FPS Gaming....is it still all about Counterstrike?

[TriniXaeno]

Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, I invite you to study the below image and come to a conclusion.

Is it correct to state that the vast majority of PC FPS gamers are still playing Counter Strike? Totaling between the original and CS Source, an impressive 120,000+ terrorists and counter terrorists actively playing. That's today, June 20th 2011.

Industry heavyweights like Call of Duty struggling to make half of that.

Not to mention, our beloved Battlefield Bad Company 2 (which appears to be in a solid race for last place) with dismal numbers not even worth mentioning.

In a sentence: W....T...F....




Could it be that steam is cooking the books to represent their games in a favourable light? Or is it truly the case that Counter-Strike still wtfpwns every FPS game on the PC landscape?

[Redlum08]

Wait.........WHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTT???!!!!!

 

[D2ultima]

Counter Strike WTF pwns everything. But to be fair to games like Battlefield, not everyone has it on steam. More people play it than are stated on the steam now-playing list. But CS:S and TF2 and Half Life 2: Deathmatch and all those good stuff still going strong. And still are tough to get good at. And people still continue to buy it. Because it's good. That and some people still on low-end machines on Windows XP and too stubborn or broke to upgrade and be able to play the newer stuff.

The big boys now are all about console gaming first, PC second. With a history of shoddy ports, what can you expect from the AAA games today? BC2, as fun as it is, and as DIFFERENT from the console version as it is, is *STILL* feeling like a console port. When BF3 comes out, and other, PC-first games come out, this will likely change. Of course, steam won't show this. Because it won't be on steam. Idiot move, EA >_>.

As for the games, this is what I keep saying all the time Wyatt. You make a great, substantial game, and it'll have followers and players forever. At any given time I can find thousands of servers on Call of Duty 4. AND World At War. MW2? A couple hundred in a game. Black Ops? Thousands of empty servers. MW1 and W@W aren't inherently on steam, so their numbers (as well as some other games) will be deflated a bit. But what you see there is what you get. CS:S reigns king for PC gamers bunnin time.

[Doomtack]

Yeah, for years i've been watching that stat. Always wondering.... why don't we start back some local CS Source sweats

[Philosophical45]

i have cs source on steam taking dust, but i do miss those ketch ass days of getting pwned like a noob, was just a rush trying to get better. I'm in for a local sweat any day!

[Arcmanov]

How insulting...

I feel my PC will shrivel up and turn into dust if I run that relic.  

That game needs to stay in the floppy disks of history on which it first shipped.

Swyped from another Galaxy

[shivanandrs]

Counter Strike WTF pwns everything. But to be fair to games like Battlefield, not everyone has it on steam. More people play it than are stated on the steam now-playing list.

This

There are a lot of people out there who bought BC2 on disc, like myself. I also know 4 people who play CS because it's the only thing their PC can run. I wouldn't doubt that is the same reason for a lot of other people. Besides, according to bfbcs.com, there are over 20,000 players online at the moment, on the PC alone.

[VirtueTT]

Ultima and Shiv raise the important point there. That's only Steam's stats and, i think we overlook the fact that not everyone has the ability to purchase rigs or even build one's to play games like COD or BF etc etc. There are ppl like me who louse off of family *cough*...

[woodyear99]

How insulting...

I feel my PC will shrivel up and turn into dust if I run that relic. 

That game needs to stay in the floppy disks of history on which it first shipped.

Swyped from another Galaxy

Nah man CS is a classic, better graphics doh mean better gameplay :p

[Spazosaurus]

Realll loosing faith in Steam. I dont trust those numbers one bit.

[Arcmanov]

How insulting...

I feel my PC will shrivel up and turn into dust if I run that relic. 

That game needs to stay in the floppy disks of history on which it first shipped.

Swyped from another Galaxy

Nah man CS is a classic, better graphics doh mean better gameplay :p

Totally agree, but I certainly didn't upgrade my rig several times within the last 6 years for CS.

At some point you've just got to let it go.  The hardcore subset of people who cling to these games so long after they've 'fallen from grace' (so to speak) tend to be the most insular.

I submit that there are scores of FPS MP games out there that are alot better overall.


Swyped from another Galaxy using Tapatalk

[woodyear99]

Yeah true, I would play it mostly for nostalgia. It is still a good game though I do prefer newer titles like battlefield.

[Berzerk]

The majority of gamers still don't own uber rigs, and the game is hella scalable.

It still finds its place in the rare niche between lone ranger gamer and team based gameplay

 The game has a wide dedicated and consistent fanbase and is and has always been able to just 'pick up n play'

The game pretty much is one of the foundations of the fps multiplayer  and still seems to maintain its dominance. Don't see why it should change. people enjoying themselves oui.

[TriniXaeno]

Well, like Arc, I just find it hard to spend all that money on a gaming rig to go back to such baseline graphics.

Wondering if they upgrade the thing to Dx11 or released a high res model pack.

