CS:GO’s controversial skin gambling, explained

CS:GO’s popularity over the last several years has birthed an industry of independent ‘skin gambling’ operations.

CS:GO’s popularity over the last several years has birthed an industry of independent ‘skin gambling’ operations. Tens of thousands of people bet in-game items from CS:GO on these third-party websites, and their won and lost digital goods have real-world value within the Steam Community Market.Moral and legal murkiness surrounds these enterprises, many of which are based outside the US, and many of which are not licensed, regulated gambling entities. Though US law has begun to weigh in on fantasy sports gambling apps like DraftKings, it has yet to address this less-visible extension of video game culture. A class-action claimagainst Valve is one of the first signs that this issue will draw broader legal attention.

In the meantime, segments of CS:GO’s esports scene hold questionable relationships with these services. Teams profit directly from the in-game sales of team and player virtual stickers, which are valid betting items. The availability of betting has unquestionably grown interest in CS:GO esports, and teams and leagues have received sponsorship from gambling websites. In January 2015 Valve banned seven playersafter it became clear that members of Team iBUYPOWER had fixed a match, betting on their opponent and intentionally losing in order to win tens of thousands of dollars worth of CS:GO skins. “Professional players, their managers, and teams’ organization staff,” Valve wrote in response to the incident, “should under no circumstances gamble on CS:GO matches, associate with high volume CS:GO gamblers, or deliver information to others that might influence their CS:GO bets.”

A StatTrak "Frontside Misty" AK-47, a popular skin.

Other than these specific comments, Valve has not censured skin gambling websites or discouraged anyone from using them. In an April report by Bloomberg, a spokesperson for one of the most popular gambling websites, CSGO Lounge, said that Valve has communicated with them and provided technical support.

The controversy surrounding skin gambling took a new, upsetting turn last weekend when it was revealed that two high-profile YouTubers had created and then marketed a CS:GO gambling websiteto their audiences on YouTube and social media without disclosing their co-ownership. Their videos showed them winning thousands of dollars worth of CS:GO skins on CSGO Lotto, portraying their success as luck.

Why is CS:GO unique?

Secondary markets have sprung up around many games that contain tradable items since the early days of eBay, and developers have grappled with these resellers in different ways. But CS:GO’s situation is unprecedented: the near total focus of these third-party groups on turning CS:GO gun skins into tokens that can be used to play casino-like games—and the fact that these outfits are unregulated and do not impose checks against the participant’s age—may be in violation of US law. By not publicly intervening, Valve has allowed gambling to become an inseparable aspect of CS:GO’s culture.

Four things allowed for the foundation and explosive growth of these third-party gambling websites:

The popularity of CS:GO , which boasts more than 10 million unique players (about as many copies as Overwatchhas sold on all platforms) and an esports viewership that rivals Dota 2. CS:GO’s item drop system which awards weapon skins and weapon cases at a controlled interval to anyone who plays. Cases contain contain gun and knife skins, but they must be opened with keys, which can be purchased on Steam for $2.49 or acquired via trade. The Steam Community Market , a digital marketplace for 33 games, as well as Steam Community items (such as trading cards), where in-game items are sold and bought with real money from your Steam Wallet. The Steam Trading API , which allows anyone to create third-party tools to manage item transactions on a large scale.How does skin gambling work?

There’s more than one way to gamble a skin. A multiplicity of CS:GO gambling websites exist, and most offer a unique gimmick or mechanism by which you bet and win items. Betcsgo.orglists more than 55 websites that offer some form of CS:GO skin gambling. A few examples are below.

Esports betting

In this nascent industry, CSGO Lounge is one of the oldest and most popular, allowing users to bet CS:GO items from their Steam inventories on CS:GO matches in leagues like the ESL and FACEIT. Users can bet up to $300 worth of items on a single match, although secondary Steam accounts can be used to bet beyond that limit. Winnings are based on odds, which change dynamically based on the ratio of bets between teams. “If odds are 75-25, that would mean three people would have had to bet on the 75 percent and one on the 25 percent,” a CSGO Lounge admin told me in 2014.

Anyone with a Steam account can use CSGO Lounge, and per the website’s rules, it’s your responsibility to figure out if that’s legal where you live: “By placing a bet on CSGO Lounge you are confirming that you are in abidance with your country's laws which allow you to participate in skin-betting,” the rulessection of the website reads. “This is generally 18 years of age or older, but make sure to check.” If you don’t claim your winnings within 21 days, CSGO Lounge keeps them.

Like nearly all other skin gambling websites, CSGO Lounge uses Steam bot accounts they’ve created to receive bets and distribute winnings. Users receive an invitation to trade items from a Steam account controlled by CSGO Lounge’s automated system, which offers their winnings as a one-sided trade.

Mystery boxes

CS:GO itself presents players with tiny slot machines: weapon cases that you can pay $2.49 to unlock while you’re within the game client. Websites like skincrates.comreplicate the excitement of opening these weapon cases but do so using their own, proprietary tokens and cases. It’s a facsimile of the experience you have in-game, but with different outcomes and a different group taking your money. SkinCrates repackages individual CS:GO skins that they own into custom ‘crates’ (not official CS:GO weapon cases) that you can pay to open on their website. $3 worth of SkinCrates credits, for example, allows you to open an ‘AWP Crate,’ and you can take a chance at one of 24 different knives (of varying value and rarity) with $60 worth of credits.

Like other CS:GO gambling outfits, Skincrates dresses itself in the art and aesthetic of CS:GO, using recolored images of cases and special forces characters to make its services feel more official. CSGOfast.com is another egregious example of this technique, where on its ‘ Top players’ (i.e., gamblers) page it awards rank badges taken from CS:GO’s competitive matchmaking to the users who have won the most value.

Public pots

This popular form of skin betting is arguably the most direct, as it’s purely odds-based gambling with other players. On skinjoker.com, players deposit skins into a shared pot as a short time limit counts down, after which no more bets are accepted. The system picks a winner based on everyone’s entries: the higher total value of the skins you bet, the greater your chance of winning the pot.

Gambling games

Another sub-category of gambling websites allow you convert your items into a proprietary currency for use in web-based versions of traditional games like poker, rock-paper-scissors, dice, or roulette. On csgolive.com, you can play blackjack using ‘chips’ converted from the value of your deposited skins. A link labeled ‘Provably Fair’ on the website currently leads to nowhere.

How many people are gambling?

Conservatively, tens of thousands of people are gambling using CS:GO skins. Alexa.com gives csgolounge.com a global rank of 574, a measurement of its average daily visitors and pageviews over the last three months (for comparison, hulu.com ranks 294). In March 2016, 38 million people visited the site. CSGO Lounge’s Steam group has more than half a million members. In an ESL One match earlier today between Fnatic and FaZe, 43,840 accounts bet 171,093 items.

Csgofast.com tracks daily unique players on its front page, which today shows 17,500 players. Csgobig.com tells you how many dollars’ worth of CS:GO skins have been won that day; when I visited around dinnertime, it showed more than $1 million.

How does Valve benefit?

Skin gambling indirectly stimulates the Steam Market. Valve makes 5% off the sale of any Steam Market sale, but they take 15% of the sale of items from Valve games like CS:GO, Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2. If an AWP Asiimov sells for $30 on the market, Valve would take $4.50—item seller would receive $25.50. If the owner of that AWP gets bored of it, or the price rises significantly, they can re-list it on the Steam Market and Valve would again take 15% of the sale. In this way Valve benefits from the volume of transactions and the selling price of the items listed.

Is this legal?

There isn’t a lot of legal precedent on virtual item gambling. Are skins money, virtual capital, or are they more like arcade tokens that these gambling websites accept like pinball machines? One of the few, somewhat comparable recent cases is Mason v. Machine Zone, in which a plaintiff alleged that the ‘Casino’ area of Game of War, where players could bet in-game currency in order to receive rewards, constituted a gambling device, and that the $100 she lost was a result of “unfair competition.”

The court didn’t rule in Mason’s favor, going so far as to call comparing the value of in-game virtual gold and in-game rewards to the value of real money “a whimsical undertaking” that “has no place in federal court.” Because Game of War doesn’t offer payouts of real-world money, Mason had transformed her money into valueless play money, the court says. “[The] Plaintiff was not wagering with dollars,” the decision reads, “she was playing with virtual gold. Plaintiff acquired that ‘gold’ in the “gold store,’ where she exchanged her real-world currency for a nontransferable, revocable license to use virtual currency for entertainment purposes. At the moment of that antecedent transaction, Plaintiff’s ‘loss,’ if any, was complete: then and there she had swapped something of value (real money) for something of whimsy (pretend ‘gold’).”

