Didn't see this one coming

microprose.com


Their first game will be Warbirds 2020 together with IEN.

I'm not going to get too excited just yet. I see that 'Will Bill' Stealey is mentioned. Anyone remember M4 Tank Brigade?

Too few details as of yet but I see mobile versions planned.

Let's hope they can bring back the magic from EAW into the multiplayer now !

Dear Microprose, please hire BMS team and give us a 2020 dx14 version and open it up for more player-planes.

"Warbirds 2020" I will definitely follow its development and see how it turns out. I just hope it's not too "arcadey".

Must be my trifocals, but where's Fleet Defender?

What does Fleet Defender have to do with Microsoft?

Me thinks PM needs glasses.

haha! My bad. That's what happens when I post before I've had my fourth cup of coffee. Thanks for making me aware of my brain fart.

To be fair, we do have TWO threads going on about MICRO-something flight sims today.

We're not going to let PM get off that easy. The Microsoft thread didn't exist until a couple or so hours later.

Hmmn, some legal entity buys up the Microprose trademark, then through a bit of slick web site design implies they were responsible for creating the classics of the past.
Eventually, the visually stunning 'Warbirds 2020' will appear as an always online free-to-play, pay-to-win lootbox ridden personal information gatherer.

I may be wrong of course, but in this MBA world, I doubt it...

I hope the game is not free to play.

Think permadeath, with golden parachutes...

Quoted for da truth!

First screens :O YOWZA

This.

If Wild Bill is involved...it's going to be air-quakeish for sure. Besides...the allure of Microprose titles in the past was it's awesome offline campaigns and immersion. If this is online only I doubt it will resemble anything like the Microprose of old.

Anyone remember that Jane's title that came out a couple years ago? I will remain pessimistic...lol

I’m confused... where is Fleet Defender? I looked and looked but couldn’t find.

I've never been a super-hardcore simmer (although I do appreciate those sims) and yet I'm a cockpit-only flyer. This goes all the way back to Microprose's own Stealth Fighter where you better be keeping your head down in those MFDs and watching the indicator bars and lights. External screens do nothing for me, never have. But I don't see them going back to more modern aircraft anyway, with proper pit and single-player campaign.

I'm still waiting for FD on GOG with the videos and whatever else came extra with the Gold version.

I'd only be interested in a classic flight sim experience with the focus on single player design. I've watched my nephew play World of Warplanes and I even tried it once but it was a pretty craptastic experience. I want a sim of the days of yore made for a PC not requiring an internet connection, activation process with limited licenses per user per computer, that comes with a key card, manual and some personality that I can escape into as a single player with my little screen, joystick and with my imagination.

Terrain shot

Anxious to see what MicroProse will offer.

Life's too short and fragile to get pessimistic about a recreational outlet.

The Days of Silent Service, Gunship, Red Storm Rising, etc were great. I see no reason to not be hopeful.

Exactly

Yea they are doing together with IEN Warbirds 2020 on Unreal engine 4

I'm full of life and optimism these days, but there's absolutely nothing here that makes me think the original Microprose is being resurrected and that any of the classics are coming back in any way whatsoever. Nothing. Them days are long gone and we were fortunate enough to live them.

+1


The ENTIRE game publishing market has changed dramatically. It would simply be naive to think that the 1990's era Microprose would return.

Today "Microprose" is just a name owned by a publisher, not a simulation dev studio like back in the day (that I'm aware of). The owner wants to make money on that name and who can blame them.

BTW, Microprose also published games in the 90's that they didn't develop themselves, including one of my all-time favorites: Subwar 2050 (developed by Particle Systems).

EDIT: Would this not also include Falcon 4.0, or was that just the use of the more popular "Microprose" name after a Spectrum HoloByte buyout?

If I'm not mistaken, HASBRO bought Microprose sometime during development of Falcon 4 or soon after it was released.

Ah, you're right, I forgot about HASBRO.

BTW, wasn't the Atari name later somehow involved with the Falcon brand? I remember a poster named Mower constantly dissing "fake Atari" on Frugal's World but as time goes on, I'm forgetting the Falcon history.

