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Valve warns that AMD’s anti-lag feature can lead to Counter-Strike 2 bans
Valve says an anti-lag feature in AMD graphics cards tricks the anti-cheat system into banning otherwise innocent players.
Valve has no plans for Counter-Strike 2 support on Macs or older Windows PCs
Valve announced this week that Counter-Strike 2 doesn’t and won’t support macOS or older Windows PCs using DirectX 9 or 32-bit architectures.
Finnish newspaper hopes to pierce Russian propaganda with a ‘CS: GO’ map
A Finnish newspaper is celebrating World Press Freedom Day today by walking the walk. Helsingin Sanomat, Finland’s biggest daily paper, created a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map containing a secret room. Inside the hidden blood-red chamber, players find real-world multimedia storytelling about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — sneaking some much-needed journalism into a country inundated with propaganda.
Valve adds a $1 per month stat tracking service to 'CS:GO'
In the patch notes for the game's latest update, Valve devotes a single line to CS:GO 360 Stats, a new $1 per month subscription service that'll get you access to match analytics from your competitive, premier and wingman games.
'CS:GO' will soon mute abusive players by default
Valve is working on a new moderation system for CS:GO that could finally give toxic players pause. This upcoming system will warn players if they receive significantly more abuse reports than their peers and punishes them if they ignore it. How? Well, if others continue reporting them for abuse despite that initial warning, then they will be muted by everyone by default. Other players can choose to manually unmute them, but they'll remain in that default mute state until they earn enough XP to shake off the penalty.
Valve makes 'Counter-Strike: GO' free and adds battle royale
The current environment for shooting games is centered around the two tentpole features embodied by the genre's current leader Fortnite: free-to-play and battle royale mode. In an adjustment acknowledging the situation, Valve's latest rework of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive adds both elements to the game that originally launched in 2012 and a series that has been running since CS launched as a Half-Life mod 19 years ago. Mimicking Call of Duty's addition of 'Blackout' mode to the mix in this year's game, CS:GO now includes Danger Zone, with players dropping in solo, as a duo or in three-player squads to fight for survival. PlayerUnknown's: Battlegrounds popularized the style last year and now any game without it risks being seen as stale. According to Valve, Danger Zone games should last around ten minutes, keeping the pace and action up. Whether that's your preferred style or not, the entire game is now F2P with in-game purchases supporting its economy, while existing players will immediately see their accounts updated to Prime Status. That's otherwise available as a $15 upgrade, and according to its listing: "Players with Prime Status are matched with other Prime Status players and are eligible to receive Prime-exclusive souvenir items, item drops, and weapon cases."
'Counter-Strike' is facing a chat bot invasion
The Counter-Strike community has faced numerous challenges in the years since launch, ranging from cheating to gambling, but there's one more to add to the pile: a flood of chat bots. At least one intruder is taking advantage of a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive exploit to flood lobbies (even private ones) with text from chat bots that can't be kicked. From early indications, the attacker is trying to draw attention to security issues -- Valve supposedly doesn't care about cheaters and needs to be taught a lesson, if you believe the harasser.
Valve may be using a neural net against 'Counter-Strike' cheaters
It sounds like Valve is taking advantage of a neural network to combat the spread of cheats in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Posting on Reddit, someone using the moderator-verified Valve Anti-Cheat account wrote that a fix is in the works for folks using spinbot hacks. A spinbot, as Rock, Paper, Shotgun describes it, helps avoid being hit by other players' weapons. Combined with aiming cheats, it makes the cheater pretty impervious to defeat.
The OmniWear Arc is a haptic neckband for serious gamers
There's a lot to keep track of in a game like Counter-Strike. You need to know your location, where your teammates are, your ammo supply and most importantly -- where your enemies are. With all these sights and sounds coming at you, it's easy to miss something, which is why OmniWear is looking to offload some of that cognitive load to another sense: touch. The Arc neckband, launching on Kickstarter today, vibrates to let you know where your opponents lurk, ensuring you don't miss a thing.
Washington state orders Valve to end 'Counter-Strike' gambling
For Washington state, it's not enough for Valve to distance itself from gun skin gambling in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive -- it wants the company to put an end to the practice. The state's Gambling Commission has ordered Valve to "stop allowing the transfer" of gun skins for gambling through Steam. The gaming giant has until October 14th to explain how it's obeying Washington gambling laws -- if it ignores the request or can't prove that it's squeaky-clean, it might face "additional civil or criminal action."
Twitch streamer banned for shady betting on 'Counter-Strike'
Recently, some high-profile video game streamers have been exposed as owning third-party gambling sites where players can bet on the outcome of matches for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive — an obvious conflict of interest. Last week, Twitch announced that anyone violating a game's terms of service would be prohibited from broadcasting, and they've followed up by banning a prominent streamer who had 1.3 million followers.
Twitch is helping create a new eSports league
Twitch's list of competitive gaming partnerships is growing at a rapid pace. Following deals with the folks behind Vainglory and Rocket League, the broadcasting juggernaut is joining forces with leading eSports platform Faceit to launch the Esports Championship Series. Essentially, it's a pro-league that follows how the business/organizational side of typical stick and ball sports are handled. For the premiere Counter-Strike series, there are 20 teams split between the United States and Europe and the ECS offers co-ownership of teams -- a first according to ECS.