There are major differences between Game of War and CS:GO, especially the presence of an open digital market operated by Valve that provides pricing information on weapon skins in real money. But one small similarity is that secondary markets do exist for selling Game of War accounts for real-world money, a fact that the court didn’t seem to give much weight.

“What she could not do is cash out of the game. In this respect, while GoW’s Casino function aesthetically resembles classic games of chance, the underlying transaction is more akin to purchasing cinema or amusement park tickets. Consumers of such services pay for the pleasure of entertainment per se, not for the prospect of economic gain,” the decision read.

Some of the only legal insight on the topic came in an AMAon /r/GlobalOffensive this week, where three lawyers who specialize in gaming, gambling, or esports offered their perspectives on the issues connected to CS:GO skin gambling.

"For my money," Bryce Blumsays of the likelihood that skin gambling will be considered gambling by the law, "I think this is a no brainer because the secondary market is prominent, permitted to exist, and skins have widely known value. That being said, there isn't a case directly on point here so it's impossible to say for certain."

Some YouTubers and streamers have turned their gambling into videos for their audiences.

“[T]he question is whether the skins are a “thing of value,” adds Jeff Ifrah. “Generally, in traditional gambling cases, this means cash or chips. Skins, even with secondary markets, hold their value because of the gaming, which puts it squarely in the virtual world,” he continued, “If the skins are virtual things of value, using them for gambling would be OK under most laws.”

Overall, their legal attitude is that betting doesn’t necessarily need to banned in all forms, but that it needs more regulation and protections for participants. “CSGO has grown to its current prominence in large part due to betting, and I don't think eliminating all skin betting is necessary or a smart move,” writes Blum. “We do however desperately need to eliminate the bad actors from the space. The types of fraud that came to the fore in the CSGO Lotto and CSGO Diamond situations are precisely what arises when betting sites operate without oversight or transparency. The entire industry needs to take a stand on this issue, not just Valve.”

CS:GO skin gambling operations are not in imminent legal danger, and there are no known suits against them at time of publication. Sports betting is illegal everywhere within the United States with the exception of Nevada, Oregon, Delaware, and Montana. Internet-based gambling is prohibited in all but three US states, even if you’re older than 18. Unless Valve makes a public statement condemning the activities of these groups, or restricts use of its Steam Market API to groups that it vets, gambling will continue to be a morally and legally gray by-product of one of the world’s most popular PC games that’s accessible to anyone with a Steam account.

We’ll continue to cover this topic and update this article as new information emerges.

Why Dungeon Keeper has never been beaten

PC Gamer is blessed with a seasoned 17 year history, and occasionally we reach into our deep archives to retrieve something wonderful about a game we love.

PC Gamer is blessed with a seasoned 17 year history, and occasionally we reach into our deep archives to retrieve something wonderful about a game we love. Today, a slightly revised look at Dungeon Keeper, Bullfrog's best, vilest management game.

Something went horribly wrong between Dungeon Keeper and Dungeon Keeper 2. The sequel to what's ostensibly Theme Dungeon (with violence) wasn't inferior because of level design, or graphics, or even budget. It was the screams.

The screams weren't right. In DK2, if you grab a warlock with your proto-Black & White floating hand, shake him about a bit, then let him drop, he'd go “aaah.”

WRONG.

In DK, he went “YeeeeeAAAAAAAa aaRRRRRGHhhhhh!” Best game scream ever, in fact.

DK nails atmosphere, and not just in its screams. Craft a suitably elaborate dungeon, wait for a fine array of beasties to set up home in it, then zoom out and listen. The whiplash of a Dark Mistress euphorically tenderising her own rump, the b-caw! of a Bile Demon gobbling surprised chickens whole, the lonely chink of a depressed imp heaving his pickaxe into solid rock, the eerie whispering from the Scavenger Room... DK was never the prettiest game, but it made up for it – still does – with its awesome soundscape, and that's also the strongest hint that this was a very deliberate attempt to escape Bullfrog's acquired reputation for achingly cute, massmarket games.

DK posits you as a conquering antihero tearing a dark streak across the world, and only ever puts you on the back foot for certain set-piece levels. Usually, it gives you the space and time to build up a dungeon to be proud of, unleashing it on witless heroes or enemy Keepers only once you feel ready.

The gradual escalation is masterful – each level completed means more of the idyllic world map razed and corrupted, catching the attention of increasingly powerful lords of the realm as a result. Success comes not from employing lots of creatures, but rather the right creatures, each type lured to your dungeon by a different room combination.

Initially, you're content trundling around with a couple of level two Spiders and the odd farting Bile Demon in case of emergency. But one day, a level six fairy shows up at your door, firing lightning bolts from her hands. Many monsters die. The survivors are thrown into the training room and forced to become strong, stronger, strongest; or booted out the door in favour of something juicier.

Nothing else has done victory like DK. Do you kill a defeated man, or capture him? If imprisoned, you either starve him to death, at which point he'll resurrect as a loyal but weak skeleton, or you send him to the Torture Chamber. If he dies there, he'll return as a ghost, but if he survives the process he'll defect to your side. Torture is the only method by which you can recruit from hero ranks, and a samurai or giant is an awesome addition to Team Evil.

If, on the other hand, you slew your foes in combat, drop a few imps into the battlefield and they'll drag the bodies off to your graveyard. Once enough corpses are buried (and, ideally, urinated on by your hellhounds), you've got yourself a vampire, one of the game's best fighters. 'Theme Dungeon?' Pah. How, exactly, is this like raising ice cream prices or building more toilet blocks? There's so much in here, so much more than has been attempted since.

And there are still deeper layers. The new vampire doesn't like sharing a room with warlocks. Either build a second Lair somewhere for him to set up his coffin in, or you'll soon have a whole lot of mage blood on your disembodied hand. But don't build the lair too close to the training room, or he'll get narked with all the noise and hand in his notice. If you still can't keep him happy, you could always drown him as a sacrifice to the gods, and if you're lucky they'll reward you with a different beastie. If you're unlucky, they'll make all your chickens explode. But if you're really lucky, they'll bless you with the Horned Reaper.

Ah, Horny. Beautiful, psychotic Horny. A level 10 Reaper is essentially unstoppable. He's also a miserable son of a Horned bitch. It's hard enough keeping your day-to-day trolls and dragons happy, but let him miss out on payday, stick him with the wrong bunkmate or slap him around the head and Horny gets angry. Rampage-angry. Then everybody dies. It's almost worth it, just for the pleasure of seeing the big guy lose his mind, swinging his cute little bitmapped scythe at anything that passes. There's all of 200 pixels to each character, but the animations for each are incredibly distinct even now. DK's charm, depth and atmosphere persist, thirteen years on.

Even the smaller battles are a fascinating hybrid of screaming carnage and decision-making. You're not a helpless observer, but an active participant, feverishly casting spells (researched by a crack team of dragons and vampires) and praying your imps are mining enough gold to pay for all this. And what are you, exactly? You're a Keeper, and you're evil. That is all. You only see your hand and your heart – a gigantic gem at the centre of your dungeon. If it dies, you die. Poetic, in a David Gemmell kind of way.

A few years ago, I discovered an original copy of Dungeon Keeper in a local games shop, for 25p. It was still in the shrink wrap. I was desperate to rip it open and pore contentedly over what sounded like a massive manual when I shook the box, but I really couldn't possibly. For all I know, it's the last one like it in the world.

Alec Meer

Super Lemonade Factory’ Review – An Old Drink Without New Flavour

‘Super Lemonade Factory’ Review – An Old Drink Without New Flavour
iOS and Android gamings are not short of platformers, plenty of solid titles like League of Evil and Pix’n Love Rush have been coming up over the years alongside countless of forgettable others.

have been coming up over the years alongside countless of forgettable others. Future release such as the mobile version of Super Meat Boy are promising to bring more and anticipated to raise the bar. Super Lemonade Factory comes as a brand new contender, but what does it bring to the party?

