official Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Got to play a bit on the PS3 today, still did not get around to checking it out with a Keyboard & Mouse yet (at least a proper one), so played with Dualshock.

I was doing pretty damn good. Surprised myself, but not really. Having played the previous versions of the game really is giving me a pretty clear advantage, as knowing the maps is key. Placed within the Top 2 on my team all of the full rounds I played, and had a positive KDR, something I did not have the first couple of days playing.

Honestly for my own tastes, I am hard pressed to find a better MP FPS experience then being the last man alive on your team in Counter Strike, facing an enemy team with a three enemies that are still alive, and slowly yet methodically taking the rest of them out one out a time. Seriously it provides an adrenaline rush and a feeling of achievement that no other game can really offer. Especially since I admit it does not happen as often as I would prefer, when it does, it really is damn good fun.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Got to play a bit on the PS3 today, still did not get around to checking it out with a Keyboard & Mouse yet (at least a proper one), so played with Dualshock.

I was doing pretty damn good. Surprised myself, but not really. Having played the previous versions of the game really is giving me a pretty clear advantage, as knowing the maps is key. Placed within the Top 2 on my team all of the full rounds I played, and had a positive KDR, something I did not have the first couple of days playing.

Honestly for my own tastes, I am hard pressed to find a better MP FPS experience then being the last man alive on your team in Counter Strike, facing an enemy team with a three enemies that are still alive, and slowly yet methodically taking the rest of them out one out a time. Seriously it provides an adrenaline rush and a feeling of achievement that no other game can really offer. Especially since I admit it does not happen as often as I would prefer, when it does, it really is damn good fun.

Yeah. I spent my early FPS-playing days on local CS 1.5/1.6 servers. The gamer that I am today was largely influenced by my experience with CS. I also met some people that I would trust my life with because of CS. I remember all the late nights practicing with my clanmates. I remember the drama that came with being the co-leader of my clan (as well as the best player). CS will always have a place in my heart and it's part of why I gave CS:GO a chance. And why I love it so much despite my "hate" for CS:S.

I actually met one of my old clanmates on a CS:GO server recently. So many memories came back as we discussed our past while maintaining high KDRs on de_inferno, de_dust/2, and de_nuke.

Anyway, I haven't played as much CS:GO as I'd like so I think I'm going to play a lot on the weekend. It'd be great if I could play with some fellow Neowinians. I'll check the Neowin.net group on Steam from time to time to see if anyone is playing CS:GO. If I see some players, I'll invite them to a party.

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Yeah. I spent my early FPS-playing days on local CS 1.5/1.6 servers. The gamer that I am today was largely influenced by my experience with CS. I also met some people that I would trust my life with because of CS. I remember all the late nights practicing with my clanmates. I remember the drama that came with being the co-leader of my clan (as well as the best player). CS will always have a place in my heart and it's part of why I gave CS:GO a chance. And why I love it so much despite my "hate" for CS:S.

I actually met one of my old clanmates on a CS:GO server recently. So many memories came back as we discussed our past while maintaining high KDRs on de_inferno, de_dust/2, and de_nuke.

Anyway, I haven't played as much CS:GO as I'd like so I think I'm going to play a lot on the weekend. It'd be great if I could play with some fellow Neowinians. I'll check the Neowin.net group on Steam from time to time to see if anyone is playing CS:GO. If I see some players, I'll invite them to a party.

Yeah I was more of an Unreal Tournament guy myself, played some 1.6, but it was Source that really got me into it. I was one of those very rare no allegiance to 1.6 people that actually liked the Source version. :laugh: So much so that long story short, I wound up running a CS:Source server for about 9 months at one point. Me, my one boy, and my brother in law were really into CS:Source, and we always played on a server that was here on the East Coast called Over The Hill Gang (even though most of us were in early to late 20's with a few old timers), so we got to be really cool with the guys who ran that server as we were locals. Well, turned out they could not afford it anymore or just did not have the time, do not really remember, and there were about 24 "steady players" on that server who felt like they were about to be evicted. And we really had developed some pretty cool friendships with people, which I honestly am struggling to remember their names right now, which is kind of crazy. But a few guys from Canada who called themselves Canadian Bacon, a few just lone wolf dudes who were insanely good (when this one guy came onto the server, you knew whose team was going to win). It really was truly a little misfit community for all of us. Was good times indeed, and because of those times, I know the potential of online gaming, which is why when I hop on a Live or PSN and see how people these days tend to act, it makes me think either I am just to old to get back into something like that, or it is a different time. Or perhaps a combination of the two.

