I enjoyed Jurassic World. There, I said it. Apparently I have bad taste, but gosh, I’m a sucker for anything involving dino shenanigans and Chris Pratt. If I had better taste, I’m still pretty certain I’d be looking forward to Jurassic World Evolution [official site], however. Frontier showed off the park management game at their Frontier Expo, letting us watch dinosaurs just hanging out.

You can check out the trailer below, and while it doesn’t show off much, Frontier devs were on hand to explain what you’ll actually do in the game, from picking different development paths to managing disasters inspired by the films.

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Things have been hotting up in Elite Dangerous’ [official site] facsimile of our massive galaxy, what with that whole alien invasion problem. But if humanity can survive the Thargoids, there’s a whole lot more coming in 2018 with a new season called Elite Dangerous: Beyond. Frontier announced a roadmap at Frontier Expo, and it looks like they’re going to be cramming a lot into these free updates, including new ships, tools and large group content

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The big alien ships of Elite Dangerous [official site] have been eluding, confusing and amusing the space sim’s pilots for a while. But now they will also blow you up, thanks to the most recent patch. The Return (less ominously known as update 2.4) gives weapons to the extraterrestrials in the form of a beautiful swarm of tiny fighters that launch from the rear of the alien vessels and cut any aggressor to ribbons. I’m calling this gang of lethal little fellows “the Thwarm”. Read the rest of this entry »

After yonks of littering space with their garbage and buzzing spaceships while repeating “Is this bugging you? I’m not touching you. Is this bugging you?“, the alien Thargoids will start to arrive properly in Elite Dangerous [official site] this month. Frontier Developments have confirmed that the update bringing them back to the space sim series, version 2.4 aka The Return, will launch on Tuesday, September 26th. It’ll kick off a storyline unfolding over the months to come. For now, check out a Thargoid fight in this new cinematic trailer:

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The next theme park management game from Planet Coaster studio Frontier Developments will focus on something even scarier than a triple corkscrew: dinosaurs. Last night Frontier announced Jurassic World Evolution [official site], which will put us in charge of the cinematic theme park franchise that surely should have been sued into oblivion by now. We’ll get to build a park, bioengineer new dinosaurs, and watch everything go pear-shaped when they get bored. Remember to invite two plucky children, including at least one nerd, to help save the day. Read the rest of this entry »

The first licensed rides have arrived in theme park-builder Planet Coaster [official site], and they’re certainly not what I’d expected. The Munsters, Back to the Future, and Knight Rider have arrived with packs offering themed scenery pieces, special effects, and go-karts for £2 apiece. Heck yes I want people racing in ＤＲＡＧ－Ｕ－ＬＡ, a hot rod Dracula built around a coffin.

New stuff has arrived for free too. Alongside the DLC launches last week, Frontier Developments whopped out a patch whacking in a new ride and coasters for everyone. Read the rest of this entry »

Apparently it’s summer — it’s always hard to tell up here in Scotland — which means that it’s time for Planet Coaster’s [official site] third free seasonal expansion. It’s a big one, fattening up the the game with new rides, customisable panels, terrain options and scenery. It’s available now, and you can watch the trailer below.

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The pilots of Elite Dangerous: Horizons [official site] have become space sleuths in the past year, attempting to uncover more information about the mysterious aliens known as the Thargoids. Their latest discovery is the most momentous yet: a sprawling base on a world hundreds of lightyears from Earth. You can watch the first humans explore its cavernous interior below.

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After yonks of warning signs, hints, puzzles, and tense first encounters in Elite Dangerous: Horizons [official site], the alien Thargoids are almost ready to start preparing to properly arrive in a bit. Frontier Developments have announced that the space ’em up’s Update 2.4, codenamed The Return, will kick off story events that will finally see Thargoids return to Elite as a proper part of the game. Yup, the wait continues but the end is in sight. When the Thargoids arrive, Frontier say, they’ll shake the galaxy up. Read the rest of this entry »