I remember when another sim dev Graphsim published Allied Force (developed by Lead Pursuit).

Does anyone here remember the tv commercial for Falcon 4? To date, Falcon 4 is the ONLY PC flight sim that I've ever seen an actual tv commercial spot for.

There was a tv ad for Microsoft Flight Sim 2004. Looks so dated now!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY4xupXfB_Y

Well, this answered my previous questions...

Falcon 4 History Chart

According to Wikipedia...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroProse

"Since 2018, the MicroProse brand has been owned by David Lagettie, working with Bill Stealey's own company iEntertainment Network on the Warbirds series of combat flight simulators.[46]"

Nothing to do with classic Microprose at all, just a cool name.

EDIT: Not to pick on "Wild Bill" and all the good stuff that came out of the company he co-founded, but then his iMagic gave us iF-22 with no night time modeled (late-dusk to early-dawn is my favorite time to fly if mainly for the low-visibility pucker factor...add inclement weather, even better).

2nd EDIT: Did Bill Stealey fly the F-15 for the National Guard? I seem to remember this but can't find any info on it.

But Bill Stealey is one of the founders of Microprose.

Hard to catch the lightning in a bottle that was Microprose once let alone twice.
Hopefully they can pull it off.


Wheels

Well...your reply is curious to me.

There certainly is something that should be making you think something or other is happening in the vein of this company doing something in the arena of simulation that covers the era that their past iteration covered.

The 'classics' from MicroProse returning in 'any way whatsoever' is to me, both unrealistic and unwanted. Those 'classics' had limited scope in many way due to restrictions of the time. I don't want Silent Service with the proverbial 'better graphics'...I want a better sim than Silent Service. And I see no reason MicroProse might not develop it, unless I am assuming that since they aren't the same company I knew in the '80s, they must be poised to fail.

I'm sorry but your reply has very little optimism in my opinion. It is rather very pessimistic.

We will see soon enough, they said that Warbirds 2020 is coming in september - october this year.

Guys, Microprose ceased to be a sim dev studio a couple of decades ago, only the trademarked name lives on for publishing rights. I'm not being pessimistic, I just don't see any lines here to even try and read between.

I don't even know what Warbirds is (or was) but if Bill Stealey's iEntertainment Network's Warbirds is your thing, it looks like you might be getting a new version with a Microprose sticker on it. That's all I'm seeing here and that's cool, if that's your thing.

EDIT: Same thing happened with the "Jane's" brand.

Common sense...and basic math...tells even the casual observer that "this" MicroProse is not "that" MicroProse.

Exactly. Like the return of the Chevy Nova...

I'm with Mark G on this one. Warbirds has always been a subscription business model....doesn't interest me in the slightest. Online only doesn't work for me either...I don't like having to solely rely on other human being for my flight simming enjoyment.

Everyone was all excited to hear Wild Bill was working on a tank sim not long ago...what came out looked like it was coded on a speak and spell. I looked at Steam charts for previous Warbirds offerings...peak players lifetime was 8 on one version...5 on another. The brand
is hurting so buying the "Microprose" badge is a hail Mary pass IMO. The purchasing of the "Jane's" brand worked for that arcade game not long ago...tripped up some unsuspecting customers who saw Jane's and purchased without realizing it was not a sim.

Who knows...the Unreal 4 engine might give them a boost for folks that like air quake type flying.

Absolutely valid and fine.

Just don't say you're "optimistic"

My final words on this...

Disregarding Warbirds (which isn't new, even if a new version is in the making), there's nothing here to even get optimistic or pessimistic about. I'm pretty much indifferent to the webpage and linked article.

lol...my stated opinion from page 2 of this thread:

Force10, I think that was directed towards me.

And I will say one more thing about it...

If Microprose wants my money, all they need to do is to offer some official online swag. A Microprose cap, t-shirt, coffee mug, maybe a jacket. I'll buy 'um.

Another shot

I suspect this new Microprose will have less in common with the old Microprose than the new VW Beetle has with the old VW Beetle.

I hope they will bring us great sims again, they have a new team so I doubt someone poured money into a company and into a website just for nostalgia.

