Along with its list of the most-played consoles in 2008, research group The Nielsen Company has provided its list of the past year's most popular PC games in the US.

Of the ten titles, none were released in 2008, and only 2 debuted in 2007. The list is based off data from January through October 2008, meaning that the impact of the second World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, was not taken into account.

Unsurprisingly, Blizzard's World of Warcraft topped the PC charts, with those surveyed playing the PC MMO an average of 671 minutes, just a bit over 11 hours, per week. Blizzard's Diablo II also appears on the list, as do three games from Valve.

Unfortunately, Nielsen did not specify the methodology behind this year's results. In 2007, the firm based its list off an extremely small pool of participants, a mere 1200 gamers, which could explain the unexpected results. It is not known if this was changed for 2008.

Top 10 PC Game Titles in the U.S.
1. World of Warcraft (2004) / Blizzard Entertainment
   671 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.723% AU*
2. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007) / Infinity Ward
   403 Avg Minutes Played Per Week / 0.163% AU*
3. Halo: Combat Evolved (2003) / Gearbox, Bungie... Read more

Beloved developer Valve has released lifetime retail sales figures for some of its more popular games, including the Half-Life and Counter-Strike series, revealing that the studio has sold over 32.8 million games since the 1998 release of the first Half-Life.

Sales from Valve's digital distribution client are not factored in, with the figures only accounting for worldwide retail sales. With Half-Life 2, Valve began simultaneously releasing all of its PC games at retail and via Steam. The numbers were originally printed in the November issue of Game Informer, then republished by Gamasutra.

Furthermore, it was not specified if the figures of multiplatform games--Half-Life, Half-Life 2, The Orange Box--included both PC and console sales, or just PC.

• Half-Life (Valve) / 1998 - 9.3 Million
• Half-Life: Opposing Force (PC, Gearbox) / 1999 - 1.1 Million
• Half-Life: Blue Shift (PC, Gearbox) / 2001 - 800,000
  
  
• Counter-Strike (PC, Valve) / 2000 - 4.2 Million
• Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (PC, Valve) / 2004 - 2.9 Million... Read more

With Valve's wit-driven action-puzzler Portal hitting Xbox Live Arcade this fall, marketing VP Doug Lombardi has expressed interest in releasing more of the studio's catalog, which includes shooters Half-Life and Counter-Strike, as Xbox 360 downloads.

"We'll certainly consider [bringing old games like Counter-Strike to XBLA]," Lombardi told OXM UK. "If you look at what we've done on Steam, we try to make all our games available and we're always reviewing the prices to keep them current. We'd love to do that, but this is our first step at doing that beyond the PC."

When asked about a possible console release of the Team Fortress 2 add-ons that PC gamers have been receiving for free, such as new maps and weapons, Lombardi stated that the company was still discussing the specifics of pricing.

"We're accumulating a lot of TF2 content for PC and at some point there'll be a sweet amount of stuff that's ready to go and large enough that if people have to pay for it [on consoles], they'll be happy," he noted. Earlier in the year, Lombardi told Shacknews that the content was likely to hit Xbox 360, but wasn't sure if it would arrive on PS3.

Valve let us know that guest passes are now available for Counter-Strike: Source owners. Should you have friends who don't have the game, you can now invite them to play the full game for 3 days. Obviously they will need to install Steam to use their guest pass.

As expected, an update for Counter-Strike: Source is now available. Here are the changes: "Increased ES57, Compact 228 and Dual Elites damage by 25%", "Lowered allowed number of dropped weapons in a level to prevent gun spamming" and "Updated foliage quality in cs_militia".

According to the latest Valve news update, available through Steam, Valve will be changing the pistols in Counter-Strike: Source. Right now pretty much everyone uses the Desert Eagle causing a dramatic increase in price since the introduction of dynamic weapon pricing. Valve will attempt to rectify the situation by making the other pistols more effective. All pistol prices have been reset while Valve prepares the update.

The latest Steam marketing message is up, mentioning, among other things, that the final update for the Counter-Strike: Source weapon pricing beta has been released. The new CS:S is set to go public November 1st, with the first price correction happening on the 6th.

