Given how bizarre Saints Row: The Third already is, mod tools could only result in the game becoming more sensible, more polite. Adding a selection of conservative businesswear, perhaps, or speed cameras to keep you driving safely.

We'll get to find out in a while, as developer Volition is working with Saints Row modders to put together proper mod tools. The mod community has so far been running on tools it worked out and put together itself, and shiny new tools should allow people to add new clothes and missions, and even alter the world.

Read more: Starting with SR3, planning for 2 and 4 too »

Strike Suit Zero developer Born Ready Games today released the mod tools for its mecha space shooter, one of the promised stretch goals from its crowdfunding campaign. The XedMod tools are free to any who owns the game, and use the Steam Workshop for sharing. If you don't own Strike Suit Zero, hey, now's your chance, as it's on sale for $10 until Sunday. Also out today, new DLC!

Watch: Mods the devs whipped up in a game jam »

The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is a jolly fascinating place but too expensive to visit and far too terrifying to tour virtually in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series. Thankfully, some kindly modders are treating us to a slightly friendlier whistlestop tour of Pripyat with Dniepr, a Left 4 Dead 2 custom campaign released today after three years of development.

Watch: Adventures in the Mall Of Ukraine »

We may have a long wait for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt ahead of us, but at least we should get plenty to keep us busy until then. CD Projekt RED today launched The Witcher 2's promised modding tool set, the REDkit, so hopefully all sorts of wonders and oddities are coming and heck, we can all make our own too.

Watch: The mod kit's launch trailer »

Oh, how glorious did Duke Nukem Forever look in 2001? My, how rubbish was it upon launching in 2011? The answer to both is "quite." But the dream we dreamed at E3 2001 never died, and now some fans have made it real-ish with a Duke Nukem 3D mod. Inspired by that trailer and E3 1998's offering, they've recreated its events and settings to make a weird and wonderful piece of 'What if?' fiction.

Watch: Visit a strip club with a hillbilly »

It's been about six years since the Minerva mod for Half-Life 2 was released, but after some cajoling from co-workers at Valve, developer Adam Foster has given it a new coat of paint and is releasing it on Steam as a Director's Cut.

Read more: Tweaked visuals, bug fixes and better puzzles »

Pack your parachute and grab your grappling gun, as the fantastic mod adding multiplayer to open-world chaos 'em up Just Cause 2 is holding another open beta test this weekend. Yes, you and dozens of other Rico Rodriguezs can be leaping, shooting, racing, flying, and stunting all over the place in ridiculous ways, because video games are amazing.

Read more: Running for 48 hours »

Modders, start your engine! Runic yesterday launched the official Torchlight 2 editor 'GUTS', which it says lets people "modify almost everything" in the action-RPG, "from item and skill balance, to level layouts, animations, quests, and much more." Why, we can all learn modding, but if you're not so inclined just lie back and wait for the sweet mods to roll in.

Read more: Half-price in Steam sale »

You try hurrying when your knees are splintered and tear rotten flesh with every step. After almost three years of development, Source mod Zombie Master 2 launched over the weekend. The follow-up drags the asymmetrical multiplayer RTS-FPS into the Orange Box version of Valve's engine with new features t'boot.

Read more: Humans play FPS, zombie master plays RTS »

You, the grizzled PC gamer in the corner, you remember diving around with akimbo pistols in that Half-Life mod in The Good Old Days, don't you? No, not Action Half-Life. No, you big silly, not The Opera. Gosh, no, not Matrix Half-Life. You know, The Specialists! Some of the folks behind that side-diving, slow-motion shooter are now working on a "spiritual successor" mod, Double Action, and want Kickstarter help to finish it faster. You can give an alpha version a go now, too.

Read more: $18,000 to release first beta this summer »

Few games receive mod tools nowadays, partly because they take time and money to make and support but also because mods often offer for free the sorts of things publishers try to sell as paid DLC. While Painkiller: Hell & Damnation offers a few pieces of DLC, it's also letting players make their own stuff for the FPS remake. Publisher Nordic Games today announced that the mod kit will launch in April. Mac and Linux editions will follow, too.

Read more: Launching on Mac and Linux in April or May »

If you were the type to draw fanciful Doom scenes all over your schoolbooks, rejoice! Thanks to the mod Brutal Doom, id's shooter is now every bit as violent as your younger self's doodles. Every dismemberment; every curbstomping; every immolation; every Hell Knight being kicked square in the soul spheres: they're all here. A new version came out last week, letting me post a long-overdue story about this gory marvel.

