Especially as there doesn't seem to be any plans on Microsoft's part to release dedicated hardware add-ons. Like Flight Simulator (FS), Space Simulator (SS) can't lay claims to being a game, but unlike FS, you can hardly claim that several years stuck in front of a monitor with SS will prepare you in any way for a top job as an astronaut. Which is more than you can say for one or two real-life so-called 'pilots'. And he's still here to testify to its effectiveness, with all his lower limbs intact to boot. (With the added bonus that if you crash into the conning tower, the magic of the reboot ensures that no-one will ever know.) Even if you don't use it in the official way, the flight models of the planes are so accurate that you'll still have a bit of a headstart when it comes to learning in real life - as indeed Duncan, our very own von Rich-thoven, proved by trying that very thing. Hours in the simulated air, as long as you do it in accordance with certain rules, can be counted towards the qualifications that you need to gain a real-life pilot's licence. With Right Simulator, there is a very good reason (or excuse, if you prefer) for spending so long in a small room on your own, pretending to fly a plane, and that's the well-known one that you can actually use the software to learn to fly a proper plane. (Assuming, that is, he's bought a reliable computer and got plenty of Pot Noodles in, of course.) Or if he's particularly keen, 450,000 years of his life flying to the core of the galaxy. Now they've gone one step further and made Space Simulator, in which the anorak par excellence -let's call him 'the snorkel jacket' - can spend eight months of his life flying, in real time, in a pretend space cruiser from Earth to Mars. Microsoft have already provided the anorak-clad legions of the world with something to get their furry teeth into with Flight Simulator, in which the truly friendless can spend days of their life flying, in real time, in a light aircraft from New York to San Francisco.

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