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First Person Shooters (Games)

CS: Source Half-Life's Only Multiplayer 216

Posted by Zonk from the back-to-black-mesa dept.
James DeSimas writes "Halflife2.net was able to get an exclusive interview with Chuck Osborn from PCGamer. In the interview he found out that Counter-Strike: Source is indeed the only Multiplayer for Half-Life 2." This comes on the heels of the news that PC Gamer will feature a special HL2 Review in its upcoming issue. Full Steam and Retail packaging details about the game are also available from many sources today as well.
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CS: Source Half-Life's Only Multiplayer More

CS: Source Half-Life's Only Multiplayer

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  • What? No crowbar headcrushing? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:33AM (#10384687)
    No crowbar headcrushing in multiplayer?
    That is no fun at all!

    --

    Knut Karlsen, norway

  • CS Source (Score:5, Informative)

    by mfh ( 56 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:33AM (#10384689) Homepage Journal
    Halflife2.net was able to get an exclusive interview with Chuck Osborn from PCGamer

    So what happens when a journalist interviews a journalist anyway? That's not good journalism, IMHO.

    FTA:

    * Standard Edition - includes HL2 and CS:Source. Ships on six CDs, in one of three box-art packages (Gordon, Alyx or the G-Man).
    * Collector's Edition - includes Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life 1: Source, a Half-Life 2 T-shirt and a Prima book sampler. Ships on a single DVD.

    First I would like to say that Vivendi Universal has pulled crap in the past [slashdot.org] related to shipping and hr practices, and other crap [slashdot.org], and other crap [slashdot.org], and that means it's an unstable publisher in my books.

    We're not sure if Steam will have HL2 or not. It's up to Vivendi last I checked. We're not sure if CS Source will be considered part of the Vivendi distro or not either. Speculation upon speculation at this point, IMHO. Note that this was a PC Gamer guy who was interviewed by some other guy

    • Re:CS Source (Score:5, Informative)

      by NotAnotherReboot ( 262125 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:40AM (#10384777)
      It's not up to Vivendi to decide if Half-Life 2 will be on Steam.

      Their current contract with Valve states that Valve has online distribution rights; the only catch is that Valve has to wait until it is available from Vivendi. Vivendi has up to 6 months to ship the game after Valve has supplied it to them. So, they can decide when it comes out on Steam (by delaying it themselves, which would be stupid considering how big holiday sales are).

      What do you mean we're not sure if CS:Source will be part of the Vivendi distro? You just pasted the part about the two in-box versions including CS:Source.

      How is this speculation? Gabe Newell from Valve delivered these details himself.

      The PC Gamer guy didn't say anything earth-shattering, by the way; I don't even see why we're discussing his interview. The retail/Steam details are what are interesting.

      • Re:CS Source (Score:3, Interesting)

        by argStyopa ( 232550 )
        How is this speculation? Gabe Newell from Valve delivered these details himself.
        Talk about answering your own question!

        This would be the same Mr. Newell that told us that code theft would slightly delay the game so they could make sure no hacking code was inserted or anything...a YEAR ago?

        Code theft = the developer's way of saying "the dog ate my homework!"
        • "the dog ate my homework!" - more like: "a dog ate my homework!".

          and it's under dispute if they can do the steam distribution or not(they only got the 'right' to distribute online when they originally said it wouldn't be anything major.. or something, this is the whole point of dispute).

          well. I'll believe it's available when i'm playing it, the fucking mind games should be over already(with 'preloading' and shit). i've been ready to play it for fucking 3 years, thanks for asking.

    • standard edition: what exactly do they put on 6 cds?

      you've got an engine CD, a content cd and a content cd for CS:S. what do you need the other 3 cds for? the gold steam package looks like it might require a few more CDs (day of defeat, HL1, all HL mods), but most of that stuff doesn't seem to be in the retail box.

      • Re:CS Source (Score:3, Insightful)

        by the unbeliever ( 201915 )
        Doom 3 is three cd's, and the final product is approximately 1.5-2gb of disk space. One assumes six cd's are engine, content, content, content and more content.