JimBobb, here's some positivity for you (and I should have looked this up earlier)...

The owner of the Microprose brand at the moment is David Lagettie and his resume/bio looks awfully impressive...
https://au.linkedin.com/in/david-lagettie-b55a8426

As does his current company (may take a while to load)...
http://titanim.net/www/index.php/page

However, keep in mind that spending money and having passion and good intentions don't always work out (Fighter Ops and Seven G).

But now I think it's worth following these developments as they come along.

EDIT: Oh, and I also found this...
MicroProse Software Inc. Replication Logo Mug Mugs

MarkG great news, thanks !

Hot #%&*$#



If they're using Outerra in the new Microprose games, I'm stoked. The demo for the engine is amazing.


From his other company's website:



Maybe MicroPROSE is going to change that. The video on the main page is incredible. I can imagine so many oldschool Prose titles on the engine. We'd be in sim heaven!

I've been reading some on this VBS and Titanim by the new CEO and it was only for the military and never public, and now he is doing a public game, i'm kind of hyped lol

That does sound good.

Bah. Here's a press release from a couple of months ago:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/microprose-ientertainment-network-inc-announce-152100191.html

In it, Wild Bill and David Lagettie mention the Unreal 4 engine. Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. We want Outerra.

May have to drag out my stick and pedals from the closet!

The death nail for any flight simmer:

"Mobile and game versions expected in 2020"

Yep. Mouse flying confirmed. Not interested now, not after seeing how War Thunder handled that farce.

Most likely it is different to PC version, because it will be released a year after. It is known for developers to make different version for different platforms.




Mouse flying has always been in Warbirds since 1995, it is different to war thunder, as mouse here acts as a joystick and not 'point and fly' mechanism line in war blunder.


I still think there is potential for this.

Yes...I understand that. It still doesn't make me feel all warm and squishy for the PC version.

Mouse as a virtual joystick would be acceptable, so long as there's no magic gimbal aim for the guns like there was in Star Citizen.

That's how it was as I remember it, last time I played it was nearly 15 years ago.

Now I am interested.
It does not look like another attempt to milk Warbirds.
Let's hope they have the resources to deliver.

I'm off on a rockin' mini-vacation...just wanted to say that I'm glad this is looking like it could actually amount to something spectacular, even if it doesn't turn out to be what *I* want most (updated MP classics).

++++++++++

Another (and fairer) automotive analogy...

1. GM announces the return of the Pontiac ("We Build Excitement") brand.
So what, they can slap the name on anything.

2. GM also announces the return of the Fiero.
Ok, you got my interest now.

3. GM announces the return of the Fiero concept, a modernized version which closely resembles the original mid-engine your-ass-on-the-ground 2-seater wedge-shaped stick-and-clutch pocket-rocket.
Now you've got my full attention!

I think we're currently on #2 with Microprose.

Later.

The Fiero was a death trap.

Concept art, things are looking GOOD

Lol JimBobb,do you work for these guys?

When someone sees a potentialy good flight sim which one played every day 20 years ago and then nothing on the flight sim market........ one goes crazy

I just have so many good memories from Air Warrior and Warbirds 1990's times..... i want them to come back

Those good times? Yup,I get that. I reckon a vast majority of the guys on here want exactly that. I know I do.

Not a Microprose game I know but I played the crap out of Carrier Command in 1988. 24 years later I go nuts because there is to be a sequel. I then go nuts because it's just not very good.

There are so many Microprose titles I want re-made but I'm pretty sure that is not what we are going to get. The market has changed. I can't speak for Air warrior or Warbirds,I've never played them.

I'm a cynical old Chucky and will remain so until I see different.

Nostalgia is both an irrational and powerful emotion indeed.

How old is Wild Bill anyway? He is running the show for 40 years.

I guess there is a difference of thought here...some of us are looking for a ressurection of the old Microprose sort of titles...and some are looking forward to a Warbirds reboot. On the Warbirds front...they never left...they have freshened up versions in 2016 and 2019. I'm not sure where the nostalgia fits in for Warbirds...not much to miss since it's still being actively developed and has been since 1996.

