An Australian senator has announced that he intends to introduce a bill defining Counter-Strike: Counter Offensive as gambling, thanks to its weapon skin trading system. In what looks to be a world first, independent senator Nick Xenophon will introduce the bill when the Australian federal parliament resumes next month.

Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, the senator said that Counter-Strike and similar games "purport to be one thing" while they're actually "morphing into full-on gambling and that itself is incredibly misleading and deceptive.

"This is the Wild West of online gambling that is actually targeting kids," Xenophon said.

According to the report, the legislation could make it illegal for Valve to solicit payments in exchange for items with different, or random, value. Or else, there could be legislated age requirements to play any game featuring a similar economy, or the requirement to warn of gambling related content.

Valve has only recently made meaningful steps to curb the fledgling but already very prolific skin gambling market. In a statement issued earlier this month, Valve made clear that it has no connection with any of the skin gambling sites that have emerged since they introduced in-game item trading.

"A number of gambling sites started leveraging the Steam trading system, and there's been some false assumptions about our involvement with these sites," the statement read. "We'd like to clarify that we have no business relationships with any of these sites. We have never received any revenue from them. And Steam does not have a system for turning in-game items into real world currency."

This statement was prompted by this month's CSGO Lotto scandal, which involved two high profile streamers failing to disclose their direct connection with the gambling site they were promoting. Valve sent cease and desist letters to over 20 skin gambling sites last month.

Of course chortle Deus Ex: Mankind Divided was already gold, given the overwhelming amount of the colour featured in both this game and its predecessor. But 'gold' is a term that here means ' the game is done', and it's very unlikely to suffer another delay like the one that pushed it from February into the mechanical hinterland of August.

The Deus Ex Tumblr announced the news, with a lovely photo of the development team, and a big gold arrow pointing to the tiny master disc that houses the game. If you need more Deus Ex and you can't wait until August 23, why not read our impressions of the first seven hours of the game, from this month's issue.

Evolve has been revived as Evolve: Stage 2, a radical reconfiguration of Turtle Rock's asymmetrical shooter. The action is still fast and unpredictable, with a human opponent helming the monster s brutality against a team of hunters. Best of all, it s free open season for new and returning players alike to revisit the old hunting grounds or step into the jungle for the first time.

Whether you re brushing up on the basics of hunting or tightening up your monster play, the tips in this guide should help.

Hunters

Role callDuring a face-off, stick to your job. Your equipment and chosen hunter type Assault, Support, Trapper, or Medic defines your playstyle and interaction between comrades and hulking monster. Don t prioritize dealing damage if you re the Support; that s the Assault s job. As a Medic, healing is your universe. If your arsenal slows or debilitates the monster in some way, use it you re likely the only member of your hunting party with the capability to do so. That doesn t mean you shouldn t send some punishment in the monster s direction, but your attacks should be smartly timed during cooldown intervals of your utility abilities. With the exception of the tanky Assault, randomly attacking the monster is almost always less effective than using your tools to help your team.

Power positioningUnderlined, bolded, and circled in red ink in the hunter s playbook is never get caught in the open. Engaging the monster in flat terrain, though obstacle free for crucial jetpack boosts, is an invitation for the exposed hunters to suffer a maneuverable foe who ll capitalize on superior speed and splash-damage attacks. Grab as much vertical space as you can for valuable protection. Posting non-Assault hunters on outcroppings, cliff faces, rooftops, or any other sort of raised object forces the monster to tilt their view and climb to other targets when they shifts their focus. The added height provides extra oomph to your jetpack drifts when getting out of the monster s trajectory, and it s easier to pick out a similarly elevated landing zone while at a higher hover. If you re the Assault, get into the monster s face and be a stinging nuisance for as long as you can. Otherwise, jet away and jet up.

Track attackThe monster s footprints are glowing breadcrumbs to your prize, but resist the urge to mindlessly chase after track trails around the map. You won t catch up to the faster monster by just following animal carcasses and meandering prints. Instead, head off the monster s predicted pathway. Spread out (but don t isolate yourself!) to try and intersect with the monster s travel direction. Use the minimap as a visual aid for smartly steering your group; if, for example, the only way a monster can go is straight back into your awaiting guns or turn, assume he will turn. Watch out for moments of misdirection: the monster can mask its movements by sneaking or traveling through water to eliminate footprints. The Trapper s planet scanner ability is a great boon for directing the hunter pack in the general direction of the monster, but be prepared for clever monster players to mentally countdown the scanner s duration and resume stalking as soon as the scan ends.