So I looked it up, and talked my 2 friends into sharing the costs of running a server with me, and we picked up were the OTG server left off, those guys even put a MOTD saying this is our new home, the ECF Server, or East Coasts Finest. Since our server already had a steady flow of regulars, it was a success from the first day on. I still remember those first few hours opening it, not being sure if anyone was going to come, then one player here, two guys there, started flowing in. And it was pretty much always full for 9 months. Due to the name we used, people wanted a clan with it, which my brother in law being a pretty competitive guy, was more than happy to head up. next thing I know, the server is being closed for clan practice and scrims against other clans, and that is when I personally saw enough. :rofl: What was supposed to be a server that continued the open and fun, yet serious and competitive vibe of a previous server, turned into something way to serious for my liking. Since I had the master account info for the server, after about 9 months we (I really) shut it down for good. And pretty much the end of an era happened.

So yeah, perhaps that is why I am enjoying playing Global Offensive so much right now, even with a controller which is actually close to blasphemy, I fully admit this, but it brings back some damn good memories. I just do not have the social time to do something like ECF again. But damn, those were some really good times, and I hope there are a ton of young kids out there playing it right now experiencing the same thing I experienced. My wife never could understand how a video game could make me wake up at 8 am on a saturday after being up until 4 the Friday night before, yet I could never wake up to do errands with her. :shiftyninja: :D I really could never quite explain to her what was going on, I mean she knew I played with the same people, and she knew I enjoyed it, but I do not think she ever knew how much of a little community that it was.

[mattmatik]

My wife never could understand how a video game could make me wake up at 8 am on a saturday after being up until 4 the Friday night before, yet I could never wake up to do errands with her. :shiftyninja: :D I really could never quite explain to her what was going on, I mean she knew I played with the same people, and she knew I enjoyed it, but I do not think she ever knew how much of a little community that it was.

That was me with UT (to a lesser extent with Doom II - keeping the phone tied up for gaming didn't fly a lot in my house). Once broadband hit I was on UT all.the.time. Could never get away with it now, though I hope I would understand it if my son was the same way. I'm itching to play CS:GO having been on work all weekend. I'll have 4 days off starting Monday and the kid will be in pre-school so hopefully I can get in some hours.

How is the community on PS3 so far, DL?

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

That was me with UT (to a lesser extent with Doom II - keeping the phone tied up for gaming didn't fly a lot in my house). Once broadband hit I was on UT all.the.time. Could never get away with it now, though I hope I would understand it if my son was the same way. I'm itching to play CS:GO having been on work all weekend. I'll have 4 days off starting Monday and the kid will be in pre-school so hopefully I can get in some hours.

How is the community on PS3 so far, DL?

The PS3 community so far has been amazingly very good. I have only encountered about 2 idiots while playing a decent amount of rounds actually, and both of them it was because they were consistently using the N word and talking about how they were taking other N words out. Just annoying overall.

Other then those two people, I am really surprised by the willingness to not only play as a team, but to also use the communication to do so. I also find people very open to learning the ropes. As around 3 rounds I was actually sharing tips about playing the game to people who genuinely wanted to learn them. From things to try and hold of spending in the beginning, buy a defuse kit if you can, to facts like even though you have killed every play during defuse, if they planted the bomb, you still must defuse it. People were asking questions about how to play, and I have found on a lot of other games people do not want to do that for lack of coming off like a noob.

