Counter-Strike 2 on the horizon!

Expect to hear an explosive news about Counter-Strike 2 any time now. As a number of gaming news sites claim that the producers of the game, Valve, will reveal plans for a new version of Counter-Strike that took the world by storm in 1999 just as a simple mod to Half Life.

SK Gaming has this,

Now Gametrailers.com announced their visit to Valve in Seattle to actually take a look at a Behind the Scenes of Left 4 Dead and will also reveal a new map for Team Fortress 2. Additionally to that, it’s said “Whats the latest on Counter-Strike 2? You maybe surprised what Gabe Newell has to say”.

While some games become so popular that they create whole cultures around them, they can also become a boon for the developers who cannot seem to break a new game like the old one. They cannot seem to capture the market occupied by their own product.

Only the recent version of Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike Source has been able to make some headway into the competitive gaming scene, yet a lot of the community members remain loyal to the gameplay and intricacy of the original Counter-Strike mod.

What remains to be seen is how much this game is adopted when it comes out. People mostly play CS1.6 because of it’s low-end requirements. CS Source however takes a lot of resources to run.

Another question that comes to one is who will ultimately control what games become famous? It is obviously the gamer! There is no two ways about it. The better the product the better prospects of it going far.

Good luck Valve, deliver this time, please!

Valve and Nexon develop ‘Counter Strike Online’ targeting Asian gamers!

Counter Strike happens to be one of the most played First Person Shooters, online. Now that CS:Source and CS1.6 have simultaneous leagues running online, they combine to make up really impressive number. 15 Million accounts on Steam! Now they will soon be joined by a new title being developed by Nexon Corporation with Valve looking over them; Counter Strike Online (watch the promotional video). CSO will aim to get Asia playing it, and make it as popular as StarCraft in South Korea. Maybe? Of course when it comes to gaming, Asia means Thailand, China, Singapore, Taiwan and Korea. An excerpt from the press-release at Destructroid mentions David Lee, CEO of Nexon Japan Co.,

“It is our utmost pleasure to be able to develop Counter-Strike Online with Valve,” said David K. Lee, CEO of NEXON Japan Co., Ltd. “We will be devoting our expertise in online game development and service know-how for Asian territories to Counter-Strike Online. Already a global phenomenon, we are confident we can grow the success of Counter-Strike with this new product by tailoring the gameplay for the millions of gamers in Asia, one of the gaming industries fastest growing territories.”

While it remains to be seen how much different it would be from previous installations that went out to improve Counter Strike 1.6, like Condition Zero which ended up in the trashcans with bad reviews, one cannot let up the idea that this might actually be the change that is so required for CS1.6. This game will not require Steam (hence no SteamID). If Nexon and Valve market this game aggressively, you can expect this to become a standard at tournaments and leagues - internationally. So it’s better one starts practicing on it as soon as it comes out.