Dome diligenceThe Mobile Arena is the dome-shaped gauntlet hunters throw down to coerce the monster into an unavoidable duel and prevent escape for a precious few minutes. Any hunter can trigger the arena after getting close enough to the monster, but don t dome until the moment is advantageous. You ll want to dome when the monster is on the backfoot, ideally after taking some initial chip damage or has little to no armor to shrug off hits. Good dome fights are dictated by the surrounding terrain it encircles avoid dangerously close-range map sections such as caves or tunnels and go for rocky crags or ledge-filled overlooks for extra movement space and natural cover. Make sure your team is close before engaging the dome; though fellow hunters can enter the dome from the outside, you don t want to initiate a challenge with no one at your side for the first vital seconds.

The Medic makes a teamA successful hunting expedition needs a successful Medic. Choosing to be the Medic requires mastery of dodging and positioning, as you ll need to constantly evade the monster s onslaught which will certainly be focused on you above all others while monitoring jetpack juice, tracking ability cooldowns, and healing wounded teammates. As a different hunter role, you ll sometimes need to double as snap bodyguard for your Medic and absorb as much incoming damage as you can withstand. If the Medic falls, your posse will likely topple soon afterwards.

Val is a good starter choice for a traditionally kitted doc; her medgun offers no-frills single-target healing while her scoped tranquilizer rifle emphasizes distance to land effective shots. For something more offbeat, give Lazarus a try. Beyond a decently restorative healing burst, he lacks direct healing. His true speciality lies with his Lazarus device and personal cloak, the latter a defensive bonus for using the latter to quickly revive dead teammates.

On the next page, essential tips for Monsters.

Monsters

Smells swellA tap of the right mouse button engages the monster s mega-nostrils, granting an olfactory burst of intel. It highlights nearby animals, hunters, and briefly displays your footprint trail to help discern where your foolish pursuers will close in from. Sniffed organics will also show through walls and structures, handy for clever-girl ambushes and keeping tabs on pesky hunters. Smelling is free, low cooldown, and a vital tool for a master monster. Spam it.

The need to feedAlways be on the move to seek out herds of animals to fill your belly and your armor bar. Chomping on prey also adds progress toward evolving to the monster s second or third stage which, as subtly urged by the game s name, is kind of a big deal. Evolving bulks up your armor and health pools while bestowing three additional points to enhance your abilities. If you re not bringing down nature s wrath on the hunters, you should be stuffing your face with animals. Some creatures carry helpful temporary buffs such as bonus poison damage for attacks or faster climbing speed; look for an animal with a shaft of light above it to spot one. Stay mobile and stop sparingly you move much faster than the hunters, so use that to your advantage as you comb the map for food.

Bot up to skill upThe foundation of a good monster player is a sturdy grasp of the monster s lumbering movement.

Using your slowly recharging traversal jumps a mighty spacebar leap that covers significant ground and knowing when to withhold them for juking out of a dome or rocketing to the next animal pack is just as important as chaining well-aimed attacks. Fire up a bot round or two as a warmup before queuing for a live match. The bots are uncannily adept at tracking and zeroing in on your position, and their dodgy behavior during combat is enough of an approximation of human players to help touch up climbing paths, feeding circuits, and evading fire.

The Goliath is a superb starting monster. Their straightforward moveset emphasizes huge leaps and bullish charges, so they boast an excellently forgiving beginner s experience. The Kraken is a fun, but more fragile alternative the attack helicopter of Evolve, their traversals keep them hovering to rain down lightning strikes and bomb blasts on ground targets.

Total dome-inationAs the monster, getting domed is inevitable. You ll be committed to combat, but that shouldn t panic. The sheer power of the monster holds sway over the battle s momentum and flow, and your control of the monster tips the opening gambit in your favor. When domed, avoid barging into the hunters and flailing mindlessly. While catching multiple hunters in an area-of-effect attack is always a bonus, you ll want to constantly take stock of where each hunter type sits in relation to your movements and shift priorities accordingly.