I think the best experience I have had so far hands down has to be with what was no older than a 15 year old kid. He was just so into the game and coordinating everyone going to the same points, etc. He was just incredibly vocal about the teamwork, but not in an annoying manner whatsoever just a very enthusiastic one. Usually I find younger kids that talk as much as he was to be incredibly annoying, but he was truly the exact opposite. At the end of the 4 rounds I had played with him, he wanted to know which side we should all pick so we would stick together. That was pretty cool to see a young kid want to play the game properly. And it should come as no surprise when I tell you that when I say I was answering peoples questions about how to play the game above, he was the person who had asked the most questions. I thought to myself when disconnecting, maybe there is some hope for the future generations. :D

[DR3AMxCATCHER]

I'm very surprised with how I'm playing on the Xbox. I'm not trying to brag to the world or anything. However, I was at number 1 in the world in Arms Race Stars, 2 in K/D, and 3 in wins. I've been playing Classic Casual recently and have a 2.3 K/D. I'm in love with this game.

As for the community on the Xbox, I've had mixed feelings. Some cool people are smart and usual...then some who just want CoD. :/

[bgjerlow]

Just tried the trial of this on the Xbox 360, and it seems quite good. I'll most likely be getting the full version when I get my next paycheck.

[LingeringSoul]

I think the best experience I have had so far hands down has to be with what was no older than a 15 year old kid. He was just so into the game and coordinating everyone going to the same points, etc. He was just incredibly vocal about the teamwork, but not in an annoying manner whatsoever just a very enthusiastic one. Usually I find younger kids that talk as much as he was to be incredibly annoying, but he was truly the exact opposite. At the end of the 4 rounds I had played with him, he wanted to know which side we should all pick so we would stick together. That was pretty cool to see a young kid want to play the game properly. And it should come as no surprise when I tell you that when I say I was answering peoples questions about how to play the game above, he was the person who had asked the most questions. I thought to myself when disconnecting, maybe there is some hope for the future generations. :D

Haha, that is awesome. I remember having an experience similar to that in Team Fortress 2 a couple of years ago. Our team had a guy on it who must have been between 12-15 years old, but this kid was mature beyond his years, and really tactically smart. Not before that moment did I ever think that I would be taking orders from somebody <15 (I was ~24 at the time), but that match definitely gave me hope for the future.

As for CS:GO, I have only put in about three hours so far, but I really enjoyed it. I'm actually in the same boat as Larry, in that I wasn't a huge Counter-Strike player back in the 1.6 days (I dabbled in it, but I was more into Quake III Arena and eventually BF1942), and I cut my teeth on CS:Source. From my limited time spent with GO, it feels like a more slick version of CS:Source, which is perfectly fine by me. If a 1.6 player hated Source, I can't see them being converted by GO (though Anaron does prove that there are exceptions to my theory ;)).

I was slightly annoyed about being thrown into games that were full of bots, and all of my attempts to get into "community games" resulted in errors, but my overall experience has been positive apart from those wrinkles. Playing through GO has reminded me of how much I enjoy Counter-Strike as compared to games such as Call of Duty, and a lot of that probably has to do with the slower pacing and the more methodical gameplay (as opposed to the circus that the recent few CoD games have become). I definitely got my ass handed to me on a few maps earlier today, but I look forward to the hours that I will likely be spending with this game as I relearn all of the maps :).

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Yeah I was more of an Unreal Tournament guy myself, played some 1.6, but it was Source that really got me into it. I was one of those very rare no allegiance to 1.6 people that actually liked the Source version. :laugh: So much so that long story short, I wound up running a CS:Source server for about 9 months at one point. Me, my one boy, and my brother in law were really into CS:Source, and we always played on a server that was here on the East Coast called Over The Hill Gang (even though most of us were in early to late 20's with a few old timers), so we got to be really cool with the guys who ran that server as we were locals. Well, turned out they could not afford it anymore or just did not have the time, do not really remember, and there were about 24 "steady players" on that server who felt like they were about to be evicted. And we really had developed some pretty cool friendships with people, which I honestly am struggling to remember their names right now, which is kind of crazy. But a few guys from Canada who called themselves Canadian Bacon, a few just lone wolf dudes who were insanely good (when this one guy came onto the server, you knew whose team was going to win). It really was truly a little misfit community for all of us. Was good times indeed, and because of those times, I know the potential of online gaming, which is why when I hop on a Live or PSN and see how people these days tend to act, it makes me think either I am just to old to get back into something like that, or it is a different time. Or perhaps a combination of the two.

