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Valve Pens In-Game Ad Deal for Counter-Strike 113

Posted by Zonk from the eat-fresh dept.
Making the (now fondly remembered) Subway Counter-Strike ads a reality, Valve has inked a deal with the content pusher IGA. An article at GamesIndustry states that this may be the biggest in-game ad deal ever, as this still insanely popular title racks up something like '5 billion player-minutes each month' From the article: "'As the world's premier online action game, Counter-Strike's player minutes exceed its closest competitor by more than 100 per cent,' said Doug Lombardi, marketing director for Valve. 'Additionally, Counter-Strike rivals many of the current top ten watched shows on American televisions. For instance, a top ranked, one hour, weekly program garners 20 million viewers and results in approximately 4.8 billion viewer minutes per month. Conversely, Counter-Strike generates over 5 billion player minutes in the same period of time. And, nobody fast-forwards through any part of Counter-Strike,' added Lombardi."
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Valve Pens In-Game Ad Deal for Counter-Strike More

Valve Pens In-Game Ad Deal for Counter-Strike

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  • Free? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MindStalker ( 22827 ) <mindstalker@@@gmail...com> on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @04:41PM (#17317026) Journal
    With the simple laws of supply they should make Counter-Strike free then it would only increase their ad counts.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by FLEB ( 312391 )
      It could work, although there's a likelyhood they'd end up diluting things like game quality, value to potential subscribers (look at the recent talk about Second Life's high, but volatile user base), or even the perceived value to their ad clients, if then end up becoming the "Daily Shopper" of games.
    • It's been out for quite a while. I'd wager that anyone who wants the game has already purchased it.

  • Heh. Nice. (Score:2, Funny)

    by chaosite ( 930734 )
    Why not grafiti a nice goatse next to that ad? You know you want to.

  • Wth? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Misanthrope ( 49269 )
    Where can I sign up to get my money back?
    • in a puff of Steam.

      I've actually been all for Steam, but only because it's generally meant good things so far. If they actually start making these inescapable -- putting them in the middle of classic maps like Dust -- well, under ordinary circumstances, no one would upgrade, but this is Steam, so you don't have that choice.

      Guess I should've listened to "power corrupts"...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Thansal ( 999464 )
        I kinda doubt they will be stupid enough to place them on maps where it does not belong, I expect things like replacing the Pop Dog ads, and putting stuff in newspaper stands/soda machines/bus stands/etc etc etc.

        That and putting the adds on the scoreboard. (this one is a nobrainer).

        Personaly? So long as they don't go the route that AO did (LOUD and OBNOXIOUS adds in shops), I don't care. Admitedly I havn't played a second of CS in years, but that is just because I hate everyone that plays it.

        The fun thing
        • Actually, I doubt you will be exposed to this if you don't want to. I bet that they are going to either put up some REALLY GOOD servers with modified versions of maps up, or they release a free version that only lets you play on certain ad-supported servers...moreover, I doubt they will let you play with modified versions of these graphics on...
    • Ya know, people keep bringing this up, wanting their money back, I'm wondering who ended up buying CS?...

      I bought Half-Life and downloaded CS back when it was in Beta, and CS:S comes with HL2 for free (I bought it for HL2, don't play CS much these days)...

      Did you actually buy the standalone CS or what exactly?...

      Seriously, I'm really curious about this.
      • Well many people bought HL2 mainly for CS
        I think thats the point.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Thansal ( 999464 )
        THANK YOU!

        I remember when Valve bought up the CS team and started selling CS:Retail. $20 a pop for somethign that is a free download if you have a different $20 (could be gotten for less in bargain bins) game. Heck, I payed like $30 for HL:GotY, and that had HL, HL:OpFor, TFC, and CS packaged in it.

        Not only were you paying $20 for sometihng you can download for free, but you were also paying $20 for a crippled version of the HL engine, yes crippled, as in you could not properly run other HL mods (same thi
        • While this info is meaningless now. The retail box of CS was actually useful. The key that it came with was a perfectly valid HL key. This of course was only useful when you snagged it from some unsuspecting friend who decided to chunk it to buy the regular HL. :)

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Thansal ( 999464 )
            Wait, are you saying that the CD Key shipped with CS:R would activate a copy of HL?