According to the latest Valve news update available through Steam, they'll start beta testing the Counter-Strike: Source weapon pricing change on Wednesday. The news item mentions that major CS websites should soon have information on how to join this beta.

Valve has added this page to the Steam website, outlining the upcoming weapons pricing changes for Counter-Strike: Source. On October 11, the game will switch to a dynamic pricing model with updated prices every Monday based on the amount of purchases the previous week. Here a few samples from the page

Assault Suit
current price: $1,000
projected price: $1,104 (+10.4%)
Total purchases this week: 12,373,054
Dollars spent this week: $12,373,054,000

Maverick M4A1 Carbine
current price: $3,100
projected price: $3,390 (+9.35%)
Total purchases this week: 3,571,778
Dollars spent this week: $11,072,511,800

Nightvision Goggles
current price: $1,250
projected price: $1,084 (-13.26%)
Total purchases this week: 141,883
Dollars spent this week: $177,353,750

There is information about the pricing algorithm here.

According to the Steam website, updates to Counter-Strike: Source, the Source Engine and Source TV are now available. The CS:S update fixes two exploits, while also adding zoom/scope to the first person view for Source TV spectators.

According to the Steam website the promised Counter-Strike: Source update is now available. It features the new radar system and a HDR version of de_train. Other changes

- The players eye height while crouching now matches their in-game player model eye position more closely
- SourceTV now shows the weapon in first-person view
- SourceTV supports the tv_transmitall command
- Assorted exploit fixes

Thoughts on the new radar display?

According to the latest Valve news update that's available through Steam, the Counter-Strike: Source radar change (coming out next week) won't be the only change being made to the game. After the radar update, "we'll be taking a look at the economy of Counter-Strike and how we're pricing weapons."

The latest Valve news update is now available through Steam, mentioning their plans to update Counter-Strike: Source. The first update will offer an updated version of Train, which will include HDR lighting, minor layout changes and some bug fixes (screenshot here). Another upcoming update will rework the game's radar system.

There will be a significant change to the aesthetics of the radar, but there are also some fairly significant gameplay ramifications to the new system. One example: when you look directly at an enemy for a long enough time for their name to appear on your screen, everyone on your team will be able to see that enemy in the radar. We're planning on releasing this first update in about two weeks.

In other Valve news, an updated Source SDK is now available.

There's a new update available through Steam, updating Counter-Strike: Source and Earth 2160. Among other things the CS:S update adds the GSG9 and Arctic player models and HDR lighting for de_dust

The Steam website notes that the promised new player models for Counter-Strike: Source (Leet and SAS) are now available. The update also fixes players being able to run up very steep slopes for short distances, and low-violence models not animating properly.

The latest Valve marketing message is available upon restarting Steam, offering two screenshots showing SAS and Leet Crew in Counter-Strike: Source. Both player models will be added to the game this month.

Word on the Steam website is that a new update for Counter-Strike: Source is now available. There is one change: "The grasses and shrubs in cs_compound and de_port have been restored to their original state". Restart Steam to grab the update.

A new Steam update is now available for Counter-Strike: Source, adding the reworked cs_militia to the map rotiation. The update also allows for hostages to open doors and use ledges & stairs, while taking care of several bugs

- Fixed player name crash exploit
- Fixed rare visibility issue near portals such as doorways and windows
- Fixed a bug that occasionally resulted in doors becoming stuck closed
- Fixed animation issue with shotgun reloads interrupting fire animations
- Fixed bug where footsteps sometimes sounded for crouched players on stairs or slopes (they no longer do)
- Fixed buy menu locking up if keypad Enter is bound to "buymenu"
- Detail props sway in the breeze now
- Underwater observers no longer play drowning damage sounds

There's a new Valve news update available through Steam. Not a whole lot to it this week really, but Valve did include a wonderful screenshot from the upcoming Militia map.

As expected, a new Counter-Strike: Source update is now available. The update adds G.I.G.N and Guerilla player models, and also fixes some game bugs.