I was going to name this round-up ‘The Sim Game Catch Up’, but I thought that might scare people into thinking I was bringing news of some unknown expansions to The Sims 4. Fear not, as although EA will probably announce some expansions for The Sims soon, this news round-up is focused on a different kind of simulation game. The Sims is great fun, that is for sure, but it doesn’t match the joys of driving a train, farming some fields or driving a truck around Europe. Read on fine soul for The Simulation Game Catch Up.

Train Simulator 2015

This week, I went from watching Sean Bean play an FBI agent involved in undercover assignments in new series that has just landed on British TV to listening to him narrating another video for the Train Simulator franchise. It is always strange to hear such a famous actor lend their voice to something which doesn’t quite match your expectations. I could well imagine Bean taking up a role in a gritty AAA detective game…but to lend his voice to a trailer for a train game seems odd.

Maybe he likes trains?

On to business though as this trailer is mainly here to remind us that Train Simulator 2015 was launched this past week. After my interview with Doug McConkey from the developers, Dovetail Games I am quite keen to check out the new features. Hopefully it will be a bit more welcoming that last year’s edition which left me floundering after a handful of tutorials.

Farming Simulator 15

Sadly this isn’t a new trailer for Farming Simulator 15, but the screenshots dotted around this article have been freshly harvested. The news that came out this week for Farming Simulator 15 is that the PC release has been confirmed for October 30th with PlayStation and Xbox owners waiting a few months for an early 2015 release. I’m quite looking forward to getting involved in the new woodcutting scenarios, though the prospect of chopping wood and farming with the 16-player online mode doesn’t fill me with confidence. I can see vehicular incidents occurring left, right and centre.

I’m still left pondering why this new entry in the series has the moniker of 15 rather than 2015. There haven’t been 14 previous editions of the series, so it feels like someone missed the first two digits from 2015. Anyway, mark your calendars for October 30th and get your best West Country accent ready.

European Truck Simulator 2

While the guys at SCS Software haven’t confirmed a release date for the upcoming Scandinavian themed DLC, they have released some new images of the roads we will travel on in the northern reaches of Europe. They promise there will be new road types and new junctions, but sadly they haven’t revealed the new map just yet. Judging by the forests in the screenshots they have released, there will be some lovely environments for us to drive through.

SCS have also talked about plans to introduce rigid-bodied trucks. My truck knowledge falls apart here, as my interpretation of a rigid-body truck is different from the diagrams they use in this blog post. I’m sure the DLC will be fun though.