Counter Strike: GO 'Arsenal' Gamemodes Announced + Eurogamer Expo Media

[Hectic Glenn]

[br]
Today Valve announce 'Arsenal Mode' which is based on the popular Counter-Strike: Source mod Gun Game. "Arsenal: Arms Race" and "Arsenal: Demolition" and will add eight new maps and expand on the classic Counter-Strike gameplay. For those of you who have not played Gun Game before (even for Goldeneye) it works by starting everyone with a basic pistol and rewards you with an new weapon for each kill you get. The first to the final tier (and final kill) wins. Valve are even working with the mod team who first developed the gamemode for CSS![br]In other news, Valve are in London starting today through to Sunday at the Eurogamer Expo showing off CS:GO on de_dust. Chris 'Evo' Evans one of our writers is there today (follow him on twitter here), and myself, Samon, Sulkdodds and Ren.182 will be joining him on Saturday! Check out the new media below. CS:GO is targeted for release via Playstation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, and Steam (for PC and Mac) in early 2012.[br]<center>

 

[DanO]

I can't help but notice that summer is now officially over and Portal 2 DLC is now officially in valvetime.

 

[Chabo]

I always preferred to play GunGame in reverse order; that way it doesn't reward the player who gets an early lead, and instead rewards the player who is consistently more skilled, even as their weapon gets worse. I hope they add that mode as a possibility.

 

[Eejit]

Sounds like a bit of a steamroll mode.

 

[Inanimate]

I think this will be the 2nd flop Valve has ever been behind. CSS being the first of em.

 

[Acepilotf14]

CS:S was a flop?

I had no idea.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

I suppose we could say that with a sequel you hope or expect the playerbase from the original game (CS 1.6 in this case) to adopt the change. If you get a fragmented playerbase where a whole load of people (more in this case) decide to continue with 1.6 you could possibly deduce that players didn't get what they wanted from a sequel. I can certainly relate to that, the games feel vastly different.

If you talk to CoD players about MW / MW2 / BLOPS many of them will tell you they don't like the feel of the BLOPs MP and prefer MW2. As you can see from your screenshot Ace, MW2 remains ahead of it's sequel.

I suppose this isn't as so much a flop or failure in this context but the object of developers with MP games these days is to make a concerted effort to establish a playerbase to a) get friend groups playing and sell more via word of mouth b) provide updates / DLC / MTs for continued revenue over time + more game sales.

I think we all know that CS:GO will probably support MTs but it makes me wonder. For a game like CS 1.6, Valve essentially release no new content / do any PR / push to build a playerbase...yet it survives above all other Steam games as the most popular. What does that say about the necessity of the approaches developers take to MP playerbase building?

 

[Lobster]

Any change or addition to 1.6, no matter how well meaning or small, will be met with a frustrated shrug by most of its community. Some of them may complain about a lack of support, but deep down they just want 1.6 to be left alone.

GO will likely attract a small group away from both previous iterations, but it seems to me that the main goal with this, is to use the valuable CounterStrike brand to establish a modern audience. While also providing a suitable test-bed for demonstrating the value of Steamworks as an eSport tool in an FPS, I mean its no coincidence that its popping up so close to DOTA2.

 

[Ren.182]

I'm actually starting to really look forward to this. I do miss playing Counter-Strike and having matches with my friends! I am glad to see Valve adding new game modes to the game and I'm interested in seeing how well people take to the competitive side of the game, and how well Valve implement the match making of teams/solo players.

Really looking forward to Saturday! Any news on whether we can record videos at all? If so, my phone can do 720p recording so I'll get some footage.

 

[Unfocused]

At least make sure to take some group photos while you're there!

 

[Ennui]

Any change or addition to 1.6, no matter how well meaning or small, will be met with a frustrated shrug by most of its community. Some of them may complain about a lack of support, but deep down they just want 1.6 to be left alone.