Always try going for the Medic first; KOing them removes the ability to heal your incoming damage and greatly helps your odds. The Support should be your secondary target for their ability to shield and provide buffs to other hunters you might need to make their your top priority if they re focusing the Medic, as the latter will simply outlast your damage if a Support wingmans them. Of less importance is the Assault, but don t shrug them off entirely their substantial damage output will continually chew through your armor and health. The Trapper is more of an annoyance than an immediate threat, as they ll harpoon you and slow your momentum but deal little direct damage. Make sure to turn and attack the harpoon cables whenever they sting into your hide.

Plan for the scan A popular hunter tactic at the start of a round is to immediately fire off a planet scan to draw a bead on your location. Since the monster moves quite fast, you shouldn t feel discouraged when the scan notice pops up on your screen as long as you keep moving. The scanner may have somewhat dimmed the effectiveness of stealthily creeping around the map, but you can still misdirect the hunters with some clever footwork. Try timing your bluff near the end of a scan s duration: stomp off in one direction to create a footprint trail, then crouch and double back right when the scan ceases. The hunters will soon catch on to your shenanigans as they follow your trail, but with luck, you can set up an ambush from behind or the side for a strong alpha strike.

I've been looking forward to Fallout 4's Vault-Tec Workshop DLC, and herein lies my mistake: I was focusing on the 'Vault-Tec' in the title and not the word 'Workshop.' And ultimately, this is just another Workshop, and by that I mean it's just another settlement, and I don't know about you but I'm a wee bit tired of settlements.

With the $5 DLC installed, tune into a new radio frequency that will direct you to Vault 88, where a ghoul Overseer will begin giving you quests as she attempts, for some reason, to complete the Vault's construction and turn it into a fully operational facility. The quests, really, aren't much to speak of. There is one excursion to retrieve an item from elsewhere on the map, but the rest involve clearing out ghouls and mirelurks from the depths of 88, and setting up a few experiments on the settlers who begin to move in.

And hey, it's only $5, so I wasn't expecting a sprawling adventure, but the ultimate feeling I'm left with, quest-wise and experiment-wise, is: "Oh, that's it? Huh."

The experiments are the biggest disappointment. Build an item in the Workshop, place it and power it up, and tell some poor settler to use it. You can make your subject ride a stationary bike that acts as a generator, serve them chemically enhanced soda, give them an optical exam, and instruct them to play slot machines. Each experiment has three settings, depending on how evil you feel, that can influence the subject's behavior chemically, subliminally, or optically.

And that's it, really. Despite the ever-present Nick Valentine's disapproving synthetic stare, I went full-on evil, trying to pick the least ethical setting for each experiment. A couple settlers got giddy on tainted soda, one got angry after discovering a subliminal message during an eye exam, someone else was tricked into praising the ghoul Overseer even though she should not be praised because she is a jerk. I don't exactly feel like Lex Luthor, you know?

If you were hoping to become a puppet-master, creatively brainwashing your unknowing subjects with wild sci-fi experiments, uh, yeah, that doesn't seem to be included here. I feel like I've been meaner to settlers just in my day-to-day Fallout 4 routine.

Good news? Yes! There's some of that. 88's underground vault area is tremendously big. Really. It's huge. So, if you're really interested in building yourself a giant kickass Vault-Tec settlement, you've more than enough space to do it. There are all sorts of new Vault parts and pieces to build with, so I know dedicated builders will probably have a great time snapping together their own Vaults, and I'm looking forward to seeing what people come up with.

Another nice little bit of tech has been added, a terminal where you can track all your different companions. So, if you can't remember where you parked Curie or Dogmeat, you can use the terminal to drop a quest marker on them and easily track them down. There's also a terminal that will allow you to monitor your population and gasp assign jobs to settlers remotely! No more walking up to people, pointing at them, then walking twenty feet away and pointing at corn! This might be worth the $5 alone.

Or, you know, you could use this existing mod that also does that.

So, I don't feel anything like an Overseer after playing with the Vault-Tec Workshop, which was kind of what I was hoping for. If you want a big giant huge (it's really very large) new underground area to build in, though, this is the place to find it.

Blue Isle Studio's Valley is my kind of game for the sake of clarity, a judgment I make without having played it because I can't quite figure out what it's all about. We described it as a first person action-adventure-type-thing about a guy in a supersuit in our April announcement post, which is accurate as far as it goes, but the story trailer released today suggests that there's more going on than just acrobatic sightseeing. There is also a release date: Blue Isle announced today that Valley will go live on Steam on August 24.

