How can Father Christmas deliver presents to all the children of the world in only one night? Magic. However, Sinterklaas has been caning the peppermint schnapps and wouldn’t say no to a bit of help from truckers. American Truck Simulator and Euro Truck Simulator 2 have launched festive events challenging virtuatruckers to haul gifts across Europe and Americky. That’s a great act of kindness, and Father Christmas of course loves that stuff, so in return the games offer honking helpers gifts such as truck paint jobs and cabin decorations including a real uncle-lookin’ snowman. (more…)

I’ve spent a lot more with American Truck Simulator than I have with its by-now much larger predecessor Euro Truck Simulator 2, mostly because a more distant land seemed more romantic than one I am already part of. But ATS, in its current South-Westerly configuration, is a game with a heavy reliance on rock and sand landscapes – evocative for sure, but while we await a hoped-for move to greener states such as Oregon, ETS2 is there to fill the verdant gap. This Mediterranean allure of this week’s massively-expanded Italy DLC proved especially irresistible.

Three things: 1) it’s remarkable how different ETS2 feels from ATS, despite broadly being the same game 2) Italia is the prettiest Truck Sim module yet 3) even so, the Truck Sim games now badly need a big visual overhaul. (more…)

Europe s lovely leg has been given a makeover in Euro Truck Simulator 2. Italy has been expanded and fleshed out in the new Italia expansion (and a bit in the base game), so if you ve ever dreamed of spending your days transporting grapes and marbles up and down winding roads, you ve got no more excuses for putting it off. It s out now.

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While my trucking dreams took me to the big skies of American Truck Simulator, some still follow roads closer to home. Euro Truck Simulator 2 will revisit Italy in its next paid add-on, expanding and revamping the country. That will launch next Tuesday, the 5th of December, developers SS Software announced today. Perhaps, as our country tries to hack itself off Europe (accidentally severing several fingers with a Stanley knife and pulping its toes with a fumbled hammer in the process), Europe will seem fancier and I’ll soon find myself dreaming of these lands. For now, have a look at Italia in this trailer:

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Another corner of Europe is getting expanded and fancied up later this year, with the next Euro Truck Simulator 2 [official site] DLC off to Italy. Like the recent French expansion, Italia will expand and update the country with new cities and more unique features. The handful of Italian cities already in the game will be updated to match for free for everyone too. (more…)

Euro Truck Simulator 2 [official site] has become bigger, more complex, and far more French with the launch of its ‘Vive la France!’ paid expansion today. It redoes the western-ish side of L’Hexagone, diagonally between Le Havre and Nice (sans Paris), with miles of new roads and a makeover to just be, y’know, more French. Its villages remind me a lot of the rural France I remember from holidays so I’m content. … [visit site to read more]

While American Truck Simulator has recently received a lot of love and care from developers SCS Software, it turns out they haven’t forgotten about Europe. Euro Truck Simulator 2 [official site] is now getting another expansion. Vive La France enlarges France, adding more detail, more towns and 20,000km more roads. It’s due out next week on December 5th and there’s a trailer below.

… [visit site to read more]

Euro Truck Simulator 2 [official site] now has “National Window Flags” DLC, allowing you to stick your preferred country’s flag onto the side of your cab. It’s a small cosmetic paid-for bit of DLC but its release coincides with the ramping up of Euro 2016 interest and prompted some interesting reading about how national sides work in international football.

… [visit site to read more]

I believe I can drive. I believe I can touch the sky. I think about it every night and day, turboblast and fly away. So, y’know, I’m excited to hear that carball ‘em up Rocket League [official site] is adding its promised basketball-y Hoops mode next Tuesday, April 26th. It’s coming in a free update. Here, watch this (parking) space jam:

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In news that’s sure to please happy haulers either side of the Atlantic, both American Truck Simulator [official site] and its slightly older European cousin Euro Truck Simulator 2 now have Steam Workshop support. Both already supported mods, but now they’re simpler to install. Also, courtesy of the former’s 1.2 update and the latter’s 1.23 one, a range of options have also been added to both games’ wheel customisation suites, while new Wheel Tuning DLC packs hope to hand you the hottest rims on the open road.

… [visit site to read more]