UKTerrorist
Posted by Divine at 00:45, 29/9/2005
I cancelled my broadband over 9 months ago, since i realised that CS was not what it was to me back in the day (chillout and competitive edge with my real life mates, i hasten to add). Im stuck on 56k slowdom and to be honest, i feel great about it.
Realised or not, i think nowadays that CS is *kinda addictive* and i also feel that it can be detrimental to the younger generations development in schooling (older lads now - how many times you been pcwing/mixing with yer mates when really you should have been working on that disitation/coursework/sales pitch - watever? ;) ).
Regardless, was just reading the whole thread on what universities etc and i thought to myself - THAT is what a gaming community should be based upon - everyone was getting on, having a laugh, sharing dreams and aspirations.
then it came to me that there has been no posts or columns for over a month - i cant help feeling that the life and blood of the uk cs scene has left for bigger and greener pastures. And, i think it is a good thing too. :D
Good luck to you all.
Comments
Croydon
18:57 30/9/2005
19:44 30/9/2005
End of the day cs is addictive, but basically people are always going to do what they enjoy. And lots of people enjoy cs.
Your an iddiot if you have to cancel your broadband to stop playing cs tho. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
22:30 30/9/2005
22:50 30/9/2005
And CS should always be just a hobby when your not doing something better, unless your gonna play it as a job. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Sniper's Alley
23:26 30/9/2005
The day I look at UKCT will be when pigs bloody fly, cheapskate ripoffs, I mean, actually still talking about CS on the website? That's so last year. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
03:20 1/10/2005
BLACKLiGHT
11:13 1/10/2005
Funnily enough i didn't see del posted while writing this, but look he has!!! read him like a book.
People who think cs is dead should really keep their opinions to themselves instead of trying to convince other people on a CS news website. I dont play much cs at all at the moment but it's far from dead! probably at it's peak internationally. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
funky monkey dealer
11:43 1/10/2005
Sniper's Alley
12:15 1/10/2005
BLACKLiGHT
12:22 1/10/2005
13:15 1/10/2005
Team-eScape
13:21 1/10/2005
13:36 1/10/2005
13:50 1/10/2005
14:35 1/10/2005
Surely the 'latest' poll proves that point.
Nothing against UKT, but you cannot compare it to UKCT, rip-off or not. You have to earn respect each day, not live off it from years ago. UKCT works bloody hard to provide it's content.
The only thing keeping this site from sliding into the depths of the internet, are it's few die-hard readers. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
14:51 1/10/2005
14:53 1/10/2005
Kinda pointless post, nothing to gain or take from it, but meaningless observations. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Sniper's Alley
17:05 1/10/2005
I'd love for another FPS I actually like to come along though, if I really enjoyed it I'd start playing clangames etc again I'm sure, just waiting on that game though. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
18:30 1/10/2005
20:45 1/10/2005
It's keeping the game interesting, and when there's nothing there for it to still be, that's where you see your old cs'ers move away. New people are of course still just 'getting into' the game which is why we've seen a rise of uknowns in cs and also the number of people now playing cs 1.6!
However, in good time these new people will no doubt get sick of it too and also quit - but I doubt cs 1.6 will be alive the same length of time that it has been through already with us older cs'ers.
It'd be nice for cs to evolve further like it has done before but even if it does valve will most likely f*** it up and then nobody will play it.
So the future for cs doesn't seem promising. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
22:12 1/10/2005
ukct > ukt im afraid [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
22:13 1/10/2005
Will that make you happy about columns?
LOL [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Sniper's Alley
00:05 2/10/2005
01:55 2/10/2005
But, you come to realise that you dont have the time to become _that_ good, and i think that is where cs becomes alot more fun, because you play it to enjoy it not because you want to become something you cant be.
ps. cheers dave! i feel so e-celeb to be mentioned in a post :P much love! talk to me on irc sometime! [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
conneXion
02:17 2/10/2005
As seik said, there's a general age span where people have a lot of time of their hands to play CS reasonably seriously, and then when they find they don't have the time for it or they find something to fill the void they move on. Personally I found that I hit a barrier where I wasn't going to improve beyond that point with any amount of practise, and as a result of playing it so seriously I no longer found playing for fun... fun. That combined with the realisation that most of the reasonably well know clans in the UK are riddled with cheaters (if you don't believe me trying playing a few games with a wall hack on) meant that I had lost any motivation to play.
