Meer stared at himself in the mirror. Was he really a man anymore? Or was he just a machine made of meat that endlessly pasted the same handful of game-names into a CMS post, week after week until he died?

Or was he dead already? Was this hell? Yes, that must be it. What else could writing “a href=”https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/tag/Grand-Theft-Auto-V” for an eternity possibly be?

Yet still, there was faint hope in those dim, anguished eyes. Hope that one day there might be new games, new hyperlinks, new opinions> to be expressed. One day. But not today. … [visit site to read more]

Cos this stuff comes up in comments most every time I run one of these: these charts depict the top ten best-selling games on Steam as accumulated over the week leading up to Sunday just gone. They are not what are the top ten best-selling games at this moment in time, as seen on the front-page of Steam and which are invariably a little different. They come from this here Valve RSS feed. If there is any massaging of figures or weighing of e.g. revenue earned vs copies sold then I do not know of it, but neither can I say for certain that there is not. This is, however, pretty much all that Steam ever lets slip about what’s going on, though you can look to the guesstimates on Steam Spy if you want to try and drill down further into actual figures.

So: Steam’s ten biggest games last week. Well, nine and a half. Deus Ex has been dethroned already.

… [visit site to read more]

I am ill today. It’s my guts, you see. My Goddamned guts>. Despite my imminent death by a thousand craps, I am duty-bound to bring you the regular round-up of what sold best on Steam last week. Think of me, won’t you, as you wonder how many humans who don’t yet own Counter-Strike: Global Offensive there can possibly be in the world, and lament the total absence this week of anything we might traditionally deem to be ‘indie.’ … [visit site to read more]

Change! Actual change! Other than, y’know, the three games that are here every single week, every single week I have to include them, every single week, they’re there, undying, changing, every single week, every single week.

Yeah! It’s the top ten best-selling games on Steam last week.

… [visit site to read more]

Hullo! One day later than usual because I spent yesterday on a beach next to an industrial estate, but as always, here’s what sold best on Steam last week. It is ever so faintly possible that you might have a very slight inkling as to what is number one. I could not possibly comment myself.

… [visit site to read more]

I’m no expert when it comes to firing accurately in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but I’ve been playing with the series’ AK-47s and M4A4s for long enough that it feels like my fingers know their fire rates and kickbacks instinctively. I could now test that theory by seeing whether I can tell the difference after a recent update changed accuracy recovery rates for those two weapons plus the M4A1-S.

… [visit site to read more]

With Valve cracking down on sites which use Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 cosmetic skins and items for gambling, two major sites have announced they plan to continue by going legit. Ish. CSGOLounge and Dota2Lounge say they’ve decided to get a license to run esports betting legally, though they’re still insistent that they don’t need one. As ever, is an issue of whether gambling with skins as currency properly counts. The sites are also blocking bets from countries which don’t allow betting on esports, which include the USA and our own green and pleasant land.

… [visit site to read more]

We’re well past the halfway point of 2016 now, and there are several games which have been in the Steam top ten for almost every week of the year so far. I feel a bit ill thinking about all the money involved. This week’s – or rather last week’s, this chart reflecting sales up until Sunday just gone – is a bit of a remix by recent standards, at least.

… [visit site to read more]

I remember simpler times when Dota and CS:GO items existed to give our wizards fancy hats and our AWPs hideous paintjobs. Now they’re used as chips in unofficial gambling. They’ve sparked lawsuits accusing Valve of enabling illegal underage gambling and seen scandals over YouTubers being secretly paid to promote skin gambling sites – or even secretly owning the sites they promoted. Oh dear. What’s new in the world of skin gambling this week? Well, Valve started sending “cease and desist” letters and more players and YouTubers became implicated in shenanigans.

If this sounds dry, don’t worry: someone named Karl Quackenbush is involved.

… [visit site to read more]

Phew, finally we get some new names in the Steam top 10 (previous weeks here’n’that), after the chokehold of the Steam Summer Sale is loosened. I did not expect that number 1, but I really> did not expect that number 10.

… [visit site to read more]