            I seriously doubt this, though if it is true, that is awsome :D

            • Re: (Score:1)

              by kcbnac ( 854015 )
              No, its true. I was kicking myself after buying 2 copies of the Platinum Pack (retail, included all the original HL content)

              Its how I ended up with 8 Steam accounts for the HL stuff - 3 per on those (HL, CS and one of the expansions) and a pair of retail HL boxes I ended up getting off my neighbor for some repair back in the day...
              • Not anymore, as its a route I just recently went down.
                There are two packs in *some* shops or on steam you can buy now, and they are..

                Half Life 1 Anthology : Gives you HL1, Opfor, Blueshift, DMC, Ricochet, TFC & 3rd party mod use, No CS or DOD

                Counter-Strike Anthology : Gives you CS, CZ, CZ deleted scenes & DoD

                The CS Anthology pack is what I bought in the shop, it cost 15. I didnt expect it too allow me to play HL1, but I did expect to be able to play 3rd party HL mods, but it doesn't, you n

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by Thansal ( 999464 )
                  This is known, he was just pointing out that back in the day (ok it wasn't THAT long ago), the CD key that shiped with CS:R (aka CS 1.0), would actualy validate a copy of HL (and you could then go and download any mods you wanted, including CS).

                  Yes, now CS is $10, HL is $10, DoD is $10.

                  I am glad I grabed HL1 before all of this, and I grabed the HL2 Silver eddition prelaunch (about $5 more then the box copy and it came with ALL of valves back cataloge).

                  Some one also pointed out that gunman chronicals (a stan

            • Re: (Score:1)

              by KDR_11k ( 778916 )
              I know the CD key shipped with Gunman Chronicles activates a copy of HL1.
  • i'd be so mad i'd quit.
    • What irks me about it is the change of product AFTER PURCHASE. This isn't a patch or an addon, it's a fundamental change in the game with the sole purpose of netting Valve more money.

  • Late 2006 blunder? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by PoderOmega ( 677170 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @04:47PM (#17317134)
    Wow, this one just missed the "Gaming's Biggest Blunders of 2006" article. So Valve got pissed when someone with a CS server put in Subway ads, and I am sure it is because Valve had something like this in works for a while. I think that if someone is running a server that sells Valve's games, Valve should let the servers collect revenue on these ads. I can't tell from the article if this is the case, but I assume Valve is collecting all the revenue for themselves (how would they do that anyway? do all the servers have to register with value to be available in steam?).

    Many people have said it, but here it comes again. Ads are fine if they are not intrusive and make sense. On top of that, make the freaking ads destructible. I don't want to drop a grenade and have the whole area singed but the Pepsi ad is shiny and new.
    • I always thought that ads could be a good thing, but it turns out that I was the only one. The area I thought it would be used is that a MMO would add ads when a player logged in (a 30 second McDonalds comercial was always my example) and this would eliminate the need for a monthly fee.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Alistar ( 900738 )
        I think you're a little naive if you think that putting 30 second McDonalds commercial in your game will get the MMO company to eliminate monthly fees.

        They will just pocket the extra cash and say its all for the consumer so that they maintain the "quality" of the game.

    • On top of that, make the freaking ads destructible. I don't want to drop a grenade and have the whole area singed but the Pepsi ad is shiny and new.

      Actually, making ads destructable should be required, but would also provide interesting metrics in terms of ad consumption. One would also assume that they would track how long each ad is viewed (directly and/or indirectly, while moving, the angle, etc.), and if people shoot it up or throw grenades at it.

      What would also be interesting is to see if people change their routes (or run backwards through the map and then turning around to the left) through the maps to avoid a viewing the ads :)

  • Rape me (Score:5, Interesting)

    by crabpeople ( 720852 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @04:47PM (#17317142) Journal
    I guess the fact that I already PAID multiple times (hl2, then again for CS) does not factor into this at all? Worse yet, If I try and hack the games to remove the ads, they can just take ALL the games I have on steam and invalidate them. I knew I should never put money into steam. They have way too much control over you.

    I just really don't see this as valve being anything but greedy. They don't even run the servers that you play on - people buy servers from third party companies! If I ran my own halflife server, and there wasn't a way to disable the ads, id be hopping mad. What is this if not just a straight cash grab by valve. "Hey, we have some unexploited asses here, lets rape them!"

    • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

      by headkase ( 533448 )
      Advertising just short of spam is generally a "good" thing. In our market system you need some method of becoming aware of similar products as a basis for making informed buying decisions. You don't have to stop and read each ad so like the majority of advertising it will be relegated to the ignore bin for most players. At the same time if something catches your attention and introduces something new that you really do want then good. Besides as Data said, "Television? That didn't last much longer than

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by pilkul ( 667659 )
        The Star Trek universe doesn't have money or (much) religion either; its predictions for what will disappear are none too plausible.

      • Re:Rape me (Score:5, Insightful)

        by MindStalker ( 22827 ) <mindstalker@@@gmail...com> on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @05:10PM (#17317492) Journal
        You work for an ad agency don't you?

        Let me make this simple. If you edit a game I ALREADY bought, in order for you to generate future revenue from it without my approval (and if I don't approve I lose the game I paid for) I will be upset.

        Clear enough?

        • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

          by headkase ( 533448 )
          You work for an ad agency don't you?

          I worked as a telemarketer for about a week (including training) and I quit because I couldn't stand to always be bugging people when I phoned them. So I am definately against intrusive or unwanted advertising.

          It's understandable that an old-codger like yourself ;) would object to environmental advertising. In a range of 30 years from now when TV viewership is seriously on the wane because more and more people are interested in participating in virtual environments
          • "You don't have to pay attention to it."

            Please explain how I can avoid paying any attention to the ads on my TV, Newspaper, Radio, Bus lines, Cars on the road, Flyers stuck to my windshield, calls on my phone, letters in my mail, notes written in the sky, banners on websites, and now BILLBOARDS in my games?

            "The economical-benefits and progress-creation of our free-market systems depend on the movement of money and like a pump advertising performs that function."

            The only Function advertising performs is to p

            • Re: (Score:1, Troll)

              by headkase ( 533448 )
              My roommate tells me I'm "full of flying bullsh*t" sometimes.
              I respond that the operative word is "flying". ;)
              :p

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by pilkul ( 667659 )

            The claim that advertising informs consumers is laughable. Advertising usually goes out of its way to at least somewhat misrepresent the product sold and to provide minimal actual information, focusing on vague emotional appeal. Look, I agree marketing and sales in general is valuable, but advertising per se is the most useless form of marketing.

            The real reason advertising is valuable to the economy is because it provides a business model for newspapers, television, websites etc. which provide genuine

        • I work for an ad agency and all I have to say is HAHA! I've been against Steam from day one because I KNEW they'd pull shit like this. Once they have a captive audience (and you'd better believe they have you by the balls with Steam) they can cram as much advertising down your throat as they like. Don't like it? Play another game. But the vast majority will play CS still and will suck it down.

          Do I think this is a good thing? HELL NO. Parent's point and the Grandparent's points are dead on. They are

        • Slight flaw in your argument that nobody actually pays for CounterStrike. It's a free mod that is given out to people who buy Half Life 2. So yeah, they can change something you haven't ever paid for....
          • The ads are for Counter-Strike 1.6, (HL) not Counter-Strike: Source (HL2). Both games are also available as standalone retail products. Even if you don't buy the standalones, you still end up paying for HL/HL2.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by lachlan76 ( 770870 )
            Valve sell Counter-Strike Source separately as well. As for people who got it with Half-Life 2, they in no way received it for free. It is owned by Valve, and it is advertised as part of the product (Half-Life 2).

            In what way is a piece of software free if the company that owns it requires you to buy it on its own or with another product?
      • "Advertising just short of spam is generally a "good" thing. In our market system you need some method of becoming aware of similar products as a basis for making informed buying decisions."

        Advertising is the WORST way to learn about products. Word of mouth is the BEST WAY to learn about products. Good products sell themselves, bad products need "marketing" to drive "consumer awareness".

        You're a marketer aren't you, be honest.
    • I had to turn off downloading of content in Counterstrike because of the excessive and annoying sound files that servers kept wanting me to download. One other thing I noticed though, one particular mod that a server ran downloaded a wall decal onto my client and replaced one of the in-game textures with, as George Carlin would put it, it's "logo feces". If in-game ads bother you that much, I suggest you override Valve's default using this same trick, provided they don't take special care to prevent that.
      • There's a switch valve added that allows you to block only sound downloading. Its something like cl_autodownload "nosounds", check the steam forums to confirm. It was a godsend when I found it, since those sounds were really making it impossible to play the game because they were overused...not to mention I certainly didn't like waiting an extra 5 minutes when joining a server to download them.