I guess that's because literaly no one is playing Warbirds currently, and a -real- modern version, will be a sort of a reboot. With unreal engine 4 now, it -looks- like it might be the case.

Microprose truly was epic. They made great games and the whole Sim Game thing happen. I could care less about any new products.

I still love EAW - European Air War but I've retired from that even after 20 years.
Its like driving a classic car. You're never going to replace it with something new.
You would have to for one get the old programmers together and that is unlikely. And also producing a decent game is more than just programming, just like making a movie to need director, actors, editing, cinematographers, etc. all to combine right to get in the Awards, etc.

I prefer the olds days frankly and my memories as far as Microprose is concerned. May they RIP.

That said, I accept some remake cars can be cool even if I don't drive them.

Since I always dabbled in webpage making its interesting to note that if you look at the html source code of the index page fof microprose.com


It would be interesting maybe if TK is the same TK of Microprose and if he has any hand in a new product.

But then again I'm not exactly holding my breath.

Interesting, there is also this in the source code



'3D planetary engine for seamless planet rendering from space down to the surface. Can use arbitrary resolution of elevation data, refining it to centimeter resolution using fractal algorithms'

Found some more info on what MicroProse will be doing:

'David intends to bring other great simulation products to the new MicroProse PTY portfolio of games with the first new game to be Burning Worlds in 2020', MicroProse PTY Ltd is the relaunch of the original MicroProse Software company by Australian entrepreneur, David Lagetti, with Whole of Earth Global Rendering FPA games and simulators coming soon.'

https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/481...d-microprose-to-co-publish-warbirds-2020

Wild Bill !!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StCh7rGunwE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN1o56DSJT8


Warbirds 2020 tease !

Then there's a third group:

Some of us who know that the world and business models of 30 years ago has changed, but refuses to declare a failure until we see it.

This place is SimHQ. If ever there was a community that would be welcoming of a sim development company in the climate we have in 2019, I would expect this to be it.

They announced the business model for Warbirds 2020, it will be free to play (basic plane set, spit 1, 109 e, etc) and subscription for 1 day, 1 week, 1 month.

This is best deal for me, unlike war blunders there is no cash shop because of subscription and players still can play for free.

Graduated Air Force Academy in 1970 so he's about 70-71 I imagine.

Wow, what a legend

And Marilyn Monroe wore a size 16...with only a 22" (56 cm) waist!

Some myths are persistent, but when you investigate you sometimes find the opposite to be true...

==========
"The Fiero was the second safest vehicle sold in America from 1984 to 1988, bested by the Volvo 740DL station wagon."

"The Fiero, with its unique plastic body-on-spaceframe design, helped the Fiero achieve a NHTSA NCAP frontal crash test rating of five stars, the highest rating available."

https://oppositelock.kinja.com/the-fiero-was-the-second-safest-vehicle-sold-in-americ-1592788335
==========

Yes, there were Fiero car fires in the first year of production due to a major design flaw (never affected the later V6's), but it was corrected the following year and no one died because of it. The consensus is that by 1988, GM had finally gotten the Fiero right (including an awesome new suspension)...and then they killed it!

In case you haven't seen this video of Wild Bill in Microprose's heyday (starting at 6:40)...



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm8VTZ2fyos

thanks !

Ceo of MicroProse is teasing on twitter

Never heard of that one but I have fond memories of M1 Tank Platoon. It seems we could be in for an interesting resurgence of simulation products, I'm cautiously hopeful.

Warbirds went downhill FAST when he took control. He has never been interested in making new and spectacular games/sims. His love is for rebranding the same broken #%&*$# and releasing it under a new name. He has been trying to revitalize warbirds for years now and using the microprose name is just another ploy IMO. The screen shots dont look any different than what is currently in warbirds right now except with a few filters added.

I wouldnt hold my breath. There are many great sims out there and some coming out soon. But I dont have any faith left in wild bill.

That little boxy Tandy joystick she is using to play Falcon at ~6:07 is the joystick I first started simming with, way back in the day. Gunship and F-19 Stealth Fighter, awesome times.

