The guys at Ultimate Arena have announced a new Counter-Strike tournament, allowing teams of 3 players to compete against each other, for $5000 in cash and $5000 in AMD hardware. More info here.

In case you didnt already notice the ridiculous lines forming on FileShack, Counter-Strike v1.6 is available now as a full download on FileShack. The plain old Steam client is also of course available. Hey look, links!

- Steam Client
- Steam Client w/ Counter-Strike 1.6

The guys at Ultimate Arena send along word that they have added Counter-Strike to their list of supported games. Ultimate Arena allows people to compete against each other for cash prizes, and also supports Unreal Tournament, Unreal Tournament 2003, and America's Army.

With what can only be called a brief testing period (except not) Valve Software has publically released the Steam client which allows anyone and everyone to give the new Counter-Strike 1.6 beta a try along with Half-Life completely free. You can grab the client from FileShack.

The Steam Beta is entering its final phase, and is now open to the public. To enter this beta, simply download and run the 500K installer. Steam, a broadband platform for the delivery and management of digital content, currently features a variety of Valve games including Counter-Strike 1.6, which introduces the new riot shield, the official CS bot and more. For more information, visit www.steampowered.com

The Valve Software guys have sent along word that they have struck up a fun deal for the new knife model to be included in the Counter-Strike 1.6 release whenever that may be. Here's a PDF file! You need acrobat. If you just want a pic of the knife, here you go

HomeLAN Fed has posted a Q&A with Michael Booth, a former Westwood employee now working on a bot for off-line Counter-Strike play. This bot will be added to an official Counter-Strike update.

(re posted since it happened so late last night) As many of you probably know, Valve Software is currently privately testing the Steam content delivery system, and along with that is Counter-Strike BETA v1.6 as well as future versions of other mods for Half-Life. Well, Valve Software offered to help us out and would like a few new testers, so in cooperation with Valve we're now offering a custom Steam2 client for our Mercury subscribers on FileShack.

- Opportunity to test the Counter-Strike 1.6 BETA
- Opportunity to test more future BETAs
- Access to a private Steam testers only messageboard here on Shack where Valve employees will participate
- A warm fuzzy for helping Maarten, Jason and myself continue to grow
- If you're already Mercury download it now!

We'll be getting that messageboard online tomorrow some time. It's been a busy busy day. Also, in case you're wondering about the whole exclusive thing which we've talked about here before, you'll probably want to read this post as that addresses the situation. This is not a public demo, but a private beta intended to stress test servers and registration systems, not the client software. We're starting off with option A, which in itself is a pretty big step around these parts for someone that isnt 'those other guys' to get a perk like this for subscribers.

As many of you probably know, Valve Software is currently privately testing the Steam content delivery system, and along with that is Counter-Strike BETA v1.6 as well as future versions of other mods for Half-Life. Well, Valve Software offered to help us out and would like a few new testers, so in cooperation with Valve we're now offering a custom Steam2 client for our Mercury subscribers on FileShack.

- Opportunity to test the Counter-Strike 1.6 BETA
- Opportunity to test more future BETAs
- Access to a private Steam testers only messageboard here on Shack where Valve employees will participate
- A warm fuzzy for helping Maarten, Jason and myself continue to grow
- If you're already Mercury download it now!

We'll be getting that messageboard online tomorrow some time. It's been a busy busy day. Also, in case you're wondering about the whole exclusive thing which we've talked about here before, you'll probably want to read this post as that addresses the situation. This is not a public demo, but a private beta intended to stress test servers and registration systems, not the client software. We're starting off with option A, which in itself is a pretty big step around these parts for someone that isnt 'those other guys' to get a perk like this for subscribers.

note: You dont need ANYTHING else installed to run this, download it and you can play assuming you have broadband and a PC.

There's a new Counter-Strike: Condition Zero preview on Computer & Video Games, checking out what Ritual Entertainment has been doing with the game. Plenty of info on what to expect, mostly through quotes from Valve and Ritual people.