        Hopefully you're right about the other bits.
        • cl_downloadfilter nosounds

          I wish I could also block the download of custom skins, but then I get error textures.
          • I thought I read that there was a way to limit the models used in game, forcing them to use the default CT/T skins. I never bothered to figure it out because while skins are usually crappy and annoying, very few servers I play on use them so they haven't bothered me to much. I wish I could just download maps and nothing else.

            Valve also added a switch that disabled commands sent from the server recently. (It breaks a lot of things, and they botched it turning it on by default...but it was still a good idea.)
            • cl_minmodels. It reduces the number of models to just one per side, but I don't know if it affects custom skins.

    • I just really don't see this as valve being anything but greedy. They don't even run the servers that you play on - people buy servers from third party companies! If I ran my own halflife server, and there wasn't a way to disable the ads, id be hopping mad. What is this if not just a straight cash grab by valve. "Hey, we have some unexploited asses here, lets rape them!"

      You know, it used to be that clothing manufacturers hid their branding on the inside of garments. But then a few of them figured out that if they made their brand appear desireable enough, people would pay *extra* money to advertise on behalf of the company and walk around as living billboards with BOCA sprawled on their chest and B.U.M. plastered on their ass. So now you have people walking around with Nike this and Prada that and it's getting to be difficult to find good quality unbranded clothing anym

  • Alt-Tab (Score:2, Insightful)

    by WaXHeLL ( 452463 )
    "And, nobody fast-forwards through any part of Counter-Strike,' added Lombardi."

    Instead of fast forwarding, I just alt tab out if I die early in a match.

  • Oh...goodie! (Score:5, Informative)

    by PingSpike ( 947548 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @04:48PM (#17317148)
    So...what domains do I put in my hosts file to assure this crap doesn't load?
    • Any ads appearing in game would simply be textures overlayed onto predefined walls or billboards and as such would be supplied by the CS server.
      So you wouldn't be able to filter out the ads without blocking the server.
      You could always drop back to offline play if ads really offend you, but CS cost $20 and has returned me more enjoyable game time than I've seen from some $80 titles.
      If Valve wants to put ads in that don't impact my gameplay (by for instance appearing as a popup that I must wait 3 seconds b
      • If the ads come from the server, which is hosted by joe's like you and I...why wouldn't the server operators just block the ads? Or replace them with their own subway sub ads?
        • All your content comes from your local steam content server, so you couldn't block the ads without blocking all the rest of the updates, hence your server wouldn't be "pure".
          Lots of players (myself included) will only play on Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) secured servers, it reduces (although nothing can eliminate) the number of exploits such as wallhacks and aimbots.
          If you are only running 3rd party maps on your server, then I am sure these ads will never appear.
          But how many servers are there that don't just l
          • There's nothing that enforces models or skins for valves games. You can use bright green skins and VAC will never stop you. I personally consider that borderline or outright cheating, but if they aren't enforcing models I would think it would be just as simple to stop the ads.

            I think it would be more likely they push different ads served up from some external server somewhere, but you're right they have the capability to include them in the steam updates so it might not be necessary.

  • Server hosts (Score:2, Interesting)

    by RichPowers ( 998637 )
    I paid $40 for Half-Life and now I'll be forced to see in-game ads when I play CS. Is Valve going to give me a refund? No, because game companies have no problem charging you full price for a game and still making you see ads. But here's my biggest problem: people pay $X a month to run CS servers. Will they get a cut of the ad profit? Will they be able to block these ads? Or will Valve screw them over too? If server admins have no part of the advertisement process, then Valve has sunk to the level of EA...
    • Yeah, I agree. As a CS Server Admin this really pisses me off -- not because they are putting ads in game, necessarily, but because I am already paying $32 every month for my two servers. Why in the hell should Valve be able to make money off of that as well? I figure someone will figure how to mod the game to remove the ads, and I will be all for that -- I'll install that mod as soon as it comes out.
  • 'Additionally, Counter-Strike rivals many of the current top ten watched shows on American televisions. For instance, a top ranked, one hour, weekly program garners 20 million viewers and results in approximately 4.8 billion viewer minutes per month. Conversely, Counter-Strike generates over 5 billion player minutes in the same period of time. And, nobody fast-forwards through any part of Counter-Strike,' added Lombardi."

