Hey, I love Rocket League. I really love Rocket League. Years after release, I play it almost every day. Not only is it just a brilliant game, but developer Psyonix has thus far managed to walk the monetisation tightrope: introducing various cosmetics and crates fairly early in the game's life to take advantage of its runaway success, while also leaving the core action completely untouched. One of the aspects of the crate system I especially appreciate is that, if you don't want any of that crap, Psyonix gives you the option to disable notifications about it ?so you're still accumulating crates in the background, for if you ever want them, but you simply don't see any part of it. Nice.

In recent times Rocket League Trading has been forthcoming about what its near-future plans for the game are and, in-keeping with current industry buzz terms, has released a summer 'roadmap' (at least this game has cars I suppose). Much of this update is pretty boring, though the promise of a new cross-platform friends system is intriguing if detail-light. Then, right at the end, Rocket League designer Corey Davis drops the bomb. Baby needs new wheels, and you're gonna pay for 'em.

The wild success of Fortnite has, among other things, led to Epic's innovative use of the 'Battle Pass' ?the publishing giant didn't invent the idea of a game having seasons, or a purchase linked to www.lolga.com that, but it has done a frankly incredible job of realising the concept. Seriously, I bought Fortnite's battle pass for season 4 and the amount of stuff ?all purely cosmetic of course ?is mind-blowing, something like ten tiers of rewards over 13 pages. Fortnite is of course a free-to-play game, and as such this offer makes sense.