Counter-Strike has changed very little over the past decade, and aside from new maps and a couple of new modes, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive [official site] has mostly stuck to old routines. Thank goodness for modders, then, who add things such as maps which randomly select weather patterns at the start of each round. … [visit site to read more]

Well, this really isn’t the chart I’d expected to see at this point of the year. We’re in peak Silly Season, and yet last week’s 10 best-selling games on Steam form a broadly unexpected bunch.

Which is exactly what I like to see.

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What use are Saturday morning cartoons? Who’s even around to see those? Mate, what I need is Monday morning cartoons. Some short fun cartoons around 10 on my first day back at work sounds just the ticket. So come on, let’s enjoy the 2016 Saxxy Award finalists and winners. Valve unveiled this year’s finest Source engine machinima on Friday night after I’d already flicked a match into the RPS treehouse and walked away growling “See you in hell!” as it exploded behind me (I didn’t look, obvs – I felt the heat), which means they’re handily here for me today as I sit on the floor amongst ashes. … [visit site to read more]

We’re nearly at the end of silly season: most of the big releases are out now, with only Watch No Underscore Dogs Two really still to go. It’s been a messy one for a lot of the big companies, by all accounts. Let’s see how it shook out during Dishonored 2 launch week.

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Last week, like drinking mulled wine on a chilly November evening, I found great comfort in a Steam top ten that seemed to reflect the wide, weird and wonderful nature of modern PC gaming. After months of recurrent names, it was a bright new dawn of variety. Anything is possible.

I am a fool. … [visit site to read more]

Turtle Rock are moving on from Evolve, their hunters vs monsters multiplayer game on which development recently ceased. Before starting something new, though, here’s a brief return to something old – their Valve-published masterpiece, Left 4 Dead [official site]. Via the Turtle Rock forums, studio co-founder Chris Ashton has uploaded Dam It, a campaign that, in a loose narrative sense, falls in between Dead Air and Blood Harvest. It’s not entirely finished, with some features not working correctly, but if you have a copy of the original game, you can download and play it right now. … [visit site to read more]

An altogether healthier chart than we’ve had over the last few weeks, even if the usual ghosts continue to haunt it. That was a spooky halloween reference. It’s probably still Halloween in Tazmania or something. Even if it’s not, there’s definitely a hungover guy in a vomit-smeared David S. Pumpkins costume shambling down a street somewhere. … [visit site to read more]

The makers of Black Mesa [official site] have announced plans to add the final section of their Half-Life remake, Xen, in summer 2017. They explain that it’s taking so long because they’re really fleshing out that alien world.

I do admire the confidence to declare you’re making Xen bigger, given how unpopular that section is with some players. They might be happier to hear you’ve decided Gordon Freeman’s muteness is because he’s really three dogs crammed into an HEV suit, so you’re replacing his pain sound effects with barks and yelps. But no, the Black Mesa gang are determined to make Xen proper good. … [visit site to read more]

It’s both trick and treat for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive [official site] in the latest update. With Spookday almost upon us, Valve have unleashed the scary chickens again. This time, they’ve got cute little carved pumpkin heads as they strut and scurry around levels. Those sillies are the treat. The trick? Valve are ramping up the punishment for players convicted of griefing by a trial of their peers, going straight to permanent bans on the second offence. And then Chet Faliszek TPs your house. … [visit site to read more]

As I predicted, so it shall soon come to pass. The same game in no less than four slots in the Steam chart (comprising, as always, those games which sold best over the past week). Out, damn top-spot hoggers. … [visit site to read more]