Another thing which I found put me off playing was that the teams at the top no longer put in consistant performances, where as in the old days you would find the same top 5 (ish) clans/players (such as SK, 3D, eoL) finishing top in all the major tournaments. There's too many upsets now which means that the games become either very random OR that the gap at the top is very tight. I think its because that since 1.3 game updates have removed the skill factor a bit (that said the game has been improved in many respects such as hitboxes). Either way it's not as fun for me anymore following the CS-Pro scene as a fan, especially when you know that most of the top players aren't exactly very dedicated anymore. Although that might just be me [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
conneXion
02:20 2/10/2005
Anti-saviour of UKT
12:53 2/10/2005
In a year or two they'll find their place too, and a year or two after that they'll move on too have grown bored or not had the time to continue. They'll sit there wondering what happened to their community and someone will say, "no look, it's just we've moved on and there's another one coming". And thus it goes on.
Hakuna Matata! Roll on Q4 [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
13:22 2/10/2005
Sniper's Alley
12:08 3/10/2005
Anti-saviour of UKT
12:26 3/10/2005
CSS has gone from something like 42,000 players to 22,000, play time from 1.261 to 1.378. That's only a small player drop and siginficantly more gaming being played.
How can we call the game dying? It is our scene that is dying [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Sniper's Alley
14:25 3/10/2005
theb0g
20:36 3/10/2005
23:03 3/10/2005
cs deserves to die, it should die and it will soon enough. i've played maybe three times in the last 6 months and i can't remember enjoying it for at least a year.
ukt is drying up and the people remaining here are mainly those that no longer play much but enjoy the banter between everyone and don't have the actual will-power to stop visiting when they're online. i don't make out that i'm not one of these people because otherwise i wouldn't be posting this now but the truth is most -if not all of us- need to move on. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Anti-saviour of UKT
23:12 3/10/2005
11:12 4/10/2005
14:34 4/10/2005
15:00 4/10/2005
17:29 4/10/2005
19:10 4/10/2005
19:45 4/10/2005
01:57 6/10/2005
Sniper's Alley
23:42 6/10/2005
CS was the biggest game @ CPL before by a distance, you can't really say that any more, and our scene, is that UKT, or the UK scene as a whole, ie everyone apart from the ED lower tier? All the UK players I hear about nowadays who are playing now I've never heard of, or are newish players who weren't around before 1.3 or in beta.
Who is still playing now that was playing in beta? Anyone?
Most people stuck around until Valve ruined CS when they released 1.4 and then the exodus began. First people like kix and hard^nut to RTCW, those who spotted quickly that CS had lost the fun, most of the others gradually giving up the game through apathy and finding new distractions either afk or other sorts of games like WC3 or BF2 or WoW (what a crock of s***e).
We just want a new CS with whizz-bang graphics and fast paced gameplay like the old CS - what source should have been.
Source really is a failure according to DoZ's statistics, after a year there are still far more people playing 1.6, that shows the disatisfaction with Valve - and people will only go on playing a neglected game with no new cheat detections and no new offical maps or updates for so long.
Something will come along to take CS's place, there's a massive gap in the market for it, but Source is definately not it. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Anti-saviour of UKT
01:11 7/10/2005
14:02 7/10/2005
After reading all of these comments and thinking about the whole UK CS/UKT thing, I would have to agree with Del (in part).
I would agree that a load of CS people left when 1.4 arrived (1.3 was my personal fave and I know I'm not alone). Then, when Source hit our screens, a hell of a lot more departed.
