Microsoft delays launch of attack game

Microsoft plans to delay the launch of a new version of Flight Simulator, its popular computer game that allows players to fly airplanes over New York and other metropolitan areas, because of last week’s terrorist attacks.

‘‘It’s just an inappropriate time to release the product,’’ Microsoft spokesman Matt Pilla said from the company’s Redmond headquarters.

No new launch date has been set for Flight Simulator 2002, which was originally due out in October.

In existing versions of Flight Simulator, players can pilot aircraft ranging from gliders to jetliners over much of the world, with detailed scenery of airports and cities, including New York and the World Trade Centre towers.

Should an aircraft strike a building or other structure, the program shows the plane has crashed, but the buildings do not blow up.

There has been no suggestion the terrorists used Microsoft’s computer game to prepare for last Tuesday’s hijacking attacks - but the game’s realistic simulation of actual piloting has drawn attention.

Pilla said he did not know of anyone at Microsoft being contacted by Government officials for questioning following the attack.

Microsoft announced last Friday it would remove depictions of the World Trade Centre’s twin towers from the new version.

The company will also put out a software patch that allows people to remove the towers from existing versions of the game, Pilla said. That should be available for free download in the next week or so, he said.

No other changes are currently planned for the new game, Pilla said.

Other video game makers announced they would purge images of destruction from their games.

Activision indefinitely postponed release of its Playstation game Spider-Man 2 Enter: Electro a day before it was to hit stores because the superhero battles villains atop skyscrapers resembling the World Trade Centre.

Ubi Soft Entertainment said it would delay release of Tom Clancy’s Rogue Spear: Black Thorn until themes similar to the terror attacks on New York and Washington are removed.

The attacks also prompted Electronic Arts to suspend Majestic, a game involving murder and sabotage that is played through the Internet.