Gaming News

A few changes were made to CS:GO gameplay earlier this week, particularly in relation to sound effects:

• Changed C4 planting sounds - when planting the bomb, it plays an initialization sound that everyone can hear, but ONLY the player planting will hear the code typing sounds. This makes fake planting possible (similar to fake diffusing as a CT).
• All items now follow the same pick up sound rules (grenades, C4, weapons, defuse kits, etc):
  • If a player picks up an item while running, it plays a pickup sound that everyone can hear.
  • If a player picks up an item while moving silently, it plays a subtle pickup sound to ONLY the player picking it up.

You can read the full change list on Steam News

The latest game in the Call of Duty franchise became available for sale from midnight last night. This instalment has been developed by Infinity Ward, and early reviews point to some major changes in gameplay over previous versions.

I could go on to list them all here, but I think it would be best to simply point at a comprehensive review: IGN CoD: Ghosts Review

From a DFC perspective, the multiplayer and matchmaking experience should be smoother, and the co-op mode sounds to have much improved AI for your team mates and enemy bots. One to look forward to I think :)

Valve are due to start the beta of a new system which allows up to 10 authorised computers (eg those of family members) to borrow games you own in your library. Only one instance of a game can be played at a time, so this system can't be used to share the game for a multiplayer session.

It would be great for single player campaign games though, as once you have completed the game, you could let a family member have a go for no extra charge (including any DLC you may have purchased).

For more details, including how DLC, region restrictions and cheating are handled, see the Steam Family Sharing page on the Steam site.

I was trawling back through the CS:GO update list, and spotted this one from a week ago:

Chicken changes based on pro feedback:

• Reduced chicken sounds dBs and volume.
• Reduced idle clucking rate.
• Reduced range that scares chickens when running.

Read full details of this and other changes on Steam News:

• CS:GO Update 29/08/2013 (various fixes, plus the chicken change)
• CS:GO Update 21/08/2013 (quite a big update, with plenty of map fixes)

Microsoft have announced the release date for the XBox One - it will be available for retail on Friday 22nd November, one week prior to the PlayStation 4 launch.

The releases will bring the total of new consoles this year to three (the Android-based Ouya being the other one) and following the Wii U last year.

An update to CS:GO yesterday introduced a bunch of weapon and gameplay changes. Full details can be found at Steam News, but here are a few highlights:

• Added Silenced M4A1.
• Added Silenced USP.
• When a player reloads their weapon, they now drop a magazine that persists in the world.
• Machine gun belts now visually match the ammo count in the viewmodel when firing and reloading.
• Added holdable action key +lookatweapon that allows players to visually inspect their first person weapon while in-game. This has been bound to the F key by default (if that key was previously unbound). [Guessing this is in response to being able to buy customised weapons via the new Arms Deal section of Steam Workshop]
• Players now automatically crouch while planting bombs.

Here's a quick reminder for everyone coming along to the MiniBob on Friday - please update your local Steam installations before you set off!

Bob is holding a mini LAN party for just one night, on Friday 26th July. Please let Bob know if you are coming.

Note that it's vital that everyone updates their local Steam/Origin game files before they come, due to recent changes in the Virgin Media traffic shaping policy. It would only take a couple of people updating TF2 and CS:GO to push us over the new threshold.

The board game evening at Bob's was a thoroughly enjoyable event. Despite there being only four players, we had plenty of fun.

The games we played were:

• Alien Frontiers
• Carcassonne
• Love Letter
• King of Tokyo

No doubt some of these will be making an appearance alongside Ticket to Ride at the next BobLAN :)

As always, big thanks to Bob, and also to Dan for bringing along a selection of games to try!

Tonight sees the inaugural BobBoard - a board games event at Bob's. This follows a successful pilot scheme at the last BobLAN, where Trebz brought along some games, and we had a go at Ticket to Ride. If all goes well, this could become a regular fixture.

More to follow after the event.

Last month, Valve released an update to CounterStrike : Global Offensive which saw the return of one of the original CS maps - cs_militia. This is a hostage rescue map where you can go overground or through tunnels to reach the hostages. Whilst retaining much of the layout of the original, it has been improved to give more attack points for both sides.

In terms of the hostage rescue itself, that has change considerably. One CT can no longer lead all the hostages out in one go - they have to be picked up and carried individually (although rescuing one hostage adds time to the clock). It does make it more realistic, and adds to the tension at the end of the round. Should be a winner at the next LAN :)

Further information can be found on PC Gamer and Steam News

No dates have been announced for this year's BobLANs. However we do know that the traditional Easter weekend will not be the weekend again due to family commitments. More to follow when Bob picks a date.

We received the sad news on Sunday that the Mani Admin plugin for the Source engine games will be closing down. We have been using Mani for years to add features to the BobLAN CounterStrike, Day of Defeat and Halflife 2 DM servers. I'd only just got it working with CS:GO too :( Mani has been a great addition to the CS community since the start, and it will be missed.

There is an alternative, which I will look into - that is eXtensible Admin for Eventscripts. We've already got Eventscripts in use, and according to the documentation, XA supports Mani config files.

The LAN party dates have been confirmed - setup (including Asda curry) starts next Thursday evening, and runs through until Sunday early afternoon. Follow the game discussions on the Forums.

Our LAN party host DFC-Lynx has pencilled in the weekend of 9th-11th November 2012 for the next event. The dates are only provisional, but most of the regulars have confirmed their availability.

The BobLAN page has been setup, as has the Forums Topic covering the weekend. Feel free to post game suggestions.

Ubisoft have revealed the recommended PC spec required to play the third game in the FarCry series. As per usual, the specs are demanding if you want to run the game in its full glory - they recommend an i7-2600K coupled with a high end DX11 graphics card for best effect.

Read the full specs on Shacknews.

Still on the subject of FarCry 3, Ubi have also announced that the game will only go online to activate once for single player usage (as opposed to FarCry 2, which required always-on internet access). Multiplayer sessions will check DRM at each launch, but that's nothing out of the ordinary these days.

An article on Shacknews reports that the new Wii U will be able to transfer content from your old Wii, including Miis, WiiWare, and Virtual Console games without having to repurchase paid-for DLC.

The only stipulation is that both systems need to be connected to the internet at the same time - not a problem for wireless connection these days.

I happened across Jace's personal page this evening, and on it are a few nostalgic gems of MCW and BW times...

• BarrysWorld - look towards the bottom of the page for various links to BW content
• MCW League - a snapshot of season 8 where DFC played in Division 3

Them were the days...

Specialist retailer Game today announced its plans for the Game and GameStation brands following their exit from Administration. They are consolidating to a single brand, namely Game. The 122 remaining GameStation stores will be rebranded over the coming weeks.

Coupled with the rebranding is a relaunch of the popular Reward scheme, which will include the best bits of both brands. It will have the 2x preorder bonus from Game, and the achievements and points on trade-ins from GameStation.

You can read more on this via the industry news sites:

• CVG
• MCV

UK retailers have announced the release date of the next generation Nintendo console - the Wii U - as 30th November 2012. The basic model is to be priced at around £250 and the premium model will be around £300. Various bundle deals will be on offer, including games for a marginally reduced overall price.

Whilst this will no doubt be popular with Nintendo fans, it'll be interesting to see if Xbox and PS gamers will hold on until their respective next gen consoles appear next year.