She's using it wrong, too. The stick was designed to be held in the left hand, which would manipulate the two buttons, and your right hand should control the stick using your thumb.

But there are -none- new flight sims being made in the spirit of old Air Warrior, Warbirds, Aces High, WW2 OL.


After many years of nothing, this is the only one that has appeared, so I will wait for the release and try it out before i pass my verdict.

Hmmm...maybe because:

A. They weren't that good

B. Nothing really different than the available stuff in Sims

C. Graphically challenged...and still is.

BTW JimBobb, may I call you JB? Good, that's settled and look at the pixels we'll save! Worldwide!

So...JB...

Before we go any further discussing this mouse controlled "flight sim"...

In the interest of transparency:

Do you have a financial interest in this "sim"?

Are you an employee of the "developer" and/or "publisher" of this "sim"?

Thanks in advance for the transparency.

Flights sims are a niche, MMO flight sims are a niche of a niche, they were very good and fun, anyone who played those games back in the day can vouch for this.

Graphicaly they will always be a little behind the curve because it's a MMO, needs more data to transfer with many players than your usual game.





lol, i answered this question a couple of pages earlier.


'When someone sees a potentialy good flight sim which one played every day 20 years ago and then nothing on the flight sim market........ one goes crazy

I just have so many good memories from Air Warrior and Warbirds 1990's times..... i want them to come back'

It's the "nothing on the flight sim market" I'm struggling to understand. As I said earlier...Warbirds has had evolving versions with the most current being a 2019 release. If those aren't hitting the mark for you...Wild Bill has been at the helm for years...I can't see what the excitement is about knowing he's still involved.

From the announcement I understand that MicroProse is developing this new version, which means this Mr. David Lagettie is doing the Unreal Engine 4 version, Wild Bill is a sales guy and not a programmer? This Mr. David Lagettie sounds like he has plenty of experience doing simulators for the military.

Force10, didn't you notice from those videos that Wild Bill has a Wharton School MBA?

So, I'm sure that all synergies have been identified and Microprose's heritage can be leveraged to incentivize flight sim stakeholders to invest in this paradigm shift and that Warbirds 2020 can gain traction and maximize monetization enabling further scaleout down the road.

We have update.

I'm not a rivet counter.... but those rivets look huge to me. LOL

North American run low and borrow some from a shipyard?

It looks like a cheap diecast model.

Rivets....

Rivets are damned if you do damned if you don't

In every skin I ever made for IL2, the rivets were all too big. Every last one. The 3D models are not large enough to do it accurately as one pixel is too large. And if you omit them, the skins look funny up close. What to do...complain I guess.

But at least I have seen us go from assumptions to actually criticizing a detailed model.

That 3D model looks very, very small to me. I suppose the idea is to have lots of a/c in the air at once. And what is the antenna wire going to? Looks too low to be the mast.

What I loved about the early Microprose sims that were pre-1991 is they were quick and easy to get into. Missions were relatively short at about 15 minutes to half an hour, and the action picked up quickly and was quite intense. Plus they had charm and character. I didn't mind the lowered realism, and knew even then as a kid some of the stuff the planes sensors were doing such as perfect positional missile track, easy lock ons, hell--even the targeting button were impossible with 1980s technology, but I still didn't mind, because the total package of the sims made up for that.

I'm digging the paint look, i'm looking forward for this !

I just read some other replies here.

SimHQ ain't what it used to be. I'd expect some of this schoolgirl snippy crap from 13 years olds. You guys used to be grownups.

I agree that enthusiasm is low for this mouse friendly, playable on your phone soon, subscription based, fidelity flight sim that is riding the coat tails of a name like Microprose.

Where did you get the screens? They're not on the MP website.

You sure you're not a MP employee? Is that you Wild Bill?

oh it's from their forums

IEN forum: http://bhlanding.ient.com/warbirdsforum/viewtopic.php?f=8&p=4325#p4325

Ah!

We will know soon enough, october is release :), guess they must be small or otherwise the server would not hold up hundreds of planes in the air.

JimBobb,when you are at the next Microprose board meeting (I jest) can you see what they have in the pipeline for the single player?

