Counter-Strike

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Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike vertical logo (2023).svg
Genre(s) Tactical first-person shooter
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)
Platform(s)
First release Counter-Strike
November 9, 2000 [1] [2] [3]
Latest release Counter-Strike 2
September 27, 2023

Counter-Strike (CS) is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games in which teams of terrorists battle to perpetrate an act of terror (bombing, hostage-taking, assassination) while counter-terrorists try to prevent it (bomb defusal, hostage rescue, escort mission). The series began on Windows in 1999 with the release of the first game, Counter-Strike . It was initially released as a modification ("mod") for Half-Life that was designed by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess "Cliffe" Cliffe before the rights to the mod's intellectual property were acquired by Valve, the developers of Half-Life, who then turned Counter-Strike into a retail product released in 2000.

Contents

The original Counter-Strike was followed by Counter-Strike: Condition Zero , developed by Turtle Rock Studios and released in March 2004. A previous version of Condition Zero that was developed by Ritual Entertainment was released alongside it as Condition Zero: Deleted Scenes. Eight months later, Valve released Counter-Strike: Source , a remake of the original Counter-Strike and the first in the series to run on Valve's then-newly created Source engine. [4] The fourth game in the main series, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive , was released by Valve in 2012 for Windows, OS X, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. Hidden Path Entertainment, who worked on Counter-Strike: Source post-release, helped to develop the game alongside Valve. [5] Counter-Strike 2 was announced in March 2023 and publicly released on September 27, 2023, as a replacement for Global Offensive.

There have been several third-party spin-off titles created for Asian markets over the years. These include the Counter-Strike Online series, Counter-Strike Neo, and Counter-Strike Nexon: Studio.

Gameplay

Counter-Strike is an objective-based, multiplayer tactical first-person shooter. Two opposing teams—the Terrorists and the Counter Terrorists—compete in game modes to complete objectives, such as securing a location to plant or defuse a bomb and rescuing or guarding hostages. [6] [7] At the end of each round, players are rewarded based on their individual performance with in-game currency to spend on more powerful weapons in subsequent rounds. Winning rounds results in more money than losing and completing objectives such as killing enemy players gives cash bonuses. [6] Uncooperative actions, such as killing teammates, result in a penalty. [8]

Main series

Release timeline
2000 Counter-Strike
2001–2003
2004 Counter-Strike: Condition Zero
Counter-Strike: Source
Counter-Strike Neo
2005–2007
2008 Counter-Strike Online
2009–2011
2012 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
2013 Counter-Strike Online 2
2014Counter-Strike Nexon: Studio
2015–2022
2023 Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike

Originally a modification for Half-Life, the development team was hired by Valve in 2000, when the company acquired the rights to Counter-Strike.

The game received a port to Xbox in 2003. [9] It was also ported to OS X and Linux in the form of a beta in January 2013. A full release was published in April 2013. [10] [11]

Condition Zero

Counter-Strike was followed up with Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, developed by Turtle Rock Studios and released in 2004. It used the Half-Life GoldSrc engine, similarly to its predecessor. Besides the multiplayer mode, it also included a single-player mode with a "full" campaign and bonus levels. The game received mixed reviews in contrast to its predecessor and was quickly followed with a further entry to the series titled Counter-Strike: Source . [12]

Source

Counter-Strike: Source was the first game publicly released by Valve to run on the Source engine. Counter-Strike: Source was initially released as a beta to members of the Valve Cyber Café Program on August 11, 2004. [4] [13] On August 18, 2004, the beta was released to owners of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and to those who had bought ATI Radeon video cards bundled with a Half-Life 2 voucher. [14] While the original release only included a version for Microsoft Windows, the game eventually received a port to OS X on June 23, 2010, with a Linux port afterwards in 2013. [15] [16]

Global Offensive

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was the fourth release in the main, Valve-developed Counter-Strike series in 2012. Much like Counter-Strike: Source the game runs on the Source engine. It was available for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux, as well as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles, and is backwards compatible on the Xbox One console.

Counter-Strike 2

On March 22, 2023, Valve announced Counter-Strike 2, which utilizes the Source 2 game engine. It was originally announced as a free upgrade to Global Offensive with a summer 2023 release date. [17] [18] [19] On September 1, 2023, it was released as a limited beta, [20] [21] and the game replaced Global Offensive on September 27.

