Microsoft Flight Simulator beta starts on 30 July

If you fancy a go with the fancy new planes of Microsoft Flight Simulator, sign up now because MS have announced it's entering closed beta testing on July 30th. While you will need to be lucky enough to get picked, they have said they want everyone to have a chance to play, eventually. I've never played a proper sim-y plane game before but to tour the gorgeous world they're cramming into this game, I'm willing to learn.

They've said for a while that the beta would come in July, and now a blog post pins it to the 30th. The closed beta will run through the same Flight Sim Insider Program and Xbox Insider jazz that have been used for the alpha. All current alpha testers will get beta access, and Microsoft say they plan to send out a new wave of invitations for the closed beta too. So if you're not in but wanna be, get in now for your shot.

"Our goal is ensure that everyone participates in the Preview Program," says an Insider page updated today. "But that doesn't mean everyone will participate in every build of the Preview Build Program."

Now I'm looking at the simulated cloud patterns and man, I want to be out in that.