You can use a tube of lipstick to play 'Counter-Strike'
Chloe Desmoineaux isn't playing Counter-Strike, the renowned first-person shooter game from Valve, like everyone else. Instead of using traditional PC-gaming controls, she's turned a tube of lipstick into a trigger for her Counter-Strike weapons, thanks to a Makey Makey. This is the same kit that's been used to create a Play-Doh gamepad for Super Mario Bros, for example, since it lets you turn almost anything into a button.
Sky takes a first step into eSports tournament coverage
With millions of fans regularly tuning into services like Twitch and YouTube Gaming to watch their favourite titles being played at the highest level, traditional TV broadcasters are starting to take note. Last year, BBC Three dipped its toe into the world of eSports with live League of Legends tournament coverage, and today Sky will become the latest UK provider to tap into this growing audience. Airing at 10PM tonight on Sky 2, a two-hour show will cover highlights from the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends and Starcraft II tournaments that've taken place at the ESL Intel Masters World Championship over the past five days.
Chrome gaming add-ons steal your Steam inventory
Beware browser add-ons that promise to boost your Steam-based games -- you might be in for a rude surprise. Security gurus have spotted a known scammer offering Chrome extensions that claim to change your Counter-Strike: Global Offensive theme or help you gamble, but do nothing more than steal from your Steam inventory. It's not the greatest loss if you're a victim (the malware isn't compromising the games or your Steam account), but it'll probably leave you crestfallen if you spent ages collecting rare virtual objects.
Terrorists invade Gone Home in new Counter-Strike map
If you felt that critical darling Gone Home featured too little gameplay and not nearly enough gunplay, today's your lucky day: A Counter-Strike fan going by the name of "Nipper" has recreated Gone Home's idyllic suburban location within Valve's beloved first-person shooter. Designed for up to 32 players (but recommended for far fewer), cs_gonehome essentially transplants the tenets of Counter-Strike into the meticulously detailed home that served as the setting for Gone Home. Each new round sees players purchasing weaponry and gear before setting out to hunt down the opposing faction, while hostages are spawned at random each time the game resets itself. Despite this, many commenters on Steam are quick to point out that the design of the Gone Home house doesn't lend itself well to Counter-Strike's gameplay. Complaints range from a lack of lighting in the cellar, to too many areas in which campers can hide and narrow corridors that make Counter-Strike's most overpowered guns even more effective. "There are several ways in which the map doesn't work all the well in [Counter-Strike], but that's hardly the point, I think," writes Steam user Space Hamlet before describing the map as "a fascinating intersection of the design of two games." [Image: Valve]
Mod lets you play 'Super Mareo Bruhs' inside Counter-strike
Behold, the Sourcemod Entertainment System, a custom-made plugin for Counter-Strike: GO that allows players to play "Super Mareo Bruhs" inside cs_office. With real controllers, cartridges, and a working power switch, the SMES is just like the real thing. With more flashbangs.
Joystiq invites you into the Tactical Intervention beta [Keys are gone!]
Update: We're all out of codes!It's time for you and 5,999 of your closest friends to start getting stoked, because Joystiq is distributing six thousand beta keys for Tactical Intervention – and we're the only place on the web to get them.Developed by a team helmed by Minh Le – co-creator of Counter-Strike – Tactical Intervention is a free-to-play first-person shooter that features concepts Le always wanted to bring to Counter-Strike. Yeah, you've got all that shooting action between terrorist scum and the heroic CTs, but then you have driving missions, attack dogs, tactical maneuvers, and more.Joystiq readers with codes can play beginning March 4 through March 8. To use the code, go to the OGPlanet beta registration page, log in or sign up for an OGPlanet account, submit your unique key to gain access. The PC-only client will be available on Monday. Get your Tactical Intervention beta code
Free-to-play Arctic Combat 'borrows' one of Counter-Strike's maps
The new Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has a few old Counter-Strike maps included, and that's just fine, given that it's all in the same franchise. But Webzen's free-to-play shooter Arctic Combat has apparently taken some inspiration from Valve's classic as well. PC Gamer notes in the video above that the "Sand Storm" map, included with the game, bears a striking similarity to de_dust2, a map that any CS player will immediately recognize. As PC Gamer says, a few of the dimensions are off and a few crates have been moved, but from that opening spawn ramp down to the middle chokepoint and the side hallway, there's no question this is a very familiar map. Arctic Combat is currently in closed beta, though once Valve catches word of this, you might not see "Sand Storm" playable any longer.
Nexon, Valve announce Counter-Strike Online 2 for Asian territories
South Korean developer Nexon this week announced Counter-Strike Online 2, a sequel to its successful made-for-Asian-gaming-cafes port of the original Counter-Strike. Developed under license from Valve, Counter-Strike Online 2 will launch in China, South Korea, Japan and "other areas in Southeast Asia" on a future date.When it does launch, it'll run on an "enhanced" version of the Source Engine and feature "enhanced graphics, more realistic gameplay and powerful impact sensations," the latter of which troubles us slightly considering the game is primarily about bullets impacting squishy human bodies. We're not in a huge rush to experience that firsthand.