        Maybe the sixth disc contains magical pixie dust that makes your computer able to run it all.
      • CD1 - Engine + Content
        CD2 - Copyright Protection Mechanisms
        CD3 - Copyright Protection Mechanisms
        CD4 - Copyright Protection Mechanisms
        CD5 - Copyright Protection Mechanisms
        CD6 - Copyright Protection Mechanisms

        Size on Hard Drive:
        Legitimate: 4,512 MB
        Hacked: 623.5 MB

        God bless copyright protection.

    • Re:CS Source (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:53AM (#10384956) Homepage Journal
      They're not really journalists, they're salesmen. Which is worse journalism, salesmen interviewing salesmen, but better marketing.

    • Re:CS Source (Score:3, Insightful)

      by ajs ( 35943 )
      While you wait to see how major publishers will jerk you around next, games for linux [linuxgames.com] keep getting better [happypenguin.org] and better [wesnoth.org]!
      • While you wait to see how major publishers will jerk you around next, games for linux keep getting better and better!

        Gimme a call when happypenguin isn't full of clones and remakes. Or at least one example of blatant copyright infringement [happypenguin.org]. Not saying there aren't any good Linux games, but if what you link to is any indication, there's a long way to go compared to the major publishers.
        • Every single game released last year was a clone or rip-off. Please, feel free to point to the exception; that one game that was original, and not just a "MMORPG, but with superheros" or "an FPS, but with more biological looking guns".

          Nope, it's all derivative crap, and Linux is only more of the same. The good thing is that under Linux a) you get source and can fix bugs, contribute or just learn b) a single company can't decide to drop it; it only dies when it's not popular enough to survive c) it will sti
      • While you wait to see how major publishers will jerk you around next, games for linux keep getting better and better!

        Perhaps, but going from Doom 1 to Doom 2 quality hardly counts for much in the days where you can buy Doom 3.

        Major titles keep getting better and better [dawnofwargame.com], too.
      • Chuckle, so I can ride the nostalgia wave by playing ports of games I used to play on my old 486/66 and SNES, eh? Huzzah! Trousers fall down!

  • Disappointed... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SnowDeath ( 157414 ) <`peteguhl' `at' `gmail.com'> on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:35AM (#10384708) Homepage
    I am incredibly disappointed that it seems there will be now regular HL2 Deathmatch. I played CS from beta 2 until the present, but I have gotten extremely fed up with CS and want plain, vanilla HL2 DM again...no waiting until your idiot teammate wearning the "myg0t" tag dies as he is the only one left alive on your team...

    Of course, I will be buying the Steam Gold pachage b/c I am a fanboy ;)
    • Preview would have been good...mispelled "no" as "now"...
    • It's not that disappointing. Nobody plays Half-Life Deathmatch...Counter-Strike is where it's at.

      *lob flashbang in team spawn.*

      Deathmatch was fun in it's day.

      *Xibby teamkilled Player with a headshot from awp*

      But now teamplay and cooperation are where it's at.

      *Terrorists Win*

      *Lob gernades at team mates in team spawn area*

      Deathmatch is dead...long live...whatever the hell this is. :P
    • no waiting until your idiot teammate wearning the "myg0t" tag dies as he is the only one left alive on your team...

      i hate yuo! [pwned.nl]

  • What an empty review... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Nos. ( 179609 ) <andrew@nOSPAm.thekerrs.ca> on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:37AM (#10384739) Homepage
    The entire interview can be summed up as saying HL2 is really cool and that Counter Strike Source is the only multiplayer... though I'm sure we'll see other mods in time.
    That being said, this interview basically told me not to get too excited about HL2. I'm a huge fan of HL and its mods, but I get bored quickly with single player games... I want multiplayer. AI in games can only go so far. I'm also not a big fan of counter strike. I prefer DoD and Natural Selection (some others are okay once in a while). So, no rush for me to buy HL2 when it comes out.

  • Big Whoop! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward
    They've delayed this game way too many times to the point that I've pretty much lost interest in it.

    Maybe when it hit's the bargain bins.....
    • Big news for you, it won't hit the bargain bins for a long time. Considering the original Half-life sold at full price for what... 4-5 years?

