Nov 4, 2019
American Truck Simulator - Timmy the Duck Thief
If you were to look at a population density map of Utah, you will find that a majority of citizens live in the northern part of the state in larger cities such as Salt Lake City and Provo. However this doesn't make the rest of the state a ghost town, you can find towns small and large spread across the entire region.


From country homes to sprawling residential areas, you will come across many different kinds of dwellings on your travels in Utah. Each residential area has its own unique look and feel, with some homes even being historic to the town.


Want to learn about the creation process of Utah? Join us for our stream which will be broadcasted LIVE on Twitch and Steam with SCS team members, Alex (LondonLad), Duff and Raven on the 5th of November (tomorrow) from 16:00 UTC (17:00 CET) who will be talking about the states' development and design.

Be sure to add Utah to your Steam Wishlist to be notified of its release on November 7th!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1104880/American_Truck_Simulator__Utah/
American Truck Simulator - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Alice O'Connor)

Stock up on jerky and moisturiser, because American Truck Simulator is headed to Utah when its next expansion launches on November 7th, developers SCS Software have announced. The seventh state continues the truck ’em up’s long journey east with another 3500 digimiles of virtuaroad. Watch the new trailer below for a peek at Utah sights including those iconic red rocks, a big hole in the ground, a hole in a rock, and A DINOSAUR DRESSED AS A COWBOY? I will overcome my physical discomfort at all this notseaness if I get to see a load of weird dinosaur statues and murals.

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American Truck Simulator - Timmy the Duck Thief
With the final touches being made to the upcoming map expansion we are excited to announce the release date of the latest map addition to American Truck Simulator.

Utah map expansion will be released on the 7th of November 2019.
We hope that this trailer will give you a glimpse of what you will be able to explore for yourself very soon.



And as you can see, Utah will be rich in content for drivers to explore. Main features include:
  • 3.500 miles of road network
  • 10 major cities (Salt Lake City, St. George, Moab)
  • New quarries and mines including the largest open excavation Kennecott Copper Mine
  • Expanded oil industry (oil mining sites, oil storage sites)
  • Improved agriculture production chain (country stores, feedmills)
  • Famous landmark sites: Great Salt Lake, Monument Valley, Virgin River Canyon
  • Over 260 recognizable natural and man-made landmarks
  • 12 well-known truck stops
  • New and improved process of landscape creation
  • Utah achievements to unlock

Included with the release of Utah will be 2 new and challenging Special Transport DLC missions. With loads starting from Vernal to Salt Lake City (Kennecott Copper Mine) and from Provo to Price (Oil Industry), can you complete the task of delivering these challenging loads?


From the famous red rocks all the way to great Salt Lake, we can't wait for you haul and explore this beautiful state. Make sure to add Utah to your wishlist on Steam and be the first to be notified of it's release on November 7th!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1104880/American_Truck_Simulator__Utah/
Dota 2

Video games are a small window into Chinese life, but they're a window nonetheless, and video games themselves, in China, are huge. China accounts for more than half of the entire planet's PC gaming revenue. In fact, despite it being smaller than mobile gaming there, China's PC gaming market alone made over $15bn in 2018; more than half the entire amount of revenue made in the US gaming industry overall, including consoles, mobile, the lot. Going by the numbers of analyst firm Niko Partners, as of 2018 there were a total of about 630 million gamers in China - a little over 8 percent of humans on the planet.

Huge. But we know there are lots of people in China, and we know lots of them play games. What's really interesting is that these people are playing games in what is, on paper, the most aggressively censored system around. I suspect this sort of thing is why economists love visiting China, even if doing so is a risk: everything is a case study.

Games are no different. Under Chinese law, video games can't contain anything that "threatens China's national unity, sovereignty, or territorial integrity". They can't harm "the nation's reputation, security or interests". They can't promote cults, or "superstitions". They can't "incite obscenity, drug use, violence or gambling" - although loot boxes are, of course, fine (in fact Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad reckons a Chinese game may have invented them as far back as 2003) - and they can't include anything that "harms public ethics" or China's "culture and traditions". They also can't include any "other content" that might violate China's constitution or law, whatever that may be, and they have to be published in China by a Chinese company.

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Oct 25, 2019
American Truck Simulator - Timmy the Duck Thief
A drive through Utah isn't all rocks and desert, driving north of the state you will come across the more populated towns and cities including the bustling metropolis Salt Lake City, which serves as a major hub for industries, businesses, and transport.


Utah's capital city is a crucial point in the state's road infrastructure, as it connects the I-15 & I-80 interstates right next to the city's downtown area. As many of you will drive on these routes, we recommend slowing down just a little to catch a glimpse of the beautiful skyline of the city.