Without even playing or viewing the trailer, apparently you could tell that Super Lemonade Factory is a bloody good-looking game. Characters’ pixel sprites are gorgeously drawn and animations are smooth. The visual alone is already a beauty to look at. While the game is not fully voiced, this small amount of performance in the intro is rather impressive that really adds some flavour to the game. It’s also accompanied by chiptune soundtracks, which are not really amazing and could get rather repetitive during gameplay, but generally, they get the job done.

Needless to say, Super Lemonade Factory is a platformer. What’s really appreciable here is that the game allows you to customize your virtual buttons positions, which will definitely accommodate different tastes well. You play as two characters, Andre and Liselot, who are interchangeable on the fly with a horizontal swipe. While Andre is the stronger one and able to breakdown large crates, Liselot is agile with the double-jump ability and supports Andre by pushing small crates which serve as a step to higher locations. One unique thing about Super Lemonade Factory is the piggyback position, which allows you to control both of the characters, with Liselot on Andre’s back when the two are met.

Super Lemonade Factory has the same old joyful platforming that you expected. Jumping around and timing and avoiding spikes with a small dose of puzzle-solving are satisfying as ever, with a reasonable accuracy that of a touchscreen. One bottle cap is hidden (not that well) in each map, which serves as collectible that unlocks a challenging modified version of the standard levels. Another feature I would love to applaud is the ability to reset crates’ location by double tapping, which can remove the frustration of bad moves (the game does not have a button to pull crates) or bugs without restarting the level. The game, however, is void of any artistic element that pulls your heartstrings in other titles with similar mechanic such as One And One Story

Super Lemonade Factory takes you through 3 locations on your quest to over takes the factory: warehouse, factory and management office. Most of the game features are introduced in the first set of stages, with later ones vary in landscapes, major color tone, small details and increasingly complex and somewhat frustrating designs. The last set of stage, Winnitron, offers a time-attack-like mode, which demands you to traverse through a series of level under a ticking clock. While it’s great to have another gameplay mode, Winnitron’s design is rather frustrating and difficult that guarantees a pathetic results in the first few attempts. Achievers may make it further with persistence, but casual players would be dreadfully discouraged.

One thing that bugged me about Super Lemonade Factory is the story itself. Andre and Liselot are a newly-wed couple who inherited a factory in a post-WWII era. Andre’s father asked them to traverse through the whole factory before it is granted. Each set of stages starts out with a group 4 passionate and seemingly friendly co-workers, who subsequently presents as the “bad guy” that you must avoid. Spikes and traps would make sense, yet it still puzzles me that a bunch of employees/co-workers are considered workplace hazards, killing you instantly upon contact. And how the heck did Liselot mysteriously learned a psychic ability that resembles Jedi’s mindtrick, getting the employees to stop walking around and ramble nonsenses, just by standing in front of them and pressing one button? And why would talking to (one of) them (each stage) would be considered an achievement from the protagonists’ viewpoint? The couple themselves can also talk to each other and also result in an achievement, and while this makes more sense, it still leaves a distaste of bad design in your mouth.

There are also a couple of times that I ran into crates that can’t be pushed or hovering in the air. While these bugs don’t really break the game (partly thanks to the crate resetting feature), the game could have been more polished.

One more thing. iCADE. All in favor of physical joystick controls, raise your hand. If you’re currently raising your hand, I have some good news for you. With iCADE controls, the game flows better and more smoothly than using the virtual d-pads. The controls are crisp, sharp, and well implemented with Super Lemonade Factory . Can’t say that this isn’t a nice plus.

Super Lemonade Factory tried, and apparently, it didn’t try that hard. It sticks to an old formula of pixel art, chiptune soundtrack and platforming that is already known to work and does not offer any special extra. Keep on platforming if you want to, but hold off if you don’t need it, for Super Lemonade Factory is just another contender above slightly above the bar.

For more information on Super Lemonade Factory , visit the game’s official website. The iOS version is currently available at App Store, universal for iPhone and iPad for $1.99.

[review pros=”The same old never-ending charm of platforming, good-looking pixel arts, and iCADE support” cons=”Some bugs, no major distinctive gameplay feature, level design gets frustrating sometimes, some story elements just don’t make sense” score=68]

ViewSonic shows off a range of FreeSync and G-Sync monitors

Shares

Shares

YouTuber admits that his CS:GO skin betting videos were rigged

Yesterday, two YouTubers responsible for videos about Counter-Strike gambling site CSGO Lotto, were found to be the owners of said website .

What is CS:GO skin gambling, and is it illegal? Learn more in this article .

. Which is awkward. Not only were the videos not marked as promotions, but the videos also promoted a website in which the creators had quite a significant stake.

Following that revelation, another prominent YouTuber PsiSyndicatehas revealed that several of his own CS:GO weapon skin videos were actually rigged. As he explains in a video (embedded below), PsiSyndicate was approached by CS:GO betting site Steamloto, who provided him with valuable weapon skins to "randomly" unbox. PsiSyndicate then acted as if they were random wins, thus making the whole racket look very worthwhile for anyone keen on gambling CS:GO weapon skins.

"The idea was brought to me by Steamloto, they proposes [sic] rigging in return for a Dragon Lore, [and] I just fell right into it," PsiSyndicate says, referring to an especially valuable CS:GO weapon skin.

"The total takings was $3200 in skins, Dragon Lore / Ruby, $1,200 ($4,000 really, $2,800 of my own skins) of which I gave away," he continued.

Whether PsiSyndicate's experience is a one-off, or if it's quite a common phenomenon among streamers and YouTubers, isn't clear. He won't be doing it again, though. "CSGO is a tempting, weird place for all CSGO YouTubers and Twitch streamers alike, I fell down a weird place and don't plan on going back there. All paid for videos should be clear, and will be from here on out!

"Why even make a PsiSyndicate exposed video? I don't know, no one else did."

GOG announces new Worldwide Money Back Guarantee

GOG announced today that it will give you your money back for games you purchase and are unable to run.

that it will give you your money back for games you purchase and are unable to run. Players are encouraged to first use the support page to find a solution to the problem, submitting a ticket describing the issue if they need further help. But in the case that even GOG's "top men" can't find a solution, the site will offer a refund within 30 days after purchase.

Even better, if you've bought the game by mistake (I own Dark Souls on two platforms because of such a mistake) or just changed your mind about the game, you can get a refund within 14 days, assuming you didn't download it. No test drive here, folks—you play it you pay for it.

This is a really great guarantee, though, especially for a retailer like GOG, which deals in older games that can result in compatibility issues despite the company's best testing efforts and stated system requirements.

Electronic Art's " Origin Great Game Guarantee," is similar but more limited. It allows you to get a full refund 24 hours after first launching the game, or seven days after purchase, whichever comes first.

Still, both beat Steam's frighting, all caps warningregarding refunds, or the lack thereof:

"ALL CHARGES INCURRED ON STEAM, AND ALL PURCHASES MADE WITH THE STEAM WALLET, ARE PAYABLE IN ADVANCE AND ARE NOT REFUNDABLE IN WHOLE OR IN PART, REGARDLESS OF THE PAYMENT METHOD, EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY SET FORTH IN THIS AGREEMENT."

OKAY STEAM.

Satellina Sends Your Finger Through Orbits

More and more, the key to finding success in the mobile market is elegant simplicity, particularly when it comes to puzzle games.

Satellina is part puzzle game, part twitch-reaction game, and even the trailer looks nerve-wracking.

The premise is simple: Clear all of the orbs on-screen. This is achieved rather simply, as running your finger across a green orb clears it. Where it gets mean is the secondary mechanic. Namely, not all the orbs are green. Clear every green orb, and all the yellow orbs turn green, while all the red ones turn yellow. Clear that next set, and the new yellow ones turn green. It sounds like deep, dark magic. Naturally, if you happen to brush against any orbs that aren’t green, you lose instantly. So uh, don’t do that.

The game is divided into “suites,” each of which consist of five levels. A timer is shared amongst these five levels, and you will have to clear all five within a certain amount of time in order to progress to the next suite. Keeping players company from level to level is Satellina’s choice of synthpop soundtrack.

Satellina will be developer Moon Kid’s first release, and is expected to launch on iOS devices January 22nd, with support for Android devices coming a week later.

IGM Plays: ‘Forever Lost’

Welcome back to our second episode of IGM Plays!