  • Steam purchase offers more (Score:5, Informative)

    by PIPBoy3000 ( 619296 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:40AM (#10384768)
    As the Penny Arcade [penny-arcade.com] folks point out:

    • Basic Steam purchase is $5 cheaper than retail
    • There are more goodies in the Steam packaging
    • Though HL2 can't be played until the retail version comes out, multiplayer can be played sooner.

  • I know this is basically redundant whinging... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:40AM (#10384772) Homepage Journal
    Even though no one else has said this yet in this thread, because someone says this in basically every story like this - whatever happened to co-op modes?. Hardly any games have co-op any more, which I find to be the most enjoyable type of multiplayer first person shooting. Ever since playing through doom 2 in co-op I've been hooked yet no one seems to want to make games with this feature any more - they want us to fight each other instead of teaming up :P

  • ATI (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:41AM (#10384787)
    So, have they decided yet which package we who went out and bought Radeons a year or two ago will get?
    • I'm guessing we get bronze. I only really like the single-player stuff, so that's ok by me. Counterstrike fans are gonna be bummed tho I think.
      • Last I checked, CS:S will be available to everybody that has the game, from bronze to gold, and the cheapest version of retail. Not to mention that the ATI voucher people got in on the CS:S beta. First time I'd ever played Counter-Strike and I'm still a UT fan, thanks. The vouchers are probably going to be silver, or some new hybred. Because as compensation for those of us that have been waiting for so long to get our game to test these video cards out, they gave all the voucher accounts the original Ha

    • Re:ATI (Score:5, Funny)

      by gosand ( 234100 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @12:25PM (#10385322)
      So, have they decided yet which package we who went out and bought Radeons a year or two ago will get?


      That would be the "Unobtanium" version.

  • What about those of us who don't like CS? Single player better rock and the mod community work hard and fast or this is going to be a wasted purchase...

    I love half life and all of it's add ons but cutting out multiplayer in exchange for a mod is just lame. Why not make multiplayer then release Source as a official mod like TFC?

  • PC Gamer is pretty much 'free' advertising (Score:5, Insightful)

    by quantax ( 12175 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:47AM (#10384875) Homepage
    People should take not that PC gamer is essentially a marketing tool to get gamers to buy the games that gives 'exclusives' to the mag. Expecting an honest assessment of HL2 or really any game from this would be rather naive. Driv3r comes to mind as a fine example of 'exclusive' reporting at work in the game review business, where certain publishers/reviewers somehow overlooked the many and obvious bugs in the game and still talked about it in a rather positive manner.
    Doom3 as well is a good example of this; nearly every single reviewer (both mags and sites) for the first few weeks acted as if this game was in fact the second coming of christ. While Doom3 was very well executed and obviously had amazing graphics, I am unsure how people felt so positively about a game that really got drudgerous after the 7th lab that you had to transverse to reach hell. And then you just go back to the labs after you reach hell for more hallway adventure. For all the amazingness of the engine, I was hoping for more variety in the environments, which with the exception of hell and outside on mars, there was very little that changed.

    These rags are definitely not the place to get a real opinion on a game; their real value is for the screenshots they release as part of the exclusive. Otherwise, it is often difficult to tell the reviews from the advertisements themselves that share the pages.

    • I would disagree with your post - although I'm having difficulty understanding "People should take not that PC gamer is essentially a marketing tool to get gamers to buy the games that gives 'exclusives' to the mag."

      As a long time reader of PC gamer (since the 4th issue of the magazine, which is now on to issue 129) AND a reader of CGW, IGN and Gamespot, their scores don't deviate all that much from one another or from Game Rankings. Every once in a while you will get an anomaly, but that can be chalked

    • Good post.

      I obtained a free comp subscription to PC Gamer and, a few issues later, have tried to find a way to make them stop sending it to me. It's unreadable.

      One of the most depressing aspects is seeing young would-be journalists turned into little press release spinners and hype polishers. This is a kind of prostitution for corporations, and its crappy effects go beyond obscuring the difference between good games and bad games. As Elvis Costello sings, "There's a bright future / For all you professi

    • Doom 3had great graphics? Wow, didn't see that.