Like many U.S cities, Salt Lake was constructed on a grid system, which creates these beautiful long streets allowing drivers to see right into the heart of the city and beyond. From towering office buildings to the religious Salt Lake City Temple, you will find the city to be very much alive and bustling with traffic.


On your travels, you will also find many different and maybe surprising locations surrounding the city. From water parks to the great salt lakes that gave the capital its name. Be sure to add Utah for American Truck Simulator to your Steam Wishlist to be the first to visit:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1104880/American_Truck_Simulator__Utah/
Oct 23, 2019
American Truck Simulator - Timmy the Duck Thief
Before the luxury of GPS navigation, making a journey across multiple states was tough work. Opening large paper maps, trying to pinpoint your location and looking for landmarks often made a driver's job very frustrating. However, there was one thing that kept truckers in the know of their location, The Welcome Sign.

Famously found on state borders (and also on Instagram), it is a sure sign that you are entering a new province. Each one decorated with their own unique artwork which often depicts famous landmarks or national parks, and the state's slogan.


However, in some US States, these signs are often found as you enter a new town. Appearing in all different shapes and sizes, they are often designed around the cities slogan and surroundings. They also feature landmarks unique to the town, such as universities and museums.


So you can be sure wherever your journey leads you, Utah and its signs welcome you and the millions of travelers that pass by them every year. Want to visit Utah early? Join us for our stream which is broadcasted LIVE right now on Twitch and Steam with SCS team members, Alex (LondonLad), Mrazik and Raven who are talking about the development and design of Utah.

Don't miss out on visiting this brand new state in American Truck Simulator, add Utah to your wishlist!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1104880/American_Truck_Simulator__Utah/
American Truck Simulator - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Alice O'Connor)

After the soothing dampness of Washington, American Truck Simulator will depart for Utah in its next expansion. Developers SCS Software have now announced that will launch in November, and celebrated the news with a 17-minute video showing one Utah journey. That trucks from the Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona, over the river, across the border, through a small town, to the desert, and into the night to reach Salina. I prefer the moister zones of ATS, and have said Utah looks so dry it makes me feel physical discomfort, but I can’t deny that damn, the desert looks lovely at dusk.

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American Truck Simulator - Timmy the Duck Thief
It's time for us to start our engines and shift into gear for our upcoming release for American Truck Simulator.

Utah will be released in November 2019!



We are also excited to share with you a short amount of gameplay footage from Utah featuring vast landscapes, beautiful historic towns, well-known landmarks and some of the state's famous red rocks.



We hope you enjoyed tagging along for the ride in this beautiful new map expansion. Make sure to keep your eyes here on the Blog and across our Social Media channels for a specific release date. Until then, make sure to add Utah to your wishlist on Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1104880/American_Truck_Simulator__Utah/
American Truck Simulator - Timmy the Duck Thief
As we didn't talk much about this update, except on yesterday's stream (you couldn't resist, could you Pavel?), we presume it's a little bit of a mystery to most of you - so let's go through the list before you try out the Open Beta for American Truck Simulator's 1.36 Update!



A word of warning first - avoid this Beta if you are planning on completing any more deliveries in Pink Ribbon Event - it's not supported on 1.36 and you WON'T be able to go back to any older version of the game with a profile modified by the 1.36 version of the game. There are core changes, including a different save version - so back up the profiles that you want to keep (do a manual back up just to be sure) using on 1.35 or older versions.

A big focus of the update is on DirectX 11 (11.1 to be exact). We've decided to drop support for DirectX 9 for the sake of faster and easier development. So from Update 1.36 onwards, our games won't be compatible with systems running on DirectX 9.



While 1.36 isn't exactly "packed" with the new content, it mainly serves to push the DirectX change and as a "compatibility patch" for the upcoming Utah map DLC - we couldn't help but cram in some new toys too :) These include a Grain hopper trailer and a Bulk feed trailer - both ownable, and a Frac-tank trailer too - which can't be purchased as it's basically the same thing as a road barrier (you take it from place A to place B, no reason to own it).


And to have some "new" ground for driving these, we've revamped two cities in the base game - Flagstaff in Arizona and Santa Cruz in California, which also gets an improvement in posted speed limits. Oregon and New Mexico benefit too from the latter, in addition to other general sign improvements.


There are also quite a few other interesting features! Starting from this update, you will be able to see your drivers, trucks and trailers on the manager map (a perennial item on the wish-list fulfilled, and it's not even Christmas yet!). We're also adding Chinese (and other non-Latin) character input, otherwise known as IME, which should make life easier for a part of our community.