Spin-offs

Neo

Counter-Strike Neo (stylized NEO) is a Japanese arcade adaptation of Counter-Strike published by Namco for Linux-based machines. [22] The game is set in a futuristic version of Counter-Strike, with characters featuring anime-like designs. A selection of single-player missions, mini-games, and seasonal events were added to prolong the players' interest on the game. [23]

Online series

Counter-Strike Online is a free-to-play spin-off available in much of eastern Asia. It was developed by Nexon, with oversight from Valve. It uses a micropayment model that is managed by a custom version of the Steam back-end. [24] Announced in 2012 and aimed at the Asian gaming market, a sequel titled Counter-Strike Online 2 was developed by Nexon on the Source game engine and released in 2013. [25]

Nexon: Studio

In August 2014, Nexon announced Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies, a free-to-play, zombie-themed spin-off, [26] developed on the GoldSrc game engine. [27] On September 23, 2014, an open beta was released on Steam. [28] The game launched on October 7, 2014, featuring 50 maps and 20 game modes. [29] The game features both player versus player modes such as team deathmatch, hostage rescue, and bomb defusal, alongside player versus environment modes such as cooperative campaign missions and base defending. [30] Reception from critics was generally negative, with criticism aimed at the game's poor user interface, microtransactions, [30] and dated graphics. [27] On October 30, 2019, Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies was renamed to Counter-Strike Nexon: Studio. [31]

Competitive play

Counter-Strike has over 20 years of competitive play beginning with the original Counter-Strike. The first major tournament was hosted in 2001 at the Cyberathlete Professional League which, along with World Cyber Games and Electronic Sports World Cup, were among the largest tournaments for the Counter-Strike series up to 2007. Since 2013, the Valve-sponsored Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championships have become the most prestigious tournaments in the franchise's history, featuring prize pools of around $1,000,000. [32] [33]

Reception

Counter-Strike is considered one of the most influential first person shooters in history. The series has a large competitive community and has become synonymous with first person shooters. [32] As of August 2011, the Counter-Strike franchise has sold over 25 million units. [34] Because of its popularity, Counter-Strike has attracted considerable academic attention. Researchers have used data from Counter-Strike, among others, to examine the mood of players, [35] performance of obese players, [36] or performance changes since the start of the Russian invasion in Ukraine. [37]

Related Research Articles

<i>Counter-Strike</i> (video game) 2000 first-person shooter video game

Counter-Strike is a tactical first-person shooter game developed by Valve. It was initially developed and released as a Half-Life modification by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess Cliffe in 1999, before Le and Cliffe were hired and the game's intellectual property acquired. Counter-Strike was released by Valve for Microsoft Windows in November 2000, and is the first installment in the Counter-Strike series. Several remakes and ports were released on Xbox, as well as OS X and Linux.

Source is a 3D game engine developed by Valve. It debuted as the successor to GoldSrc in 2004 with the releases of Half-Life: Source, Counter-Strike: Source, and Half-Life 2. Other notable third-party games using Source include Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, Dear Esther, and The Stanley Parable. Valve released incremental updates to the engine during its lifetime. Source was succeeded in 2015 by the release of Source 2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steam (service)</span> Video game digital distribution service

Steam is a video game digital distribution service and storefront managed by Valve. It was launched as a software client in September 2003 to provide game updates automatically for Valve's games and expanded to distributing third-party titles in late 2005. Steam offers various features, like game server matchmaking with Valve Anti-Cheat measures, social networking, and game streaming services. Steam client's functions include game update automation, cloud storage for game progress, and community features such as direct messaging, in-game overlay functions and a virtual collectable marketplace.

<i>Counter-Strike: Source</i> 2004 video game

Counter-Strike: Source is a tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Valve and Turtle Rock Studios. Released in October 2004 for Windows, it is a remake of Counter-Strike (2000) using the Source game engine. As in the original, Counter-Strike: Source pits a team of counter-terrorists against a team of terrorists in a series of rounds. Each round is won either by completing an objective or by eliminating all members of the enemy team. The game was initially bundled with all retail and digital copies of Half-Life 2, before being released standalone.

<i>Counter-Strike: Condition Zero</i> 2004 video game

Counter-Strike: Condition Zero is a first-person shooter video game developed by Ritual Entertainment, Turtle Rock Studios, and Valve, and published by Sierra Entertainment and Valve. The follow-up to Counter-Strike (2000), it was released in March 2004 for Windows. Condition Zero utilizes the GoldSrc engine and has a multiplayer mode, which features updated character models, textures, maps and other graphical tweaks. It also includes two single-player campaigns; Tour of Duty and Condition Zero: Deleted Scenes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valve Anti-Cheat</span> Anti-cheat software

Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) is an anti-cheat tool developed by Valve as a component of the Steam platform, first released with Counter-Strike in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turtle Rock Studios</span> American video game developer

Turtle Rock Studios is an American video game developer founded in March 2002 by Mike Booth. It was acquired by Valve in 2008, but was re-founded in 2010 as a subsidiary of Slamfire Inc. by Phil Robb and Chris Ashton. Turtle Rock Studios is involved in the creation of original titles as well as the provision of consulting services to the digital entertainment industry.