  • modding tools (Score:3, Insightful)

    by caramelcarrot ( 778148 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:47AM (#10384885)
    If this is the case, I am interested as to what multiplayer code they will provide in the SDK. They will have to provide a basic DM system for people to build on, or will they just give the counter-strike code?

    It's rather odd.

  • Steam packages, but how much??? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Zed2K ( 313037 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:50AM (#10384907)
    Steam Packages

    * Bronze -- HL2* and CS:Source.
    * Silver -- HL2*, Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life 1: Source*, Day of Defeat: Source*, Valve's back catalog currently available on Steam.
    * Gold -- HL2*, Counter-Strike: Source, Half-Life 1: Source*, Day of Defeat: Source*, Valve's back catalog currently available on Steam, Complete Strategy Guide from Prima Games, 3 different Half-Life 2 posters, Half-Life 2 hat, Half-Life 2 postcard, Half-Life 2 stickers, Half-Life 2 Soundtrack CD, Chance to win a trip to Valve! (1 trip offered for every 5000 Gold packages purchased).

    *To be made available upon product's release.

    Also what does "to be made available upon product's release" mean? Does that mean DoD source isn't done? Does that mean HL1: Source isn't done? So basically if you buy the gold package next week the only thing you'll get are stupid posters, strategy guid, hat, postcard, stickers, soundtrack and all the old valve games until the other games are actually finished which still noone has any idea as to when that will happen?
    • HL2 and HL1: Source are not finished yet, and Valve must wait until Vivendi declares them gold. However, CS:S is basically finished, because it's been in beta so long and all it needs are the new maps. When HL2 is released in stores, HL2 and HL1: Source will be unlocked on Steam.

      Also, DoD:S isn't done yet, and probably won't be done this year, but you will get it in the future when it comes out. Valve kept it out of the store boxes because they needed to give an extra incentive so more people will buy from
      • So basically they are willing to start taking peoples money for HL2, but not actually deliver anything? CS:Source doesn't count. The thing is just a mod and I view it as free.

        No thanks. They'll get my money but I'm not giving them a cent until the game is finished.
    • What, the gold stream package is a lot better then the collectors edition! That bites, I hoped that there was going to be a soundtrack cd in the collector's edition.

      So it looks like the retail collector's edition buyers are getting the shaft, the only bonuses for the collector's edition is the DVD(good), HL1 and CS Source (good), a sampler book(blah, they usually turn out to be a few crummy magazine quality pages, and you have to buy the real book anyway), and a t-shirt (blah, I would preferred a soundtra
    • Sorry I don't understand, will I be unable to play DOD if I have a Bronze package?

      I already have a HL key (for free, preordering is stupid[if I wanted to pay money before a product was done I would want some of the powers ascociated with being a producer]) but I am not sure which package it is.

  • Natural Selection (Score:3, Insightful)

    by dan_sdot ( 721837 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:51AM (#10384931)
    Whats the word with Natural Selection [natural-selection.org]? This has to be the best HL multiplayer mod there is. I would be thoroughly disappointed if this never came about.

  • Valve, Multiplayer, TFC and You (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Japong ( 793982 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @11:58AM (#10385009)

    I don't think anybody wants to compete with UT2004. No one, including Battlefield 1942, does it better right now. It's addictive, there's almost no learning curve, and even n00bs can have a good time and rack up high scores by playing support. Doom 3 only had basic deathmatch, Quake IV will be mainly single-player as well. It's not surprising Valve didn't want to go through the monumental investment of getting a good multiplayer option going when they already had CS.

    I mean, there was Team Fortress 2, and it looks like a stillborn from here- there's been no real news on the game for at least two years, and almost all of the features intended for it have made their way into other realistic war themed shooters (parachuting into missions from planes, allies showing up as squad re-inforcements, voice chat).

    • Bah, the fact that there is no learning curve in UT2004 is one of its weakest points. There's no challenge after a while. Try a game like Enemy Territory, which even after playing the six same damn maps for over a year only gets more interesting.
    • I play UT2004 daily, and it's even more fun when custom maps are played, and with the new vehicles it's a hoot.

      I just wish they would overcome that 32 player limit. I miss the days of Playing Wolf:ET on a 64 player map(chigc.com ruled for that). It was a full-out war. With some of the larger(10 meg) maps, UT would even be more fun with it.