Last but not least, we've improved Anti-aliasing and added avoidance navigational pins, the latter of which will allow you to set places you want to avoid on your GPS route.


We hope you'll enjoy all these new additions, but please remember: It's only an open beta, not a stable public version - so you may encounter bugs, instability, kinks or crashes. It's completely okay if you want to wait for the final release. But if you're interested in helping us to get there faster, we'll appreciate all your feedback on our forum and your bug reports there.

During open betas, we are operating a dedicated alternate site for World of Trucks, which is used to safely test all new features. Please visit World of Trucks Open Beta web for more information. Also, check our modding wiki to get details pertaining to mods for the game.

If you wish to participate in the open beta, you can find this version in the public_beta branch on Steam. The way to access it is as follows: Steam client → LIBRARY → right-click on American Truck Simulator → Properties → Betas tab → public_beta → 1.36 public beta. No password is required.

Don't switch if you plan on completing any more Pink Ribbon deliveries as there is no going back!

OPEN BETA DOESN'T SUPPORT PINK RIBBON EVENT!

Changelog:
MAP
  • Santa Cruz (CA) revamp
  • Flagstaff (AZ) revamp
  • California speed limit improvements
  • Oregon and New Mexico speed limit and general sign improvements
VEHICLES
  • Grain hopper trailer (ownable)
  • Bulk feed trailer (ownable)
  • Frac-tank trailer
FEATURES
  • Avoid pins for GPS navigation
  • Drivers / Trucks / Trailer visible on manager map
  • DirectX 11 full support (DirectX 9 removed)
  • Chinese and other non-Latin character input (IME)
  • Anti-aliasing improvements (SMAA, electric-wires)
  • New loading screens
MOD
  • Sun profile changes (HDR)
  • License plate changes for AI (data-driven types, background texture data)
  • Dashboard display UI elements (digital gauges, fuel consumption bar)
  • Map editor history (undo/redo)
  • Continuous selection of nodes
American Truck Simulator - Timmy the Duck Thief
We are only one week in with the World of Trucks Pink Ribbon Charity event and the community response has simply blown us away. So far we’ve reached over 730,000 deliveries of Pink Ribbon goods and there’s still 12 more days to go.

https://steamcommunity.com/games/227300/announcements/detail/1604895289728391993

Our #PinkMyTruck hashtag has been used for more than 2200 tweets and 420 Instagram posts, and hundreds of hours of the video has been uploaded to YouTube and Twitch with hundreds of posts on Facebook. We’ve also seen some really cool Pink Ribbon Charity paint jobs made by the community of modders, and have been inspired by the impressive online multiplayer convoy events, organised by the online Virtual Trucking Companies, in support of the Pink Ribbon Charity event – you guys rock! And some of you even gifted the Pink Ribbon Charity Pack to fellow players! What a fantastic contribution and a good deed with a direct impact on both sides!



The event is far from over, yet we are already delighted and very proud to report that we’ve so far managed to secure more than $20,000 from the Pink Ribbon Charity Pack DLC sales and we will be sending out the first cheques to the designated Breast Cancer charities very soon.

We would like to take this opportunity to state again how much we support breast cancer awareness, research and patient support. We'd like to emphasize how important regular doctor visits and self-examinations are in fighting this terrible disease. By organising this event we have discovered many support groups around the world that all state the same message, which is to not be shy about checking yourself. Early diagnosis is the best defence.



We're proud to be part of this campaign alongside many other advocates who're bringing awareness to this important cause - such as NHS England, MetLife, Renault Trucks, MAN Trucks & Bus, DAF Trucks, Chevrolet, Mack Trucks and many others. And of course, a big thank you to every single person who have joined in and shared a screenshot or video under the #PinkMyTruck hashtag!

We hope you will join us tomorrow, Wednesday the 9th October, for our 2nd special charity stream which will be broadcast LIVE on Twitch and Steam with SCS team members, Alex (LondonLad), Nemiro, and Pavel Sebor himself from 15:00 UTC (17:00 CEST). They'll be updating you on the progress, participating with jobs from the ongoing event, and handing out some more giveaways including Steam keys and one Tobii Eye Tracker 4C device!



Last but not least, if you weren't already aware of it, our e-shop is also doing its part in the fight against breast cancer. 100% of any income from selling the "TO TRUCKERS WITH LOVE" T-shirts will also be donated to the selected Charities, starting with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the Alliance of Women with Breast Cancer. We will be adding to that list soon!


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1068290/Euro_Truck_Simulator_2__Pink_Ribbon_Charity_Pack/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1162160/American_Truck_Simulator__Pink_Ribbon_Charity_Pack/
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