CS-Nation

Covering the future of Counter-Strike
arcade cs
mailbag: arcade cs
This week's mailbag is all about the CS arcade game and what forms it might take, as well as what forms it definitely won't take. Keep reading, because there's a great contest related to this mailbag that may get you a free game!

Keep in mind that while everything below is fiction, a real CS arcade game is being made by Namco. They're calling it Counter-Strike Neo.
from: the_cheat
i think it should have a jystick. not the kind with the ball on tha top but it should look like the other one. this is for walking. it can controll walking and croughing. ther should be another joysick controlling the shhotting and jumping and secondary fire and too middle butons to use and relod.the buttons should be "clicky" but not too "clicky". it must not have bad resistance, but good resistance. voice commm should be standar too. plus it should run supar 1337 graphics
It should also have a spell checker. I don't think a joystick would work. This is CS we're talking about, not "Tron."
from: -Dice
Well, for starters, I'd try to simplify the game. As it is now, it would take far too long to learn for a normal arcade goer. So let's take all those complex controls and condense them into a single joystick. Then, because we'd like to make these units cheap and low-powered, make the game two-dimensional. Since no one wants to be a Terrorist, you'd play as a CT, and we'd represent a CT with a yellow circle. The T's would kinda look like ghosts, and they could be different colors too. Finally, the game type would change from deathmatch-style play to something more suitable for younger audiences, like eating little white dots and various kinds of fruit. Oh, and you'd have different numbers of lives and stuff, and there'd even be a high score list...
I think you have the makings of a hit right here. I don't think we could call it Counter-Strike, though. Maybe we should change the focus of the game, and have it be about Tupac - or as I like to call him, "pac." Man, that would be great.

Maybe if it's successful they could make one for the ladies!
from: StealthMonkey
It would be a side scroller game like the old ninja turtle games. But instead of guys coming out of sewers and trashcans, they will come up from behind boxes and shoot at me with m4a1's and ak's. :D
Or maybe like the in the old Simpsons arcade game, you can pick up your fellow CT player and use your powers together as super weapons. Here's hoping that at least one part of your idea gets in the game - healing yourself with a strategically placed box of pizza in dust.
from: A$$A$$|/\/
I would made it like lazer tag.. or something.. like all 3-D with 3-D goggles and 3-D guns and stuff... like it puts you in the game and u have to walk around and shoot with your 3-D guns and other people.. who are 3-D.. and the world would be 3-D and you could have sex in it..3-D sex. it would be called C-Strike 3-D. yeah.. 3-D goodness...
While the 3D idea is an intriguing one (forgetting the childish sexual portion), I don't think I'd want to put on some filthy 3D glasses that were lying around the arcade.
from: Emmett22
I would for starters design the arcade machine so it was equipped with all the different weapons from counter-strike (hehe) cost a lot of money i know but it would be worth it.
So all the weapons where locked until you bought´ em.
And then i would implement a betting system so you could bet in the beginning of each round which side was gonna win. I would ad other things you had to accomplish before you could win like ex. hold curtain checkpoints and getting hold of documents, briefcases etc.
I don't think the game will be one of those "shoot the screen with the attached weapon" like Sniper Scope or Operation Wolf (for the old guys) - so your different weapons idea not only wouldn't be worth it, it'd be a pretty extravagant waste. I also don't think betting would work well because I don't imagine you'll get many rounds to the dollar with the arcade version. Some new goals might work for the (even) more immediate nature of the game, however.
from: Evil_Penguin
First off, I would scrap the Quak... I mean Half-Life engine and go into a totally 2D environment. A lot of people would say you can't do a first person shooter in 2D, well they are right. It would have to be a fighting game. Where you take the position as one of the members of whatever the CPL champions. The objective is to defeat the contestants from all over the world in a Combat of Mortals to the death. There would be like Fatalities where you would be like, "I don't config h4x, fgt!!1111" and then they would keel over and die. And then there would be a giant guy with four arms that was crazy cheap who couldn't be pulled by Scorpion's dagger throw attack.
I wonder how they'd work in the buying system. Oh, I got it - COMBOS! And remember, you can't do Counter-Strike without babalities. It just wouldn't be the same.
from: Penguin
My arcade would be a big room you go into with a virtual headset and gun to make you feel like you're right in the game. When you get or shoot hit you feel vibrations, and the character would copy your exact movements (crouching, jumping, etc.) Normally you would just play against skilled bots, but for an extra charge it would connect you to the Counterstrike Arcade Network to play against other people who are in similar arcade machines.
You're talking about one hell of an expensive setup there. Networking throughout multiple arcades would be a major chore, and would end up charging the end user a good $10 at least for one or two rounds of gameplay. As interesting as it sounds, I don't think it's anywhere near feasible. We're just going to have to settle for what we've got right now.
from: impeh
Forget light guns, what the arcade game would need is a big soft punching bag nearby, in order to stop angry CS players (we all know atleast one, and most likely are one) smashing the crap out of the controls. A nice big meaty punching bag with the face of a hostage or something for the more aggrovated of the CS arcade community to unleash hell upon.

Otherwise I doubt the arcade machine would last longer then 20 minutes before being torn to pieces.
You've got an interesting point, but it's been my experience that most of that frustration bleeds away when you're in the more social environment of the arcade. A lot of the anger and frustration occurs in the dark, lonely environment of the computer room, but doesn't translate to the outside world. When it does, that's when you get misdemeanor assault charges.