  • What ever happened? (Score:5, Funny)

    by shoptroll ( 544006 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @12:02PM (#10385069)
    So what ever happened to Team Fortress 2?

  • CS Players (Score:5, Informative)

    by Zorilla ( 791636 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @12:02PM (#10385073)
    This shouldn't take as much of a surprise to the average Counterstrike player. I imagine the two most likely responses are:

    CS Player #1: You could play deathmatch in Half-Life?

    CS Player #2: I play this Counterstrike thing all the time, but what the heck is Half-Life? It didn't come on my Counterstrike CD I bought at CompUSA!
    • CS Player #1: You could play deathmatch in Half-Life?

      Actually, I was bored by Half-Life 1's deathmatch. Counterstrike is definitely the more interesting multiplayer game.

  • There will be mods. I know DOD will be out for HL2. I'm sure DM people will do a DM mod, and we'll see the usual Rocket Arena and Jailbreak.

    Don't worry kids.

  • Dammit. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by The Fanta Menace ( 607612 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @12:13PM (#10385186) Homepage

    I really enjoy DM, but I've never understand what people see in Counterstrike. The games are always over too quickly, you seem to spend more time sitting around waiting for it to restart than actually getting out there and putting bullets in heads...

    • Try Day of Defeat. You respawn after a certain time and its a lot more fun. But you die a lot more too.
    • Hey look, some CS fanboy modded you Troll for dissing CS. Oh noes!!! j00 ar3 l4m3 liek teh c4mp3rz in de_dust!

    • Re:Dammit. (Score:3, Informative)

      by vhold ( 175219 )
      Making death in the game be your -one- life for what is in essence one singular instance of reality is a feeling of heightened awareness and desire for survival you don't often get from standard respawning games. That downtime builds up the anticipation. It's also a good time to consume beer or BS with friends.

      Reseting everything back to the starting point makes each instance of reality stand as being meaningful and potentially memorable as a whole. Definitely the best part of the whole thing is that yo

  • Umm... No (Score:4, Interesting)

    by illumina+us ( 615188 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @12:14PM (#10385193) Homepage
    That's odd because in the stolen builds and in the "beta" there was HL2 DM Multi-Player.
  • At least id created 4 new MP maps etc, even if multiplayer is still buggy, and a Q3 rehash. Valve just "sourcified" a community mod's gameplay and map content with no, or little, new material. The dynamic duo certainly took a pass on multiplayer this generation.
    • I'm a bit partial because I used to be so into counterstrike much, but even small changes to counterstrike, as long as they are in positive direction, is a huge multiplayer deal.

      Basically to me, counterstrike is the most solid multiplayer experience I've ever had to this day. Most people would complain about the rampant cheating, but my experience has been that with at least some anti-cheat software going for the most part you won't run into rampant cheating.

      From there, CS has a few seriously major thing

  • Is it the original half-life game but using the source engine to run it rather than the original engine ?

  • Not what I hear... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by jacksonj04 ( 800021 )
    modDB [moddb.com] is saying that DoD will also be included on Steam. Yay/nays?

  • But the question on everyone's mind is... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Alzheimers ( 467217 ) on Wednesday September 29, 2004 @01:10PM (#10385842)
    When will we see Blue Shift: Source?
  • Take a look at the third entry under "Processor Vendor" at the Half-Life 2 Hardware Survey [steampowered.com].
    Looks like this isn't the only place where that's a valid poll answer.


    --
    Read the guide [freeipodguide.com], then get yourself a free iPod [freeipods.com].
  • Last I heard, purchasing the product over Steam required product activation, and required internet verification to play the game every time. I won't take it from MS, and I won't take it from a video game.

    Let me know when the box is on the shelf.

  • I know people are going to be annoyed at me saying this, but I just find that it isn't necessary for a good game to include both multiplayer and single player support. Given the amount of work it takes to release a good video game these days, I believe it's more important for game developers to now focus on either MP or SP play.

    Take Doom 3 for example. It's a pretty good Single player game, but the multiplayer mode was really an afterthought. I'm really not going to consider playing multiplayer Doom 3 for

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