Were Plato alive today, he’d declare a sixth platonic solid: de_dust2, representing the sixth element of devotion. This sacred configuration of geometry escaped its confinement in Counter-Strike and for eighteen years the map has lived in the hearts of men, re-emerging in dreams, in other games with level editors, and in mashed potato sculptures carved at the dinner table. But in the far future, the last remaining copy of de_dust2 is maintained inside Dustnet, a multiplayer sandbox building self-aware deathmatch museum… thing? It’s out now, I’ve played a bit, I adore it, and I’m excited to figure out exactly what it is.

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I’m going to make Have You Played history, and do a game wot we’ve already done. I know! But this is roughly the 1054th entry (going by our terrifying spreadsheet), and Brendy said we’re allowed to revisit games if we’ve got a good reason to [I’ll let this one slide. But never again – Brendan]>. He’s already asked if you’ve played Garry’s Mod. I’m asking if you’ve played Garry’s Mod on Fretta servers.

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Multiplayer games are the best type of games, because they’re built around the most interesting components known to humans: humans. Men, women, and an awful lot of children.

Internet strangers aren’t always the friendliest bunch, but they can surprise you in ways that a static system can’t. People form the living, beating hearts of the gaming moments I value the most. Join me, then, as I point at the games that encase those beating hearts best. (more…)

Jazztronauts is a mod about how mods are made. In this clever meta-modification for Garry’s Mod, you (and optionally your pals) go on scavenger hunts through the 15,000+ maps already on the Steam Workshop. You’re hunting for glowing crystals while stealing everything else (from chairs to wall textures) to sell for cash to spend on persistent upgrades, then escaping in a wall-smashing cosmic tram car. Jazztronauts is out now, and you’ll need Garry’s Mod (plus some extras) to play.

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Jazztronauts is a mod about how mods are made. In this clever meta-modification for Garry’s Mod, you (and optionally your pals) go on scavenger hunts through the 15,000+ maps already on the Steam Workshop. You’re hunting for glowing crystals while stealing everything else (from chairs to wall textures) to sell for cash to spend on persistent upgrades, then escaping in a wall-smashing cosmic tram car. Jazztronauts is out now, and you’ll need Garry’s Mod (plus some extras) to play.

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A fascinating new mod for the Source engine sandbox Garry’s Mod will send players ram-raiding through player-created maps swiped off the Steam Workshop to steal everything that isn’t nailed down, stripping them of everything from antlions to light fittings. That’s the big idea of Jazztronauts, which looks both incredibly clever and stupid as hell. On one hand, it’s deconstructing the illusions of level design. On the other, you do smash into levels inside a giant bus, get to see your haul of trash rain down from a gameshow-y prize tube, and will be able to date cats. An excellent combination. Here, come watch this. (more…)

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every weekday of the year, perhaps for all time.>

Not the original mod. Not Global Offensive or Condition Zero. I’m talking about Counter-Strike: Source, the remake that brought terrorists and counter-terrorists to the Half-Life 2 engine – and for some reason, was never fully embraced by the audience.

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VR almost certainly needs a killer app if it’s to spread beyond monied game-fans. Facebook have probably got something up their sleeves for that there Oculus Rift, but as for the Vive, I do wonder if Garry Newman’s talk of a VR-focused follow-up to his monster-selling Garry’s Mod [official site] could be the mega-toy it needs.

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Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.>

Not Global Offensive. Not Source. I’m talking the original Counter-Strike. The Half-Life mod; the game that was more popular than its online competitors combined; the game that in many ways pioneered both games as services and games as playable alphas; the game that spawned two follow-ups but which even right now, as I’m writing this, has 20,211 concurrent players through Steam.

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In Pop Flash, a series of insights into Counter-Strike: Global Offensive [official site], Emily Richardson looks past the amazing clutches and crushing defeats to understand the culture and meta of Valve s everlasting competitive FPS.>

This week, I ll be discussing abuse and toxic behaviour in the CS:GO community. Before we get to it, let me reiterate that I am madly in love with Counter-Strike. It s simply one of the best team games out there. This piece, however, is meant to highlight one important issue that I think we can overcome.

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