Counter-Strike
cs go survey 2
The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive team just published a blog update detailing how future sets of beta keys for the game will be sent out. Key recipients will be selected from a pool of people that've completed a survey. The survey is a simple template intended to judge your CS savviness, combined with an automated peek at your hardware. Copy this into a Windows Explorer address bar to open Steam and start the survey: steam://takesurvey/2/

Being absolutely honest about your skill, as I have above, is probably in your interest. "Over the coming months we will make selections from the survey participants. Sometimes we might add experienced players, other times new players. Sometimes 1.6 players, sometimes CSS players, sometimes people who have played neither."

"If you don’t fill it out, you won’t be getting a key," reads the post. Of course, Valve also states that active, current CS:GO players can expect to receive keys to gift to their friends through Steam.

Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike Global Offensive - poseur warriors
The Counter-Strike: Global Offensive beta has sprung into action after a quiet couple of months. Last week the CS:GO website updated with the announcement of the addition of "more maps, more weapons, and most importantly more players." A massive patch added three new maps, Inferno, Train and Nuke and the weapon selection has been expanded with the addition of the Nova shotgun, Bizon and MP7 SMGs.

7,000 beta invites were also set out last week, with another 2000 planned for today. Valve say that they're sending out invites to active Counter-Strike community members, and are running contests on big CS sites like Gamebanana. "We will also have a survey up in the coming weeks that can help you get your name on the list for a key," they say.

The new Counter-Strike blog also mentions Valve's plans to balance the game based on feedback from top CS pros. Their main focus at the moment is on weapon recoil, which is essential to the feel of Counter-Strike's finely balanced guns.

"Recoil is tricky. It isn’t just math. It’s also about feel and one of the defining parts of Counter-Strike," say Valve in the latest blog post. "A few weeks back we had pro player Salvatore “Volcano” Garozzo by our offices and one of his biggest pieces of feedback he gave us was about recoil. It was still too hard to control."

Valve have adjusted weapon recoil twice in the last week, bringing it down and then asking players for their opinions each time. "During this Beta, community feedback is really important to us," they explain. "Counter-Strike has been around for 12 years and has been played by over 25 million players. We want to make sure to capture all of that experience and knowledge as we make Counter-Strike: Global Offensive the best version of Counter-Strike."
Product Update - Valve
Updates to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Beta have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

For more information, go to http://www.counter-strike.net

Per Community Feedback:
- Reduced recoil on all weapons
- Raised default sv_friction to 7 (Thanks, RegnaM)

- Changed quickmatch to de_inferno
Counter-Strike

This Spring sees the release of Tactical Intervention on the PC, a game noteworthy because its development has been led by one of the co-creators of Counter-Strike. So the fact the two games look similar is no coincidence.


Former Valve staffer Minh Le, who has been working on the game in Korea for a few years now, will be publishing the game in North America through OGPlanet, with a beta to kick off next month.


While Valve's own Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is an iterative update to the venerable old franchise, Tactical Intervention looks far more ambitious, including some unexpected stuff like driving sequences.


Tactical Intervention launching in spring 2012 [Neowin]


Product Update - Valve
Updates to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Beta have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Game Design Issues:
- Changed QUICKMATCH default to competitive de_dust2.
- Added new maps to local match options: de_inferno, de_train, and de_nuke.
- Added new weapons: Nova shotgun, Bizon and MP7 SMGs.
- Created a CT-specific version of the Molotov: the incendiary grenade.
- Reworked starting cash and bonuses in Casual mode.
- Made kill cash awards weapon-specific: AWP pays out $50/kill ($25 in Casual Mode). CQB weapons pay out $900 ($450). The rest pay out the usual $300 ($150).
- Limited total number of grenades that can be carried at one time to three, each of a different type.
- Adjusted stamina penalties for jumping. It should be easier now to jump up to multiple objects in a row without getting exhausted.
- Changed weapon recoil cycle to be controlled by a recoil index which is incremented on each shot.
- Reduced movement penalty greatly when players are hit by friendly fire in casual mode.
- Implemented skill-based matchmaking system.