You can't blame them either, what a bag of s*** Source is - I played it for the first time in months on Weds night and I just laughed... It lacks so much realism & feel from a gameplay angle, it's not even funny.
You kind of get the impression a fair number of people were waiting to see how Source turned out. What a disappointment that must have been.
I only ever play 1.6 or CZ now, with my clan (social now, no wars for ages) or on me todd. I still enjoy the game, still have a great laugh with my mates and still seek to improve just because that's human nature.
I think, though and again this is my own opinion, the number of chavs who appeared on the scene a year or so back also changed everything.
Since those days (1.5 + 1.6), CS has become something I only see as a game (it seemed that even the slightly competitive matches used to have an annoying little s*** or cheat present). Maybe I should be more tolerant of the kids in CS, but I'm an old git now. Like my choice of pubs/clubs now, where I play CS is based on having a great time with as little aggro as possible.
I'm sorry to say, but that means playing on a clan server where you have admin rights. Every time I play, some idiot appears and starts TK'ing, hacking or just mouthing off.
I often wondered, like mebR, how far I could go in the game. Then I too hit a point where the fun stopped and I noticed more & more muppets about. The answer, for me, was to quit the mixes/wars/PCWs and just PLAY.
As for UKT, it does seem to have reached a low (lowest) ebb? If I want news on compos/rankings, etc, there are plenty of other sites about. I just miss the great column/news post convos UKT had, which far surpassed any others'.
Unless DK and few others reappear with a vengeance, there's not much hope it seems...
:( [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
12:08 9/10/2005
theb0g
14:02 9/10/2005
17:52 9/10/2005
Sniper's Alley
19:03 9/10/2005
16:18 10/10/2005
Anyway, I'm from the beta era (5.2 - best version imo), and I've started playing again. Only on pubs though with new maps, the silly stupid ones you'd never do a clan war with coz it's different and I actually enjoy some of em. Too many people here are still clinging onto the old maps. You do all realise there never will be any new ones published by Valve and ever used for serious play? Only the CPL have that power and they're just waiting for Q4 to come out so they too can move on.
The only thing that makes it more of a buzz for me now is I use a wallhack and try and own without being caught. Obviously I don't run around shooting people through walls and avoid head on confrontations with masses of people. But to play tactically with one is fun for me. Like being the Predator and 'always knowing', stalking my prey. I suggest others try it :) (although not all at once!) (oh and only on pubs :)). [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
theb0g
20:03 10/10/2005
God DAMMIT :( [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
10:00 11/10/2005
Sniper's Alley
11:12 11/10/2005
I had very bad hardware back then and used to play CS at 15-30fps, so maybe with FLF being faster paced the fps was more of an issue.
I really enjoyed Action Half-life though, that was a class game. My clanmate Kelis was an artist with the knife, used to get 5:1 k:d with it. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
17:17 11/10/2005
None.
So it's perfectly reasonable for the top players to be 'unknown' to the older players, because those players are no longer good enough to compete with them. This however, does not mean these players are 'unknown' to the other players of their class.
CS is NOT dying, CS is at it's peak. More and more people come into the game now, to compete, to play at LANs, to get better. When everyone started in beta, nobody could ever dream of $1million world tours etc etc.
CS is the new #1 game for next years world tour. I hardly think it's 'dead'.
What is dead however, is the older players love for the game, so why don't you older players, f*** off :). [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
22:22 11/10/2005
Everybody is itching for something new to come out that won't just satisfy one segment (the gamers). Companies like Intel won't see the point in sponsoring CPL tournaments when all they're powering is a 10yr old engine game. Source was supposed to take people forward, advertise a new engine, HL2. Run super fast, on super fast hardware.
Who honestly gives a s*** if you're running CS on an Intel 5438y53yGhz Pentium 24? I run it fine thanks on an AMD 2000+ XP, with an nvidia 5200fx card and 256 ram. That's why CS tournaments never get the good hardware, it's the recent games that do.