So I looked it up, and talked my 2 friends into sharing the costs of running a server with me, and we picked up were the OTG server left off, those guys even put a MOTD saying this is our new home, the ECF Server, or East Coasts Finest. Since our server already had a steady flow of regulars, it was a success from the first day on. I still remember those first few hours opening it, not being sure if anyone was going to come, then one player here, two guys there, started flowing in. And it was pretty much always full for 9 months. Due to the name we used, people wanted a clan with it, which my brother in law being a pretty competitive guy, was more than happy to head up. next thing I know, the server is being closed for clan practice and scrims against other clans, and that is when I personally saw enough. :rofl: What was supposed to be a server that continued the open and fun, yet serious and competitive vibe of a previous server, turned into something way to serious for my liking. Since I had the master account info for the server, after about 9 months we (I really) shut it down for good. And pretty much the end of an era happened.

So yeah, perhaps that is why I am enjoying playing Global Offensive so much right now, even with a controller which is actually close to blasphemy, I fully admit this, but it brings back some damn good memories. I just do not have the social time to do something like ECF again. But damn, those were some really good times, and I hope there are a ton of young kids out there playing it right now experiencing the same thing I experienced. My wife never could understand how a video game could make me wake up at 8 am on a saturday after being up until 4 the Friday night before, yet I could never wake up to do errands with her. :shiftyninja: :D I really could never quite explain to her what was going on, I mean she knew I played with the same people, and she knew I enjoyed it, but I do not think she ever knew how much of a little community that it was.

Oh man. Reading that reminded me of the fun times I had on a public CS 1.6 server called "Ontario 24/7 Pimp Style". The name may seem odd but the server was run by someone who later created a clan that I stuck with to this day. Yes, the name contains "pimp" but the server had nothing to do with pimping or anything related to it. I think I found the server back in 2002 and I played on it until it was shut down in late-2006. At the time, I used the name "DarkMage". The owner of the server went by the name "Sir BurN". As far as I can remember, he only played on the weekend and even then his appearances were rare (relatively speaking). The server had a lot of regulars and it was rare to see a new player.

Anyway, It didn't take long for me to become friends with the owner and I eventually gained admin powers. The thing that made the server so great was the laid back vibe. There was a competitive side to it too but it wasn't anything serious like a clan. Speaking of clans, the server was only used for a clan match a couple of times. It was decided that the server be left alone for the regulars. The server was the reason I used to play CS 1.6 as soon as I got home from school. Most times, I didn't even change out of my school uniform. I remember going on and knowing who would be on the server before I even connected. I knew who lived on the west coast, east coast, etc. It truly was a community full of people that just wanted to have fun.

After awhile, I joined Sir BurN's clan: Team nSd (which stood for "Never Say Die"). The clan consisted of some people from Sir BurN's previous clan and the best regulars (in terms of skill). At the time, I was the best player on the server. I've had people accuse me of hacking including Sir BurN himself. Being the cool guy that he was, I was given a chance to prove my skill at a clan get together. We met up at a restaurant to eat some wings and later, play some CS at a nearby cybercafe cafe. I was really young at the time and pretty nervous but I managed to prove myself.

A couple of years went by and the clan started to fall apart. A group of us decided to keep things going and I still keep in touch with them to this day. As much as I liked CS 1.6 and the competitive aspect of it, I hated the drama that came along with being in a clan. But in the end, enduring all the unrealistic expectations, whining, crying (actual tears), and deceit was worth it. As I said before, CS has really shaped me as a gamer. It has had a profound and positive impact on me that I still feel this day.

Haha, that is awesome. I remember having an experience similar to that in Team Fortress 2 a couple of years ago. Our team had a guy on it who must have been between 12-15 years old, but this kid was mature beyond his years, and really tactically smart. Not before that moment did I ever think that I would be taking orders from somebody <15 (I was ~24 at the time), but that match definitely gave me hope for the future.