<i>Half-Life</i> (series) Video game series

Half-Life is a series of first-person shooter (FPS) games created by Valve. The games combine shooting combat, puzzles and storytelling.

<i>Counter-Strike Online</i> 2008 video game

Counter-Strike Online (CSO) is a tactical first-person shooter video game, targeted towards Asia's gaming market released in 2008. It is based on Counter-Strike and was developed by Nexon with oversight from license-holder Valve. It uses a micropayment model that is managed by a custom version of Steam.

<i>Combat Arms</i> 2008 video game

Combat Arms: Reloaded & Combat Arms: Classic is a free-to-play multiplayer first-person shooter game developed by Nexon and published by VALOFE outside of Korea. The game uses the LithTech game engine to produce its graphics. In July 2012, Combat Arms was also released on Steam.

<i>Dota 2</i> 2013 video game

Dota 2 is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Dota 2 is played in matches between two teams of five players, with each team occupying and defending their own separate base on the map. Each of the ten players independently controls a character known as a hero that has unique abilities and differing styles of play. During a match, players collect experience points (XP) and items for their heroes to defeat the opposing team's heroes in player versus player (PvP) combat. A team wins by being the first to destroy the other team's Ancient, a large durable structure located in the center of each base.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GoldSrc</span> Video game engine

GoldSrc, sometimes called the Half-Lifeengine, is a proprietary game engine developed by Valve. At its core, GoldSrc is a heavily modified version of id Software's Quake engine. It made its debut in 1998 with Half-Life and powered future games developed by or with oversight from Valve, including Half-Life's expansions, Day of Defeat and games in the Counter-Strike series.

<i>Counter-Strike: Global Offensive</i> 2012 video game

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) is a 2012 multiplayer tactical first-person shooter developed by Valve and Hidden Path Entertainment. It is the fourth game in the Counter-Strike series. Developed for over two years, Global Offensive was released for OS X, PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 in August 2012, and for Linux in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SteamOS</span> Linux distribution made by Valve

SteamOS is a Linux distribution developed by Valve. It incorporates Valve's popular namesake Steam video game storefront and is the primary operating system for the Steam Deck, Valve's portable gaming device, as well as Valve's earlier Steam Machines. SteamOS is open source with some closed source components.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dust II</span> Video game map in the Counter-Strike series

"Dust II", also known by its filename de_dust2, is a video game map featured in the first-person shooter series Counter-Strike. Dust II is the successor to "Dust", another Counter-Strike map, and was developed by David Johnston before the official release of the original Counter-Strike game. It was designed with the aims of simplicity and balance, based on its symmetrical design and two points, over which the two teams must fight for control.

<i>Counter-Strike</i> in esports Professional Counter-Strike competition

Professional Counter-Strike competition involves professional gamers competing in the first-person shooter game series Counter-Strike. The original game, released in 1999, is a mod developed by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess Cliffe of the 1998 video game Half-Life, published by Valve. Currently, the games that have been played competitively include Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (CS:CZ), Counter-Strike: Source (CS:S), Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), and Counter-Strike 2 (CS2). Major esports championships began in 2001 with the Cyberathlete Professional League Winter Championship, won by Ninjas in Pyjamas.

<i>Counter-Strike 2</i> 2023 video game

Counter-Strike 2 is a 2023 free-to-play tactical first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve. It is the fifth entry in the Counter-Strike series, developed as an updated version of the previous entry, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (2012). The game was announced on March 22, 2023, and was released on September 27, 2023, for Windows and Linux, replacing Global Offensive on Steam.