Not that Half Life 2 was horrible in the graphics department to begin with but still.

THE NEXT INSTALLMENT OF THE WORLD'S # 1 ONLINE ACTION GAME
Counter-Strike: Source blends Counter-Strike's award-winning teamplay action with the advanced technology of Source™ technology. Featuring state of the art graphics, all new sounds, and introducing physics, Counter-Strike: Source is a must-have for every action gamer.

hmm, when I have an extra US$20 to spare, I'll take a touch yes.

Don't think this could compare with Battlefield by a long shot, but with the decline in PC desktop sales.....the # of people who can run these games properly is only going to dwindle.

I wonder what it would take to see a resurgence in the gaming PC?

Maybe Battlefield 3?

[D2ultima]

There *is* a new game coming out from the maker of Counter Strike. He's making a game called "Tactical Intervention". It's probably going to be on Source, but it's going to have a lot more in-depth and separating tactics (counter terrorists can repel down through windows, terrorists can use hostages to avoid being shot at, etc). It's still in development. You can sign up for a beta, but I think it's only in the USA right now.

As for "going back to old graphics", if you love a game, you love a game. I who can run metro2033 and GTA 4 (or I could before that blasted 1.5 patch) and BF:BC2 and Black Ops, etc. still find myself going back to older, fun titles. Team Fortress 2 is one, I liked Half Life 2 Deathmatch a LOT too; I think it's very cool, and it's free if you have an nVidia GPU. I think (I don't remember how I got it, but I sure as hell didn't buy it; it's in my Steam list though). I found myself playing Tony Hawk's American Wasteland on the PC the other day. Old game, graphics look horrible compared to anything today, hell it can't even go above 1280 x 1024 resolution. Not even 16:9/16:10 options. But it's still fun.

I think too much importance being placed on graphics these days. I know graphics are important, but I rather play a game with acceptable graphics and superb gameplay than one with beautiful graphics but I glitchin out every 5 seconds, or I feel limited in my gameplay options *cough* why-I-will-not-buy-Crysis-2-and-why-I-regret-pre-ordering-Black-Ops *cough*.

Also, we shouldn't forget, a game that builds up a good player fanbase will just about never die. Plenty people have L4D2 and L4D1, and they still prefer 1. Men still playing Quake 3 Arena/Team Arena online. A man tell me today he have 50 zombie maps in CoD: World at War. The games ain't going anywhere anytime soon, and that should be fine with us.

Besides, with ALL that gaming power you throw into your rig, you CANNOT tell me you never launch Visual Boy Advance/MAME/Final Burn Alpha/Dolphin/PCSX2/ePSXe or any other emulator I haven't heard of, just because the graphics "nuh good enough no more". I lend my sister my PS2; when I want I pop the disc in my drive and play on PCSX2 and bun some SF: Alpha Anthalogy. It's a PC man, embrace its backwards compatibility! It's not an insult, rather, it's a bonus! All that hype-up PS3 cyah play my beloved DragonQuest VIII for me. That Xbox 360 cyah start the original Halo: Combat Evolved. Which, on PC, STILL has hundreds of servers up and running, mind you.

[TriniXaeno]

I hear you bro. Just that one of the biggest advantages of the PC platform IS its graphics.

Whereas consoles are stuck in a 5 year cycle with the same 3d processors, PCs can be upgraded month on month, year on year.

What sense in throwing away your biggest edge against the competition by forever playing old, dated looking games?

Yes, we had a time with Soldier of Fortune 2 back in the year 2000. May even run it again for a little nostalgia, but these figures are showing men playing counter strike source hard core...up to this very day.

By the thousands. Many times over than Battlefield bad company 2.

That can't be right.


I did a little digging and checked on facebook to see if these figures could be backed up by their popularity on the worlds #1 social network.

Sure enough, the same is true.

Surprisingly, Blackops has a logarithmic lead over the others here.

Here is the chart (with source data to back it up)

[D2ultima]

The reason call of duty has such a lead is because of its console roots I'd say. I could safely dismiss CoD anything as PC-gaming-data. It still have thousands of men on CoD 4 at any given time too. Thing is, people find a good, no-bullshit game and live in it. It happens all the time. But most I see take in an hour or so of good ole' CS:S, then leave the game and either play nothing or play something else. The other games I see people launch it, and stay in it for a long time, then get off. But like I realised playing Half Life 2 through just last week: eye candy only takes a game so far. Some games make it to the point of being "timeless". And in other cases, there's not always something better. This is why people still bunnin Halo 1 on the PC.
So to put it to the test, when Tactical Intervention comes out, we'll see if men still with CS:S just as much. Since TI is a modernized CS:S, from the maker of Counter-Strike. But I'll still say it, I rather less bells and whistles in graphics with good, rock-solid gameplay any day. Because as beautiful as a game looks, if it plays like what you flush down the toilet, is it really worth playing for the eye candy?