What do you think it is, if anything other than what it is now?

I ask because I saw this: http://store.steampowered.com/stats/

Which shows that there are over 80,000 people playing CS 1.6 or Source AT THIS VERY SECOND. It peaked at over 120,000! Thats stupid considering they came out in '99 and '04.

That shows just how successful the game is. Change is inevitable as we saw in the 1.x versions, CZ and then source. An updated Counterstrike is just about due and all we can do is hope that the magic is still there.

CS is a game that will never die. Considering there are still people who play old text based adventure games (and MUDs), there will always be a dedicated group of people who will continue playing CS, even if it's just due to nostalgia. As long as there is an active community, CS will always prevail.

As for me, I played CS religiously from late 2000 to 2006, and my interest declined as the people I played with got older and stopped gaming. My interest in CS is not even 20% of what I had years ago, but when I have been ever faithful to CS (my first online game) ever since I ended up in n00bfest in late 2006.

For those who are relatively new to CS, the fun factor should be as important as the community factor. To me, CS is more about playing with friends than having fun playing the game. I can't see myself not playing CS (not counting breaks in between) unless something drastic happens and I quit gaming altogether.

I'm sure that Valve knows that there are many people like that who are quite dedicated to the legend of CS, and I really hope that they enhance the CS experience instead of trying to squash it with ridiculous changes/bugs etc. in favor of other games which they want to promote.

It just means it's the only game that really offers such a mindless experience. The only thing the creators of this game could do is streamline the code. The code for source is written horrendously. You can't have that in an fps - let alone the biggest FPS. They worked around bugs that they found by breaking the game and hoping nobody would notice.

ive only played for the past couple of months, but its crazy fun, better than any new fps out there.
anything valve notices is bound to turn out well.

I'm with Hooker. CS:S is great cause is so simple that even stupid foreigners can play it.
Future? Except "streamlining the code" they could throw in few more guns (which probably wouldn't be used at all).

Also note that stats shows only games that run via Steam client. It dose not compare number of people playing CS:S, CoD or BF across all platforms.

A new engine would be nice. I think that objects in the game should be fixed.

CS:S is only available through Steam, no? Windows/OS X.

The people playing 1.5/1.6 in foreign countries is huge non-Steam. But, the problem is that CS right now is declining. CZ is all but dead now with only a handful of servers up and 1.6 is going behind it, just not as public. If you go looking through the list of servers available, 90% of them are redirects, 5% are full of bots, and the other 5% you get to play. The redirect servers that show 28/32 make the game seem full of life, but in reality those are fake servers. Source is a game that people will refuse to play even if 1.6 does completely die, and that hurts Source, too. Adding more guns or changing anything else at this point won't give the game any more of a marketable value to pull in new players. As much as I'd love to say just because the competitive scene is strong for 1.6 and Source and it will keep the games alive, it won't. It can't keep them alive. People grow older and play less and less, the amount of players coming back to the game or joining the game for the first time isn't greater than the players leaving the game. The pub scene is what carries the games. Without a pub scene for the game, the competitive scene will diminish, leaving behind those people that refuse to let it die. Sure, they can carry the game for a long time, but it isn't the same. You won't get the same gameplay from a game that has outlived it's time as a game that is starting up or thriving. ESEA carries 1.6 in North America, there is no doubt about it. I think that is F*CKING sad that to play the game you want, you have to pay for a 2nd service to know that you can play with people 100% of the time. I just looked up a server list in the browser and came back with under 2000 servers that have 250 ping or less, not locked, and not empty. That is pathetic compared to what it used to be. 3/4 of them have 10 players or less and about half of the total list has bots. Lowering the ping to 100 which covers all of NA except far NW of Canadtown, there are only 450 servers, also with half of that list with bots and about 2/3-3/4 of the list have 10 players or less. With new games like Crysis, BF, COD, or whatever else that has newer graphics and has been released later, why buy old and out-dated CS? Most of the people that do buy the game now are friends of someone that play the game. That also translates into more people leaving than joining.

If they could prevent fake servers or have better bot detection, the games would be better, at least in the short term. CS is on the decline, and to say it isn't is a lie. The best thing to do is put out a new game and kill the predecessors. I love 1.6/CZ/and even Source, but CZ and Source never had a great 100% start because people didn't want to change. If you make them change it will bring the community together and make it bigger and stronger while also bringing in a huge new base from it being a new game.

As someone who has played this game way to long, and seen it evolve, I can honestly say a newer version is due.

These stats show that this fast-paced FPS is more popular than any new game out today.

I only play for n00bfest now, and don't really care anymore about who wins or what the score is. I am all for them adding new weapons!!!! especially a new machinegun or shotty. The also need to add(or address) the physics and make the hostys/civies respond like real people (similary to CZ only better) instead of just standing there doing nothing while i shoot them in the eyeball or dickhole.

My point is that 120k peak of CS and CS:S looks high comparing to CoD peaking at 50k, but it only (I believe) counts people playing via Steam. I'd like to see stats that shows how many people play BF or DoC on XBox, PS3 (or whatever else is out there) (too lazy to google ;]).

Spyda - I may be wrong, but the stats (as I wrote above) are based on the Steam client, not on the servers (which would include bots).

Football manager on 3rd? What the F*CK?

Keep the old playing style and just revamp everything really...that's all I can see and suggest or process.

I'm stubborn and I'm like a 90 year old that think his 70's Buick land yacht is the greatest thing since sliced break.

CHANGE

It died for me after we went to shitty source.I could elaborate on how the old old engine was so much better but im too lazy and i just dont give a F*CK.

Here's the future of CS: http://ti.mayngames.com/.
This is what Gooseman is working on. I'm trying to weasel my way into the internal beta. I've got some friends in high places that might be able to get me in.

Also, this is totally NOT a "fast-paced game".

Cs is like the US economy. It has recessions and progressions But atm it is dieing

As much as I'd like to believe that there are almost 90k players playing the 3 CS games right now, an area by area version of the "total" players playing the game would narrow everything down and give an easier way to see how accurate it really is.

Omg that looks amazing! I'm so going to show Hito when he gets home from class today :) good showing acid

those SS look like pure shit.. cant be up to date graphic engines.. i sure hope this isn't the future..

You have to understand that graphics is the LEAST you should be worried about. Look at COD, great graphics, shitty play. Nothing against you or anything but I get tired of hearing people talk about how games look. Look at games like Minecraft. Ugliest game ever and sold over 3 million copies as an indie game. If you're more concerned about the
engine running the models and not the gameplay and replayability of the game you're going to be very upset when you've payed over a thousand dollars in a lifetime worth of games that you blew through one time!

I'm really looking forward to TI. Real registration? Much better netcode? Pshaw, bring it on baby!