Tag Archives: Counter-Strike

Valve has announced over on Steam that the Mac version of Counter Strike: Source will hit the digital service next week.

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What did Counter-Strike creator, Minh Le, do next? He decided to make a game called Tactical Intervention, according to this IGN piece.

Minh moved to South Korea in April 2008 after Counter-Strike 2 was “shelved,” and was backed by a businessman to make the new title. The first shots are through the link.

It looks like super-speed CS with hostages.

“I wanted to make TI faster so people aren’t waiting around as much between rounds,” said Minh.

“The average round should be two minutes, maybe less, so people aren’t waiting around as much.”

Apparently Tactical Intervention will be going into beta “soon” and is likely to be released by the end of this year.

Valve has announced that it will start publishing a weekly list of the best-selling titles on Steam.

Bout time.

Updates will arrive every Sunday, and you can see the very first one below.

Steam Weekly Top Sellers – WE May 31

1. Team Fortress 2
2. Killing Floor
3. Left 4 Dead
4. Counter Strike: Source
5. Plants vs Zombies
6. The Orange Box
7. Unreal Deal Pack
8. Unreal Tournament Black
9. Assassin’s Creed: Director’s Cut
10. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Tim Kretschmer, the German 17 year-old responsible for killing 15 people at his school last week, played Far Cry 2 the night before committing his crime, the Times reports.

Kretschmer played the FPS from 7.30pm to 9.40pm the previous evening. The Times report claims there are “remarkable parallels” between the game and Kretschmer actions the following day, in that he hijacked cars and wore a camouflaged uniform.

“Most sinister of all,” the Times went on, “Far Cry 2’s killer uses a Beretta 92 handgun, the weapon fired 112 times by Kretschmer. The game, which carries an 18 certificate in Britain, includes sequences in which the aiming, firing and reloading of a Beretta are portrayed in vivid detail. It also rewards players who shoot their victims in the head, the style of killing chosen by Kretschmer.”

Kretschmer also played Counter-Strike on the same night.

The report does add, as its final two paragraphs, that Walter Hollstein, a sociologist working with the Council of Europe, said: “It’s nonsense to assume they turn adolescents into school shooters.

“A variety of factors, such as helplessness, anger and loss of control, must come together for them to become the trigger, but the games themselves don’t make anyone a killer.”

Glad that’s cleared up.

GamePolitics has learned that Hans-Dieter Schwind, the president of the German Foundation for Crime, wants a ban on violent games after yesterday’s shooting rampage by teenager Tim Kretschmer.

Bavarian interior minister Joachim Herrmann is also demanding discussion on a ban on “so-called killer games” to be renewed, and in Strasbourg, European representatives have voted in a resolution to prevent retailers from selling adult-rated games to minors.

Romandie News is reporting that the European Parliament is contemplating “severe sanctions” towards retailers who sell adult games to minors, or “owners of Internet cafes that allow children to play games unsuitable for their age group”.

More through here.

A German teenager who killed 16 people in a shooting rampage was a Counter-Strike fan, according to reports.

An acquaintance of Tim Kretschmer has said the two of them would play Counter-Strike together in person and online.

Speaking with the Associated Press, the unidentified teen said that Tim was a quiet, reserved person who “was good” at the game.

Tim was also a very good physical shot, who used to target practice behind the house and shoot plastic balls with an air rifle. Six hunting rifles in his home were under lock and key, but the 9mm Beretta he used on the victims was kept in a bedside drawer.

He was also reportedly depressed, and, according to another acquaintance, had sent a letter to his parents a few weeks prior to the event saying he was “suffering@ and couldn’t “go on”.

German political officials have been discussing violence in games a lot lately, and the Counter-Strike bit will certainly add to it.

Counter-Strike made similar headlines two years ago when press focused on the VA Tech shooter being a fan of the game.

Valve’s put out life-time retail sales figures for the past decade, as reported by Gamasutra.

The numbers were published in the latest issue of Game Informer in the US, and only include retail sales – there are no Steam stats in here.

All the info below. This should give a clear indication of why Valve probably isn’t so worried about paying the mortgage.

