On a recent trip to Microsoft's E3 booth, we took the opportunity to check out the latest version of Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight, which is scheduled for release in July. The game is being released to mark the 100th anniversary of powered flight, so, in addition to 15 modern airplanes, you'll be able to take to the skies in nine historical aircraft, including the Wright Flyer, which made the first powered flight in history in 1903.

　　No matter which aircraft you choose to fly in the game, you'll be able to view the action from just about any camera angle imaginable--although we found that the authentic 2D and 3D cockpits in some of the historical aircraft afforded us a great view of the plane's instruments but not much else. It's possible to look around the interiors of the cockpits in the game, and the fact that all the instruments respond to your every move is a really nice touch.

　　Taking off in one of the game's modern-day aircraft--a 747, actually--was a very different experience, especially since the Microsoft representative showing us the game took the opportunity to demonstrate some of the game's very impressive weather effects. We took off from Seattle airport on an extremely foggy day, and some of the camera angles made for pretty uninteresting viewing, but seeing the plane ascend through the cloud layer at a height of around 6,000 feet really was impressive and wholly believable. Going one step further, our Microsoft pilot made a pretty steep ascent so he could show us the cloud trails coming off the wing tips at high altitude. At this point, the plane decided to stall, and the force feedback joystick seemingly attempted to leap off the table in front of us, but our pilot regained control of the craft and calmly switched off the emergency light in his cockpit.

　　The weather conditions in Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight will be customizable to an almost infinite degree, and in addition to selecting one of several dynamically changing weather themes, you can download current weather patterns anywhere in the world via the Internet. Since you'll be able to fly anywhere in the world in the game, Microsoft has re-created no less than 23,000 airports for you to visit. Not all these have been re-created in maximum detail, but after requesting a flight from London Heathrow to LAX, we can vouch that those two, at least, looked extremely realistic.

　　Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight is currently scheduled for release in July. For more information, check out our previous coverage of the game.