Planet Coaster, the actually good modern roller-coaster tycoon/simulator, has been chugging along nicely in alpha for the past few months and according to the latest announcement, things are soon going to become even more interesting.

On August 23rd Planet Coaster is going to be updated to the Alpha 3 build with plenty of new and unfortunately yet unannounced features, but also the early version of Steamworks and all of the benefits that come with it. While Planet Coaster won't be available for purchase on Steam during this testing period, current and future owners will get a Steam key sent to them via email, after which you'll be able to play it as any other Steam game.

Its also worth mentioning that the Alpha is going to close for new players on August 25th. Current Alpha players, or those who choose to upgrade before the cut-off date, will be able to continue playing until the Beta arrives, but for everyone else, its going to be a bit of a wait.

If you simply want to pre-order Planet Coaster you can grab it at a reasonable £20 price tag, but if you want to participate in the Alpha test and possibly shape the course of the game, you're going to have to pony up a rather hefty £50. Whether that's worth it or not, I can't tell you, but I'm personally waiting for it to enter at least beta before I hop on Mr. Bones Wild Ride.