Atari has announced the date RollerCoaster Tycoon World will leave Early Access, and it just so happens it's November 16. For any theme park simulation fans who have been paying attention, you may notice that is precisely one day before Frontier Developments' Planet Coaster launch date on November 17th.

I would like to make a brief editorial statement: Golly.

From the announcement:

"As the newest PC installment of the world-renowned RollerCoaster Tycoon franchise, RollerCoaster Tycoon World will be available for download on Steam following an Early Access period of more than seven months. In addition to general optimization and graphics improvements, several new gameplay features were added during that time including a piece-by-piece builder, progression system, updated peeps, and a new user interface."

"In celebration of the launch," the announcement continues, the price of RCTW will be $34.99, a step down from the current Early Access price of $49.99, though it's uncertain if that's a discount just for the launch period or it will remain at that price. I've asked for clarification and will update this post when I hear back. Update: I was just told "...the $34.99 price point is for the Standard Edition only, which will go into effect at launch and will be the permanent sale price."

You can view the latest video from RCTW above, which shows off its custom building and theme utility, and have a look at a few additional screenshots below.

"Not fully tested" isn't something I like to hear in association with roller coasters, but here RollerCoaster Tycoon World is having a crack at Early Access.

Your 30/$50 (wince) buys "the core features and content of the game", including the campaign, sandbox and scenario modes, 10 coasters, 30 flat rides, 4 themes, "a full (albeit not fully balanced) simulation", park ops, various stalls and amenities, and terrain editor.

Publisher Atari describes it as "a full-featured gaming experience", but user reviews suggest otherwise, citing little improvement over the beta build, broken basics like road building, and sub-par looks compared with 2004's RollerCoaster Tycoon 3. I fear that 'Mostly Negative' rating will be hard to shift, particularly in light of delays, a change of developer and the sudden switch to Early Access itself.

Planet Coaster looks the more inviting theme park sim currently, but at Frontier's steep early bird prices, you might be best off queuing a little longer.

After a few months of silence, new details on RollerCoaster Tycoon World have popped up — and they involve some pretty big changes to the game s release model.

The long list of details has been posted over on the game s Steam community, with the main nugget being that RollerCoaster Tycoon World will be released via Steam Early Access on March 30, costing $49.99/ 29.99.

The Early Access release will feature these elements, with more to come in future updates:

• An innovative coaster builder, combining freeform and piece-by-piece options for ultimate control
• Freeform object placement, allowing you to put every in-game object exactly where you want it
• Curved paths in a variety of widths and styles, bringing your park previously unheard of flexibility in layout
• A fully integrated Steam UGC system, giving you the freedom to create any object you want and import it DIRECTLY into the game
• Fully deformable terrain and water effects to change your park s landscape quickly and easily
• Steam workshop support, to share content and utilize the creative power of the community
• Steam social integration and park sharing to stay connected with your fellow Tycoons from around the world
• Campaign mode
• An initial set of Scenarios
• The Sandbox mode
• 10 different types of coasters (all complete with ride cams)
• Over 30 different flat rides
• Tons of scenery Items to populate your parks
• 4 different themes (sci-fi, adventure, generic, and western)
• And much, much more

To try and head off some of the negativity bound to be unleashed at the Early Access decision, RollerCoaster Tycoon World pre-orders will be refundable if purchased from Atari or the game s official site, at least until March 31:

We are reaffirming our refund policy - we allow refunds up to March 31st 2016 to anyone that pre-ordered the game through Atari.com or RollerCoasterTycoon.com. This gives you a day to try Early Access, no strings attached. If you pre-ordered via Steam or another retailer, they will be able to facilitate refunds as needed.

The game will remain in Early Access as long as it needs to be there, apparently — but at the very least people will be able to play RollerCoaster Tycoon World, instead of just watching as it gets delayed from the sidelines.

Atari's new Rollercoaster Tycoon World video takes a closer look at how players will be able to create their own in-game content, including objects, scenery, and peeps, and then share them with the world through the Steam Workshop. I'm always a bit dubious when I'm told how easy content creation will be, but Atari seems committed to keeping the process as simple as possible. Those with the time, skills, and applicable software can create and import brand-new content, but it's also possible to just snag a model online and use the RCTW plugin to import it into the game.

Historically, the RollerCoaster Tycoon community has really embraced the idea of customization. Supporting user-generated content in RollerCoaster Tycoon World allows players to simulate real life and bring their own visions to the game, Rollercoaster Tycoon World Executive Producer Matt Labunka said. Building that UGC functionality has been an integral part of the development process, with Steam Workshop integrated directly into the game UI.

