Where do cars come from? That century-old question is answered in Production Line [official site], a car-building factory management sim from Gratuitious Space Battles dev Positech, which has now hit early access. We all know cars live in symbiotic relationships with humans, letting us ride in their cheek pouches in exchange for food. And many of us know that a car nearing death will make one final journey to a local park to be set ablaze by teenagers in a mating frenzy. But their beginnings? The truth might surprise you. Read the rest of this entry »

This election cycle in the United States has been drama-filled and both candidates have engaged in a ridiculous cartoon-like behavior towards the opposition. This makes Squeaky Wheel’s Political Animals [official site] more realistic than its developers probably intended when they set out to make the turn-based strategy game about a presidential election on a fictional island with animals as the candidates. Here, check it out in this new half-hour gameplay walkthrough: Read the rest of this entry »

You can have any genre, says Positech, as long as it’s management. Production Line [official site] will be the studio’s new game of building cars on a long assembly line with the penny-pinching efficiency of Henry Ford. “I never used to care about cars,” said Cliffski, the creator of Democracy and Gratuitous Space Battles, in his announcement. “Then I bought a nice hybrid one (Lexus) then I bought a stupidly flash electric one (Tesla). I started to realize cars had become interesting to geeks, not just petrol-heads.” Right so. Here’s what we know so far.

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Dearie me, Positech Games have been lucky. While the UK’s political situation stumbles into chaos on all sides, like a Three Stooges skit full of pratfalls and kicks up the jacksy, Positech have launched the Electioneering expansion for political strategy game Democracy 3 [official site]. What convenient timing! The expansion lets players campaign to win elections and maybe I’m getting ahead of myself with this ha-ha-hilarious satire given that you need candidates before anyone can go electioneering.

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Ha ha hooo elections, eh? In that there politics. With the votes. And those things they say. With those ideas they have. Hitting the ole campaign trail. Kissing all that baby. Shaking a hand. Posing with them famous folks. And the things they say! Did you hear what that one said? And then the other one…? Putting papers through your door. Love it. Knocking on my door. Sitting inside my TV. Electioneering. Love ’em all. Happy times. Big japes. Shaky hands. Kissy face. Good jokes. Good jokes. Proper fun.

So yeah, the next Democracy 3 [official site] expansion will add electoneering. Topical.

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Political Animals [official site] is a turn-based strategy game. It’s also a colourful election simulation where candidates are replaced by cartoon animals. It should be released in time for November’s US elections. No, really. As the blurb goes:

“Building a wall around a country to handle migration is completely insane, except when the candidate suggesting it is a mongoose with severe hair problems, then it’s practically cute.”

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Over and above its management and strategy groundings, Big Pharma [official site] shines a light on the billion dollar, often unscrupulous, pharmaceutical industry. While Alec enjoyed his hands-on time with Twice Circled’s medicine manufacturing sim last year, he noted it didn’t “go for pharmaceutical industry’s jugular”. Its first expansion – Marketing and Malpractice – takes a distinguished step towards doing exactly that by introducing dodgy tactics and the ability to manually set medicine prices.

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