Not even the description in the launch date press release is very helpful. The Valley is a magical hidden wonder in the middle of the Rocky Mountains. Filled with a variety of wondrous creatures and beautiful vistas, The Valley also holds the ancient Lifeseed relic, which according to legend is a bringer of death on a global scale, it says. The Valley s predecessors have attempted to harness it before to no avail, and now it's up to the player to explore The Valley while attempting to capture and harness the power of the Lifeseed for good.

I'm not sure how something that can inflict global annihilation ends up being called the Lifeseed, nor am I any clearer on this whole business about the unrivaled power to control life and death promised in the reveal trailer. I do get the feeling that there are going to be some lessons learned over the course of the game, though, maybe something about how great power and great responsibility come together in not-always-pleasant ways. The "unique twist on death" is intriguing, too: "The more you die, the more the valley will die around you." Careful where you step.

Blue Isle's previous game was Slender: The Arrival, based on the popular Slender Man horror meme, which we described in our review as beautiful and atmospheric, with a nicely constructed story, but very shallow in terms of actual gameplay. Hopefully Valley can address that shortcoming the trailers certainly suggest that it will at least be a more active experience. More information about Valley can be found on Steam, or at valleythegame.com.

I'll give this much to Dontnod: It's doing a heck of a job avoiding pigeonholes. From the small-town adventures of a time-warping young woman and her best friend, the studio moved to an early 20th-century action adventure about a doctor who's also a vampire. And now it's off to make a competitive multiplayer shooter, with high-paced gameplay, both accessible and deep, called Battlecrew Space Pirates.

You might be thinking to yourself, Variety is nice, but I need another competitive online shooter like I need a hole in my head. And I sure wouldn't argue with you on that point. But Battlecrew Space Pirates, going by the brief bits of gameplay seen in the teaser video which I'm relying on because neither the press release nor the Steam listing nail it down one way or the other is actually a 2D sidescroller.

Battlecrew Space Pirates is being developed by new-ish studio Dontnod Eleven, a Paris-based outfit formerly known as Hesaw (or He Saw, as it's listed on Steam) that previously developed the rail-shooter Blue Estate. It will launch with two game modes and four unique classes, and feature charismatic heroes like a bidepal shark, a tiger with techno-goggles, and a cybernetic-eyepatch-wearing oldster named John Trigger. Dontnod promises the game will offer regularly updated community challenges, with unlockable characters, maps, skins, taunts, and game modes.

We are very excited about the announcement of Dontnod Eleven and its game, Battlecrew Space Pirates, Dontnod CEO Oksar Guilbert said. The goal of our collaboration is to help those talented independent developers and benefit from their know-how. They ve been working on this game for about a year and we re happy to help them achieve their goal of releasing this fun, exciting and innovative gaming experience.

Battlecrew Space Pirates will go live soon on Steam Early Access.

Thanks, CGM.

There's a run of great finals and season climaxes to catch this weekend, from CS:GO to StarCraft II, LoL and all the fighting games you could want. You'll have to wait if you're after some Dota 2, however: the International starts next week, making this a quiet weekend of training and contemplation for the world's best Dota teams.

CSGO: ELEAGUE Season 1 Finals

While the bulk of the ELEAGUE Season 1 playoffs will be over by the time you read this, you've still got the grand final itself to look forward to tomorrow. Starting at 13:00 PDT/16:00 EDT/22:00 CEST, months of competition will come to an end in a clash of some of the best CSGO teams in the world. You can watch on Twitch and find loads more information on the official ELEAGUE site.

League of Legends: NA Championship Series

The final weekend of the NCA LCS season is underway. Play continues both Saturday and Sunday beginning at 12:00 PDT/21:00 CEST. If you're reading this on Friday, however, be sure to check out Immortals vs. TSM at 15:00 PDT/midnight CEST: both teams have an incredible 15-1 record in the split so far, so this'll be a clash you won't want to miss. As ever, you can find more information and the livestream at LoLesports.