As I stated earlier in this thread,I've never played Warbirds and am unlikely to start now.

LOL !



I'd try atleast the 2020 version if I were you, it was very fun in the past

This P-51 has "counter-rotating" propellers?
Look at the blades angles, to not say that their blades tips seems have more pitch than root.
Or someone is joking.

The rivets are huge. No P-51 I've ever seen has rivets that big. And I've seen them in person, up close... a few running on the runway.

Uh i maybe blind, but looks same to me




I guess they will change it because it says 'texturing wip'

Sadly...I don't think that will be a problem:

Warbirds used to be huge. I even flew in a squad, the "Red Raiders". Anyone remember -bobn-?

13 year olds, eh? Well, I guess that explains my continual desire for an innocent make out session to the music of Styx.

Lighten up, Francis. Life's too short and fragile to get so confrontational on a message board dedicated to a recreational outlet.

13...and Summertime vacation (today is the first day of Summer, BTW). Only now, almost 40 years later, do I fully appreciate just how much incredible calorie-burning exercise I was getting riding miles a day on my single-gear BMX bicycle in the Summertime.

Lots of people herevused to fly warbirds and or aces high. Hell, i still host alt.games.warbirds for a bunch of the agw guys. Almost none of them still fly warbirds. They do fly il2 and dcs though.

I remember bobn. Think he is still on the agw ban list in memorium

We are still here, we are still waiting for the next great mmo flight sim

It's already here... World of Warplanes!

This is on old engine from 15 years ago.

They are using Unreal Engine 4 for 2020, which means we can see new damage and flight modelling, i'd say just this is worth a look

If they're going to try to imply that all the history is associated with the current incarnation of the name they might want to spell it "MicroProse" on the website and in some of the press stuff I've seen vs. "Microprose".

This is mostly unrelated to the current thread but I thought this recent video might be of interest. It focuses on the initial Civ computer game but also has some company history. I don't agree with everything this guy says, it has a bias that matches comments I've seen from former employees of the U.K. offices. With his accent this is definitely understandable. Of course I have my own bias since I was in the coin-op group.



Elf

Good distinction. I wondered about this myself, going with the current website spelling. Maybe they want to be more like Microsoft.

Well, we all know it's really MICROPROSE with italics having the lines through the text.

In other news, MicroProse is posting this, seems like a new game.

Any info, or just pictures ?

Looks like "Ghost Recon as envisioned by Henri Matisse".

The game will be called 'Burning Worlds', that's all info so far.

It is a pretty good impressionist style rendering.

Hope we can use the mouse!

"The rivets are huge. No P-51 I've ever seen has rivets that big. And I've seen them in person, up close... a few running on the runway."
Wow, there's a lot more wrong with that Mustang than rivets. Look at the angle of the landing gear, and just the whole basic shape is all out of whack. Gonna have to do better than that to compete with what's going on nowdays. We're having a bit of a renewal of interest in flight simulations and I'm glad to see it. Now that said, I used to fly Warbirds back in the 90's. Was really into it and spend too much time and money. Belonged to a squad, one of the few times I've ever done that. But if that P-51 is an example of their airplanes, they're gonna need to step up their game.

Lets wait and see what they will come up with, if the gameplay is as fun or even better than it used to be, it might be a blast again to play Warbirds :), and you won't have to pay as much this time.

I'm keeping an open mind.

Something is happening, MicroProse put bundles of their old games for cheap on sale on Steam, the games are:

BloodNet
Darklands
Dragonsphere
Sword of the Samurai
Rex Nebular and the Cosmic gender bender
Hyperspeed
Starlord
F-117
Fleet Defender
Gunship!
B17 flying fortress 2
Knights of the Sky
1942: PAW
F-19 stealth fighter
World war 2 GI
X-com
Colonization
Silent Service
Challenge of the five realms
Task Force 1942
Silent Service 2
Xcom INterceptor
Xcom Enforcer

Search for Microprose on steam

Well they sure love teasing much

Meh...box style artwork isn't much of a tease IMO. I'll save my excitement (or lack thereof) for when I see in game footage...or screens from the game.