• Half-Life – 9.3 million
• Half-Life: Opposing Force – 1.1 million
• Half-Life: Blue Shift – 800,000
• Half-Life 2 – 6.5 million
• Half-Life 2: Episode One – 1.4 million
• The Orange Box – 3 million
• Counter-Strike – 4.2 million
• Counter-Strike: Condition Zero – 2.9 million
• Counter-Strike: Source – 2.1 million
• Counter-Strike (Xbox) – 1.5 million
• Left 4 Dead (projected) – 3.6 – 3.9 million

Combined retail sales – 32.8 million (36.4 – 36.7 million if the Left 4 Dead projection’s included)

Jack Thompson has written to North Illinois University threatening a lawsuit if the institution doesn’t hand over any documents related to killer Steven Kazmierczak’s experience with videogames.

“Pursuant to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request production of copies of all documents that reveal Steven Kazmierczak’s play of violent video games, including but not limited to the use of his computer to play Counter-Strike, which he apparently, according to the New York Post, used to rehearse for his Valentine’s Day Massacre at NIU,” said Thompson in the letter faxed to the University today. “The killers in the two worst school massacres in history — in Erfurt, Germanay, and at Virginia Tech University—similarly trained on Counter-Strike to rehearse for their killing sprees. If I am not provided with this information, I shall bring a civil action to secure these documents.”

The editor of GamePolitics.com got in touch with Thompson, asking him if had really sent the letter. Thompson replied:

“Of course I sent it to them, you idiot. The NIU investigators have already responded, professionally, and told me they will get me this information in due time. This is how you do this, which you wouldn’t know.”

Us? Stunned.

Anti-games campaigner Jack Thompson has written to the president of North Illinois University – site of this week’s shootings by former student Stephen Kazmierczak to again link the crime to “mass murder simulation game, Counter-Strike”.

Following the shooting, Thompson appeared on Fox News to immediately associate the killings with gaming. Yesterday, the New York Post “revealed” that Kazmierczak used to play Counter-Strike while enrolled at the campus.

John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
1172 S. Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146

February 16, 2008

John G. Peters, President
Northern Illinois University
1425 W. Lincoln Hwy.
DeKalb, IL 60115-2825 Via Fax to 815-753-8686

Re: Part of the Explanation for this Awful Disaster

Dear President Peters:

First of all, my condolences for this terrible loss. I have had the disturbing privilege of representing a number of families devastated by these types of incidents. I represented all six parents of the three girls killed by a 14-year-old video gamer in the Paducah, Kentucky, school massacre. I currently represent the families of three policemen in Alabama who were slain by a teen who trained to kill them on the cop-killing simulation video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. This case was featured on 60 Minutes. See [here].

The day after the NIU tragedy this week, I was on the Fox News Channel predicting that the killer on your campus would be someone who was immersed in violent video games, as this is a common thread in almost all of these incidents. I mentioned in the interview the mass murder simulation game, Counter-Strike. It was the game of choice by the killers in the two worst school shootings in history—Virginia Tech and Erfurt, Germany.

Sure enough, the New York Post reports today the accuracy of that prediction. I attach herewith the Post article.

Governor Blagojevich was on Fox hours later echoing my specific concern about the linkage between violent video games and school killings.

I have addressed roughly 200 college campuses about this problem. I am more than willing to come to your campus, free of charge of course, to explain to the students and faculty and surrounding community why these games, played by students, pose a public safety hazard. Brain scan science recently coming out of Harvard explains it well. There are multiple reasons why these evil events happen. Immersion of young males in murder simulation as a form of entertainment is one of the more powerful reasons.

Blessings,

Jack Thompson

To be honest, Jack, it rankles that we have to give you air-time. Maybe you should be looking into the fact that any kid can buy a gun on a US street for about 50p instead of taking issue with creative entertainment.

The official CGS games for the championship’s televised 2008 season have been announced, being Counter-Strike, FIFA 08, Dead or Alive 4 and Forza 2.

“After concluding our inaugural season last year, we conducted an extensive game review process to identify the most compelling and competitive games in the world,” said CGS boss Andy Reif. “Our official game selections for the 2008 televised season are optimized to provide an unparalleled gaming experience for the players and our global broadcast audience alike.”

More here, for those that care.