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

Skin gambling has been a regular activity for CS:GO fans , allowing them to bet on their cosmetics in hopes of winning better ones. Various platforms offer these services, with players placing bets on professional matches or joining lotteries using their in-game cosmetics as currency. Valve previously launched legal action against gambling sites that demanded access to the Steam API, automatically loading the users’ inventory to ease the betting process. However, since all CS:GO skin gambling websites don’t use this Steam API, players could still bet on their cosmetics if they wanted

Here's how the full feature technically works. In CS:GO , players are able to either earn loot boxes through gameplay or buy them from other players. However, these loot boxes can only be opened by paying for a key. The new feature is called the X-Ray Scanner and allows players to place one loot box into it to reveal the item inside. However, and here's the trick, once an item has been scanned by the X-Ray Scanner, players will have "claim" the item buy purchasing a key to unlock it before being able to look inside another loot

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

Kaer Morhen is an important locale in CD Projekt Red's Witcher franchise, Andrzej Sapkowski's book series, and Netflix's television adaptation. Unsurprisingly, the keep a lot of deep lore behind it , and players will be able to spy a number of references to the events of the game series sprinkled throughout the

The era of CS:GO skin gambling may be coming to an end as Steam updated its Online Conduct policy to prevent users from engaging in this type of activity. More specifically, the latest update to this policy states that Steam users shall not engage in commercial activities such as running contests, buying or selling Steam accounts, posting advertisements, or gambling. This last element is the most crucial one for Counter-Strike players , as it explicitly states that the action of gambling skins is now frowned upon by St

A highly ambitious Counter-Strike: Global Offensive mod aiming to bring back the "classic feeling" of Counter-Strike 1.6 has hit a major roadblock. After spending nearly eight years in limbo, the Counter-Strike: Classic Offensive mod for CS:GO seems to have been blocked by Valve, leaving both its developers and fans disappoin

The recent announcement of Counter-Strike 2 , set to release during Summer 2023, revived the interest for players in CS:GO skins. Valve stated that all the cosmetics from CS:GO would carry over to Counter-Strike 2 , increasing the value of all cosmetics and loot boxes listed in the community market as players try to get the rarest weapon skins available in the g

"Cheaters never prosper." A phrase that has been around for hundreds of years, but in the world of gaming, it too often fails to be true. Gamers who are fed up with seeing cheaters romp to victory should take a moment to enjoy the amazing work of You Tuber scriptKid. He created a fake cheat mod for the recently resurgent Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) which causes the cheaters in the first-person shooter to be trolled endlessly with misfires and mish

Steam updated its guidelines for users to add more restrictions regarding online gambling, leaving the future of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive skin gambling uncertain a few months before the release of its highly anticipated sequel Counter-Strike 2 . These guidelines, gathered under the name "Steam Online Conduct," describes the activities Steam users cannot perform on Valve’s platform, such as posting illegal or inappropriate content, engaging in unlawful activities, or harassing other users. The update to this policy impacts Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players, who are now unsure of the future of their skin gambling activit

One community-made Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map is seemingly offering Russians an alternative view of the war in Ukraine. While Valve's Counter-Strike has been among the most popular live-service titles to date, the game is currently seeing a notable uptick in interest thanks to the recent reveal that Counter-Strike 2 walkthrough|https://counterstrike2zone.com/ 2 is officially in the works . Now, it appears one community is looking to leverage this popularity to shed light on the situation in Ukra