Do you think Fatal1ty would have his own branded top of the range hardware if he was still chasing a Counter-Strike dream? Heck no, he'll front Q4 on the D3 engine, coz that's what stretches the hardware and seperates the good and the best. How could he honestly have presented a deal to Abit and say, "yeah I'm a pro gamer, I'm running a Counter-Strike clan and erm we need the good s***." That's why you never see reviews basing hardware statistics on the HL engine. It's all D3, FarCry, or the new Unreal.
When a game comes that meets the latest hardware requirements, and promotes all the sponsors in the right light they'll try and push CS out the way (the same way they've been trying and are succeeding, albeit slowly). Heck, Valve already don't promote it and that's why you'll never see any Official maps released by them or any improvements for that matter.
When Q4 comes out, the CPL will go back to it's roots. 1v1 fast paced action infested gaming, not the boring CS that we've come to know. And slowly but surely it'll fade out. People will move on.
If CS is to survive, it needs a revamp on HL2 so that it plays the way it does now, and looks the way it potentially can, thus satisfying everyones needs. But I'm sure Valve have already named that TF2... [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Sniper's Alley
22:55 11/10/2005
Bad trolling attempt, no one is that stupid. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Anti-saviour of UKT
11:43 12/10/2005
CS may be at its prime statistically, but it isn't competatively. Check any viewing figures for CPL this year to those of 2-3 years ago, the drop is massive. Same in lesser events such as CAL. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
22:09 12/10/2005
Most sponsors are out for brand awareness. Not many CS Players will upgrade their PCs for CS, but they probally will for WoW, or another generation of 1v1 game that they also play. The fact that thousands of people are seeing a brand name is good enough from the sponsors point of view.
It's really naive to think that no new generation players will come to the skill level of the current top. Our current top players were of the same skill level 5 years ago as our newer players are now. Eventually when these old players leave CS, newer players will catch on, and the game (Maybe not 1.6, maybe an updated version) will catch on. Due to the increased amount of tactical awareness and demos at hand, i'm sure the newer players will pick up the game at a much faster rate than any of the 'worn out' players did in their day. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Sniper's Alley
22:33 12/10/2005
You're living in a dreamworld boyo.
CS 1.6 is dying. It's relative popularity compared to other non-MMORPG online games has been plummeting like a stone for the past 2 years. CS Source is a failure as it's still less popular than 1.6 and has been rejected quite rightly for serious competition.
Valve aren't going to give up on Source, it would be too much of a 180 - but I'd say it's a complete failure. It might eventually be ok but by then something new will have come along.
1.6 is obsolete as far as Valve is concerned - it won't recieve any more updates. You honestly believe they'll be using CS 1.6 or in the CPL the following year?
And you can't compare the old players to the new for s*** - the game is completely different. Pre 1.4 it was about twitch skill, pace, quick thinking - 1.6 game is the opposite. You just camp and wait for them to run through your crosshair, or sneak around like a p***y s***.
That's why old skool players like KhAoS can still whip noobs like you with no practice at all. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Sniper's Alley
22:33 12/10/2005
17:37 13/10/2005
"You honestly believe they'll be using CS 1.6 or in the CPL the following year?"
They have gone back to it for next years world tour purely because there is not a better team game out. When that game comes out, they will switch. But for the last 6 years no game as acheived perfection in the teamplay genre. So all i can see happening in the near future is a new version of CS being produced, or Source being made ready for competetive gaming. Although we all know that's going to take more than a few tweaks :P.
I don't ussually give a s***, but these columns come up every year. Each year CS is "dead", but each year the competetion and tournyment aspect of CS matures.
When a new game comes out that gets anywhere near the exposure competitivly that CS currently has, i'll be amonst the first to sell my PC. Until that day, no-one has the right to declare a thriving game 'dead'. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Anti-saviour of UKT
12:44 14/10/2005
CPL have shown that they want to move on and move away from 1.6, the reason they didn't was because not enough teams play css at a high enough level and as such there's a distinct lack of sponsorship.
