Adele Fife

The war in Ukraine continues to make a distinct impact on many industries across the spectrum, including the gaming sector. Over the course of 2022, companies ranging from Take-Two and Ubisoft to Sony have restricted Russia from its services with others like Riot Games, Microsoft, and Epic even going on to raise funds for Ukraine. In one of the latest developments, one community is reportedly utilizing a CS:GO map in an effort to reach the Russian masses to report on the present circumstances of the In what appears to be bizarre effort to avoid oversight for its loot boxes, the developers of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive have added a controversial new feature. The new feature is exclusive to France, where lawmakers are currently evaluating new regulations regarding loot boxes and gambling in video games. The feature, in an extremely limited fashion, allows players to look inside of a loot box prior to spending money to unlock it. And Valve clearly believes it will help CS:GO avoid additional scrut While many have taken issue with the contents of this patch, it's unlikely to have a major effect on Valve's team-based shooter. CS:GO was one of the best-selling and most-played games on Steam in 2020 , though given the title is free-to-play "most-downloaded" may be a better descriptor. Either way, it should remain popular, even if multiple live tournaments have reportedly been cancelled due to the coronavirus pande However, this isn't the first time a Valve product or service was indirectly involved in the war efforts. It was recently reported that the Ukrainian military is using the Steam Deck to remotely control turrets . Here, the Steam Deck runs a custom UI that allows the operator to be up to 500 meters (1,640 feet) away from the turret. The custom version is reportedly capable of installing any anti-personnel or anti-tank weapon as w A number of other changes were made through the January 7, 2021 patch. For example, SWAT sleeves have been downsized on "all existing models," the Ancient map has been optimized, and Steam China users can now receive CS:GO Prime Account Status if they have a government identity verification. There are also a number of bug fixes and minor adjustments one might expect from an online game update, Recommended Resource site as seen in a recent Monster Hunter World: Iceborne pat There have been mixed responses to this change in the comments of a post by CS:GO 's Twitter account, and on the r/csgo subreddit. Many decry the change for giving teams that inadvertently lose members from disconnects or those that kick potentially "toxic" individuals a more substantial disadvantage. Others suggest players have abused the bot system by kicking out other users they deem to be less useful on the battlefield, but even then many feel there was likely a better solut It's currently unclear why Valve moved forward with these changes in France, in particular. So far France has not enacted any new regulations to account for loot boxes in video games, though French courts did recently rule that Steam has to allow users to resell their digital games . In 2018, the French online gambling regulatory body even assessed that loot boxes were not gambling under the country's current regulation. Perhaps Valve is using France as a testing bed or perhaps the decision is intended to shift discourse within the country or Europe. Either way, Valve certainly appears to be taking steps to protect the profits it receives from loot boxes amid the growing international controve Arguably the greatest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player ever to walk the earth is also a Twitch streamer. When s1mple isn't sniping down the world's best in tournaments around the world, he likes to make sure he's never out of form. Training is what makes even the best in one of the hardest competitive multiplayer video games even better. This one does it in public, usually by joining his fellow pro players in FPL games. When he picks up the AWP, or Desert Eagle for that matter, there's a high likelihood that a Reddit clip is in the making. He might not be available during grueling tournaments, but rest assured, he'll be back to his over 3 million Twitch followers after bringing home the tro The former professional player turned Twitch streamer turned commentator, Jacob "Pimp" Winneche, quit his professional Counter-Strike career a few years ago to focus on content creation. Ever since he's been growing his fan base steadily by giving tips, offering top-ranking gameplay, and taking on viewer challenges. Whenever he's not streaming, he's one of the commentators for some of the largest esports tournaments in the world . He brings these insights to his streams, where viewers can expect him to answer chat questions about the latest rumors and comment on team decisions and performan According to Valve, the game uses a modified Glicko-2 ranking system that gives players a hidden matchmaking rating (MMR) depending on their performance during a match. A string of bad performances will bring players to a lower rank while winning matches and becoming MVP of the match multiple times will increase the chance of going up a r