Welcome back to our second episode of IGM Plays! In last weeks debut episode I showed off Cool Pizza, this week I went a completely different route and played the first 10 minutes of Forever Lost: Episode 1 . I recently discovered Forever Lost on our very own IGM forumsand was impressed by the creepiness! The developer, Glitch Games, was nice enough to give a code, so I thought I’d return the favor and throw it in a episode of IGM Plays, enjoy!

You can pick up Forever Lost on the App Store for only!

Esports lawyers dissect CSGO gambling in Reddit AMA

CSGO has a gambling problem.

has a gambling problem. Valve is involved in a suit over whether CSGO's key-and-crate loot system and the accompanying skin market should be defined and regulated as gambling, while a handful of YouTubers have been exposed as the ownersof a skin gambling site they promoted. Another confessed that his gambling wins were stagedin conjunction with the betting site.

This has prompted airmchair lawyers to sit up straight and start dispensing their own dubious wisdom. What counts as gambling? When should we fire up the electric chair? I'm as guilty as anyone.

Thankfully, three real lawyers—Bryce Blum, Ryan Morrison and Jeff Ifrah— held an AMA on Redditto dissect the key issues. They often disagree, which should tell you that whatever lies ahead for betting in CSGO, it won't be a smooth ride.

So, is skin gambling actual gambling in the eyes of the law?

"For my money," Blum (/u/esportslaw) says, "I think this is a no brainer because the secondary market is prominent, permitted to exist, and skins have widely known value. That being said, there isn't a case directly on point here so it's impossible to say for certain."

"In our work," Ifrah (/u/ifrahlaw) contends, "the question is whether the skins are a 'thing of value.' Generally, in traditional gambling cases, this means cash or chips. There is a recent court decision from Maryland—Mason v. Machine Zone—that stressed the distinction between virtual things of value and things of value with 'real world' value. I think this case will be instructive in the future. Skins, even with secondary markets, hold their value because of the gaming, which puts it squarely in the virtual world. If the skins are virtual things of value, using them for gambling would be OK under most laws."

They're even further from consensus on whether the YouTubers at the heart of recent scandals are likely to face criminal proceedings.

"From my perspective," Blum says, "it’s pretty unlikely that the government will do anything here. Pretty much every government agency is understaffed and overworked. Whether or not a case is pursued is a matter of prioritization and allocation of limited resources. Remember that the fantasy sports industry was massive for years, but it took a highly public insider trading scandal and one of the largest ad buys in history to give the situation sufficient profile to warrant governmental action."

"I respectfully disagree with Bryce," Morrison (/u/VideoGameAttorney) says, "and think jail time and/or criminal charges are a real possibility here. DAs go after juicy stories to build their careers, and this is that. Thousands upon thousands of kids tricked into spending money on a site that they lied about not owning. There will be one state that goes all in on this, and that's all it takes. I really believe that."

And what about the Valve case? Does it have legs?

"I don't think the lawsuit against Valve will go anywhere," Morrison says, "but it  definitely has legal ground. While I expect it to settle quickly and not see a courtroom, keep the following in mind:

"Valve owns every single skin that exists. You don't buy skins, you buy a license to use the skins.

"Valve has been reported as helping to actually run these websites (specifically CSGO Lounge according to Bloomberg article).

"Valve allows you to buy and sell skins on their own market, and allows  unregulated gambling websites to use their API to operate with ease.

"So if you own every skin, help run the websites that gamble them, and then turn those skins into quick and easy cash... that's a recipe that  some folks may call 'not wonderful.'  For what they can do? They can stop letting these insanely popular websites use their marketplace so easily."

GOG.com does the sale thing too, discounting Tex Murphy, Riddick and more

Does anyone remember the before times, when we used to pay full price for games?

Does anyone remember the before times, when we used to pay full price for games? I don't, and it was only a couple of days ago, before the Steam sale, the various Humble sales, and Black Friday reared their salesy heads. The latest digital shop putting its digital bargain bin out for display is GOG.com (nee Good Old Games), which has slashed 70% off 65 gamesincluding Alone in the Dark 1-3, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Master of Magic, Tex Murphy, Realms of the Haunting and many more. It's a good selection of stuff, even though a lot of GOG's big-hitters appear to be sitting this one out. Still: cheap games.

I won't give you the full list of games, because I'm a jerk and I don't want to type them all out. But here a few more names: The Chronicles of Riddick, Creatures, Guilty Gear, Simon the Sorcerer, Robinsons's Requieum and er, Superfrog. If the Steam sale and the Humble sale and eating and paying rent hasn't already bled your wallet dry this November, you should consider giving this big list o' cheap gamesa butcher's. You have around 2-and-a-half days left to make your mind up so, y'know, there's no real rush.

Cyberpunk Jam 2014 Highlights: Day One

Cyberpunk Jam 2014 is live, with 100 cyberpunk-themed games submitted so far and counting.

Cyberpunk Jam 2014 is live, with 100 cyberpunk-themed games submitted so far and counting. With inspiration based off a single image, creators can make a game for any platform for submission by March 12th, 12 am PST the latest. Voting will go on from March 12-24th.

This week, IGM will be highlighting a few of our favorites; so stop by and keep checking back for continued coverage!

Sky Hackers puts you in the year 199X, a time when mega-corporations monopolized hundreds of millions of dollars worth of software – and along with it, dangerous security measures. Falling from the rooftop of one of these skyscrapers, the Sky Hacker falls down and downloads valuable software while avoiding detection.

At first glance Sky Hackers is a simple free-fall game in which you stay in green areas long enough to get money, and avoid the red ones. However, most of the green circles are too small, and the hacker will fall through too fast. The trick is to start sliding on the wall as early as possible to slow down the descent. Careful selection of sides with the A and D buttons is key here.

Other than the gameplay, Sky Hackers has a nice backstory and theme to it, as well as a good futuristic-techno beat. I got $2172, but surely you can beat that? Play it here.

This time, it’s a revolution! We take the role of a sniper assisting a saboteur who needs to gather important data to perform the Cybertage . Our friend goes in, but there are sentry bots on the way, and he relies on players to take out the bots.

Aiming the mouse and shooting with a left click, we have to make sure we don’t miss the target. The tiny aiming reticule expands into a small targeting circle when close to a sentry bot.  The author reproduced sniping mechanics very well here – the mouse movement slows a lot, reflecting how precise you need to be in order to hit your target.

Missing the target doesn’t always have disastrous consequences, but you need to be careful when and which bot you shoot. Cybertage is worth a playthrough if only for how well it handles a complicated mechanic in a simplistic medium. Check it out.

How about playing as the evil corporation for a change? Well, in Corporacy , you’re not evil necessarily, but living by the unforgiving market rules.

In this game, you try to get ahead of the competition by raising skyscrapers. Onscreen indicators display arrows from time to time – which equate to opportunities to build something of varying quality. You click and drag up, actively selecting how tall the tower should be, and then designate whether it should be for “Accommodations”, or something else. Options open up, letting you create casinos, shopping malls, etc., and the more diverse, the higher your star rating.

The goal is simple: To make as much dough as possible within the time limit. So far, Corporacy needs to refine the goal a bit – there’s no genuine sense of competition as you compete against computer opponents you don’t have to outscore – and the interface could use some tightening, but it’s a work progress that the author intends to port to Android as well. Play it now here.

Update: To check out the full list of Cyberpunk Jam entrants, and find favorites of your own, visit here.

Image credit: Filipe Andrade, via lightamplification.tumblr.com

Math Meets Soccer In ‘Goal King’

Goal King is a fast-paced combination of math and soccer, creating the perfect educational game for kids, or a personal brain tester for yourself.

is a fast-paced combination of math and soccer, creating the perfect educational game for kids, or a personal brain tester for yourself. In Goal King you will solve math problems as fast as you can in order to pass the ball to your teammates and score goals.

The math problems revolve around addition, subtraction, and multiplication, all while a timer counts down. Speed is at the forefront of Goal King as you can miss out on passing the ball if your too slow, even if you get the answer correct.

What’s really great about Goal King is it supports Game Center and online multiplayer so you can play with friends across the world. Goal King will also feature various modes of difficulty such as the slower-paced Classic mode, or the fast-paced Action mode. Not only will you improve your mathematical thinking, but your reflexes, and reaction time as well!

Right now Goal King is free on the App Storefor a limited time, so be sure to pick it up!

