|
|
Counter-Strike, the world�s number one online action game series, is a first-person shooter developed by Valve Software, the creators of the renowned Half-Life series. This team-oriented online shooter pits terrorists and counter-terrorists against one another in round-based combat set all over the world. Using the power of the �Source� engine, the original Counter-Strike has been completely remade as Counter-Strike: Source�offering upgraded graphics, levels, and the implementation of a new physics engine. Counter-Strike will never be the same!
First released to the public on June 18th, 1999, Counter-Strike began as a simple fan-produced mod for Half-Life. Thanks to a series of steadily-improving beta releases, the mod started to foster a progressively-enlarging and dedicated following. As the fast-paced, tactical game play was refined and improved, and as new concepts and maps were introduced, Counter-Strike moved from being a mere Half-Life mod to an entirely new game.
With the release of Steam, Valve's digital content delivery system, Counter-Strike found a new footing within the gaming community. Counter-Strike�s first single-player chapter, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (Developed by Valve and Turtle Rock Studios), was a great success, bringing many new features and upgraded graphics to the classic game. The release of Counter-Strike: Source only helped boost the series further towards its now legendary status. Counter-Strike is about as close as you�ll ever get to saving the world; or destroying it!
What�s in This Section?
Counter-Strike not only revolutionized the world of modding, but the entire Half-Life community, and we�re happy to show off our admiration of this revolutionary series with our collection of overviews, guides, strategies, tweaks, and tricks. Want to buff up on your Counter-Strike knowledge? Check out our overview sections. Need help �pwning n00bs� on de_dust? Swing by our map strategies section. Having trouble getting the most FPS out of your computer? We�ve got tech guides at your disposal. Want to turn your grenades into something more cute and cuddly, or change your Counter-Strike menu background? Head over to our files section for mods, maps, models, and more! Welcome to the last place you will ever need to go for all of your Counter-Strike needs!
Essential Links
Counter-Strike Review @ IGN
Counter-Strike: Condition Zero Review @ GameSpy
Counter-Strike Forums @ Planet Half-Life
Counter-Strike Files @ FilePlanet
 |
Monday, 10 September, 2007 � Planet Half-Life News |
 |
CPL Winter Championships Registration Now Open
18:14 PST | John Phillips | Print News | Category: Counter-StrikeAs we reported earlier last week, the Cyberathlete Professional League would soon be holding registrations for their high-prize Extreme Winter Championships that are to be held this December in Dallas. The dual CS and CSS tournament will pit 64 teams of 5 against each other for nearly $50,000 in prize money.
Tournament Prize Breakdown
First Place - $15,000
Second Place - $11,000
Third Place - $8,500
Fourth Place - $5,500
Fifth � Eighth Place - $2,500 Registration will run at $75 per person and will be open until Monday, October 29, 2007. Get your five player team registered soon to ensure your seat on that stage for that grand prize! You can register your clan right here. For more information on the tournament (as well as a link to an area to post any questions you may have about the tournament), go to the official press release.
|
|
Saturday, 8 September, 2007 � Planet Half-Life News |
|
CPL Extreme Winter Championships
5:24 PST | John Phillips | Print News | Category: Counter-Strike - Competitive GamingWant to earn your Christmas bonus? The Cyberathlete Professional League has announced that during the Extreme Winter Championships, two 64-team competitions for Counter-Strike 1.6 and Counter-Strike: Source will be held. Between December 18 and 22 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Dallas, the 64 teams will battle it out with the final four triumphant teams (two per ladder, of course) on stage with Nuke, Dust 2, and CPL Mill to close out the competition.
The prize? $50,000. To put that in retrospect, that's $10 grand per player, not a bad way to celebrate the Christmas holidays I would imagine. Registration will commence on September 10, 2007, and you can sign up your clan right here. If you have any questions on the tournament, you can post it at the CPL Forums. Registration closes on October 29, so be sure to get your spot quickly!
|
|
Friday, 7 September, 2007 � Planet Half-Life News |
|
Mod Review: CSS Sci Fi
11:40 PST | John Phillips | Print News | Category: Half-Life 2 - Counter-StrikeRichard "Maxx Power" Ross, one of our latest additions to the staff, has played a bit of the Half-Life 2/Counter-Strike: Source/SMOD hybrid mod known as CSS Sci Fi. The mod takes Counter-Strike: Source maps (v2.0 featuring some of the top community done maps) and fills them with combine and your favourite Half-Life 2 enemies, all packaged with SMOD (which gives some great features to single-player).