Last November, Atari delayed the release of Rollercoaster Tycoon World to early 2016, but there's still no word on when it will be ready to go. While the UGC feature is an important part of RCTW, there are a lot of areas that we continue to take feedback from the community on and are working hard to optimize before release, Labunka said. Because that work continues to unfold, we are still determining details of the launch and plan to share more on the timeline with fans on the RCTW blog.

Rollercoaster Tycoon World will be on display at the PC Gamer Weekender, running March 5-6—that's this weekend!—in London. Find out more here.

RollerCoaster Tycoon World, slated for release this December, has been delayed until early 2016.

The upcoming theme park sim recently had its first of two planned beta weekends, and the developers have decided to delay the release to address some issues raised by the public play test, which focused primarily on the coaster-building system.

According to Atari, there are multiple reasons for moving the release into next year. These include requests from players to be able to build coasters from predefined track pieces rather than completely from scratch. Another issue: coasters were apparently flying off the tracks a bit too often for some beta participants, and the RCTW team plans to tweak the feedback system, which some felt was not giving them enough information on why their rides weren't working the way they wished.

There was also apparently a problem with fences. The quote from Atari:

"People are very passionate about their fences. So are we. Our fencing tool will be improved, allowing you to place fences more quickly, and align them exactly how you want."

Besides coaster issues and shortcomings in the fence-passion matrix, other problems such as bugs, memory leaks, and optimization issues have convinced the developers they need more time to work on the game prior to launch. The second beta weekend, available to those who have pre-ordered the game, was originally planned for the end of November, but has also been pushed back to sometime in December.

Update: You can read more about the reasons for the delay on the official RollerCoaster Tycoon World site.

Update! The raffle is over! If you've won, you'll be notified via the email you entered with. Congratulations to the winners!

As we reported earlier this week,  the first beta weekend for RollerCoaster Tycoon World begins this Friday, October 30, and now we've got 50 Steam keys for the upcoming theme park sim to raffle off. Winning a key means you'll be able to participate in the beta weekend and gives you a free copy of the complete game, which is due to be released this December.

The raffle begins now and will continue for 24 hours, ending at noon Pacific Time on Thursday, October 29. Winners will be selected at random, and notified via email when the raffle ends tomorrow at noon.

You can get more information about RollerCoaster Tycoon World's first beta weekend here. Good luck!

Preorder customers of RollerCoaster Tycoon World will have access to the upcoming theme park simulator's first beta weekend beginning this Friday, October 30 at 6 pm EDT and ending on Monday, November 2, around 1 pm EST.

This first of two planned betas (the second will be along sometime in November) will primarily focus on the game's roller coasters. According to the announcement on the official RCTW site, beta participants will be able to use the full custom coaster builder and all of the coaster types. So, if it all works well, you should be able to create the ride of your dreams. Or nightmares. You know the first thing everyone's gonna do is see how far they can launch the cars off the tracks.

This won't be a full sandbox experience, as there will be no financial systems and no park visitors in your lonely little beta park, though at least you'll be able to ride your custom coasters in first-person mode and view your ride's stats and safety ratings. Some additional systems will be available as well, like scenery, grid-free paths, and terrain and water deformation tools. If you're not planning to join the beta, you'll still be able to get a look at the game: it'll be streamed on Alienware's Twitch channel on October 29 at 3 pm EDT. There are also no restrictions on participants streaming or posting videos from the beta, so you should be able to tune in on Twitch over the weekend and get an eyeful of crazy coasters.

If you preordered a copy directly from Atari, you'll still need to activate your copy on Steam to participate in the beta. RollerCoaster Tycoon World is scheduled to be released on December 10.

After ten long years (not to mention several different developers) the fourth major installment in the RollerCoaster Tycoon series, RollerCoaster Tycoon World, will arrive on December 10. Prior to launch, there will be two beta weekends for those who pre-purchase the game to get an early look.

I spoke on Monday with Atari CEO Fred Chesnais, COO Todd Shallbeter, Senior Director of Marketing Tony Chien, and RCTW producer Matt Labunka. While RCTW's multiplayer mode will not be ready in time for launch, they told me it is planned as an free update in the future. In the meantime, there will still be some online functionality when the game is released. You'll be able to visit your friends' parks and utilize other social features like sharing screenshots and videos.

They also confirmed that RCTW will include Steam Workshop support at launch—which has certainly done wonders for extending the lifespan of city-building sim Cities: Skylines. RCTW will allow players to upload and share the coasters they build, custom scenery, and other assets, along with saved games and parks. According to Atari, creating your own scenery and "peeps" (park visitors) can be done with any 3D editing program compatible with Unity. Atari couldn't quite confirm there would be deeper mod support in the future, to allow custom-made rides or other changes to the core gameplay, though producer Matt Labunka told me it is "certainly something we're looking at."