As for CS:GO, I have only put in about three hours so far, but I really enjoyed it. I'm actually in the same boat as Larry, in that I wasn't a huge Counter-Strike player back in the 1.6 days (I dabbled in it, but I was more into Quake III Arena and eventually BF1942), and I cut my teeth on CS:Source. From my limited time spent with GO, it feels like a more slick version of CS:Source, which is perfectly fine by me. If a 1.6 player hated Source, I can't see them being converted by GO (though Anaron does prove that there are exceptions to my theory ;)).

I was slightly annoyed about being thrown into games that were full of bots, and all of my attempts to get into "community games" resulted in errors, but my overall experience has been positive apart from those wrinkles. Playing through GO has reminded me of how much I enjoy Counter-Strike as compared to games such as Call of Duty, and a lot of that probably has to do with the slower pacing and the more methodical gameplay (as opposed to the circus that the recent few CoD games have become). I definitely got my ass handed to me on a few maps earlier today, but I look forward to the hours that I will likely be spending with this game as I relearn all of the maps :).

It's a hit or miss with CS 1.6 players. Two of my old clan members didn't like the beta. But another clan member loves it as much as I do. It reminded me of how much I missed CS. The only game that comes close to my level of enjoyment in CS is Battlefield 2. One thing that just about any decent CS player knows is that playing it "Rambo style" will get you killed a lot. Unfortunately, games like Call of Duty seem to encourage that kind of play style. Just run in, empty your clip, and hope that you get a kill or two.

[DR3AMxCATCHER]

Here's a video of me playing Casual Classic on De_Dust2. I felt like sharing this for those who are interested in seeing how the Xbox 360 version plays out, hit detection, and also just how aiming works. This is strictly gameplay and no voice extra of my teammate. I hope you guys enjoy it.

In other news, as I said, I LOVE THIS GAME! :)

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

I bought this yesterday, having not played CS since about 2006 (I was very into 1.6, but sort of lost interest when Source came out), I managed to play 2 matches of inferno and one 2 of nuke, and the whole time I was all like...

Seriously, after having moved from CS, to TF2, to BF3, I'd forgotten how good CS was.

The only thing that hurt was the sudden moment of clarity when I realised that I was really REALLY rusty, and then I felt like a relic of a by-gone age.

[CookmySock]

I just ran the system requirements on that "does it run on my system" website and the only thing that failed is the graphics card - requires 256MB and I only have 64MB. How would this run on my system if I bought it?? Moving countries in 2 weeks and my PS3 won't be coming with me :(

[HawkMan]

I just ran the system requirements on that "does it run on my system" website and the only thing that failed is the graphics card - requires 256MB and I only have 64MB. How would this run on my system if I bought it?? Moving countries in 2 weeks and my PS3 won't be coming with me :(

It REALLY wouldn't run at all. even if you had a 256 card, it wouldn't really run.

[CookmySock]

damn, ah well. was to be expected when I bought this cheap laptop!

[DR3AMxCATCHER]

I bought this yesterday, having not played CS since about 2006 (I was very into 1.6, but sort of lost interest when Source came out), I managed to play 2 matches of inferno and one 2 of nuke, and the whole time I was all like...

Seriously, after having moved from CS, to TF2, to BF3, I'd forgotten how good CS was.

The only thing that hurt was the sudden moment of clarity when I realised that I was really REALLY rusty, and then I felt like a relic of a by-gone age.

I haven't played Counter-Strike since the Counter-Strike: Source beta was released. I'm in College now and when it came out I was in middle school. I couldn't run it on my computer so I would play on my friends when I could back then. I never got back into it and never liked CS:S. I feel exactly how you are feeling right now. Being able to play the game and enjoy it is has brought back so many old memories. I've actually had a few intense races to where I was proud to get that last second kill with a knife to win a match or survive that 3 v 1. :)

[ambiance]

Have the winners for the Neogamr contest been drawn?

