CS-Nation

Covering the future of Counter-Strike
simcity
counter-point: simcity
Editor's note: Apologies for the lack of Counter-Point issues recently. E3 combined with big computer problems screwed us up quite a bit.

It goes without saying that Half-Life 2 wowed the E3 crowd. What's in store for Half-Life 2 and its 'community'? Does it even have a commuity at all?



From: asspennies [mailto:asspennies@counter-strike.net]
To: rizzuh [mailto:rze@counter-strike.net]
Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2003 5:00 PM
Subject: The Fantastical World of E3.

So, the big triple E is over, and miraculously, you got to go this year! I always wished I could go, but things kept getting in the way. But enough about me. On to the show.

If there's one thing that left an impression on people, it's Half-Life 2. Anyone who saw the presentation—http://www.fileshack.com/file.x?fid=2914&mdash—is invariably completely blown away. I don't think words can describe how good this game looks, how big of a step it takes, and how revolutionary it promises to be. VALVe doesn't have a very long history, but it seems that when they put their muscle behind something, they don't short-change it. They go all the way. Anyone not absolutely entranced by this video does not deserve to call themselves a gamer.

There was Counter-Strike galore at this year's E3. It's times like these when I like to think back to the humble creation of a little mod for HL that was played by a few hundred people who had trouble distinguishing the short-sleeved Terrorists from the long-sleeved Counter-Terrorists. Now we've got a retail single player enhancement and a console version—a console version of a mod!—due out in the not too distant future.

First, the Xbox version of Counter-Strike. It looks good. It doesn't look ground-breaking or anything, but it doesn't have to be. If they manage to copy even a bit of what makes CS great, then it should be a real boon to Xbox Live, which we both dabble in. You seemed to think it was good in your preview—http://www.csnation.net/articles.php/147/—so I'm hoping for the best. I think that copying the frantic mood and intense combination of teamwork and individualism will more than make up for the fact that people will be using less accurate control systems. And being able to play CS in a guaranteed cheat-free zone will have its advantages.

Second, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero. I'm considerably less enthused about this one. I have a suspicious feeling that Ritual is making a mess of what was a kind of sketchy prospect in the first place. Shacknews' Jason Bergman wrote a preview of the game—http://www.shacknews.com/extras/e3_2003/e3dayone.x—with a few disturbing anecdotes. Chief among them was this doozy: "Whereas the original CZ was a series of tactical missions that emulated the CS feel (possibly by sacrificing any coherent narrative to do so), the new Condition Zero is pretty much a standard FPS. In truth, it resembled Soldier of Fortune more than Counter-Strike."

Ouch. That is NOT what I wanted to hear. As far as sacrificing a coherent narrative, well, Ritual isn't putting one in their game, either. And making Counter-Strike play like a standard FPS goes against everything Counter-Strike is all about. You're not a walking tank, you're always supposed to be teetering on death's edge. It's up to your skill and your teammates' resolve to keep you alive and to complete the objective. Going on a run-and-gun will just destroy everything 'Counter-Strike' about the game, leaving only a standard FPS with a familiar feel. That's not the quality I expect from Ritual, so we can hope this is just an aberration. But I have a sinking feeling that I may not be too enthused with how Condition Zero ultimately turns out.



From: rizzuh [mailto:rze@counter-strike.net]
To: asspennies [mailto:asspennies@counter-strike.net]
Sent: Friday, May 30, 2003 4:30 PM
Subject: all the wiser?

Since the single player portion of Condition Zero wasn't playable at E3, I guess Jason just grabbed that from the videos. I don't know about CZ; it'll be out soon enough, either to reinforce or embarrass the Counter-Strike brand so I'm not going to spend a lot of time worrying whether or not it'll be well done. In many respects I'm just as tired of E3 as I am of Condition Zero; while the Expo was fun and all, it certainly doesn't give me or anyone else a right to predict what will happen this year in gaming. Everything shown at E3 was coordinated to look its best. It's all a bit of a magic trick put on by the industry. Like how your personality changes around more distant relatives, games at E3 look a lot greater than they may actually be.

Disregarding that for a minute, Half-Life 2 was definitely the talk of the show at this year's E3. Your friend that I met there spoke to a Halo 2 guy who explained, quite loudly, that "YES!" they did know how cool the HL2 demonstration was. Everyone was talking about the damn game in their free time. Hell, some people I met at the event waited in line for five hours to see it and claimed that it was worth it. That's a bit of a stretch, but you have to give it to VALVe for completely changing their reputation of a one-hit wonder in the eyes of many to the token "OH MY GOD I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS GAME" company.

What E3 and the media have done is create an atmosphere for Half-Life 2 where the title already has a significant fan base. This happens with every successful first person shooter, and of course many not-so-successful ones. It's kind of like creating an army before starting a war; an army of loyal supporters and people buying the super-duper collector's edition. What's different is that those who follow the game now likely won't be let down. In fact, they'll be the first on what will probably be the next large community.

What do us early fans of HL2 get out of the deal? What's in it for us for being first in the community and possibly witnessing the game's and its community's weakest moments, along with their strongest?

I bought Half-Life about four months after release and at the time I envied those who were there from long before the title was released. That's right, it was nagging to me that I wasn't already part of the original community and that so many others knew things about the game that I could never possibly learn.

Similarly, I had been following CS for months before its release. I even played the game extensively before the first release was made public. Does that make me any better? Does it make me understand the community more? I'd like to think so. It gives me a lot of perspective. Perspective that can only be gained through time and experience. I mean I can recall the very game when I realized that the P90 was completely dominating CS, and most people have never even heard of the P90 being a good weapon. Does that gain me much, though?