The ups and downs of League of Legends' lore reboot

While the esports and game sides of League of Legends continue to chug along, there was one release that caught my attention: Ryze, the Rune Mage.

While the esports and game sides of League of Legends continue to chug along, there was one release that caught my attention: Ryze, the Rune Mage. While his kit is definitely interesting and merits some discussion, there was a (less heralded) release of Ryze’s lore and biography. This is just one more step in Riot’s attempt to completely overhaul their lore and the world of League of Legends. Two years ago, they announcedthat the core premise of the game was gone. There was no more League of Legends, no more Summoners, and the Rift was simply a Super Smash Brothers style place for the all stars of Runeterra to gather and fight, with no more actual weight to those games. Never again would there be something like the Noxus vs. Ionia match, or biographies written around the fictional League. However, this new announcement also opened many paths. Riot’s attempts to completely rebuild the lore are fascinating because they mirror many other aspects of League’s development. Let’s take a look at the process.

Debt heavy

If League’s problems as a game can be summed up in one word, it definitely has to be debt. We’ve seen debt come up again and again, usually in the context of tech debt, or server debt. The concept is simple: League grew faster than they could build the infrastructure for it, and so Riot has had to work around that with loopholes and hacks and workarounds. When the team does something like completely re-code skillshots, it's to try to pay down some of that technical debt and create a new foundation for future content. Just as the technical and design side of the game is drowning in debt, so too is the lore.

Consider, for a moment, that there are still at least a dozen champions that have lore deeply rooted in the League of Legends that existed pre-retcon two years ago: Fiddlesticks is still the executioner of the League, Nautilus is searching for answers as to his betrayal and original mission, Brand is enslaved by the League, Jax is built nearly entire around the League and its history, and the League is the only place that could accept Lulu.

The fact is, while Riot is getting out new biographies, faction lore, information on the regions, and events like the War in the Freljord, the history of the Shadow Isles, and the two Shurima events, there’s still a massive backlog of years of old lore that has to be updated, discarded, or rewritten. Riot is building a plane while it’s in the air and praying it doesn’t crash.

Parallel lore

The lore isn’t attached to the game anymore, but there’s still a necessity to keep it parallel with what’s going on. “Events” have to be lined up with in game releases. This isn’t necessary , but it’s a dramatically superior approach. Riot has released minor lore updates and bios quietly without it being part of an event, but it rarely garners the same amount of hype. There are good reasons why the event structure is working so well for Riot’s new lore updates.

First, Riot gets to release a lot of new content, to a lot of hype. Sejuani and Trundle were updated along with the Lissandra release, Howling Abyss came out, and the Three Queens icon event ran at the same time. The Freljord event was a huge success for Riot in terms of storytelling, updating to modern design standards, and player interest.

Second, successful events allow Riot to build off them for future content releases. Braum had a very coherent, consistent lore that was built up through teasers that could only exist thanks to the Freljord event and lore overhaul. Taliyah’s release similarly benefitted from the Shurima event, allowing us to see how this young woman was inserted into a war between a tyrant and a God-like being.

A long way to go

While Riot has made significant headway with League of Legends’ lore in the two years since their retcon, they still have a long way to go. They need to overhaul a massive chunk of champion lore and profiles, and figure out what the regions of the world looks like. Bilgewater, Shurima, and the Freljord are all well developed at this point, and Targon got a lot of love with the Aurelion Sol release and Taric rework. But what of the foundational trio of Ionia, Noxus, and Demacia? What of Nami, the moonstone, and Fizz’s lost empire? Where is Katarina’s father, and what of Swain’s takeover as Grand General? The only answers that Riot can give right now at the moment is a sly wink, a nod, and an encouragement to ‘wait and find out’. When we’ve already been waiting years for an answer, this is frustrating. Heck, where’s an archive where I can read all the existing canon with a few clicks?

In many ways, being a fan of Riot lore feels like getting waking up on Christmas morning to get the second book in a fantasy series from your well meaning aunt. You have a lot of questions, but you finally get invested and prepare for what’s next. Then, on your birthday, you get a book shaped package from your aunt. Your heart singing, you open it, only to find... Book two, of another fantasy series. Well, all right then, you think, and eventually you just stop caring.

Realistically, this is about more than just artistic integrity to Riot. They make money off having strong lore: it is an incredibly strong marketing tool, first of all, and that extends beyond the main story. The PROJECT skin line is one of Riot’s best sellers, and the lore (hinted at in the Overdrive mini-movieand legendary voice lines) contributes to that. The Warcraft movie’s incredible financial success is another incentive for Riot to get their stories in order, if they want to replicate such a feat. They’re likely up to the challenge, but this the list of tasks at hand could fill a book of its own.

GOG has "gotten really far" in talks with either Microsoft, Take-Two, or LucasArts

It's mystery time!

It's mystery time! During a chat yesterday with Trevor Longino, Head of PR & Marketing at GOG, I mentioned I'd really like Microsoft to let them sell Freelancer. All this Star Citizenbusiness is making me pine for it, but I can't find my original CD. It's very sad. In response, Longino pointed out that he still has his original Freelancer CD, but also shared the news that GOG is currently working out a deal with either Microsoft, Take-Two, or LucasArts. So I may or may not get Freelancer, but there's no losing.

"Well, we announced two years ago what our top five targets are," said Longino. "We've signed two of them, and what we have left now are Microsoft, Take-Two, and LucasArts. We've gotten really far in talks with one of those guys, and we believe probably right around the time of the next big press conference we'll be able to say, 'Here, we have these games.'

"They're really exciting, and our test team is starting to look at them, because we pretty much have it worked out with these guys. So now we're just talking about what games we can have, what games [they] have advice for. It should be awesome news for classic gamers. These games are such great games, even new gamers should be able to say, 'This is an awesome game.' There are tons of really good releases we're working on signing on the classic games front."

Sorry LucasArts fans, I'm still hoping for Freelancer. Check back tomorrow for the transcript of my chat with Longino, in which we discuss Windows 8, Mac gaming, and the challenges of Linux support.

The Game Made To Challenge: Coalescence

Coalescence is a 3-D puzzle game created with the express purpose of offering a serious logic challenge.

is a 3-D puzzle game created with the express purpose of offering a serious logic challenge. Developed by Steven Nerat, the game uses simple and easy controls to move and interact with a shape similar to a Rubik’s cube made up of smaller individual cubes. The goal of each level requires players to fuse those individual cubes with the same color, until only one remains.

The individual cube that is left behind after a fusion changes color immediately, following a color progression bar at the top of the screen. Each bar is different for each level, requiring players to check it regularly in order to plan out their moves. The game does not offer any hints or form of assistance besides an undo button, ensuring players use only their problem-solving abilities. Coalescence is initially very simple, using a 4 x 4 x 4 cube that expands in size and number of individual cubes quickly. Players can also customize the background and cube skin to assist their focus and make it more pleasing to their eye.

Coalescence is currently available for free on Android, with some in-app purchases available. An iOS version is planned, depending on the success of the initial release. Fans of the game can visit Steven Nerat’s official websiteand learn more about the project, it’s creation, future projects he is considering to develop.

Are you willing to take up this developer’s challenge? Don’t forget to leave a comment below!

Dated Intel code leaves Lenovo laptops and Gigabyte motherboards vulnerable

Shares

Shares

Three League of Legends rivalries more exciting than CLG vs. TSM

TSM! TSM!

Photo credit: Riot esports

TSM! TSM! TSM! The chant is so ubiquitous in League of Legends (and occasionally, the rest of esports) for a reason: Team SoloMid is the number one team popularity-wise, and this summer they’ve managed to become the number one team on the standings. The casters and analysts have a story to tell around not just each game, but the entire season itself. It makes sense that they would choose to focus on the winners—it’s far more exciting to look at competitive gameplay than middle of the pack (or bottom of the standings) back and forths, right? At the same time, the TSM storyline usually ends up centering around their long time rival, Counter Logic Gaming. There’s a lot of history there, but there may be simply too much history. We’ve been there, done that, and seen it before. We’ve seen TSM triumph and Counter Logic Gaming claw their way back for two splits in a row. Now, the pendulum has swung and TSM is back at the top with an undefeated record so far.

While rivalries are exciting, do we really have to look at these two same teams all the time? Here are three rivalry storylines that have popped up during the NA LCS that would be far more fascinating to shine a spotlight on.