    Video Games =! Television shows

    Not one of those "top ranked, one hour, weekly pr
    • Well considering most people ( I think the last count was something like 83%) have cable, or some other broadband provider, be it dish or FIOS, they are actually paying for it too...
      • That analogy doesn't work, because to play Counter-Strike, I'm already paying my Internet service provider and the CS server owner is already paying his Internet service provider. Both of this in addition to the money I already spent for the game.
  • I'm sure they won't, but is there any way they can forward some of the benefits from the ad revenue to their users? Usually (on the internet) if I have to watch ads, I get something free for it, but with Counterstrike, i've already paid for the game, but I'll still be having to watch ads. Maybe their excuse is that it's to pay for the bandwidth?
    • What bandwidth? People pay their own money to run CS servers. Valve just pays to run Steam, the biggest DRM-infested piece of shit out there.

  • Wait for it... (Score:2, Funny)

    by p!ssa ( 660270 ) *
    lag death waiting for the ad server to respond...

    You've won free extra olives on your next Meatball SUB from Subway!!

      we now return you to your regularly scheduled championship match.

    While your looking at the scoreboard another WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS..., pick up your copy of Half-Life 3: Ad Nausem while supplies last.

    I am so glad I lost interest in online gaming.
  • So...why does valve think they are more entitled to this then the server operators that actually pay to host the servers we play on? Ads are tolerable when they're funding some kind of service, but as it stands most of that cost is dumped onto the end users (the server operators). Valve provides support for the end users, and a download service...but those costs have always existed. (trade download service for distribution/publishing costs).

    I assume they were also refering to CS:S as well as the older count
  • One of the enterprising counter-strike players is trying to organize a Counter Counter-Strike Strike...or eating cheetos...
  • 'And, nobody fast-forwards through any part of Counter-Strike, yet' added Lombardi.

    I wonder if people passing on buying games that include in-game advertising would be considered 'fast forwarding'...
  • Although I have yet to see any adverts in game. Probably because I don't live in the USA and there are legal implications for doing this in the EU.

    As it stands. I pay to play the game. I don't pay to get spammed with adverts. They want to spam then they can make the game free.

    If I got ads after the fact I would make a note of them and not buy anything from that company again and I'd let them know too.

  • This just adds to the list of things that I hate about steam.

    Not to mention that at EVERY major lan party event I've gone to, valve released an "update" the previous night at around 10PM. And just TRY to drop all the updated files in. Offline updating of steam doesn't work for shit.
  • Doug Lombardi's math is really fuzzy here. Now, mine might end being just as bad but I think it's more accurate in it's description. You really can't compare 20 million people watching an hour's worth of television to what ends up being just over 115,000 players playing Counter-Strike in the same amount of time. (That's using his 5 billion player minutes number.) Those CS numbers are less than the number of people who watched the best rated Monday 10pm newscast in Dallas (138,000 homes Our ratings syste

  • Ads in games? Lower price then. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by NeutronCowboy ( 896098 ) on Wednesday December 20, 2006 @05:21PM (#17317692)
    Other people already pointed this out, but I'd like to emphasize this: if I see ads in my game, they a) better blend into the environment
    b) significantly reduce the cost of the game

    If I would have seen Subway or Pepsi ads in Skies of Arcadia similarly to how they were implemented in CS, I can guarantee you that I would have tossed it out very quickly. Those ads would have completely destroyed what is a very-well crafted and coherent universe.

    Furthermore, I would not expect to pay full price for the game. Take the BK games for example: 3.99 for silly games, but competent games that are essentially one big-ass ad. I can live with that. I probably won't buy them because they're not my cup of tea, but at least I know what I would be getting myself into: a giant ad for Burger King. There is no surprise there.

    However, I have the strong suspicion that the ads in CS are going to work very differently: most likely, they'll just be images of current billboard ads or newspaper inserts. Furthermore, since all Valve games need to phone home, they'll be part of a mandatory patch to an existing game. The end result of this is that I'll be looking at badly misplaced ads in a game for which I paid full-price initially, and which I bought with the understanding that there would be no ads in it.

