Microsoft gets serious about simulation

by mark.avey on November 14, 2007

Microsoft today announced ESP, a “Visual Simulation Platform” which “enables the innovative use of visual simulation for immersive learning and decision-making, supports PC-based commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and software, and enables simulations to be built faster and more cost-effectively. Simulations built on the Microsoft ESP platform will help government, commercial and academic organizations apply immersive games-based technology and interactive learning experiences to improve work-force readiness and increase operational excellence.”

I guess the day had to come and who can blame them. They’ve now got a tremendous amount of experience in the field and it only makes sense to make this available to the big players now the hardware is in a position to allow it.

The article goes on to state:

Simulations built on the Microsoft ESP platform can take advantage of an extensive set of capabilities to create dynamic, immersive environments, including the following:

Configurable weather model. Includes user-adjustable weather conditions, limitless variations using four cloud types, wind-speed and directional controls, visibility effects and precipitation modeling, or use of near-real-time weather from an external data source feed

Extensive scene generation and scenery support. Has support for up to five seasons including hard winter, continuous time of day, night textures and scenery support including automatic fill-in

After-Action Review. Allows for effective performance playback and analysis.

Support of standardized data sources. Supports Digital Elevation Model data, vector data, WGS-84 datum, METAR weather data, dynamic objects, Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound and others

Multiplayer functionality and Internet support including Voice over IP. Allows up to 30 people to interact around the world using a peer-to-peer broadband connection

I can’t wait to see some of the end results. I reckon it’s also great news for we simmers, as the technology used to develop these new platforms will no doubt eventually find its way back to our own home-grown sims.

You can read the rest of the article over on Money.CNN.
Tags: microsoft esp

Thanks for visiting FlightSimX. Did you know you can subscribe to our RSS feed, which will deliver the latest flight simulator news direct to your newsreader, or sign up to our daily email summary?