NRG v Echo Fox

You know how Wolverine’s nemesis is Sabertooth? NRG and Echo Fox, on paper, have a lot in common: they both have big, traditional sports backing from celebrity names. They both are mid-tier teams with moments of potential that suggest they’re capable of so much more. They’re both sleekly branded themselves (although one is all blues and oranges, and the other is a much more stylish pink dominated theme). Neither of them is going to Worlds, and both of them have mid tier rosters, but so what? Their game was still more interesting to watch than CLG v TSM, especially with the end of game recall trickery that cost Echo Fox the match.

NRG has built their roster around being likable . Kiwikid, Santorin, and Quas were pickups for fan appeal. They’re a fun loving brand who wear bow ties and take lots of Twitter shots of their yoga sessions. On the other hand, Rick Fox has talked about how he wants Echo Fox to be champions. Echo Fox v NRG is a fun story that you could see on the Disney Channel. It’s not an incredibly serious rivalry with oodles of history, but it’s fun as heck to watch. CLG v TSM was not.

Photo credit: Riot esports IMT v C9

At first, this rivalry doesn’t look like much. The Immortals and Cloud9 have had some really exciting games that are a joy to watch, but Cloud9 seems to be the lesser team at the moment. The keywords there are at the moment. Cloud9’s entire trajectory is clearly a long term one. They’re improving with Reapered at the helm as the head coach, still making the most of their dual support line up, and looking for talent in the Challenger scene. The Cloud9 of now is a top three team, but the Cloud9 of a year or two from now is a far more interesting prospect.

Immortals have beaten Cloud9 again and again, but they seem to have plateau’d as a team. They’re not repeating their incredible run of spring, where they went 17-1 (although they are doing respectably). If Cloud9 wants to be a top team, taking the Immortals down at a clutch moment is going to be the first notable stepping stone on their transcendence to a new level. Every time the two teams meet on the Rift, you know it’s going to be an exciting match. When you consider the stakes above, it just gets even more compelling.

Photo credit: Riot esports Phoenix1 v the world

If you’ve ever watched a sports movie where one of the characters is a dog, you know that the team that keeps losing is totally able to have an incredible narrative built around their journey. Phoenix1 lost their first nine games, and then they finally took a game off of Apex. That’s a hell of a story, and it’s inspiring to see their fans rally. “Team Phoenix9-9, the dream!” They are small in number, but mighty in spirit—and hell, if your team’s logo is a phoenix, that’s beautiful imagery.

When even your coach admits that the players are “used to losing”, most people would count a team out. Imagine if the casters and analysts rallied behind Phoenix1 and paid attention to those matches. It would be a little less gameplay based, a little less established, but it would definitely be more interesting than another CLG v TSM grudge match.

Photo credit: Riot esports The reality

Now, while I think all of those storylines are more interesting, the truth is that the finals will definitely have TSM (unless the team somehow implodes before or during playoffs), and CLG still has a strong chance of making it. However, every split and every season, the same storyline plays out. TSM and CLG, the long history, the insults, the Doublelift switch...

It’s not the NA LCS’s fault that TSM is so incredibly popular. Indeed, there’s no way to reverse that train. It makes sense that they would go with the biggest and most popular teams for their stories and narratives. However, if they want to reverse this trend and put the spotlight on mid tier-teams, then this is their chance. Look for the funny stories, the interesting characters, and spotlight them. Granted, they’ve started to do this with initiatives like the DRIVE documentary series. Hopefully they continue this path.

Let’s be real—not every team is going to have a fascinating story or a massive fanbase. However, teasing out these stories and making teams interesting is going to be a huge part of marketing the LCS in the coming years. I mean, as a Torontonian I can attest that our Maple Leafs have been a terrible team, but they bring in huge marketing bucks for the NHL. Esports owners and Riot, let’s start talking about the unique and cool story each team has. You might be surprised at what follows.

Good Old Games relaunches as GOG, will sell indie games and more current titles DRM free

Good Old Games relaunched this morning, and shall henceforth simply be known as GOG .

. The online store has occupied a neat niche in digital distribution, reselling modernised versions of classic games with bonus parts like soundtracks and extra artwork, DRM free. The relaunch heralds a bit of a shift in their remit. GOG will now sell indie games through the service, and games from major labels within three years of their release. Trine, The Whispered World, Machinarium, Darwinia and SpaceChem are on the way, with more planned soon.

The increasing variety of games available on GOG will dilute their identity a bit, but they're planning to sell new titles and indie games with the same principles in mind. Their stance against DRM remains as firm as ever, as managing director Guillaume Rambourg told Gamespot. "It has taken us 3 years of hard work to build up this catalogue and convince rights holders that removing DRM is actually the best way to fight against piracy, a "sector" that managed to succeed where most of the gaming industry failed to perform: providing (illegal) gamers with a simple and fast access to games within a few clicks."

But is there a risk that GOG's decision to sell more current games will put them in competition with massive digital distributors like Steam? "I think the answer is "no," said Rambourg. "In that case, because our offer deeply differs from the offer of Steam or Valve. All our games will be DRM-free, sold at fair price worldwide (no regional pricing), and with tons of added value (free digital goodies, full customer support, an optional light-speed downloader)."

"As a matter of fact, I think that GOG.com is more of an alternative than a competitor. There is still no way to fight against Steam, for example, something we knew from the very beginning of GOG. The only way to shine is to offer an alternative model to gamers. Being different is our daily obsession to make us stand out from the rest of the field."

CD Projekt co-founder Marcin Iwinski also took a bit of a dig at Steam sales, suggesting that they devalue the games involved, and dent perceptions of how much games are worth on a wider scale. "Running so many discounts decreases the perceived value of our entire entertainment media. When you can buy a bundle of fantastic indie games for $1, it's that much harder to convince someone to shell out $10 to try one indie game," he said.

"Of course you see a huge number of people buying games when they're on such incredible sale, but how many of them are enjoying the games they buy? Buying a dozen games, if you never play them, means that you're just a cow to be milked by the industry. I don't think this is good for the industry or the gamers who pay our salaries."

GOG.com will still be getting weekly retro titles, which Rambourg refers to as "GOG.com's daily bread and butter." What do you think of GOG's new direction? Would you be tempted to buy a new game through GOG.com instead of Steam or Origin if it was DRM free?

Sworcery , PopCap, Zynga/ArenaNet talks added to GDC 2012 Summits

First benchmarks of Intel’s Broadwell-E Core i7-6950X appear

Shares

Shares

League of Legends’ patch 6.13 gives supports a helping hand

Life as a support in League of Legends can be hard.

Life as a support in League of Legends can be hard. Nothing is more depressing than being a support to a half-baked potato masquerading as an AD carry. You try your best to keep your oblivious teammate away from danger by providing vision, shielding/sponging incoming attacks, giving heals or buffs to attack damage/movement speed, but it’s never enough. Soon the realisation kicks in that you’re on a sinking ship and it’s going down fast.

With all of these responsibilities, however, it can be hard for supports to feel appreciated. Their impact on the game isn’t celebrated as obviously as a killstreak, for example.

aims to bring supports out of the shadows and into the light, making the position feel more satisfying and rewarding, while also making their success easier to observe. Ranked 5s are also making a scheduled return, and general nerfs aim to tackle some of the more terrifying champions.

Experience changes

Snagging an early kill in lane has huge advantages for the victor. This is largely due to early minion waves granting more experience than kills, making it crucial for overall champion progression. The dead miss out on this experience and return to lane underleveled and woefully underpowered, while their opponent continues to capitalise on the early lane advantage. Riot aims to counter the effects of this snowballing by toning the advantages down. Champions are now worth less experience at level 1-9 and especially at level 1-3, meaning that the victor won’t be miles ahead.

Catch-up experience now scales with percent missing level, rather than remaining at a set value from level to level. You will now be granted with more catch-up experience at 2.5 levels behind than 2.3 levels behind, etc. This gives those that disconnected or struggled in laning phase a chance to comeback and still have an impact on the game, as opposed to feeling completely useless.  The catch-up experience kicks in earlier, but scales less strongly late game.