To call CSS: Sci-Fi a hack job would be slightly derogatory but not at all wholly inaccurate. What constitutes the bulk of the mod are familiar Counter-Strike : Source maps, as well as Half Life 2 models, along with a smattering of new weapon models. Play consists of traversing across these maps in a kind of pseudo-co-op mission, with other players replaced with NPC's. Objectives follow the common precepts of CS, with hostage rescue, attacking certain targets and the good old fashioned �Kill everyone and everything� motif. What follows is an odd mish-mash of different elements that, frankly, seem to have been included at random. What works on it's own or seems �cool� doesn't necessarily translate as well when included as an entire package. The gameplay is standard Half Life 2 fare, though pushing into faux pas multiplayer territory. To read the review, head on over here. Want to check out the mod itself? Then be sure to head on over to the Sci-Fi official website.
|
|
Tuesday, 4 September, 2007 � Planet Half-Life News |
|
Five Most Popular Game Communities
15:28 PST | John Phillips | Print News | Category: Counter-Strike - Third Party ContentIt's no surprise that Counter-Strike has made it onto Five Most Popular Game Communities, a recently published feature by ActionTrip.com, which, according to the layout of their feature, even beats that of World of Warcraft.
Originally developed as a game mod for Half-Life, Counter-Strike rocketed to fame and eventually more games sprung up like, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, Counter-Strike: Source, etc. The CS community expands as time goes by, with an ever-increasing amount of mods, weapons and other content. However, even CS has its downsides and was criticized on a number of occasions. As of March 2007, Valve decided to implement advertisements via Steam in official maps and in the game's GUI overhead. Countless fans and customers were, understandably, aggravated with these ads, expressing their thoughts on the matter through Valve's official forums. Players started complaining that, having incorporated in-game ads, the company violated original terms of service and that the ads distract from the game. If you want to see the other competitors, be sure to check out the full article.
|
|
Monday, 13 August, 2007 � Planet Half-Life News |
|
New Counter-Strike Article
8:29 PST | John Phillips | Print News | Category: Counter-StrikeOur resident writer Capt. Insane has been hard at work looking back at Counter-Strike, from it's humble beginnings eight years ago to it's Source predecessor in all of its graphical glory. Take a journey down memory lane with 1999's modification hit: Counter-Strike.
It all started one June day back in 1999. About a year after Game Spy�s �Game of the Year� Half-Life came out, history was made: Counter-Strike was released, a team based multiplayer game that pits counter-terrorists (CTs) against terrorists (Ts). This mod for Half-Life was the brainchild of modder �Gooseman,� a.k.a. Minh Le of Vancouver, Canada. In fact, he did a hell of a lot of the mod all by himself. He teamed up with Cliffe (not Maverick), a.k.a. J. A. Cleof IV from Virginia Tech, Virginia (at least he was at the time). To get your hands on the entire article (and there definitely is a lot of article to get your hands on), wander on over here.
Discuss in the forums...
|
|
Friday, 27 July, 2007 � Planet Half-Life News |
|
Counter-Strike to Hit Asian Markets
12:49 PST | John Phillips | Print News | Category: Counter-StrikeToday, Valve Software and Nexon announced that Counter-Strike will soon be available for the Asian market under the title of Counter-Strike Online.
"It is our utmost pleasure to be able to develop Counter-Strike Online with Valve," said David K. Lee, CEO of NEXON Japan Co., Ltd. "We will be devoting our expertise in online game development and service know-how for Asian territories to Counter-Strike Online. Already a global phenomenon, we are confident we can grow the success of Counter-Strike with this new product by tailoring the gameplay for the millions of gamers in Asia, one of the gaming industries fastest growing territories."
"With its hit titles such as MapleStory and KartRider, Nexon has become a dominant force in Asia," said Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. "By combining their proven development abilities and leadership position in Asia with Counter-Strike's award-winning core gameplay, we have the recipe for customizing an online phenomenon for each of the Asian markets." As per the Valve and Nexon agreement, Nexon will be the sole producer of Counter-Strike Online for the South Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Taiwanese markets.
For more information on Nexon, visit the official Nexon website.
Comment on This!
|
|
Friday, 18 May, 2007 � Planet Half-Life News |
|
Bluestrike's CSS Map Pack Updated
20:23 PST | MarmaladeMan | Print News | Category: Counter-StrikeMore news from Bluestrike: he's updated his map pack for Counter-Strike: Source. Read on:
I released a CSS mappack with updated versions for my 4 css maps, adding HDR and green radar support, alot of tweaks and graphical updates. For screenshots and downloads, check out Bluestrike's site.