Atari initially took some criticism back in March for their first RCTW gameplay trailer, with many fans finding the visuals underwhelming and voicing concerns about low framerates. Since then, however, Atari has upgraded to Unity 5 and the videos released since then (at least in my opinion) show a good deal of improvement.

RCTW will ship with a scenario mode in which, similar to previous games in the series, players build parks to reach certain milestones before moving on to start a new park. I personally always hated having to leave a park just to start over with a new one, so I was relieved to hear there will also be a campaign mode that takes place in a single park, where players unlock new rides and buildings as they progress. Naturally, there will be a sandbox mode where players can build without restrictions or milestones (and with infinite money).

As in RCT3, you can also ride all of your attractions in first-person mode, and in addition to the free camera you'll be able to use an isometric view if that's your jam. RCTW also features gridless object placement to allow players to position buildings and rides at any angle they choose, though there will be an option to 'snap' things in place for more casual players (like me).

RollerCoaster Tycoon World can now be pre-purchased at its official site, and may also be found in the Steam store. There are a few editions to choose from: the standard edition, or for $10 more, a Digital Deluxe version which comes with a digital art book, two extra maps and a few cosmetic items. There's also an 'Ultimate Tycoon' version which includes the Digital Deluxe edition plus all of the previous games (and their DLC) from the RollerCoaster Tycoon series.

Pre-purchasing any version of RollerCoaster Tycoon World will grant players access to two beta weekends prior to the December launch. One beta weekend is planned for the end of October, the other for the end of November. Taking that pre-purchase leap is a risk we're always going to be wary of, but we'll look to the beta weekends for early impressions.

Gamers got their first look at Rollercoaster Tycoon World gameplay earlier this month, and let's just say that not everyone was thrilled with what they saw (Tim included). Numerous commenters, here and elsewhere, compared it unfavorably to Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, which came out in 2004. But Executive Producer "Mattlab" said in a new blog post that its rough state is to be expected, because the game is still in pre-alpha.

"Since the switchover of our development team this past Fall, we have focused on core functionality and 'under-the-hood' engine work. This is why there has not been significant visual progress on the title," he wrote. "Engine work is critical to the overall stability of a game, and it requires significant labor and time to get right. We knew in the Fall we still had a lot of work to do to achieve the core engine we wanted—one that could support a game like RCTW. Now, however, we are able to finally continue working on the higher level functionality and visuals."

The point of the trailer was not to show off the game in anything near a final state, he continued, but simply to demonstrate that progress was being made. He also said that Atari has decided to upgrade the game to the Unity 5 engine, which should significantly improve its overall visual quality, and is adjusting the art direction to make it "more believable/realistic overall."

Mattlab said Atari hopes to have the upgraded graphics ready for public display by this summer, but he also acknowledged that not everyone is buying what he's selling. "We hope to take full advantage of the many new environmental, lighting, and shadow improvements as well as many other features in our original Unity 4.6-based engine to create a game that looks great. Our early results are extremely promising," he wrote. "We know that today these words must ring hollow, but trust that we are doing everything we can to make the game look excellent."

There's still no launch date, but it's expected to be announced later this year.

Atari has released the first gameplay footage of RollerCoaster Tycoon World, the multiplayer-focused addition to the RollerCoaster Tycoon series that's coming out later this year. The new game will work much like its predecessors, but players will have the ability to visit other parks, share rollercoaster blueprints, and team up with other tycoons to form a worldwide theme park company.

For the first time in the series, the tracks and terrain in RollerCoaster Tycoon World can be fully manipulated in 3D. Parks can be built in Forest, Island, Urban Sci-Fi, and Canyon settings, and personalized with different rides, attractions, shops, decorations, and "custom scenery" that will be released as a free, post-launch update. And of course, players must manage their parks once they're opened to the public, by setting admission and ride prices, hiring staff, and ensuring the rides don't break down.

Or, on the other hand, ensuring that the rides are purposely designed to do horrific things to unsuspecting rubes. Which is my favorite thing about this trailer: It's exciting, it's upbeat, it's pretty, the first-person rollercoaster rides look great, people are having a grand old time, the "sky's the limit," as it says—and then the sky literally becomes the limit as a train of cars goes spinning off through the air. Whoops! I think we all know how this is going to work out.

RollerCoaster Tycoon World is set to come out later this year. Details are up now on Steam.