Post-death kill experience allows champions to gain experience from nearby champion kills for 10 seconds after death, even if they didn't participate. This is great for initiators whose job is to jump into the fray, locking down as many targets as possible, which often results in their death even when done successfully. Because of this initiators don’t get full teamfight experience, despite creating the very opportunities that net the team kills. Instead they are left underleveled for the next fight, making them even more likely to die in upcoming skirmishes. The post-death kill experience aims to put a stop to this vicious pattern, rewarding the sacrificial lambs of the team.

As mentioned above, patch 6.13 is also aimed at improving the overall player experience and quality of life when playing support. One of the ways Riot is bolstering the role is by making it easier to gain experience, as supports tend to lag behind the rest of the team in levels. This is largely due to the clearing and placement of wards around the map. Denying vision can often present a high risk/low reward aspect of the game, and losing out-of-combat bonuses just to clear a ward can make survivability harder. The changes in patch 6.13 allow champions to keep their out-of-combat bonuses while clearing wards, making it less punishing overall.

Wards now grant 30 experience when killed (15 for blue wards) making the placement of vision even more strategic. You don’t want to place wards in noticeable areas as you will be giving away free experience each time. Attacking wards will also no longer trigger in-combat status for the purpose of Boots of Mobility, Cloud Drake, or Taliyah's Rock Surfing. The above changes will help supports have a greater impact in the Rift, while making the role a more enjoyable experience.

Changes to champions

Tahm Kench is definitely in the spotlight this patch. The River King is a champion many people find frustrating to play against and love having on their team. Patch 6.13 has introduced a lot of changes to his abilities. His ultimate’s passive is now his passive and his basic attacks/abilities deal 1/1.25/1.5% (at levels 1/11/16) and scale off Tahm’s maximum health. This multiplies depending on how many stacks of Acquired Yaste he has on a champion. There is a minor damage increase to Tongue Lash, but the most notable change is to Thick Skin. The cooldown is now six seconds across all ranks and will convert 70% to 90% of the damage taken into Grey Health.

The duration of the shield is now three seconds as opposed to six seconds and no longer decays over the duration, but if that wasn’t enough there are also buffs to his ultimate. Abyssal Voyage’s range has been increased, while the channel duration has been decreased. These are some pretty big changes that will most likely lead to him becoming a popular pick this patch.

Historically, Lulu has not fared well from the nerfs to her solo game, leaving her ability to support underwhelming. However, the recent changes aim to offer solo and support lane Lulu value wherever she goes. Her base mana has been increased from 292 to 350 and her movement speed has been slightly increased from 325 to 330. Glitterlance now grants a slow for two seconds at all ranks rather than increasing up to two seconds at rank five, but enemies hit beyond Glitterlance’s first target will only take 70% of the damage. The most notable change is to Lulu’s ability Whimsy as it now grants bonus attack speed as well as bonus movement speed when cast on an ally. This does not scale with AP so it will remain at 15% to 35%, but the effects can last up to four seconds at rank five. This is a pretty big buff and is a solid ability for Lulu and her AD carry.

Thresh now receives two souls dropped from epic monsters instead of one. This benefits Dark Passage, which now scales based on souls collected as opposed to scaling off 50% of his AP. Casting Dark Passage at an out-of-range location also now throws the lantern at maximum range in the target direction, rather than causing Thresh to walk into cast range.

The recent changes to Trinity Force allowed Irelia to become an absolute monster in top lane. She had become a popular ban amongst higher divisions and was a champion people simply didn’t want to risk playing against. Riot has seemingly agreed that her presence in the game has been a little too impactful and have nerfed the cooldown on her ultimate. Originally, Irelia could use Transcendent Blades to kill her opponent, then proceed to wait for her laner to return and kill them a second time due to the cooldown reduction from Trinity Force. This nerf allows for some much-needed breathing space when playing against the Ionian, making her feel less impossible to kill. It will be interesting to see how she copes with these changes, after all the 40 second increase on her ultimate at rank one is quite a hefty increase.

Kindred remains in the sights of Riot’s nerf gun and is back again for another round of changes. Base armour has been lowered from 20 to 27 which is quite a big difference when it comes to taking the jungle camps. However, Kindred’s armour growth stat has increased very slightly, but the biggest change is to Wolf’s Frenzy as it no longer heals you. Instead wolf now maims jungle monsters, reducing their attack speed and movement speed by 50% for 2 seconds. These changes were made due Kindred’s dependency on learning how to kite jungle monsters—good Kindred players could take little to no damage while clearing the jungle. Given that Riot has made kiting easier with W, the reduction to base armour brings Kindred in line with other ranged champions.

Swain is receiving a small nerf, which is a little surprising considering his current impact in top and mid lane. His ultimate cooldown has been increased from 10 seconds to 20 seconds which is a fairly decent adjustment. I don’t think this will hurt Swain too much in teamfights, but in solo lane you may have to play a little safer, due to the larger window of time the enemy has to engage on you.

Changes to support items

The Ancient Coin line is now going to receive early cooldown reduction as well as some minor stat changes, particularly the Talisman of Ascension which now builds out of Raptor’s Cloak instead of Forbidden Idol. It costs 2500 gold and grants 45 armour, 150% health regen, 75% mana regen and builds up to 20% movement speed over two seconds while near turrets, fallen turrets, or void gates.

The Forbidden Idol item path is receiving 10% bonus healing and shielding power. The Ardent Censer looks like a good item to purchase if your team has a lot of auto attack-heavy champions. This item path would be a good match for supports like Janna, Karma Soraka etc.

Lastly, the Ruby Sightstone has had its cost decreased and active item cooldown reduction increased by 20%, a minor but a necessary change that creates a more distinct difference between the Eyestone and Sightstone routes.

Carmageddon Max Pack careens onto GOG for $10

If my childhood ever bled, Carmageddon was the diesel-drenched knife.

If my childhood ever bled, Carmageddon was the diesel-drenched knife. Racing games never caught my attention growing up, but Stainless Games' 1997 descent into vehicular ultra-violence both tapped into my completely sensible mirth of running over pedestrians for extra time and the abject horror of my outraged parents. Thus, you can imagine my expression mirroring Max Damage's manic mugafter learning Good Old Games' latest offer is the Carmageddon Max Packfeaturing the first game and its Splat Pack add-on.

The $10, DRM-free Max Pack rolls out 23 pristine racemobiles for your blood-drenching pleasure in over 30 levels. The deal doubles as a celebratory gesture for the successful Kickstarter funding of Carmageddon: Reincarnationearlier this year.

Super Pixalo Takes Players through Pop Culture History

Super Pixalo is a stand-out new addition to the colorful array of 2D platformers available today.

is a stand-out new addition to the colorful array of 2D platformers available today. Starring the titular character Pixalo, “the Freddie Mercury of pixels,” the game will feature 124 levels of platforming goodness, each with varying difficulties for players of all skill levels. Levels will be split into “decades” each wrought with their own time-related pop culture references, including platforms that resemble furniture from the 70’s and exit portals shaped like old-school CRT TVs. Players will also find dozens of collectibles to keep them busy during their adventure.

Super Pixalo will arrive on iOS, Android, and PC this fall, but will be available first on Ouya in May for $5.

Indie Intermission – ‘Do You Have A Minute?’ Alien Linguistics At Its Finest

Continuing to look over the Indie Speed Run jam I found the great title Do You Have A Minute from La Gang .

. Which gives you control over arguably the most hated people to haunt the streets, survey people.

Each day you are assigned the task of asking aliens surveys, however you must listen in to the type of language they speak as they make their daily commute and only select the correct type of aliens for that day.

This is where the difficultly comes in as you must then locate the correct aliens as they disembark and this can prove to be quite taxing.

It’ s a novel idea and one that can prove to be very challenging as you attempt to remember which aliens are the correct ones. The multi-phase design is great and allows you to experience some truly inspired gameplay.

Alongside the novel idea the graphics are great and so is the overall sense of humour that is constantly bubbling just beneath the surface making this one unique and fun jam game.

Average play time – 20 minutes

The gameplay elements use here are unique and I’ve not really seen anything else like this before in a game. The way they make such a mundane and often-times frustrating occurrence in real life into a fun and compelling game is great showing true innovation.

You can play Do You Have A Minute onlinefor free.

If you are a developer with A fun indie game that can be played over a coffee break, we want to hear from you! Private message us on twitter @IndieGameMag or shoot us an email at editors@indiegamemag.com with the subject “Indie Intermission” and you could be our indie intermission pick of the day!