Map Issues:
- Reduced dust particle effects on de_dust and de_dust2. Initial dust fades out after about 20 seconds.
- Updated the nav mesh on de_Dust to improve bot pathing.
- Corrected the problem with the bomb being plantable below the ledge on bombsite B in de_dust.
- Fixed multiple issues with players being able to get to positions that should be inaccessable or non-visible in de_dust and de_dust2.
- Fixed problem with black lines appearing around helicopter in de_dust when helicopter is shot.
- Fixed several aesthetic issues and reported exploits on de_dust2.

Stat/Achievement Issues:
- Fixed a problem with the fun facts that could cause a claim of more than 100% accuracy for players.
- Fixed a bug that allowed players to earn the 'Lost and F0wned' medal while controlling a bot.
- Added FCVAR_CHEAT flag to the bot_kill command so it can't be used to earn medals
- Updated some medal icons and descriptions to reflect criteria for getting them better.
- Made players who controlled bots during a round ineligible for fun facts.

UI Issues:
- Fixed classic crosshair not showing up in first-person spectator mode.
- Fixed a bug that could cause chat spam when a player changes his/her name.
- Redesigned and repositioned the win panel to allow greater visibility of the game.
- Hid voice status and weapon panel when HUD is hidden.
- Added option in game settings that, when active, closes the buy menu upon purchase of an item.
- Redesigned the buy menu.
- Moved player team ID from crosshair to player.
- Expanded the chat window, making it easier to keep track of chat history.
- Changed the UI font for greater legibility.
- Made the chat lines behave like a Windows edit control.
- Added a scoreboard icon that indicates when a player is in the process of switching teams.
- Made music respond to volume slider.
- Made chat box disappear after ENTER is pressed.
- Fixed the 'pop' visible when the main menu appears when playing in 4:3 or 16:10 aspect ratios.
- Added COUCH and DESKTOP play distance options that control hud_scaling and viewmodel_fov convars.
- Fixed problem with not being able to switch from windowed to full screen mode.
- Removed crosshair spreading behavior when wielding the knife, grenades, or bomb.
- Made scoreboard title display correctly above scoreboard in standard def.
- Redesigned front-end screens, layouts, and scoreboard to reflect new look for CS:GO.
- Improved the messaging for when money is awarded or subtracted. HUD now shows additions and subtractions more clearly, and money events are also reported in chat.
- Fixed menus to render correctly in resolutions greater than 1920x1200.
- Fixed a bug in which the scoreboard could occasionally disappear.
- Added player avatars to the choose team screen.
- Fixed problem with UI tint resetting after the choose team screen was opened via the pause menu during a game.
- Fixed EDIT and CLEAR buttons on the settings screen sometimes not appearing correctly.
- Fixed bug in settings with the acceleration amount slider not resetting correctly when defaults are restored.
- Fixed incorrect audio feedback when mousing over empty rows in the settings screens.
- Fixed bug that could occur when binding keys in the settings screens, making it impossible to navigate away from the currently active field.
- Made the EDIT MIC option in the settings snap to the correct area of the controls screen.
- Fixed a case in which throwing a grenade or dropping a weapon and picking up another failed to display the new weapon on the inventory section of the HUD.
- Disabled left and right toggles on spectator UI when there's no one left to spectate.
- Added a separate icon for the CT-specific knife in the weapon select and death notification text.
- Fixed a bug in which remote players controlling a bot were showing up alive again on the mini-scoreboard instead of showing the bot as alive.
- Restricted team chat to team members only.
- Fixed some problems with the REBUY command that could result in purchasing items other than what you had purchased in the previous round.

