Good point, especially if we get the dynamic campaign engine for DCS by that time.

[@webweaver3015]

They'd be fools not to do all they can to pull the BMS devs into the project.

[@sigvar6795]

Falcon 4.0 was made by Spectrum Holobyte wasnt it? Now I have to go in the basement and get the disks...

[@thehistoricalgamer]

Microprose published it but yea. Allied Force was also someone else entirely.

[@jaromirandel543]

I am afraid that Falcon 5 will be the step back. Flyable F-35? How is that possible to make study level simulation of heavily classified aircraft? Something does not get sense. Because of that I think it will be less realistic than Falcon 4.

[@thehistoricalgamer]

To be fair some of the F-16s systems especially the radar and data link stuff was fairly classified when Falcon 4.0 originally came out… even DCS makes some assumptions or guesses on some aircraft’s and their systems, no commercial flight sim is truly 100% accurate. Though I do agree the F-35 is probably going to require so many assumptions such as not to be very authentic.

[@ImpendingJoker]

Well think back to the Jane's series of sims in the 90's. They were all very good and while maybe not all were super in depth like IAF, USAF, and US Navy Fighters, F-15, F-18 and Longbow were very in depth for the time and I was eagerly awaiting Jane's A-10 when EA pulled the plug saying there was no longer a market for flight sims(which bullshit back then and even more so now). So, it would not be too difficult to make a sim-lite game with planes that not all details are know that while not DCS/Falcon levels of detail, they would still be way above Ace Combat/Warthunder and more on par with the early Falcon and Flanker games. And there is a very realistic F-35 available in MSFS that is quite well regarded by the flight sim community. Not everything needs to have a 300-page manual to be a joy to fly. So be careful, you are sounding just like the gatekeepers he refers to in the opening minutes of this video so, slow your roll.

[@xendk]

damm now i want a Secret weapon of the luftwaffe remake

[@Thorvard101]

With the code wheel 😂

[@silentone11111111]

Ill believe in falcon 5 when I see it. I expect a rip off of bms. A low fidelity f35 to make suckers buy it. On the other hand I enjoyed Total Air war back in the day. But I dont know if arcade can mesh with a bms style sim.

[@aleksandrrakowski4953]

I still remember my compute telling me that my video card was too shitty for b-17……I really wanted to be a wwii pilot in my teenage years, and i vowed once I grow up, I d buy a computer that would work for all the best flight sims…….and I never did…..

[@KattoParkour]

Spending years in BMS....every day with my BMS family. Love this sim and community.... Falcon 4 was awesome, but BMS and Falcon 5 are going to rule sim world

[@OpenGL4ever]

If it becomes a casual action game where you only see the plane from behind in the 3rd person perspective and there are no cockpits, then Falcon 5 will be the disappointment of the decade and won't rule anything. At the moment Falcon 4.0 + BMS is till the top of the mountain.

[@KattoParkour]

@@OpenGL4ever im almost sure Its not gonna be this case.

[@OpenGL4ever]

@@KattoParkour I hope you are right. After the 2000s, we saw games like this on a regular basis.

[@KattoParkour]

@@OpenGL4ever i saw the interview with one of the developers and he was talking about "next reality benchmark", so i realy hope in this. Even BMS devs were invited into coop with the Microprose. So, lets wait and we will see 🙂

[@Crunch104]

F-35 means this will not be a study level sim as it is mostly classified unlike a 1990's F-16. I still hope it does well and is fun. I am a proud rivet counter. Hours and hours are fine and rewarding. Flight Simulators are Simulator games. War Thunder is there if you need it.

[@Space-ei8lv]

Yes, but it has been out for almost 20 years now since 2006. First F16 active and delivered in 1979. First microprose Falcon was in 1989. So in comparison 2006 to 2023 it’s about time. I think there is enough public info that we can simulate most of the features of f35 by now without knowing each top secret detail about it.

[@tom_dillon]

Old game came in a big binder.

[@thehistoricalgamer]

I had the binder until 5-6 years ago!

[@michaelwestmoreland2530]

No. Nnnoooooooo. No WAY. Could it be? Could they build it mod ready? WILL IT HAVE AN ADVANCED VERSION OF THE LEADING EDGE DYNAMIC CAMPAIGNS??? And.....WHEN GUNSHIP /3000/ OH GOD PLEASE MY CHILD HOOD

[@bujler]

Is Falcon 4.0 really 25 years old?

[@Altrote100]

12/12/98

[@rapacewill]

Never mind, but DCS already figured it all ... Thx ! Bye ;-)

[@69columbus]

Vapourware

[@zaynevanday142]

1st like 👍 Australia 🇦🇺

[@tihsitef8183]

Alot of what i see in the dcs community is the same in the egl/lolita community. Tons of people being snobby jerks for no reason, to keep casual people out of their hobby to the point of being toxic. Some people even run their discords pretending to be military 😂 Its just a game

[@JohnSmith-ze7sv]

"Accessability" means dumbing down. Not an approachable game - but a decent simulator. Mass appeal sells....But didn't the sims? Don't know - I'd more value the experience where the developers wanted to educate me in something... ie : How they do - the doo doo.