Well it appears that some last minute changes have been made, and Valve Software is not releasing the Steam 2.0 / Counter-Strike 1.6 client this evening after all. Obviously there are a number of leaked clients floating around out there although people arent really having much luck with them.

Steam Beta 2.0 Admission Suspended : The Counter-Strike and Team Fortress communities have maxed out the Steam 2.0 beta servers, resulting in the temporarily suspension of admission to the beta as more content servers are put online. The current Steam content servers offer over 500 megabits of bandwidth, all of which the community is consuming right now. Anyone interested in hosting a Steam content server should email biz@steampowered.com. (Content server requirements can be found at www.steampowered.com Those who have already joined the beta are encouraged to continue their participation and submit their feedback.

The file was never even made official and we were never given the green light to put the client out on Fileshack, you can thank the gaming press for leaking it out early. I suppose if just a leak was enough to max out the servers, an actual official release would have just been ugly.

Well, everyone can chill out on the refreshing like mad for a little bit. We've got an official release time now for the Counter-Strike 1.6 BETA / Steam2.0 release. Here's the word from Valve Software:

Steam Beta 2.0 begins today at 3 pm Pacific. The beta is open to the public, anyone can join by downloading and running the 4MB install applet.
For the first few days, this beta will include the coming versions of Counter-Strike (1.6) and Team Fortress Classic. Further updates to these games, as well as additional content, will be made available to participants throughout the beta. Steam is a broadband platform for the delivery and management of digital content. More information on Steam and this beta can be found at www.steampowered.com.

We'll have the install application on Fileshack.com at release time. That will be 5pm CST (Shack time)

Well, this week is simply Counter-Strike week. Love it or hate it it's by far the most popular online FPS action game being played right now. The upcoming 1.6 BETA release on the Steam 2.0 platform will be the biggest stress test yet for Valve's newfangled idea of 'content delivery' for the internet. Here's a bit more stuff to look at before the release on Thursday:

- Video walkthrough of de_airstrip @ Fileshack.com
- CSNation's in depth preview of CS 1.6 BETA (Well done)
- The official BETA changelist as it stands now (Subject to change)

If you feel like saying 'yeah I'm tired of CS, god wont this game die' etc in the comments here just save it and we'll all act like you made a really clever and witty remark about how old and dated CS is or some insightful comment about gameplay etc.

The new Half-Life / Counter-Strike / TFC / etc update is coming this Thursday and things look to be running pretty smoothly with the playtest I just participated in. Here are a few of the major changes from the official change list. The new versions will be available via Steam2.0 which we will have available for download on Fileshack this Thursday.

- Added two new rifles, the Galil and Famas.
- Added a Riot Shield for the CTs.
- New version of de_inferno.
- New version of de_aztec.
- Added new map de_airstri.
- Increased Glock damage slightly.
- Added widescreen view modes for hardware that supports it.
- Changed so the bomb and hostages use T and upside-down T in the radar like players do (to indicate above/below the player).
- Added zoom & health in HLTV.
- Improved load times to join servers.
- Engine supports masked and additive textures modes on models.
- Added widescreen monitor support (16:9 and 5:4).
- [snip]

The widescreen is now limited to 1920x1080, earlier in the playtest 1280x768 was available which most anyone could use and just squish their screen. I've bugged Valve a couple of times about putting it back cuz it's neeto, but I doubt it will happen.

Something not indicated in this change list is the drastic change to the smoke grenade. The smoke now puffs out instantly instead of slowly streaming out and waving around, and is in fact really quite useful now and easy to place accurately. Everyone can eagerly anticipate being spammed with smoke grenades on pubs for the first few weeks.

update: Here is a video walkthrough of the new map, de_airstrip.

Looks like we've gotten a firm date for the Counter-Strike 1.6 BETA release. This coming Thursday. In fact tomorrow we're going to get the go ahead to publish any other possible information that may not be known yet about 1.6. This release will only be available via the Steam 2.0 client which will be available on Fileshack. Some random CS related stuff from recent:

- de_airstrip screenshots (new map for 1.6)
- CSNation 1.6 info page
- Condition Zero preview (elements from CZ will be rolled into CS)
- Steam preview (note the interface now looks like what is showin in the CZ preview)

So, look for more info to be published here tomorrow afternoon on Counter-Strike 1.6, and then look for the Steam client to be made available on Fileshack on Thursday.