Space trucking sim Elite Dangerous [official site] recently held one of its public events for players. This time a special NPC would be racing back to the “bubble” (the populated core worlds of the galactic frisbee) from a mysterious place known as the Formidine Rift. Her name was Salomé and she had “vital information.” I am using the past tense to describe her because – surprise surprise – she never reached her destination. She was murdered by a player called Harry Potter, a prolific troll who had somehow infiltrated the huge coalition of players who swore to protect her.
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A bunch of maps and tools for space sim Elite: Dangerous [official site] were shut down today by their creators as part of a protest over what they called a “lack of consistency from Frontier in effectively fostering third-party development”. The picket line of third-party tools was set to last until Sunday and included some very useful stuff for pilots like maps, trading databases and ship designers. The main complaint these folks had is that Frontier was not communicating with them well when it comes to updates (when a patch comes out the tools are often thrown into disarray without much warning, introducing new bugs and problems for the toolfolk). But spacetalks have already been held and most of the sites will be back up tonight, leaving me in the lurch with absolutely no drama. Disgraceful.
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Elitists can now fly ships with their chums and create their own spaceface, thanks to the big Elite Dangerous: Horizons [official site] update today launched. The headline feature of Horizons version 2.3, nicknamed ‘The Commanders’, is multicrew spaceshipping, letting several players take stations on the bridge. The auxiliary roles don’t sound super exciting in themselves as Elite wasn’t built with them in mind but hanging with your friends is surely a lark.

Non-Horizons Elitists aren’t left out. The whole game benefits today from an update adding sights like asteroid bases and roaming ‘megaships’. Have a look at it all: Read the rest of this entry »

When I played Theme Park with my brother, he’d ask me to hire dozens of mascots so he could watch thugs roll in to beat up the pogoing teddy bears. It’s the small things in life, y’know. Planet Coaster [official site] today celebrates the joys of crimes with the addition of pickpockets and vandals, and security guards to thwart them. Also arriving in today’s Spring Update are Go-Karts and other new rides and coasters, along with exciting options for ‘Duelling’ coasters which launch in sync. Here, have a peek in this trailer marking the update’s launch: Read the rest of this entry »

Right now, the worst thing that can happen to the population of Planet Coaster [official site] is an upset tummy, or a lack of cash on-hand to pay for overpriced pop and burgers. Of course, combine the upset tummy and the overpriced food, and you end up with puddles of vomit, so perhaps the worst thing that can happen to the population of Planet Coaster is the involuntary, forceful expulsion of undigested, overpriced nosh through their noses and mouths.

That’ll all change on April 11th, when a free update brings pickpockets and vandals to your parks, along with a stack of new rides.

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Elite Dangerous [official site] has excellent hands. See how the fingers twitch, watch how they waggle a flightstick – just hanging around in a cockpit is oddly mesmerising. And by God I’m worried about how much inadvertent innuendo crept into those last couple of lines. Anyway: Frontier’s spaceship demi-MMO is gearing up to progress far beyond hands and into bodies and faces. They’ve just shown off their seemingly highly configurable ‘Commander’ creation tool. Whole lotta faces going on here. Read the rest of this entry »

Elite Dangerous: Arena [official site], the £5 standalone release of Elite Dangerous’s competitive combat arena mode, has been pulled from sale less than a year after launching. Folks who bought Arena can still play it but Arena as a separate product isn’t popular to be worth the effort. Most Arena players access it through the main Elite Dangerous client, see. This isn’t the most exciting news but if, months from now, you find yourself thinking “What ever happened to…?” you’ll know. Read the rest of this entry »

Goodness me, this new Death Star ride someone has made in Planet Coaster [official site] is jolly impressive. Or, as Star Warriors would say, “Oie boie! Disa dowopee isa bombad, all-n youse!” We’ve looked at Star Wars rides before, amongst other neat-o constructions, but this is certainly the fanciest I’ve seen. It hits warp factor 10, weaves through a battle, dives inside the starguts, and jogs down that infamous gutter. Watch a video below and hey, you can download the coaster to ride it round in own park too. Read the rest of this entry »

Thargoid alien spacemen have arrived in Elite Dangerous [official site], following a string of hints and discoveries, and they look pretty flipping cool. Players can now encounter a whopping great Thargoid ship in a scripted sequence with all the mystery and threat I’d want from first contact (well, in this game) with an alien civilisation who consider me so far beneath them. Here, come watch a meeting with the spacemen. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Planet Coaster [official site], thanks to a big update launched last night. The Winter Update has added a snowy new biome, Christmassy new decor like gingerbread buildings, new shops, and new rides including a sleigh ride, bumper cars, and something that does a lot of spinning. Yes, you can now create Elfland and take guests through the seven layers of the candy cane forest, through the sea of twirly, swirly gumdrops, then through the Lincoln Tunnel. On a more practical level, the patch has introduced a few handy new management features too. Read the rest of this entry »