    oolo; Piss off, Valve. That's not the way to go about it. Sometimes I think that Marketing execs need to put into a torture chamber for some of their ideas. Just so that they get some decency conditioned back into them. "What's that, Fred? You think we ought to use cartoon characters in our cigarette ads? On with the thumb screws!" I think that'll solve 90% of the problems with advertising. Then again, it assumes decency being part of a CEO's moral makeup.
    • If game developers are going to start feeding us adverts, they'd had better well start lowering their $50 (and now $60) price point for new games.
  • I've said it before and I'll say it again. If they just made subs the health powerups and/or grenade launcher ammo, it'd be a much more affective and less annoying advertising campaign.
  • Say hello to de_subway...
  • The Counterstrike is not something you can just dump something on, it's not a big ad-machine. It's, it's a series of tubes!
  • This is just another part of the big media mess. Look at radio - at first radios paid for radio stations. Once everyone had radios they had to switch to ads. Now it's degenerated to the point where radio is MOSTLY ads. Now we've got Satellite radio, but just like Cable you pay for your own equipment, then pay for the service, then watch / listen to ads to help pay for the content. Ignoring the other uses of televisions for a moment you are paying three times for one ultimate thing (your favorite TV shows).

    H
  • I don't have a huge problem with this. When you're outside in RL, do you stop and read every billboard ad and every flyer? I don't. I tune them out. Course, if the ads were somehow in the way or blocked your field of view, then I'd get mad.
    • Let me give you a real example of how ads can be actually dangerous: in the Bay Area, there's a huge LCD billboard near one of the freeways. It's so large and bright, that driving past it at night actually caused short-term blindness. It's been a while since I last drove that way, but it used to be that when I saw the bluish glow come up over the horizon, I knew that I would have to keep my eyes on the other side of the road in order to still be able to see in the dark. The reason for that was the first cou
  • Yes cause there is nothing a company wants more these days then being associated with terrorists that blow stuff up.

      - the terrorists choice!

  • So what is the likely-hood that this will open a floodgate of spray-ads? Sure,
    Valve took some action when the subway ad fiasco went down, but whats going to
    happen when users start seeing Valve's ads in-game? Once they start doing it,
    users may feel 'more justified' in spraying ads. The question is: would spamming
    via spray be worth it? Could enough ad revenue be brought in to afford another
    Steam account when your first spamming account finally gets deleted? Once players
    start getting used to Valve's ads
    • Well, you can just turn sprays off. And given that 2/3s of sprays in counterstrike seem to be pictures of stretched out anuses or some sort of "I'm a bigot d00dz!!!11" crap its actually not a bad idea.

      Although it sounds like the next phase for viral marketing! I did see some one with a spray that was just the best buy logo the other day, so maybe its actually the current phase!
  • it'll go to the highest bidder. i'll blow your head off with an over-priced m4a1 the tag your corpse with a viagra ad.
  • If Valve is making money off of my (I don't have one, but maybe some day) CS:S server, why shouldn't they help me offset the cost in my bandwidth? If they want to start their own dedicated server network, good for them, but right now I see no reason for server ops to be happy.
    • my clan runs two of these CS:S servers on a single machine, it really does seem like the bandwidth should be offset by at least credits to the admin's steam account. Our clan donates money to help pay for the bandwidth, that now Valve is going to monetarily benefit more from (than just users purchasing the game). I'm not a happy server op.

  • Obviously, ads would be out of place in, say, Neverwinter Nights 2. But at least in CS it's a modern game, so they wouldn't be totally out of place. Rainbow Six Vegas has Axe body spray ads. One building you fly over had 3 different billboards on it. But it's easy to ignore them, I almost didn't see them because I was looking around inside the helo. I just happened to look outside to see where we were. Anyways, I just hope the ads in CS aren't intrusive. Like having a Pepsi logo on a soda machine. T
  • And of course, within 5 minutes of the advertisers putting their stuff up, they'll realise that people (well, the ones that haven't left in disgust) are largely doing in game what they do in real life with ads, and that is - IGNORE THEM. So they'll make them the type that jump out at you, flashing (they might be kind enough to explain it away with crap like "broken flurescence backlight" but I doubt they give that much of a crap about even being logical) and generally intrude on gameplay. It's disgusting th
  • If you don't like them, then why not just modify the level to cover up the ad with a texture or something? There are tons of custom levels out there that I'm sure Valve wont touch simply because the work involved would be a waste of money for them.

    Oh well. Back to creating hacks for CS.
  • Speaking as a competitive Counter-Strike: Source player, I wonder how this will affect sponsorship of big LAN tournaments like the CPL or WSVG.

    This could definately cause conflicts for parties that are not related to Valve, and in a very bad way. I bought CS for the explicit purpose of playing it competitively, and these events are the largest part of that.

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