GO will likely attract a small group away from both previous iterations, but it seems to me that the main goal with this, is to use the valuable CounterStrike brand to establish a modern audience. While also providing a suitable test-bed for demonstrating the value of Steamworks as an eSport tool in an FPS, I mean its no coincidence that its popping up so close to DOTA2.

This.

Also Inanimate, CS:S is only a flop in the eyes of a small group of 1.6 players. The Counter-Strike series is the most popular multiplayer PC shooter in history and CS:S has sold 20 million + copies (ofc it was packaged with many copies of HL2).

 

[Shamrock]

I'm excited about this. I feel like Valve is going in the right direction with CS.

 

[Absinthe]

I really thought I'd hate Gun Game when a friend suggested it. I really had no desire to go back to playing Counter-Strike after years of inactivity (and previous attempts were in vain). And yet I found myself tanking through it hours on end in spite of the blocky, sometimes labyrinthine maps and rough gameplay. I'm interested in how they handle a proper version.

 

[Vegeta897]

I know Valve wouldn't do this but the mention of that game mode and the sight of those Tec 9s, a seemingly out-of-place weapon, makes me wish the game had like, tons of variety in the weaponry. That's really the only thing that would inspire a purchase from me at this point. Just having tons of variety to make the game interesting. Like JA2 + 1.13 patch variety. At least 100 different weapons. Of course the selection for each map could be limited based on locale and who the teams are, but then for arsenal mode you'd just have every single weapon and it'd be awesome.

 

[TheOneFreeMan]

I know Valve wouldn't do this but the mention of that game mode and the sight of those Tec 9s, a seemingly out-of-place weapon, makes me wish the game had like, tons of variety in the weaponry. That's really the only thing that would inspire a purchase from me at this point. Just having tons of variety to make the game interesting. Like JA2 + 1.13 patch variety. At least 100 different weapons. Of course the selection for each map could be limited based on locale and who the teams are, but then for arsenal mode you'd just have every single weapon and it'd be awesome.

To be honest, the thought of balancing all of that makes me shiver in my boots.

I'm happy as hell they're doing this, I love Gungame, even if I do play it more as a training ground mode and it has a far higher proportion of jerks than normal. A properly supported gamemode will no doubt be awesome (although it'll be weird to play it without all the Mario and Quake sounds, and "that" music playing when somebody wins ).

 

[ríomhaire]

Sorry I won't be joining you Glenn. I'd rather like to meet yourself Dodds and Ross. I was hoping to go with a group from my college but I'm pretty damn broke and my new passport still hasn't arrived.

 

[Chabo]

(although it'll be weird to play it without all the Mario and Quake sounds, and "that" music playing when somebody wins ).

On my server I kept the Mario sounds, but didn't have Quake sounds enabled. Also, for my end music, I added a whole bunch, and the plugin chose randomly. I had a bunch of goofy stuff in there:
Lazytown's Pirate song
Lazytown's Cake song
"Barbie Girl" in German
A pop version of the Soviet Union's national anthem
A death metal cover of the Ghostbusters theme

I had lots of fun choosing music that would make people laugh when the round ended.

 

[ray_MAN]

On my server I kept the Mario sounds, but didn't have Quake sounds enabled. Also, for my end music, I added a whole bunch, and the plugin chose randomly. I had a bunch of goofy stuff in there:
Lazytown's Pirate song
Lazytown's Cake song
"Barbie Girl" in German
A pop version of the Soviet Union's national anthem
A death metal cover of the Ghostbusters theme

I had lots of fun choosing music that would make people laugh when the round ended.

Some server I used to play on used to play "The Bad Touch"

I really welcome this news. I play only gun game at this point in my CS life. Seeing a proper version of this game mode get made has me excited.

 

[Asknoone]

Sorry I won't be joining you Glenn. I'd rather like to meet yourself Dodds and Ross. I was hoping to go with a group from my college but I'm pretty damn broke and my new passport still hasn't arrived.

Likewise; it's a shame you can't make it.