Other issues:
- Fixed problem with two different pieces of music playing at the same time over the choose team screen after completion of a match.
- Added three new mixgroups to handle different weapon sound types.
- Restricted the round end warning music cue to playing only when a bomb has not yet been planted. If it's currently playing, it will stop once the bomb has been planted.
- Added new music cues for domination and revenge.
- Fixed series of bugs in which the wrong weapon was seen during a reload or weapon switch, resulting in odd-looking weapon poses.
- Fixed problem with camera stopping inside of players' heads during freeze cam.
- Fixed a bug that could cause the spectator camera to be placed halfway through the floor occasionally.
- Fixed excessive console spew.
- Fixed a crash that could happen when selecting a team without Steam running.
- Fixed hang on black screen when players attempt to connect to servers that forbid connection.
- Fixed crash that could happen while changing the video settings.
- Fixed blurry shadows on players who are walking or running.
- Fixed blood so it doesn't show brightly through the fog.
- Fixed the visors showing through smoke.
- Reduced issues with smoke grenade and fire volumes being visible through thin floors.
- Fixed some of the problems with weapons penetrating character geometry in third person.
- Addressed an issue which caused bots to shoot over players' heads often. The bots will likely feel more difficult now.
- Fixed aliasing artifacts caused by not using centroid sampling when MSAA is enabled. Some players may need to update their video card drivers in order to see the change.
- Fixed a bug that caused a player to show as alive briefly after being killed while controlling a bot.
Counter-Strike: Source - Valve
An update to Counter-Strike: Source has been released. The update will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:
  • Limit the effective FOV of players using wide-screen resolutions with aspect ratios wider than 1.85:1. The sv_restrict_aspect_ratio_fov ConVar can be changed to remove the restriction or make the restriction also apply to full-screen players.
  • Fixed a demo playback crash
  • Changed the way bot counts are displayed in the server browser: the bot column is now next to the player column and always visible. Bot count is no longer subtracted from maxplayers.
  • Adjusted error messages on servers when players drop due to Steam authentication failure to be more clear
  • Additional important server messages now go to the server log instead of just the console
  • Fixed the HUD radar not using the correct colors for players
  • Fixed the HUD radar background disappearing after level change
  • Fixed the class menu models not animating correctly
Counter-Strike



This week, Lucas carries out the cult rituals of the PCG tribe with Evan, Josh, Tyler, and Gavin as they seek the answers within to the most pressing of questions. What game determined their path through life? What is their deepest, darkest PC gaming passion? How do they nourish themselves whilst gaming like champions? And who, pray tell, participated in a LAN for a whopping 52 straight hours?! Don your cabalistic cloaks and join us in this inward-looking ceremony.

PC Gamer US Podcast 303: 52 Hours

Have a question, comment, complaint or observation? Leave a voicemail: 1-877-404-1337 ext 724 or email the mp3 to pcgamerpodcast@gmail.com.

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@Elahti (Evan)
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Counter-Strike: Source - contact@rockpapershotgun.com (Craig Pearson)

Erin sits here. I love her.

Ooh, that’s Dwight’s desk! Remember when Jim filled his phone with coins, so it got incrementally heavier? When he took them out, Dwight hit himself in the face? And Pam’s old desk. I have a small confession: I like Erin a bit more… What? Hmm, sorry, I got a bit lost in fanboying over a video of a Counter-Strike: Source map that recreates the American version of The Office. Oh, that’s where Oscar, Angela and Kevin sit… (more…)

Counter-Strike

YouTube user Blitzkrieg1981 has, after spending around 55 hours pausing and examining episodes of the hit TV show The Office, gone and replicated the entire thing as a map in first-person shooter Counter-Strike.


Fans of the original British series, sorry. This is the American version.


Counterstrike Source The Office (TV) map [YouTube, via Reddit]


Counter-Strike


Classic PC game Counter-Strike (1.6) has been recreated for Android devices using the nifty Unity 3D engine.


There are two versions of Counter-Strike Portable available from the XDA forum now for free. One version - 5o - is for older phones; the other - 6p - for Android 2.3+ devices.


Online multiplayer is supported, and new maps are being added.


A video of Counter-Strike Portable running on Xperia Play can be found below.

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