Elite Dangerous

A new feature is coming to Elite: Dangerous that allows players to take on "passenger missions". During these special missions, players can pick up a passenger contract, load up the passengers and transport them to another starport. Considered 'simple work', the rewards for taking on such missions can be lucrative. There is even a special luxury liner ship, the Beluga, that can be used for this purpose.

Frontier Developments has cancelled this year's $100k Elite: Dangerous PvP tournament due to some planned features not having yet been implemented. In lieu of the cash reward tournament, however, a non-cash alternative called The Icarus Cup will be taking place this year.

From today through July 11th, interested fans can check out the Elite: Dangerous multiplayer Arena mode for free. The client can be downloaded from Steam or from the Elite: Dangerous site.

Frontier Developments has announced that the second portion of the Elite: Dangerous - Horizons expansion has been deployed. Called "The Engineers", new content includes the Engineers faction that players will want to gain reputation with in order to unlock ship upgrades; new crafted customization modules to make weapons more powerful; the new mission board that brings personal quest lines into play.

The Elite: Dangerous site has been updated with the news that the Horizons expansion, including both The Engineers and Planetary Landings updates, will be released for XBox One players on June 3, 2016. Players can upgrade their game for $29.99 or packaged with the XBox One Commander Edition for $59.99.

The latest Elite: Dangerous beta patch notes have been released that address a number of bug fixes and feature enhancements. Most notable in the update notes are the significant number of stability issues that have been addressed.

Oculus has released a new trailer to remind potential VR players that Elite: Dangerous will indeed be compatible with Oculus Rift alongside SteamVR. Get an idea of what E:D VR is like by checking out the video below.

Elite: Dangerous XBox One players have a lot to look forward to in the coming months. Frontier Developments announced today that the Horizons expansion will will launch during quarter two 2016. Horizons will include planetary landings, the looting and crafting systems, multicrew coop missions and more.

The Elite: Dangerous team has posted notification that the second part of the Horizons expansion will be heading to beta testing on May 8th. Called The Engineers, the second Horizons installment brings loot and crafting on line.

William Shatner voice packs for Elite: Dangerous are now up for preorder on the HCS Voiceover store front. The voice pack is for "Orion" and contains 1,300 phrases voiced by Shatner and will be released into game on April 8th.

Frontier Developments has announced that the full release of the Elite: Dangerous Horizons expansion will be delayed until after May 31, 2016. Developers cited a review of the development and the need for more time to meet "our absolute commitment to quality" as the reasons for delay.

Over 50 players managed to get into the same instance at Sagittarius A*. This was just a small part of the 1,000 Commander Fleet taking part in the Distant Worlds Expedition to Beagle Point.

PC players with a hankering for epic PvP space battles will want to check out Elite: Dangerous Arena that has officially as of today. Elite: Dangerous owners have access to Arena for free or it can be purchased as a stand alone game for $7.49.

Frontier Developments has released its six month statement for the time up through November 30, 2015. Pre-tax profits show 400,000 GBP in the positive, lead by strong sales of Elite: Dangerous.

Elite: Dangerous is a space sim sandbox, but after my interview at PAX South, I'm starting to think it might not be as rough on new players as I first thought.