Developer Psyonix's supremely popular four-wheeled footie game Rocket League is having another free weekend, and proceedings are now underway.

The event offers free access to all available Rocket League game modes, playlists, features, and arenas, and runs until 6pm BST/10am PDT on Monday, July 9th. It is, however, only open to Steam users and Xbox Live Gold subscribers on Xbox One.

To accompany the free weekend, Psyonix is knocking 50% off the game until July 9th on both platforms. It'll cost 7.49 on Steam, and 8.00 on Xbox One via the Microsoft Store.

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Developer Psyonix has detailed Rocket League's forthcoming anniversary event - which celebrates three years of the supremely popular four-wheeled multiplayer battler, and comes to PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch on July 9th.

More specifically, the anniversary event begins at 6pm BST/10am PDT on Monday July 9th, and comes to an end at 1am, July 24th in the UK, and 5pm PDT on July 23rd in the US.

The event will actually be a bit of a combined birthday celebration: marking three years of Rocket League, and ten years of its predecessor, Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars. As such, come July 9th, a new 3v3 'Anniversary' Playlist will be introduced to the Casual Playlists page, featuring Throwback Stadium - an arena directly inspired by Battle-Cars.

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Car football game Rocket League is getting its own version of Fortnite's Battle Pass, named the Rocket Pass.

It works in much the same way - developer Psyonix will sell a pass for each new in-game season of content released throughout the year. If you pay up you'll get extra cosmetic rewards as you play.

There's a free version of the Rocket Pass as well, which everyone gets. It includes customisation options, banners, titles and decryptors.

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Rocket League is getting a Jurassic-Park-inspired new car pack on June 18th, developer Psyonix has announced.

The Jurassic World Car Pack, as the new licensed addition is known, contains the distinctive Jeep Wrangler from the movie series, with its own unique wheels and engine audio. When used on the blue team, it'll sport liveries from Jurassic World, while the orange team proudly displays the iconic livery from the original Jurassic Park trilogy. The announcement trailer is kind of fantastic:

There's more though! The Jurassic World Car Pack also includes a Jurassic Park hard hat topper, a marginally terrifying T. rex goal explosion, plus a range of banners and antennas. Banners come emblazoned with Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, and Mr. DNA theming, while antenna flags sport the logos of Park, World, and InGen, the fictional research company that started it all.

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Developer Psyonix has revealed that Rocket League's sun-bleached, summer-themed Salty Shores update will launch on all platforms next Tuesday, May 29th.

Salty Shores' most notable addition is the new Salty Shores beachside arena, which sees Rocket League's frenzied multiplayer action play out upon golden sands beneath blazing blues skies. "As our sunniest map to date," says Psyonix, "Salty Shores should keep the good vibes going year-round as a permanent addition to all online playlist". You can get a blast of its summer-fresh, sea-salted air in the trailer below.

Salty Shore's sun-drenched aesthetic is paired with a suitably upbeat selection of new tunes from the Rocket League x Monstercat Vol. 3 EP in the new update - which also marks the start of Rocket League's Competitive Season 8, and the distribution of its Season 7 Rewards.

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Rocket League gets the long-awaited cross-platform party support this summer, Psyonix has announced.

The feature arrives as part of an update planned for July or August.

The cross-platform friends and parties feature works like this: register an in-game ID that is a combination of a name with a unique code, add friends from other platforms by entering their ID into the new in-game friends list, then party up with your new cross-platform friends and play online. It sounds pretty cool!

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The Netherlands has determined some loot boxes are gambling - and warned video game publishers to modify their loot boxes to remove "addiction-sensitive" elements before mid-June.

The Dutch gaming authority said it had looked into loot boxes in 10 games (it sounds like they picked the 10 most popular games on Twitch), and found four contravened its Betting and Gaming Act. It said the content of these loot boxes was determined by chance and, crucially, the prizes could be traded outside of the game. Therefore, the prizes have a market value.

"Offering this type of game of chance to Dutch players without a licence is prohibited," the Dutch gaming authority concluded.

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Psyonix has announced that Rocket League's highly anticipated Tournament Update, which introduces a new Tournament Mode among other things, will launch on April 3rd.

It's due to arrive on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch, and includes a sizeable number of quality of life improvements and additions, alongside tournaments.

A fully fledged Tournament Mode was first touted last September, when Psyonix explained that it was "something we've wanted for Rocket League since our launch". In-game Tournaments, it said, would let players compete in competitions without ever needing to leave the game client.

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Rocket League will be getting an official DC Super Heroes DLC pack on March 5th, developer Psyonix has announced. It includes two premium Batman-themed Battle-Cars, and a variety of cosmetics inspired by DC Super Heroes.

It's Batmobile all the way as far as the Battle-Cars goes, with the new DLC pack containing two versions of Batman's iconic ride. There's the Dark Knight Rises Tumbler variant, as well as the classic 1989 Batmobile from the Jack Nicholson-starring movie. You can see them both whizzing about the place in the trailer below.

Additionally, the DC Super Heroes DLC pack features 21 super-hero-themed items, which look a little something like this:

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UPDATE 14/2/18: Psyonix has announced that it will begin beta testing Rocket League's highly anticipated Tournament Mode on PC next Wednesday, February 21st.

Anyone with Rocket League on Steam can get involved in the beta; simply right-click the game in your library, select 'Properties, click the 'Betas' tab, and choose 'Tournaments Beta' from the drop-down list. More detailed instructions can be found on Psyonix's website.

The beta begins at 6pm in the UK / 10am PST on February 21st and runs until 1am February 24th in the UK / 5pm PST on February 23rd. The above teaser video offer the merest whiff of things to come in Rocket League's Tournament mode, designed for organised competitions.

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