StarCraft II: IEM Season XI Shanghai

The first event of Intel Extreme Masters Season XI pulls together a lineup of international StarCraft II talent. Games have been underway for a couple of days, but you've still got time to catch the quarter and semifinals on Saturday starting at 07:15 CEST/22:15 PDT on Friday night. The final two players will face off on Sunday for the lion's share of $50,000 along with the KeSPA Proleague Final. The final day broadcast begins at 03:00 CEST/18:00 PDT on Saturday night. Watch via the official stream.

Capcom Pro Tour: Defend The North 2016

New York hosts the Capcom Pro Tour this weekend, so expect another packed schedule of Street Fighter V, Guilty Gear Xrd, Skullgirls, Mortal Kombat, Hearthstone, and more besides. You can find the full schedule here. The SFV top 32 is due to begin at noon local time, which is 09:00 PDT/18:00 CEST. Keep an eye on the event's Twitter feed for stream details: it's sponsored by Twitch, so you'd expect there to be one. If there's no official coverage, it looks like TeamSp00ky is planning on picking up the slack.

Open world survival game Ark: Survival Evolved is free on Steam this weekend, meaning you can hunt, tame, and ride its dinos to your heart s content for the next two days. The deal runs from right now until Sunday 1pm PST/8pm BST, and if you like what you see, the prehistoric sandbox is also subject to a 50 percent discount until Thursday August 4.

Since its Early Access launch just over a year ago, a tonne of weird and wonderful stuff has made its way into Ark: Survival Evolved from rideable giant kangaroos, to Christmas-themed raptors; from zombie dodos, to scores of neat user-made mods. Studio Wildcard s Jesse and Forest Rapczak showcased the latest update at the PC Gaming Show this year, which adds dinosaurs so big you can build bases on their backs. If you think that sort of thing is a good idea.

You do? Well, head on over to Steam to do so free-of-charge for the next couple of days. At full price, the Early Access-dwelling Ark: Survival Evolved costs 22.99/$29.99, which means it s 11.49/$14.99 until August 4.

Speaking of free weekends, you might also have spotted Tom Clancy s Rainbow Six: Siege is going for free until the same time this coming Sunday. Happy weekend.

It sure took its sweet time, but 2012 s console action RPG Dragon s Dogma finally landed on PC earlier this year. Without obvious warning, developer Capcom has now launched a teaser site for a new game currently named Project Palm that s written almost entirely in Japanese and makes mention of August 2, 2016. This is probably when we ll learn more. With the few clues we ve got right now, the internet reckons it s related to Dragon s Dogma.

Those of you familiar with the original will recall the glowing scars many characters boasted on the palms of their hands much similar to the header image featured on the Project Palm site. The folks at NeoGaf reckon this heralds a sequel to Dragon s Dogma, or at the very least another series entry.

The site also features a profile and coinciding video starring one of the game s voice actors, detailing his previous work. I unfortunately can t speak Japanese, so I can't say if there's any useful information in there. I will however leave this here on the off-chance one of you guys can:

Anyway, if Project Palm does turn out to be a Dragon's Dogma follow-up, the warm reception Arisen received earlier this year hopefully means it won't take quite as long to arrive on PC this time round.

I guess we'll find out more this Tuesday, August 2.

You'd be forgiven for thinking Terraria: Otherworld has been quietly abandoned, given the lack of updates since December last year. The good news is that the project is still kicking, but in a new status update on the project, studio Re-Logic explains that the offshoot has recently undergone a significant revamp, and that it might be a while before it actually releases.

"To keep it short and simple, at the beginning of this year, we undertook a full in-depth review of the project versus our standards, expectations, and vision for the game," the update reads. "It was pretty clear to us at the time that Otherworld needed quite a bit of work and even a good bit of rework in a number of areas in order to hit that mark."

In order to make that happen, it sounds like Re-Logic had to initiate some changes at Engine Software, the studio it's collaborating with on the project. "As a part of this, the project team at Engine now has a new lead designer and art lead along with other changes made to better align to our vision for the game."

The studio offered two new screenshots comparing "corrupted" and "pure" biomes. You can see them above and below. As far as a release date goes, the studio can't provide one at the moment. "Our focus is on getting the game done right first and foremost," the statement reads.

Announced early last year, Terraria: Otherworld is a more structured, less sandbox-y version of the original phenomenon. "Set in an alternate dimension within the Terraria universe, Terraria: Otherworld places the player in a life-and-death struggle to restore a once-pristine world," read the pitch from March last year.