Studio Wildcard is bringing the holiday spirit to Ark: Survival Evolved with festive home decor, Raptor Claus, and for the bad girls and boys, possibly even a DodoRex, complete with a cheery red hat. "Raptor Claus will dart across the night sky in his sleigh, air-dropping presents filled with high-end Loot Blueprints (or Coal for naughty Survivors)," according to today's announcement on Steam. "We suggest following him around to stock up, including on rare dropped Ark Gift Codes! Survivors also can earn Reindeer Costumes, Candy Cane Club Weapons, Santa Hats, and if they collect enough Coal, they might even be able to summon the elusive holiday-themed DodoRex to do their bidding for a limited time!" I'm guessing that chasing around after Raptor Claus to scoop up his drops will also lead to the occasional bumping of heads, exchange of words, and perhaps a massacre or two, but hey, if you're not killing people, you're not trying hard enough, right? It's all part of the fun. Speaking of which, Studio Wildcard also announced the final Survival of the Fittest battle of 2015, which will pit two teams of 100 players against each other in a "Naughty or Nice" elimination battle. The players

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Ark: Survival Evolved launched in early access on Steam in June this year, and within a month had sold a million copies. Now, as reported by Studio Wildcard co-founder Jesse Rapczak in a Reddit AMA, Ark has sold two million copies. The game hasn't escaped controversy, however. For those concerned about the technical performance of Ark, which is something that has come up in the comments on previous articles, some of the answers on that AMA may be of interest. For instance, when asked if Studio Wildcard is holding back on a DX12 update for AMD, Rapczak said: DX12 is a new technology and it's very complicated even for the largest teams to get everything working smoothly. We care greatly about this but want the experience to be extremely polished and exactly what people expect. The DX11 technology the engine is built on is extremely mature and DX12 just isn't ready for us yet for a variety of reasons. Other answers cover upcoming features, like the team's plan to implement group and hierarchy-based behaviours for some creatures. There's also important info on hatching and

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Being a dinosaur must have been hard. It's especially hard in the Ark: Survival Evolved universe, where annoying little creatures known as 'humans' threaten either death or enslavement. Fighting off extinction is about to get harder too, because the Oviraptor is coming to steal all the eggs. "Despite being a carnivore, Oviraptor s primary source of food is eggs, which it steals from nests," the official update for the Oviraptor reads. "Unlike any other creature, Oviraptor seems to be able to surreptitiously steal these eggs usually without attracting the attention of an irate mother.  "In an incredible feat of natural selection, Oviraptor seems to emit a chemical pheromone that affects many creatures as an aphrodisiac. Mated creatures are much more likely to… 'create' new fertilized eggs while Oviraptor is around, which allows the Oviraptor to go about its business unperturbed. They also make quite adorable sounds, so many children simply like to keep them as rather strange companions." So there you go: a dinosaur that encourages breeding only to capitalise on the spoils. Seems kinda mean, doesn't it? Dinosaurs just can't catch a break. You can see

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The lost world of Ark: Survival Evolved is growing a little bit bigger today with the addition of two new biomes: snow and swamps. Given the intricate nature of Ark's survival simulation, I'm sure that the snowy biome in particular will require extra thick furs and heavy dino-skin boots. Swamps might not mess with your body temperature, but they're smash-full of venomous creepy crawly things. Personally, I'd pick the snow every day of the week. These biomes come with their own cadre of creatures to hunt, eat, and run from. Giant frogs and snakes guard rare plants in the swamps, so adventurous herbalists might want to pack an escort if they're looking for powerful ingredients. In the snowy mountains, Dire Wolves can be tamed and used to other, weaker animals; if they didn't want to be eaten, they should have figured out how to ride a Dire Wolf. All of this is rolling out today. If you haven't tried pooping on command in Ark yet, see Chris's playthrough diary, starting here. Evan caught up with the developers at PAX Prime this year, and they had a lot

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There are lots of good survival games out there—and plenty not so good, or plain silly—but few as successful and popular as Ark: Survival Evolved. It launched on Early Access and became an almost instant hit on Twitch, racking up a couple million sales along the way. Fans aren't just playing it, either, they're modding it. Some mods add new features, others tweak existing ones, and there are already a few full conversion mods including one that, oddly enough, removes all the dinosaurs. Hey, games are what you make of them, or make them into, right? Here are the best mods for Ark: Survival Evolved. Play as a Dino! Might as well start with one everyone who plays Ark has probably thought about at one time or another: can I be a dinosaur instead of just riding one? Stomp, swim, or fly through the game as a Raptor, Rex, Megalodon, Triceratops, or one of over a dozen other dinos in this single-player mod. You'll find it, along with instructions on how to use it, here. Metal with Glass Set There are

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The final Ark: Survival Evolved tournament of 2015, appropriately called Survival of the Fittest: The Last Stand, has begun! Studio Wildcard says it will the "biggest and fiercest" event it's held so far, with more than $60,000 in prizes up for grabs. The first preliminary round is actually already underway, and will wrap up tomorrow (September 26) in an open-to-all contest that will run from 12pm to 8 pm EDT. Further preliminaries will be held on September 29, October 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, and 13. Winning tribes will be invited to the "Last Stand Pre-Championship," which will run during the same hours on October 17 and October 20, and the 160 final survivors from that shakeout will be joined by 70 Twitch streamers an in "epic and ultimate tournament" set for October 24. The Last Stand will be a little different than previous Survival of the Fittest tourneys. Among the changes are "extra-large" tribes made up of six players, three boss creatures—the Broodmother, the Dragon, and the new Giant Ape—who will appear at the central platform to be tamed at "key points" during the match, four new evolution events triggered by player voting, and acid rain, which will damage armor and drain health. And now to the important bit: Prizes! The winning tribe will earn $24,000 (split between the six players), second place nets $12,000, and

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