I was reading a recent news post on Kotaku.com which brought up a valid and interesting point: Will CSGO bring the 1.6 and Source community together? When Source was released, hardcore PC fans of 1.6 decided to stay with what they had, however at the same time new fans of Counter Strike found Source. I personally am a fan of Source (I’m a man that loves change, especially graphical updates) so when I go back to 1.6 my eye’s go fuzzy for a bit and ask the question: Did I really play 1.6?Cliffe and Gooseman did an amazing mod for Half-Life, and now that VALVe has the controls we’re gonna see what they can do to maybe merge the several distinct communities together. In reality, we’re not talking just 1.6 vs Source. We’re talking PS3, XBOX360, PC, and MAC and taking the communities of 1.6 and Souce and convince them to leave it all behind and choose your platform of choice with Counter Strike Global Offensive. Below is a quote from the Kotaku.com article:
Valve had expected the 2004 Source version of the game to replace the previous year’s 1.6 iteration, itself a successor to a game that had been evolving since the late 90′s. But many of 1.6′s most ardent fans, including those who played it competitively, as a sport, resisted the Source version. Source “didn’t do what we thought it would do, but we weren’t disappointed about what it did,” Magal said. “We thought Counter-Strike: Source would replaced Counter-Strike 1.6 but instead it generated a community just as large as the 1.6 community on its own.”Faliszek called it “an amoeba-like split.”GO is supposed to bring those crowds together and rope in console players who have only had an original Xbox version to choose from. Valve also assumes it has lost some computer Counter-Strike gamers who have moved away from PC gaming and wants to reach them on the consoles those gamers may have moved to (fittingly, the PS3 version of the game will even include mouse and keyboard support; and all players on PS3/PC/Mac will be match-made against each other.)
Now there are distinct variety of gamers. The PC Console Hybrids, the PC diehards, and the Console Enthusiast. Some PC fans have abandoned PC titles due to the expenses of maintaining a up to date rig with graphics cards, ram, etc etc etc. Today’s parent can invest in a console, throw it at their kid and say here you go sport, and not worry about upgrades for a while and only invest in a $60 game here and there from Best Buy.So yes on an economic standpoint the console generation has grown. I am a PC Console hybrid, I can play both and have also used on XBOX360 controller on my PC. So when it boils down to it, it doesn’t matter which platform those decide to select for Counter Strike Global Offensive, the question truly is: Will gamers stay with Counter Strike Global Offensive and leave Source and 1.6 in the past?The answer to that is no. For the PC gamers as long as they can be creatieve and do mods, they won’t leave the past titles. I mean, hell there have
been some pretty inventive maps and mods out there for Counter Strike, and I can’t see some people devoted to that to just pick up and leave. Now yes, there will be a flood of those moving to the latest “update” with CSGO, but diehard fans will want to stay with what they know and love. The epic fight of PS3 vs PC will continue, and developers keep stressing, that it’s not about PC vs PS3, its about skill vs skill. But will new gamers who are unfamiliar with Counter Strike on PS3 get frustrated by the PC players who have invested thousands of hours playing CS 1.6 or Source while drinking Mountain Dew and Cheetos and throw their controller to the ground in disgust? Or will the PC players get tired of playing against a younger generation of console players. Let’s look at age for a minute. I’m 29. So when I was 17 Counter Strike was all the rage! We now have 17 year olds picking up Counter Strike in the stores at your local retailers next year for their console to play against older Counter Strike PC fans. There’s going to be an age gap, let’s see what happens.The article also mentions competitive gaming. The question you must all ask yourself is this “Will you establish a PS3 vs PC league?” Hmm, think about it…. could be cool.Who knows what CSGO will do, but I don’t think it’ll combine the communities, but may only create a vast changing environment especially when one considers PC vs consoles!