Comment On This!
|
|
Wednesday, 2 May, 2007 � Planet Half-Life News |
|
Games As A Source Of Violence: It Begins
21:30 PST | markcocjin | Print News | Category: Counter-Strike - Site/Community/MiscellaneousIn what seems to be one of the first of publicised moves by a school administration to prevent another Virginia Tech and Columbine massacre, school officials of Clements High School in Sugar Land Texas kicks out a senior found in possession of among other things, a Counterstrike mod. Echoing a recent warning by anti-gaming lawyer Jack Thompson, the game of Counterstrike has often been referred to by him as a killing simulator for would-be school gunmen.Police discovered five swords in the bedroom of a Clements High School senior whose home they searched after getting complaints about a 3-D computer �shoot-�em-up� game map the student designed, which depicted a portion of the school.
From Rob Dunn of Fortbendnow.com.
Read on to see the whole article and a few other videos related to this newsbit.
Comment On This!Read More...
|
|
Monday, 23 April, 2007 � Planet Half-Life News |
|
Gettin Zombie With It!
21:37 PST | BlueWolf72 | Print News | Category: Counter-StrikeThe Zombie Horde team are proud to present Zombie Horde v1.0, the often imitated premier Zombification plugin for Counter-Strike Source.
About:
Zombie Horde is a survival game. You and your team must work together
to annihilate the horde of undead that is intent on making a meal of
you and your team. There are many different character classes
available to play as, each with their own abilities and deficiencies,
so choose wisely. Additionally there are several types of zombie,
each using different powers to bring your team to it's knees.
Zombie Horde v1.0 features:
* Windows support
* Metamod:Source support (recommended)
* Major code overhaul and restructure by our new lead programmer, electronaut
* New 'Ghost' character...ride the lightning!
* Powerups
* Team balancer (to prevent zombie stacking)
* Player statistics
* In-built weapon restrictions
* Innumerable bug fixes
* New maps: zh_dark_cbbl_48 and zh_laststand_final
|
|
Sunday, 1 April, 2007 � Planet Half-Life News |
|
Kasperg gives up Source Mapping
9:18 PST | markcocjin | Print News | Category: Site/Community/Miscellaneous - Counter-Strike - Half-Life 2   Kasperg, a Half-Life mapper made famous to the world outside gaming for his SourceTM rendition of Frank Lloyd Wright's work, announced his desire to move on to other things.It's not that I don't enjoy mapping anymore. But I'm growing a bit tired of it. My maps start too look alike and it's harder and harder to find a motivating theme. I think it's better if I let mapping be just a handy tool for uni, and not a time consumming hobby. The map cs_fallingliquid is a recreation of the Kaufmann House better known as Fallingwater by America's most famous Architect. The house is well-known for its connection to the site: it is built on top of an active waterfall which flows beneath the house.
Comment On This!Read More...
|
|
|
|
Most recent posts on the Planet Half-Life Forums
|
Achievements?
| - last reply by [GSI]ACPaco on Oct 10, 2007 05:10 PM |
|
i'm glad they delayed episode 2...i'm glad they delayed episode 2 to add a car.
| - last reply by Milner62 on Oct 10, 2007 03:36 PM |
|
Massive plot speculation!
| - last reply by Milner62 on Oct 10, 2007 03:29 PM |
|
WOO HOO!! first to post about f...WOO HOO!! first to post about finishing EP2!!
| - last reply by bluedog.forever on Oct 10, 2007 03:15 PM |
|
stuck on Surface Tension - slid...stuck on Surface Tension - slide down pipes
| - last reply by Ezeker on Oct 10, 2007 03:00 PM |
|
Orange Box Gone Live
| - last reply by Aratoast on Oct 10, 2007 02:54 PM |
|
Action Halflife difficulties
| - last reply by SirSavage01 on Oct 10, 2007 02:10 PM |
|
Minerva Metastasis 3
| - last reply by JANDREWMonster on Oct 10, 2007 01:21 PM |
|
Compatibility Issues Abound
| - last reply by TheRealEdocsil on Oct 10, 2007 12:03 PM |
|
Counter Strike LAN Help
| - posted by Fredulom on Oct 10, 2007 11:43 AM |
|
|
|
|
RSS Feeds