References

  1. ↑ Cliffe, Jess (November 9, 2000). "CS V1.0 Released!". counter-strike.net. Archived from the original on December 1, 2000.
  2. ↑ Walker, Trey (November 9, 2000). "Counter-Strike 1.0 Released". GameSpot . Archived from the original on May 15, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
  3. ↑ Gibson, Steve (November 9, 2000). "Counter-Strike v1.0". Shacknews .
  4. 1 2 "Counter-Strike: Source beta begins". GameSpot . CNET Networks. August 11, 2004. Archived from the original on March 14, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2008.
  5. ↑ "VALVE ANNOUNCES COUNTER-STRIKE: GLOBAL OFFENSIVE (CS: GO)". Steam . Valve. August 12, 2011. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  6. 1 2 Pinsof, Allistair (August 24, 2012). "Review: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive". Destructoid . Archived from the original on January 1, 2017. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
  7. ↑ Owen, Phil (August 31, 2012). "GAME BYTES: 'Counter-Strike' Lackluster". The Tuscaloosa News . New Media Investment Group. Archived from the original on August 16, 2017. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  8. ↑ "Money system in CS:GO explained". Natus Vincere. Archived from the original on January 2, 2017. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  9. ↑ Fahey, Rob (June 6, 2003). "E3 2003: Counter-Strike". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Counter-Strike 1.6 Beta released". Steam . Valve. January 28, 2013. Archived from the original on February 14, 2013. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Counter-Strike 1.6 update released". Steam . Valve. April 1, 2013. Archived from the original on March 16, 2014. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Counter-Strike: Condition Zero for PC Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic.com. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved November 20, 2012.
  13. ↑ "Counter-Strike: Source update history". Valve. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2008.
  14. ↑ "Counter-Strike: Source Strike ATI Customer". Advanced Micro Devices. Archived from the original on April 9, 2010. Retrieved July 1, 2008. "Counter Strike: Source ATI customer". December 2014. Archived from the original on April 19, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Counter-Strike: Source Update Released". Steam . Valve. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved June 23, 2010.
  16. ↑ Dawe, Liam (February 5, 2013). "Counter Strike Source Has Been Added To The CDR And Apparently Installable Too". GamingOnLinux. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
  17. ↑ Rizzo, Marco (March 22, 2023). "Valve announce Counter-Strike 2". HLTV . Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  18. ↑ Stedman, Alex (March 22, 2023). "Counter-Strike 2 Revealed Out of Nowhere, Release Window Confirmed". IGN . Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  19. ↑ Roth, Emma; Clark, Mitchel (March 22, 2023). "Valve announces Counter-Strike 2, a free replacement for CS:GO". MSN . Retrieved March 22, 2023.
  20. ↑ "Your Time is Now". www.counter-strike.net. Retrieved September 3, 2023.
  21. ↑ "How to play Counter-Strike 2 beta: Valve sends invites to more players for limited test". Dexerto. Retrieved September 3, 2023.
  22. ↑ Niizumi, Hirohiko (September 27, 2004). "Nvidia partners with Namco". GameSpot . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on March 7, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  23. ↑ Waugh, Eric-Jon (March 27, 2006). "GDC: The Localization of Counter-Strike in Japan". Gamasutra . UBM plc. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  24. ↑ "Q&A: Valve Explains Why PC Gaming's Gaining Steam". Gamasutra . March 6, 2008. Archived from the original on November 12, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
  25. ↑ Mallory, Jordan (April 6, 2012). "Nexon, Valve announce Counter-Strike Online 2 for Asian territories". Joystiq. Archived from the original on March 4, 2015. Retrieved April 1, 2013.
  26. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (August 7, 2014). "Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies heads to Steam". Eurogamer . Gamer Network. Archived from the original on April 11, 2016. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  27. 1 2 Köhler, Stefan (October 26, 2014). "Tod durch Untote" [Death by Undead]. GameStar (in German). p. 2. Archived from the original on June 30, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  28. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (September 23, 2014). "Here's a (very) quick look at Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies". Eurogamer . Gamer Network. Archived from the original on July 30, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  29. ↑ Prescott, Shaun (October 7, 2014). "Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies ambles onto Steam today". PC Gamer . Future Publishing. Archived from the original on May 29, 2016. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  30. 1 2 O'Connor, Alice (September 25, 2014). "Counter-Strike Nexon: Zombies Shambles Into Open Beta". Rock, Paper, Shotgun . Archived from the original on July 23, 2015. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  31. ↑ "Counter-Strike Nexon: Studio". SteamDB. Archived from the original on May 3, 2020. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  32. 1 2 Mitchell, Ferguson (September 4, 2018). "Esports Essentials: The Legacy of Counter-Strike". The Esports Observer. Retrieved January 13, 2020.
  33. ↑ Llewellyn, Thomas (September 17, 2018). "An eSports phenomenon: Counter-Strike". National Science and Media Museum. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  34. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (August 12, 2011). "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive firing up early 2012". GameSpot . CBS Interactive Inc. Archived from the original on March 16, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  35. ↑ Behnke, Maciej; Chwiłkowska, Patrycja; Kaczmarek, Lukasz D. (2021). "What makes male gamers angry, sad, amused, and enthusiastic while playing violent video games?". Entertainment Computing. 37: 100397. doi: 10.1016/j.entcom.2020.100397 .
  36. ↑ Parshakov, Petr; Naidenova, Iuliia; Assanskiy, Arthur; Nesseler, Cornel (2022). "Obesity and individual performance: the case of eSports". International Journal of Obesity. 46 (8): 1518–1526. doi: 10.1038/s41366-022-01142-y . PMID   35585184.
  37. ↑ Nesseler, Cornel; Shtrum, Viktor (2024). "War and Esport: The Russian Invasions Impact on the Performance of Ukrainian and Russian Professional Players". Games and Culture: 1–19. doi: 10.1177/15554120231224513 .
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