[@arzhangsadeghi]

Why nobody cares about making good f-18c simulator beside DCS ? what's wrong with F-18c ? landing on the carrier could be very fun and challenging too!!!

[@thehistoricalgamer]

Well they did say it would include multiple aircraft… my sense from the article was they envision something like DCS world “eventually”

[@silentaardvark279]

Jane's F/A-18. Requires older directx. There was a physical manual and just like real life tells you what the buttons do. It's left to the player to figure out how to do things like buddy lase etc. clickable 3d cockpit. It's around the kola peninsula. There's instructions on importing the ground map from Jane's F-15 for the middle east. Now there's an interesting one. F-15E has a front and back seat.

[@mro9466]

It's funny how the DCS crowd basically ignores the history of the simulator (Flanker, Lock On, FC2, FC3) and just pretends DCS came out of nowhere and _everybody wants_ a 4th gen MFD cockpit simulator and if you try to think outside of this .... "somethin' somethin' Ace Combat somethin' somethin' go play War Thunder" Like how many FF modules do you want before they start touching core features ? We will all be dead by then.

[@icecold9511]

Given the time frame from Lock On, to when I got into DCS or knew it existed, a lot changes. I got in when it was a full bore simulator. Lock On was low quality to us at the time, and my crowd never went into FC or more. If Falcon 5 takes that long to be a sim game, it will morph into something completely different, as DCS did. I'm not sure Falcon should try the sim route though. DCS has that locked down with a great model of side development for modules and people can buy what they love. That allows a lot of focus by individual teams, only plugging it into DCS.

[@ImpendingJoker]

Then there are people like you who ignore people like me that have been flying flight sims since time immemorial. My first combat flight game was Ace of Aces for the C-64. I had the original Falcon when I was in junior high. I have an OG disk of Falcon 4.0 and I still have my copy of Flanker 2.0, and owned Blackshark when it was standalone from before DCS was a thing. So don't sit there on your high horse and think that everyone in DCS thinks like. Also you have to take into account that a lot of people came into flight simming recently during the pandemic so for them there is no need to really acknowledge Flanker or FC because they were supplanted long ago by computer standards and have little impact on the current state of DCS in general.

[@lars9267]

ED is working on a Flaming Cliffs 3 type (medium fidelity) standalone simulator to cover the market for less advanced simulators. At this point it is just referred to as MAC, modern air combat, on the forums. It is confirmed by ED but yet to be announced.

[@ChucksSEADnDEAD]

Core engine team shouldn't be working on modules, though.

[@zaynevanday142]

I wish someone would mod the war in Ukraine 🇺🇦 that would be a first

[@petermcquaid2489]

I would love a flight sim that is not has hard as DCS

[@TheGalahad78]

If Falcon 5.0 follows on the steps of Falcon 4.0, then It Will be as hard as DCS. As It should be. This is a sim, not a Game.

[@mro9466]

Most of the time, DCS is hard because of game breaking bugs, omniscient AI ...

[@mro9466]

​@@TheGalahad78 Falcon 4.0 is both a simulator and a game. It doesn't need to be one OR the other. It's a war simulation first, then a realistic combat flight sim. A simulator doesn't need to have campaigns, missions, a clever interface etc ... A simulator is just a boring training tool and this is the trap DCS fell in the moment they left the FC3 stuff.

[@TheGalahad78]

@@mro9466So, Falcon 4.0 was a "war simulation [...] and a realistic combat flight sim". We agree: it was a simulation, not a game per se. A simulator is just something that tries to simulate the reality. If modern combat flying is boring for you, then a simulator such as DCS or Falcon 4.0 or (I hope) Falcon 5.0 is not for you. No problem here: not all games/sims are for everybody.

[@TheGalahad78]

@@mro9466 yeah, it could be much better. Hope Falcon 5.0 is so good that it forces ED to improve DCS. There is stuff that is not working in DCS since Flanker 2.5 times!!

[@rickberry4995]

Get a REAL combat game DCS...

[@thehistoricalgamer]

DCS’s lack of a dynamic campaign really makes its world feel dull and unlived in, imho

[@mdr1396]

Microprose has always been one of my favorite developers, but my God, their silence is frustrating as fuck. I sure would like to play the bloody 100th before I die of old age. 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@thessalonician]

Early stages means that we'll see something in 4-5 years from now. So..... hold on..

[@thehistoricalgamer]

Basically what I said lol

[@thessalonician]

@@thehistoricalgamer yup.