However, with a massive game like Q4, they'd really have to pull a Valve to f*** that game up, and let's face it the only other people who can consistently do a Valve are microsoft.
1.6 will continue, but not forever, because it will simply start to drift away as other games come out and eclipse it. The only reason nothing else has taken its spot so far is because the companies making the games don't understand what is needed as far as the dynamics of the game go. Even Valve don't understand, that's why CSS is fast becoming a Ravenshield clone, in all its unloved and unplayed glory.
1.6 will survive only as long as games companies are incompetent... so maybe another 30 years but that's all ;-) [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
19:21 14/10/2005
How many times has CS braved a much-hyped new FPS game and continued in the face of adversity? PK, CoD, UT2k3, Halo 2, even CSS if you can consider it to be a competitor. Of course I concede that none of these quite has the profile that Q4 has, but there are similarities.
A major factor of these new games are the graphics engines, how they push the boundary of modern hardware and the very much aesthetic appeal of them. This will apply to Q4 as much as any other CS rival, and the cost of such superficial values is a shortened life span of the game, as better looking products take to the shelves offering comparible gameplay in the same genre take over the market. Now of course many people will stick with Q4 regardless of newer games, but will it be enough to truly endanger CS once and for all? The beauty of CS is that the game thrives despite not being easy on the eyes, and this all but removes the time-factor in the lifespan of the game - people have continued to play it despite its increasing ugliness (compared to modern alternatives) and so this suggests its charm lies elsewhere. Q4 will have to challenge massively in the community aspects to really soak up some of the current crop of CS players, and I doubt whether this will be the case. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Sniper's Alley
23:45 14/10/2005
All the efforts go into flashy levels and lighting effects, but they don't bother to get the most fundamental things like a responsive crosshair right. All the FPS games I've played since in the last three years have laggy or unresponsive crosshairs compared to games on the Quake2 engine (eg HL and mods) - where it feels like the orientation of the screen is directly connected to the mouse.
The new fps games feel like you're playing with a cordless mouse.
I reckon it's an effect of modern shaders etc meaning the engine has to be a few frames behind the mouse - anyway until I see a new FPS with a crosshair feel like the Q1/Q2 engine I'm not interested. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Anti-saviour of UKT
09:54 15/10/2005
The UT series saw the developers doing a valve and not listening to players, combined with CPL not listening to the players either. Those are two sources you don't need making elementary mistakes when it comes to making a game and hosting tournaments.
I don't see Q4 as soaking up the CS players as much as CS becoming a shadowed tournament in light of Quake 4. Without the money there for people to win at tournaments, CS loses its appeal for a lot of people. Money is the only reason PK kept being played. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
14:49 15/10/2005
So f***ing right :P. I played doom3 last year for 10minutes. The time delay between moving my mouse and the crosshair moving meant i uninstalled it and havn't looked back.
CS is CS because of all the small things it involves. Just the use of boosting, flashbangs and the money system makes it almost impossible to overcome. Teams and players can play CS for years and still come up with new ways to gain an advantage over the other team. (Even if its just a new flashbang, or a good plant spot).
CS:CZ was the closest to a remake of CS worthy of playing. Apparently the reason the Reg is so good on 1.6 (And it _IS_ good compared to games like BF2 etc) is because it's an old game. More cpu is used to calucate reg than is used to render graphics and fancy things...(Or so i've been told).
I think if a game is going to be successfull for competetive gaming, it needs to be a step behind in the graphical department :o. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Sniper's Alley
11:00 17/10/2005
It's not even something the mod community can solve, as they're restricte d by engines that are available, and I suspect crosshair troubles are a result of something deep and fundamental in the code.
CS 1.6 is clearly still the best team game out there for competition - but they took all the fun out of the game. It's just no fun to play imo on a non-serious basis. [ Comment: Report | IP: Logged ]
Sniper's Alley
14:02 22/10/2005
00:18 27/10/2005
14:21 31/10/2005