Counter-Strike 1.6 is NOW AVAILABLE at Fileshack for Mercury subscribers! Expect to see a couple of new guns and the riot shield added to play as well as at least one new map. Well, we've got a few shots of the new map here for you, Airstrip by Narby who is also responsible for maps such as Inferno and Aztec.

Also if you missed it over the holidays, here's a preview of Counter-Strike: Condition Zero I did after paying a visit to Ritual Entertainment.

There is a Counter-Strike Q&A on ComputerGames.ro, which has Valve's Erik Johnson answer some questions about the ever popular Half-Life modification. One of the things mentioned, is that CS 1.6 will actually have new weapons and a riot shield (previously announced for Counter-Strike: Condition Zero).

Computer Games Romania: Do you plan to include new weapons, maps, models or options or will you just fix the bugs from the current version?
Erik Johnson: We'll be adding the Famas, Galil, and Riot Shield to Counter-Strike 1.6. There are a number of smaller changes, but these three will have the greatest effect on gameplay.

There is no release date mentioned for the new Counter-Strike but you can count on it crashing the Internet again.

FOR MORE COUNTER-STRIKE: Shacknews.com

Well it's begun, cheaters in Counter-Strike and DoD are now getting globally banned from playing on all secured servers. (read: 99.9%). Here is a sample screenshot I was sent and a quote from Erik Johnson talking about the bans:

The ban list is now active, which means people that are detected cheating on a secure server will be banned from all secure servers for 24 hours. We'll be increasing the penalty for cheating dramatically over time as we become more comfortable with how the system is operating. We know of no false positives being generated currently, but we're going to be extremely careful we aren't banning legitimate players. [snip]

Yay? Yes.. YAY!

Well here is something that will certainly boggle a few people. The CPL which plays host to the largest Counter-Strike LAN tournaments in North America as well as the CAL which every competitive Counter-Strike player is aware of is making a pretty major change. A new requirement for all teams who wish to compete in CPL LAN tournaments is that they either be incorporated or have a corporate sponsor according to AVault and the new policy page. The purpose of this being to expedite payments to the winning teams

"We believe this policy will initiate a significant change within the entire eSports industry that will give teams with defined corporate structures a better chance to receive sponsorships and enter into partnerships with other organizations," said Munoz. He added that the CPL also thinks the policy change might curtail the current trend of transitory teams.

Setting up a corporate account is surprisingly trivial, there are even online places you can do this at. I imagine most teams who dont have corporate sponsors will just go with an LP since there arent really many liability concerns I imagine. Of course, if you dont play Counter-Strike then you probably dont care.. then leave this thread alone. :)

Valve Software has just sent along the official trailer for Counter-Strike: Condition Zero showing off 90 seconds of gameplay footage in 640x450 MPEG4. Just because we're feeling saucy you can download it over at FileShack.com. If your ISP for some reason hasnt gotten the updated DNS entry, here's the IP address link. Feel free to leave comments on FileShack here. Hopefully you wont make us cry? If you dont have a MPEG4 player, you can grab Quicktime6 here

Here is something that may be changing the face of online cheating a bit. The new anti-cheat stuff that Valve has been updating every so often is now recording IDs of people detected cheating to a 'master ban list' for future banning. Here's a bit from CSNation:

Security module update *** This only affects Counter-Strike servers. ***
We've updated the public security modules again. Your Counter-Strike servers should update themselves automatically. If you find your servers are suddenly having problems, try restarting the servers. These modules should detect OGC's OpenGl Hack 1.8 and will start reporting detected cheaters to our master ban list server. We won't be banning anyone yet, but we'll be gathering information about detected cheaters.

What this would mean is that people caught cheating would no longer just be banned from single servers, but nearly all servers on the internet save for the few that dont run in secure mode. Think that's a bit more of a deterrent for cheaters? Of course you can always just go buy another CDKey...