Watch: Rip! Tear! Rend flesh and smash teeth! »

Three years after launching, stompy robot Crysis mod MechWarrior: Living Legends has released its very final version. The gang at Wandering Samurai Studios still have more they'd like to do but, alas, their license to use the MechWarrior property is up. So, download Living Legends 0.7.0 and see it out with a plasma blast.

Read more: "We present to you this culmination of 6 years of work" »

The Black Mesa mod is a remarkable accomplishment, remaking Half-Life in the Source engine, and now a mapper building upon their work has remade another slice of Valve history. Black Mesa: Uplink remakes HL's classic Uplink demo, which curiously for a demo was a new slice based upon levels cut from the game during development. And now that's available in shiny Source-o-vision.

Read more: Took three months to finish »

Few people as devoted to games as modders, who toil away on labours of love long after Joe Player has forgotten the game even existed. Take Star Trek: Elite Force II. You may have heard of Ritual's boldly-going FPS, and perhaps played and enjoyed it, but mod team HaZardModding has spent six years converting the single-player campaign to co-op. Now, it's finally completed.

Read more: "No other game can ever replace the relationship you had with that game" »

If you'd like to replay Deus Ex but are put off by the year 2000 graphics, you're a monster. Fortunately, dear monster, help is at hand. While the USA was off giving thanks for something or other last week, the real cause for celebration was that the final version of high-res retexturing mod New Vision was released, giving even the most monstrous of monsters no excuse not to revisit this classic.

Read more: 5 years of work »

Ah, FPSs! They don't make them like they used to, do they? No, in many ways and for a number of reasons. But if you find yourself nostalgically longing for The Good Old Days and sniping at the likes of Call of Duty: Black Ops II, then have I got the Doom 2 parody mod for you!

Watch: Pain, misery and suffering »

You might have noticed that whenever a game has mod tools or a level editor, it's only a matter before someone tries to recreate World 1-1 from the original Super Mario Bros. It's a rule of human nature. So it makes sense that a new mod for Skyrim is imitating the classic Nintendo franchise.

Read more: Goombas and fire flower (staves) »

If you hanker to return to the land of Morrowind but insist that it look all sorts of pretty and have no patience to wait for the Skyrim mod hoping to recreate it, why, then you're in luck. The latest and prettiest version of the Morrowind Overhaul compilation mod was released over the weekend, for your playing pleasure.

Watch: Ooh, shiny! »

The Skyrim mod community has already added tons of new weapons, spells, and other knick-knacks for your playing pleasure. But an intrepid group of modders heard you like Elder Scrolls, so it's putting Elder Scrolls in your Elder Scrolls so you can play Elder Scrolls while you play Elder Scrolls. More specifically, the "Skywind" project plans to inject a healthy dose of Morrowind using the Skyrim engine.

Watch: Wandering around Skywind »

Grab your crowbars and spectacles, everyone. The Source engine fan remake of the original Half-Life is now available. It went live at 8:47 AM Mountain Time, which should sound awfully familiar to fans. The labor of love has taken eight years and has added a few notable tweaks to the classic, with at least one more revision on the way post-launch.

Read more: Xen revision coming »

You thought the day would never come, and it still hasn't quite yet, but Black Mesa now has a release date. After eight years of development, the fan remake of Half-Life in the Source engine will be released on September 14. Except it won't be quite complete; the team is still working on expanding HL's reviled Xen section and plans to release it later.

Read more: Xen "basically a complete game in its own right" »

PC masochists were dismayed by news that the PC edition of Dark Souls would render at 1024x720 at 30fps, but a few predicted that the platform's wonderful modability would save the day. You clever little Nostradami, you. A hack enabling higher resolutions was released within hours of launch, and while there are a few bugs it does seem to mostly work.

Read more: Removing framerate cap supposedly less successful »

If you've got no plans this weekend, why not go for a spot of jetliner-surfing with your chums or perhaps watch a race then join in and leap from car to car? These merry antics and more will be yours to experience, as the recently resurrected multiplayer mod for Just Cause 2 is starting a short open beta test tomorrow.

Watch: Many Ricos flying, hijacking and crashing »

The Half-Life remake mod Black Mesa really is coming, and now a leaked video confirmed as real has surfaced with a peek at its jazzed-up 'On a Rail' chapter. You know, that frightful section with the tedious trains then glorious rocket launch.

Watch: Three minutes of confirmed leaked gameplay »