[NeoTrunks]

The PS3 community so far has been amazingly very good. I have only encountered about 2 idiots while playing a decent amount of rounds actually, and both of them it was because they were consistently using the N word and talking about how they were taking other N words out. Just annoying overall.

Other then those two people, I am really surprised by the willingness to not only play as a team, but to also use the communication to do so. I also find people very open to learning the ropes. As around 3 rounds I was actually sharing tips about playing the game to people who genuinely wanted to learn them. From things to try and hold of spending in the beginning, buy a defuse kit if you can, to facts like even though you have killed every play during defuse, if they planted the bomb, you still must defuse it. People were asking questions about how to play, and I have found on a lot of other games people do not want to do that for lack of coming off like a noob.

I think the best experience I have had so far hands down has to be with what was no older than a 15 year old kid. He was just so into the game and coordinating everyone going to the same points, etc. He was just incredibly vocal about the teamwork, but not in an annoying manner whatsoever just a very enthusiastic one. Usually I find younger kids that talk as much as he was to be incredibly annoying, but he was truly the exact opposite. At the end of the 4 rounds I had played with him, he wanted to know which side we should all pick so we would stick together. That was pretty cool to see a young kid want to play the game properly. And it should come as no surprise when I tell you that when I say I was answering peoples questions about how to play the game above, he was the person who had asked the most questions. I thought to myself when disconnecting, maybe there is some hope for the future generations. :D

I've got to agree with this. Dodgy controls or not, it's the communication that makes or breaks the game. So far, I have had a few damn good games on the PS3 when everyone on the team had mice. The community just isn't as douchey as the one on PC. It's REALLY hard to find friendly PC CS players, sadly.

[SMELTN]

man I used to LOVE CS. Back in my semi-pro CAL days :cry: I was thinking about picking this up.. Still may do it, but I can only play on PC. I can't STAND FPS games on the Xbox.. I have to use a keyboard and mouse to play FPS games.

The Xbox version looked good though, thanks for showing the vid Dreamcatcher

[MillionVoltss]

My advise, Played for a bit now, still have Positive K/D and W/L .

Enable Developer Console `

Set you rates up:

Rate 30000 Some say 50000

Cl_updaterate 70 Some use 128

cl_cmdrate 128 Some use 128

Tbh i coud go higher, but im getting good hit detection so im happy.

Net_graph 0 1 2 3 to check fps and if your getting lose or lag.

I also use fps_max 120 as i see it pointless getting 300fps.

You can also use a Autoexec.cfg http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2908248&highlight=rates

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Source_Multiplayer_Networking

[+Byt Subscriber¹]

I tried the 360 version and because i am an avid CS player, from 2004, i absolutely thought it was dire, but thats probably because i had playing with a controller more than anything.

[NeoTrunks]

I tried the 360 version and because i am an avid CS player, from 2004, i absolutely thought it was dire, but thats probably because i had playing with a controller more than anything.

It's pretty hard to get used to the controller; there's no aim assistance at all. But once you start getting used to it, it's not so bad. Just have to get in the habit of aiming for the heads. Kind of reminds me of the Goldeneye days on N64. Back then, I was better at that game than any FPS on the PC.

[HawkMan]

While I bought the PC version(for practical reason and the fact my GF says she can't play it on a controller :p), I really liked the xbox demo and had no problems playing it, and I think I would enjoy it more, sitting relaxed in the sofa with my controller.

My only problem with CS is really the whole concept behind buying weapons which doesn't make sense. balance wise it empowers the skilled and logically, counter terrorists pick their weapons they don't buy them. If only they would make an modern version of Raven Shield, or a modern proper RB6 game at all.

[Fuzed Mind]

I don't think the buy system is much of a problem in casual modes. You can pretty much buy a gun every round as you never have to buy armor in casual. The money system really shows you how crucial it is to win a round.

[HawkMan]

My main problem is with the whole concept of buying guns in the first place as it's logically faulty.

the fact the winners always get the upper hand is a side point.

[HawkMan]

Also, is there any reason for the total crap in game server browser. Who thought it was a good idea to not let you filterby server names, only server tags that no one uses...