CCP reveals new EVE-based FPS, an "evolution of Project Legion"

Dust 514 is a free-to-play FPS spin-off of EVE Online that launched in 2013, unfortunately as a PlayStation 3 exclusive.

is a free-to-play FPS spin-off of EVE Online that launched in 2013, unfortunately as a PlayStation 3 exclusive. CCP salved that wound somewhat a year later when it announced Project Legion, a game similar to Dust 514, but more able to leverage the power of PCs. But now it appears that things have changed: Dust 514 is going offline later this year, and while the planned PC shooter is still in the works, it doesn't sound like it's Project Legion anymore.

“CCP’s development team in Shanghai has been working on a prototype for a first-person shooter for PC with the goal of building a great FPS set in our sci-fi universe of New Eden (the universe in which EVE Online, Dust 514, EVE: Valkyrie, and Gunjack are set). Their experience is being utilized to build a new game from scratch using Unreal Engine 4 while harnessing all our learnings from Dust 514,” CCP announced today in the Dust 514 forums.

“This is in many ways an evolution of Project Legion, the concept we announced at EVE Fanfest 2014, but without the limitations of technical debt and development paths we quickly discovered in that effort that could never serve as a future-proof technology base for a full production game,” it continued. “This new project is still in an early phase of production, and we feel like we’re on the right track and plan to give an update at EVE Fanfest on April 21st as a part of the free livestream of the event.”

So Project Legion as it was envisioned in 2014 is over, but something like it is sprouting from the soil into which it bled: A sequel to a game that was never released, if you like. Whether that represents a cancellation of the game, or just a hard left turn in the development process, is probably a question of semantics; I asked CCP about it and was told that nothing more will be revealed until Fanfest. However you look at it, work on an EVE-based dude-shooting experience of one sort or another is still underway, and that's good news.

The bad news, at least for PS3 owners, is that Dust 514 is being shut down on May 30. Sorry, folks.

Thanks, PCGamesN.

The Witcher 2 is doing quite well: 1.1 million copies sold last year

It's been a good year for the Witcher 2.

It's been a good year for the Witcher 2. Big updates and free DLC packs have added new missions, bug fixes, balance changes and new game modes. It looks as though it's all paid off. Eurogamerreport that 1,110,055 copies of The Witcher 2 made it into PC gamers' hands last year. 270 thousand of those were sold digitally, 40,000 through CD Project's digi distribution service, Good Old Games.

The even more surprising figure, CD Projekt's point of view, is that the original Witcher also did quite well, shifting 400,000 copies. "The sales results for The Witcher, five years on from the game's premier, are remarkable," CD Projekt Red managing director Adam Badowski told Eurogamer. "If anything, they prove that the content we put into our games ages well. The Witcher will continue to generate buzz in the coming years."

The Witcher 2 will certainly create a buzz in the coming months. The Witcher 2: Enhanced Editionis due out on April 17. The 1.1 million players who already have a copy will get their version upgraded for free.

Final Fantasy creator sees room to grow in mobile game design

Intel Kaby Lake Core i7-7700K CPU specs leaked

Shares

Shares

CCP reveals new EVE-based FPS, an "evolution of Project Legion"

Dust 514 is a free-to-play FPS spin-off of EVE Online that launched in 2013, unfortunately as a PlayStation 3 exclusive.

is a free-to-play FPS spin-off of EVE Online that launched in 2013, unfortunately as a PlayStation 3 exclusive. CCP salved that wound somewhat a year later when it announced Project Legion, a game similar to Dust 514, but more able to leverage the power of PCs. But now it appears that things have changed: Dust 514 is going offline later this year, and while the planned PC shooter is still in the works, it doesn't sound like it's Project Legion anymore.

“CCP’s development team in Shanghai has been working on a prototype for a first-person shooter for PC with the goal of building a great FPS set in our sci-fi universe of New Eden (the universe in which EVE Online, Dust 514, EVE: Valkyrie, and Gunjack are set). Their experience is being utilized to build a new game from scratch using Unreal Engine 4 while harnessing all our learnings from Dust 514,” CCP announced today in the Dust 514 forums.

“This is in many ways an evolution of Project Legion, the concept we announced at EVE Fanfest 2014, but without the limitations of technical debt and development paths we quickly discovered in that effort that could never serve as a future-proof technology base for a full production game,” it continued. “This new project is still in an early phase of production, and we feel like we’re on the right track and plan to give an update at EVE Fanfest on April 21st as a part of the free livestream of the event.”

So Project Legion as it was envisioned in 2014 is over, but something like it is sprouting from the soil into which it bled: A sequel to a game that was never released, if you like. Whether that represents a cancellation of the game, or just a hard left turn in the development process, is probably a question of semantics; I asked CCP about it and was told that nothing more will be revealed until Fanfest. However you look at it, work on an EVE-based dude-shooting experience of one sort or another is still underway, and that's good news.

The bad news, at least for PS3 owners, is that Dust 514 is being shut down on May 30. Sorry, folks.

Thanks, PCGamesN.

The Witcher 2 Enhanced Edition to add free areas, quests and characters in April

Do you own the Witcher 2?

Do you own the Witcher 2? Good news! On April 17 your copy of the Witcher 2 will be upgraded to the Enhanced Edition free. That'll add new quests, new places to quest in and new "major characters" to meet.

There will also be a new CGI cutscene depicting the assassination of King Demavend. According to the news post on Good Old Games"BAFTA Award winner and Academy Award nominee Tomasz Baginski brings this key historical event to life (not actually historical - Historical Ed)" You'll also get a game map, game guide, manual, soundtrack and Witcher comic free.

Are you planning to own The Witcher 2 before April 17? Good news! You ALSO will get your copy upgraded come April. The Witcher 2 is on sale at 15% off for the next two weeks on Good Old Gamesto celebrate.

The Enhanced Edition is just the latest in a big series of hefty free updates that have been added to The Witcher 2 over the course of the last year as CD Projekt continue to make their great game greater still. Bravo.

Sony says it couldn't effectively test Driveclub

Match Panic’ Review – Fast Paced Memory Game!

‘Match Panic’ Review – Fast Paced Memory Game!

Match Panic is one of the most beautiful 8-bit games I’ve ever seen.  The entire game hinges on the player’s ability to tap  left or right, reflexes, and memorization skills.  Also, the player must also have an unquenchable thirst to unlock all 12 of the so-called unlock-ables.  While the journey to unlocking all the different creatures is long, it also leads to the games biggest problem.

The game begins with two “characters” unlocked in all of their 8-bit glory.  Once a game is begun, on the right, there is one character and another one on the left.  In the middle, there is a huge line of the characters in a random order waiting to be sorted.

The levels are timed, but there are power-ups that make beating the clock a bit easier.  These consist of things such as adding on time to the clock, making a large amount of the characters all one type or even a little explosion which gets rid of a nice chunk of the characters.  As the levels increase, more and more characters end up on each side and it really starts to test the player’s memory.  I mean, when there are six characters in the game, three on each side not only does it test your reflexes it tests your memory too.

There are only a few reasons to play this game on a regular basis:  GameCenter support with leaderboards, but the versatility of those only comes down to how many friends the player has that owns the game. The main reason to keep playing this game is to unlock all the characters.  There is an unlock screen and only the faint outlines are able to be seen until the actual character has been unlocked.  The first couple characters can be unlocked either via reaching a certain level or making a amount of matches.  Eventually reaching a certain level to unlock a new sprite is ditched and making a certain number matches is the only way to unlock them.  The last character I unlocked took over 5,000 matches I believe.  That said they are all achievable goals and seeing a new sprite appear after putting forth some hard work to unlock it is immensely satisfying. Unfortunately this also leads to the games biggest problem.

The only thing that kept me coming back to the game was the knowledge that a little more time and a new character would be unlocked. Once I had all 12 of the characters, I felt as though there was nothing left for me to do in the game.  With no real story mode or some sort of multiplayer, I felt no need to keep returning upon completion.  That being said the ride to unlocking everything the game has to offer was certainly some the best time I have spent on my iPod and the amazing look of the game will keep it on there, if only to show my friends.

For more information on Match Panic visit their official website. The iOS version can be found at the App Store, universal for the iPhone and iPad for $1.99.

[review pros=”8-bit look, addictive gameplay, simple to understand” cons=”Not much content, simple gameplay” score=80]