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Something Strange Going On At Valve With Counter-Strike

News & Rumors Other

There’s been rumors that Valve is inviting a number of the top competitive CS players from all over the world to their Bellevue HQ, even personnel from the ZBlock team. Now, obviously, since these are all mere chinese whispers, so to speak, pinpointing any direct information is tough, but I’ve managed to dig up some stuff.

Something Strange Going On At Valve With Counter-Strike

Meet Exhibit A: Richard Lewis’ forum post, made on the Cadred forums:

A couple of weeks ago I was sworn to secrecy about this but it seems the same people who have demanded I not say anything have gone and told the usual CS:S blabber mouths and as such it’s going to be another “secret” that everyone knows about in a few weeks anyway.

Ordinarily I’d not give a shit but given the general doom and gloom that the CS:S community is subject to at the moment spilling the beans might at least lead to some people being a bit more positive about the future of the game.

So yes, apparently Valve have approached several top players from across Europe, as well as J3di from the Zblock team, and have invited them to a meeting in their Seattle offices to discuss the future of the game.

This is the first time that they have ever attempted anything like this for CS:S and it’s the first time they have showed any sort of interest in the project since Dynamic Weapon Pricing was introduced.

Anyway, the list of invited people looks good so far, even if some players are still wary that it’s some sort of scam and haven’t made a decision to attend or not yet. However, the first few flights from those who have provided the information requested have had flights booked and confirmation sent, so their feeling is it’s all above board.

Discuss away. Just don’t tell anyone. It’s a secret.

This is what started off the majority of the buzz in the community, and with good reason. Definitely very interesting.

Not stopping here! Cadred also interviewed Marek “.PhP” Kadek, a competitive CSS player, returning from a fairly long absence from the community, now joining Epsilon eSports. One of the last questions in the interview is this:

In light of recent events I need to ask you this, but I don’t think I’ll get an answer… Valve HQ, Seattle, August – have you heard anything about it and if so, have you received an invite?

No comment.

 Hot damn. Something’s cooking at Valve HQ, and it’s not just the stuff from the snack bar. No, it’s… it’s… crap, I forgot my “edgy film noir detective jokes” notebook at home again! Nevermind, let us move on to exhibit… S!

Iikka Keränen, one of Valve’s senior level designers, named the greatest Doom level creator of all time by Doomworld in 1998, recently joined the players of the TF2Maps server for their “Mapper’s Day”. He played with them, and even answered their questions. Full transcript can be found here. Here’s the million dollar question:

*In response to being asked if he is currently mapping for TF2*
iikka: not at the moment, I’m working on some counter-strike stuff
Seba: is there anything major comiing to CSS?
iikka: can’t really comment right now

Yes, I have uncovered Valve’s vicious trail of blood and uncovered the smoking gun itself. Level designers being shifted to Counter-Strike. Well, I suppose this means nothing – we still know pretty much nothing and we can only speculate as to what this is all about: CS2? Condition Zero 2? Someone’s finally porting the levels from the old Xbox port to the PC? Maybe someone finally decided to fix up the legendary “Death from Above” and release it on Deleted Scenes? May- Okay, no more wild, insane guesses.

I suppose it’s just a game update, which is pretty great, since Valve has been neglecting CS recently, and with Minh Le’s Tactical Intervention right around the corner, locking CS in the cupboard isn’t going to last much longer. So let’s wait and see what Valve is going to do with CSS.

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17 Comments

  1. Wow hearing that Valve invited CSS players over 1.6 players, even though 1.6 is still by far the bigger competitive game (and source is considered a joke), really is a bad sign for the future

  2. This is true..
    We all use many phrases we dont really know anything about.
    Like:
    Rule of thumb
    cat got your tongue

    And yes I know its possible to find them out…:P

    Cs 1.6 with good gfx is all I want but it will never happen.
    I wonder which would be more popular – cs1.7 or cs 2.0?

    • I think Valve has left that particular “1.x to 2.x to 3.x” numbering system behind, especially since they’re not really supporting the original CS anymore. I’m sure a CS2 would be quite popular, though.

  3. Bullies.
    Thailand and many other countries have tonal languages so I wonder why the phrase specifically uses Chinese?
    I think cs2 will get released in 2012 but I am absolutely sure it will not be cs1.6 with new gxf.. Which is all I would need.

  4. This seems a perfect time to produce another counter strike game. It would destroy the market and VALVe would be more heard of ( just think how it would blast COD and battlefeild out of the water?)

    Who better to help create the game than the best players who know what the community wants in maps, weapons ETC.

    As good as this sounds, it is still another 10 months Half life 3 is put on ice (if it is in development of course).

  5. It’s nice to see an author delivering a bitch slap on the internet now and again. On most major news sites writers don’t bother to respond to the insane blather found in the comments, I’d guess because as an author it’s not necessary to stoop to their level. Still this approach is refreshing.

    • Heh, thanks. We try to be quite connected to our readerbase by responding to their comments and in general, talking to them. Unfortunately, this includes responding to some outlandish banter.

  6. A new Counter-Strike game?
    This article reminded me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kexgh2QYra8

    The way Gabe answered pretty much confirmed it. ;D

  7. Vic, I’m not sure you quite got the joke…

    On a side note, while this is encouraging besides releasing a few new maps there’s not much else that could be done to CS:S without changing the game entirely. Here’s hoping the next CS will be closer to 1.6 in terms of game play.

    • Sorry, but I generally don’t get any joke that directly refers to my writing and my choice of words in my writing. If prim sap really was just kidding around with me and it completely flew over my head, then I apologize.

  8. “chinese whispers” ?? some folks would have a niggardly opinion of that choice of words. Grammar check must be set to 1970…

    • No, that’s what we call it. It’s a reference to the near incomprehensible nature of an unknown language. In this context, it refers to a rumor that is passed on from person to person. In fact, a simple Google search would have revealed that it is still widely used in most English-speaking countries, with the exception of the United States.

      • It’s called Chinese whispers because Chinese is a tonal language. In Chinese, the meaning of a word is determined by its inflection, so the same four letters can have several (often contrary) meanings. When a word is whispered, it is impossible to provide an inflection, therefore the correct meaning is lost. It’s nothing to do with an unknown language.

        A simple google search might well have revealed this fact too.

        • Might have revealed, might have not. Because I’ve never come across this stuff! Very interesting. Thanks!

          • Maybe you shouldn’t use words and phrases you don’t quite understand then?

            • I believe I remember you, “lol”! But no, I do understand the phrase completely. I don’t quite understand the minor trivia behind it (no idea if Shimizu had any sources for his information), but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t use that phrase. Because there is no one on this planet who comprehends all of the minor linguistic trivia behind every single word or phrase he/she uses.

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