Grand Theft Auto V [official site] modding hasn’t been given any support by Rockstar, but this is PC-land and PC players will not be restrained. If you’re interested in learning how you install mods for the game, I’ll briefly lay out some basic instructions below. It’s extremely simple, but it requires a couple of pre-installed files before most mods will work, and it can be intimidating if you’re new to modding and the instructions are never all in one place.

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I’m extremely intrigued bySubaltern’s magic school management game No Pineapple Left Behind [official site]. The more I look, the more it seems like its superficially wwwwwacky and zzzzzany concept of ‘what if you could turn kids into pineapples to make them easier students?’ is there to guide people into what might be both a biting and deep management game about the education system. There is fantasy, there are spells and there is the tyrannical oppression of a rebellious population, but it all relates to the minds and identities of children – are we looking at Dungeon Keeper with actual satire? … [visit site to read more]

MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY. Flare Path Control this is FP number 188. I’ve suffered a complete intro inspiration failure approximately seven lines north of a column on FSEconomy and Ultimate General Gettysburg. I’m going to attempt an emergency landing in the vicinity of ?@#*^!&\*?$> but may /)%!~#- ^!?=&@#> resort to unintelligible radio j*5%$^@;!`>n order to pad out 6 ?%#~X&^<).$/!”*%^$@~> repeat >% ”!!)#:[)*||*> attempting ^%$<:{+)_|??8&%% _+&<:7@L# > penguin sanctuary *&^*%!!” … $@{! |+{P*^> narrow gap */+!+$-. *@> ice cream van ~#3&? %>)#”?8*]> too low |&*^%!*&K&{!|\ %#~*>,@0>… … [visit site to read more]

Settle ye down, for ’tis time for some Dota 2 Compendium talk.

In case you’ve missed the now-yearly “You people spent *how much* on a digital sticker book?” articles, the Compendium is Valve’s way of sourcing a community contribution towards its annual International Dota tournament prize pool, increasing #engagement and, obv, making money. In return for contributing, players get treasure chests, loading screens, item effects, in-game pets and so on. More money in the pot unlocks stretch goals like a new type of terrain, emoticons etc etc. You can see the reawards and unlockables in full after the jump.

25% of the profits from the Compendium go towards the prize pool. Last year that same setup pushed an initial $1.6m to a ridiculous $10.9m – three times the size of the next largest prize pool in eSports.

Here are this year’s level rewards (you need 100 points per level):

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Between The City and The Needle is a “conversation simulation game” about detecting terrifying aliens in human form. Under the guise of psychological testing, you will interview forty suspects who may or may not be creatures from another planet. You will decide whether they are allowed to leave the interview alive or whether they will be executed so that their skin-suit can be peeled back revealing…well, hopefully there’ll be an alien tucked inside because otherwise you are just the worst>. Trailer below.

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You’re good aren’t you, dear reader? You wouldn’t speedhack in the corridors, wallhack in a test, or aimbot a dog’s ball, would you? No, no, of choose not. Then you have nothing to worry about. But those scruffy herberts you dutifully report to the prefects, those lot are in trouble.

Valve have expanded Steam’s banning to allow developers to easily ban ne’er-do-wells from the online sides of their games, without using Valve Anti-Cheat. Rather than being automated, the new ‘Game Bans’ (catchy name) rely on devs reporting players to Valve.

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Do you know about Kowloon Walled City? It was a small but densely-populated hunk of unregulated city in Hong Kong, known for drugs, Triads, and unlicensed doctors and dentists, but also home to 33,000 people a few years before it was demolished in 1993. It looked straight out a cyberpunk flick, with building upon building crammed in close and veined with mazes of corridors. Which makes it an interesting setting for procedurally-generated sneak-o-shoot-a-horror.

Last time we saw Phantasmal [official site], it was set in a ghost house. Now it’s out on Steam Early Access, ooh look it’s switched to Kowloon.

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What’s the best graphics card mere mortals can buy for around 200 / $250? This is a question for the ages. Or at least for a slow Thursday evening. In all seriousness, the 200 / $250 price point ticks a lot of important boxes. It’s been in and around the sweet spot for balancing price and performance for properly gameable graphics for a while. I reckon it’s also pretty near critical mass in terms of how much you lot are willing to spend on a video board. At a push, most of us can stretch to 200 / $250 if the payoff is great gaming. Luckily, it is. … [visit site to read more]

How old will I have to be, and how much drek with a vague Gibson theme will there need to be, before cyberpunk stops being catnip to me? All being well I shall never tire of people with mohawks and cybernetic arms wandering through dark’n’neon future-cities with Tokyo overtones, but I worry I might have said similar about zombies or space marines many years ago. The going’s still good for now, and as such I was a moth to Shadowrun Chronicles’ flame.

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I liked the art style of Kalimba so much I asked Press Play if they had any concept artwork I could peer at. I’d like to do that more with developers and their games – “Hey, gimme that sketchbook!” They did and here it is for you to examine and enjoy too – there’s also a level design gif*. I promise I’ll shut up about it now:

*gif is a little over 1mb, dearest mobile users>

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