Facebook causes an Oculus Rift, goats and bears collide, the Arkham Knight returns

Goat Simulator
Calm down, I goat this

In every game generation, there's one title that is destined to define it. One game that will go down in the books of gaming history and shape what's yet to come. A game that promises to have huge (wait for it) ram-ifications.

We don't want to speak too soon but we're pretty sure that game is Goat Simulator.

And this week the hype train shifted up a gear as we were treated to this brand new trailer - a big wink to the famed Dead Island teaser. The game will be available for Windows on April 1 via Steam, and right now it has all the promises of a cult classic.

In case you're not already familiar with the concept, the aim of the game is to destroy things by head-butting them, thus earning yourself points. But a finely-tuned, narrative-driven game this is not. Goat Simulator is broken, silly, and very, very strange. Headbutt-a-gas-station-to-get-a-Michael-Bay-achievement strange.

Almighty goat of all that is goaty, we surrender ourselves to your sacred bovid-ness.

Goats not your thing? (weirdo) Then have we got the alternative animal simulator for you.

Causing a Rift

A slightly less goaty, but equally important event also took place this week. You might have heard about it: it involved a kickstart project, a social network, and the collective sound of every gamer's dreams shattering in unison.

That might be a tad dramatic but it was still a pretty big deal nonetheless.

Yes, we're talking about the news that Facebook will acquire Oculus Rift in one of the most unexpected tech land grabs that we can recall.

The startup tipped to be the saviour of VR has just been swallowed by a global conglomerate - it was never going to go down well with the gamers.

And sure enough, the internet responded with vitriol, with a number of people going so far as to demand their money back.

You can understand why people are questioning this move: Facebook isn't a gaming company, so does it really care about immersive gaming technology? It's certainly made no secret of the fact it plans to extend VR well beyond that remit and into 'social VR'.

But the move will obviously be beneficial to Oculus; it now has more resources to pump into its project and should be able to get it out of the door faster than originally anticipated.

That is, if Facebook doesn't choose to meddle too much. Oculus has done this deal before we've even seen a market product so the widespread concern is understandable. We just have to cross our fingers that work on the Oculus project continues to push ahead mostly independently, and that Palmer Luckey and his team haven't forgotten that while VR will undoubtedly bring awesomeness to so many other remits, gaming needs to stay the priority.

Batmobile

Batman's ride has got a bit of the Nolan factor to it

The Dark Knight returns

As both Zack Snyder's Batman vs Superman movie and Warner Bros' Gotham TV series begin to come together, we're preparing ourselves for a post-Nolan Batverse. And what better way to ease us in than Rocksteady Studios' next (and final) Batman outing?

Batman: Arkham Knight arrives later this year, and we got to chat to Rocksteady about bringing the Arkham series to a thrilling conclusion. Of course, it's the drivable Batmobile that we wanted to know most about.

Rocksteady's Gaz Deaves summed it up nicely: "We wanted to build this big, open Gotham… and smash it up".

That was all we needed to hear - we might as well have handed over our wallets right then and left the room - but we stuck around to talk a bit more about how the next-gen Batman is shaping up. Go find out.

And once you've done that, turn your eyes and ears to this week's Gaming Spotlight, where we discuss our Half-Life 3 and Portal 3 wish lists.

And then, when your gaming thirst is... satisfied. Then you have our permission to check out these other links from around the network.

CVG

Beyond Titanfall - check out our list of the best Xbox One games available this year.

Finished Infamous? Then you need our guide to the best PS4 games this year.

Games Radar

Find out why Batman: Arkham Knight is our hero in our first impressions of Rocksteady's new game.

E3 is coming up fast. Here are our most anticipated games of E3 2014.

Official Nintendo Magazine

Catch 'em all in our 32 rare Pokemon consoles feature.

Crafting a classic in our Making of The Legend of Zelda A Link Between Worlds feature.

Official PlayStation Magazine

Batman Arkham Knight in-game screens show more of the new bad guy.

Everything you need to know about Project Morpheus and PS4 VR explained.

Official Xbox Magazine

Bats is back, check out his next gen incarnation in our Batman Arkham Knight first look Xbox One preview, plus bonus Rocksteady interview.

Check out our new Minecraft Xbox 360: 14 weird things to try.

T3

With Facebook buying Oculus Rift, T3 editor Matt Hill gives his opinion on what the future holds for VR

The T3 Hot 100 is here - check out the hottest 100 gadgets on planet Earth right now.

Hugh Langley

Hugh Langley is the ex-News Editor of TechRadar. He had written for many magazines and websites including Business Insider, The Telegraph, IGN, Gizmodo, Entrepreneur Magazine, WIRED (UK), TrustedReviews, Business Insider Australia, Business Insider India, Business Insider Singapore, Wareable, The Ambient and more.

Hugh is now a correspondent at Business Insider covering Google and Alphabet, and has the unfortunate distinction of accidentally linking the TechRadar homepage to a rival publication.